ICSW EUROPE NEWSLETTER
January & February 2012
In this edition:
- From the President
- From the Secretary General
- Self-determination, Equal Opportunities, and Participation
- Situation of NGOs in Lithuania
- Launch 2012 European Year - Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations
- Counteract consequences of austerity - Social Platform letter to heads of state
- Funding for social objectives - Social Platform address to European Parliament
- White paper on pensions - EU plans for adequate, safe and sustainable pensions
- Danish EU Presidency
- Council of Europe - Conference of INGOs
- European Conference “Active Ageing in Europe – Senior Citizens and Volunteering”
- “79.Deutscher Fürsorgetag” – The German Welfare Congress
- Publications
- Conferences
- Colophon
From the President
I spent almost the whole first week of February at the UN Commission on Social Development. This is an event that takes place every year. The participants are representatives from UN member states and NGOs within the fields of Social Development.
This year’s theme was poverty reduction. The governments explained their positions and how they worked to reduce poverty in their country. In the afternoon of the first day there was an opportunity to ask questions. Not all NGOs had the opportunity to raise their voices but ICSW belonged to the fortunate ones. The statement of ICSW appealed on every government to establish a vision for social protection in line with the Social Protection Floor Initiative. Governments also need to take the lead in empowering citizens and civil society organisations to take responsibility for and the initiative in programmes to relieve poverty. The full statement can be found on the ICSW website.
In the early afternoon there were seminars arranged by NGO on the topic of poverty. I attended two of these, both dealing with the Social Protection floor. One showed the results from acting in the sense of the Social Protection floor and the other how to make people aware of their rights.
The other mission in participating in these kinds of events is networking. The Commission on Social Development offers an excellent opportunity for that. It also gave me the knowledge that ICSW has a mission. SPFI is an initiative that suits our ICSW organization very well. ICSW regions in other parts of the world have already started to work with these challenges. It is time for us in Europe to realize that our Social Protection is not as good as it used to be and some parts of Europe have never had any protection floor to speak of.
Let’s find a strategy how to work and then start common activities to protect and increase the Social Protection Floor in Europe.
Eva Holmberg-Herrström,
President ICSW Europe
From the Secretary General
Already the first month of 2012 has passed and here in Stockholm the preparations for the coming world conference Social Work Social Development: Action and Impact, 8-12 July, are getting more intense. As the conference will be in Stockholm, we hope that many of our members will be able to participate and make it a real meeting point for ICSW Europe. We plan for a booth where all our members can present their work by means of posters and where they can meet to exchange experiences and plans for future cooperation.
On Saturday 7 July 2012 in the afternoon, the day before the conference opens, our General Assembly will take place in Stockholm and we hope that many of our members will participate.
An expert seminar will take place in Oslo, Norway, on 16 and 17 March as a next step in the Nordic countries’ work against poverty. The seminar will focus on school drop-outs. Lack of education is a risk factor for poverty. Nordic experts will lead the seminar. The seminar is open to all members of ICSW Europe at their own cost. If you are interested in participation, please contact ICSW Norway or me.
Bodil Eriksson,
Secretary General ICSW Europe
Self-determination, Equal Opportunities, and Participation
Hansjörg Seckauer
On 21 and 22 November 2011, an ICSW Expert Meeting was held on the Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The expert meeting organized by the Austrian Committee for Social Work (ÖKSA) aimed at exchanging views on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The Convention is based on the principles of self-determination, equality of opportunities and participation – against the backdrop of the fact that in many cases, persons with disabilities are still excluded from socio-political processes.
At the beginning, human rights expert Marianne Schulze (photo: HS) gave a general outline of the UN Convention and its objectives. Then, the approaches toward the Convention in these three countries were presented by representatives of the governmental institutions concerned and by NGOs. Thus, parallels and differences could be noted.
Different approaches
In contrast with Switzerland, Germany and Austria have already ratified the Convention. In both countries, the focal point lies with the Ministry of Social Affairs, to which in Austria the Monitoring Committee is attached. In Germany, the independent Deutsches Institut für Menschenrechte acts as the monitoring authority. Federalism has turned out to be a problem when implementing the Convention in all these countries, as is the fact that social security systems cover different fields of competence.
In Austria as well as in Germany, the Convention is still discussed nearly exclusively in bodies of experts, with only one exception: inclusive education is interesting for broader sections of the population, too.
The conciliatory proceedings, which are commonly used in Austria in cases of discrimination are also considered an interesting instrument by German and Swiss participants. Article 12 of the Convention on legal capacity is relevant for all of the three countries. Although they use different terms, the approach is similar. Whether the current practice is consistent with the Convention is a question still to be sorted out.
Independent living (art. 19) concerns the right to choose one's residence. In Germany, this right is currently limited by the incremental costs clause (paragraph 13, Social Act XII), but at the same time, inclusive social community is given a good deal of thought too.
As far as work is concerned, the main issue in Germany and in Austria is to acquire access to the common labour market. The Austrian province of Vorarlberg was held up as a positive example.
Access to suffrage is comprehensive is Austria, but deficient in Germany, for there is no suffrage if a person is taken care of in all matters. In Austria, the Convention is used as an interpretation help only. In Germany, the majority of experts presumes that in cases of discrimination there is an individual enforceability of the Convention if the norm is concrete enough.
Antje Welke of the Deutscher Verein für öffentliche und private Fürsorge summarized the outcomes of the meeting. The participants appreciated the open discussion culture even on stiff subjects.
Hansjörg Seckauer is the editor of kontraste, the Austrian journal on social policy, and works as a lecturer at the department of politics and social policy, Johannes Kepler University Linz. The article was translated by Irene Köhler (ÖKSA).
Situation of NGOs in Lithuania
Angele Cepenaite
Challenges of NGOs in crisis period
It is a big challenge for Lithuanian NGOs to strengthen civil society in a period when national budget and budgets of municipalities are deficient. The State enterprise “Register centre” lists 32.476 NGOs in Lithuania (2009). The Statistical department monitored that the NGOs in Lithuania created 14.769 work places. In spite of being micro-enterprises the NGOs in Lithuania are doing a great job in developing public participation mechanisms and developing our democracy.
In the period of crisis NGOs especially mobilized to cope with poverty. The NGO “Food bank” (Maisto bankas) twice every year invites non-profit organizations and volunteers to help poor people by collecting food. The spring campaign of 2011 took place in 48 Lithuanian cities and volunteers from around 250 NGOs participated and gathered food donated for poor people for more than 220.000 Euro. But the movement of NGOs still has problems to solve - in reality there are 44 - 91% fewer NGOs functioning actively in Lithuania.
Recent activities of Lithuanian National Committee
The National Committee is working to discuss and disseminate in the community actual and new ideas connected to social welfare policy and its implementation, by organizing trainings, seminars or conferences.
In 2010, together with Mykolas Romeris University, we organized a joint Lithuanian, Estonian, Latvian, Swedish, Polish and Norwegian expert meeting “Social economy and poverty reduction” (partially financed by ICSW Europe, Lithuanian Science Council and firm “Senukai”). The discussed issues were very topical for new democracies.
The National Committee especially pays big attention to social service quality and service providers qualifications. Following a governmental decree concerning social workers who had no higher social work education, we organized a big campaign to help these persons to obtain 40 or 60 credits at member universities by widely disseminating information and preparing training programmes.
In 2011, in partnership with the European Institute for Community-based Conflict Resolution (Austria), sponsored by Vilnius and Salzburg municipalities, the National Committee organized a 5 day international training session on Community Dialogue issues for 40 representatives of different Vilnius communities, NGOs and municipal institutions. Participants of the training learned to use dialogue skills for constructive conflict resolution in culturally diverse situations.
Successful models of NGO cooperation with local authorities and government do not eliminate the need for building a strong social dialogue. We would like to share experiences with other countries in this field.
Angele Cepenaite is President of the Lithuanian National Committee of ICSW and Assoc. prof. of Mykolas Romeris University. She can be contacted by email.
Launch 2012 European Year
Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations
18 January saw the launch of the 2012 European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. In his opening speech to launch the Year, Commissioner László Andor outlined why the idea of this European Year comes at exactly the right time. “For years, we have been talking about the challenges that population ageing would pose for Europe’s economies and societies. When we discussed demographic change, we tended to look into the distant future — half a century from now. But we were overlooking the fact we are now at a critical turning point as the baby-boomers reach retirement age. The average age in our countries has been rising continuously for many years. But now the crucial balance between the active and the retired members of society will be changing very fast as many people move into retirement and few enter the labour market. So it is high time to look at the solutions and develop a positive approach to tackling the challenges of ageing.”
Commissioner Andor stated that the European Year will only be a success if government at all levels, business, the social partners and the public are ready to get involved. He hopes that all players commit themselves to specific actions and goals during 2012, so that older people’s opportunities improve tangibly and they can start making a greater contribution to society during the Year itself.
The Commission has developed a website for the European Year to collect and present information on commitments entered into at all levels across the EU under the banner of the European Year.
For more information see the EU website.
Counteract consequences of austerity
Social Platform letter to heads of state
At the EPSCO Council meeting of February 17, and within the framework of the European Semester, member states discussed action priorities in the areas of employment and social policies for 2012 on the basis of the 2012 Annual Growth Survey (AGS). Social Platform called on member states to commit to a social contract that consists of a set of concrete actions for protecting the vulnerable and for supporting the employment of young people, and other key target groups with difficulty in accessing sustainable and quality employment. Such a contract will counteract the social consequences of fiscal consolidation and austerity measures implemented in member states.
As a starting point for developing such a social contract and in line with the priorities set by the AGS for 2012, these actions should include:
- Defend social protection and improve the effectiveness of social protection systems;
- Implement integrated Active Inclusion strategies;
- Ensure access to affordable quality services supporting integration in the labour market and in society;
- Identify the most urgent needs and propose concrete actions, targeting in particular young people who are not in employment, education or training.
Social Platform called on the ministers of Employment and Social Affairs at the EPSCO Council to formulate and recommend clear action priorities to the Heads of State for their Council meeting at the beginning of March. The full text of the letter to the Heads of State can be found here.
Funding for social objectives
Social Platform address to European Parliament
Social Platform President, Conny Reuter, was invited by the European Parliament's Committee on Employment on 26 January to have an exchange of views on the future regulation for the European Social Fund (ESF). The ESF is the EU's main financial instrument for supporting employment in the member states as well as promoting economic and social cohesion.
During the hearing the Social Platform pointed out the following key issues in the proposal:
- Focus on social objectives: We welcome the identification of “social inclusion and combating poverty” as one of the four thematic objectives of the ESF.
- Budget of ESF - Earmarking: We support the proposed earmarking of 20% of the ESF budget to social inclusion and combating poverty.
- Partnership with NGOs in implementing the ESF programme: We fully support the inclusion of non-governmental organisations in the article dedicated to partnership, together with social partners.
- Ensure funding of NGOs: We welcome the proposals on flat rate, contribution in kind and lump sums as these particularly target small organisations applying for ESF support.