Social Co-ops & Social Care: Civil Solutions

to Public Services

The Role of Reciprocity

Presentation themes

!  Civil Society & Social/Solidarity Economy – what are they?

!  What’s the nature of social care? !  Form & Function !  Implications for social service delivery

Civil Society & Social Economy

!  Civil society is the social impulse to engage in free and democratic association, to create community and to engage in the operations of social life, which includes politics (Havel). The modern state is an outgrowth of this process, as was the polis in ancient times.

!  For Aristotle civil society is what makes human life possible; it was both the means and the end of human association as the pursuit of the good life, which is in essence an associational life.

Civil Society & Social Economy

!  Social Economy – within civil society, a huge portion of civic activities are carried out by organizations created to provide goods & services through collaboration, by people acting together to realize mutual interests.

!  They include non-profits, voluntary groups, charities, cultural groups, service organizations, trade unions, and co-operatives.

!  Collectively, these organizations, and their networks, constitute the social economy.

Defining the Social Economy

!  Social economy organizations are those organizations whose members are motivated by the principle of reciprocity for the pursuit of mutual economic or social goals, often through the social control of capital.

!  The primary purpose of social economy organizations is the promotion of mutual collective benefit. The aim and function of reciprocity is human solidarity.

Defining the Social Economy

!  The economic principle that defines organizations in the private sector is the exchange of goods and services on the basis of an agreed price, “the exchange of equivalents”. The aim is commercial gain.

!  The economic principle that defines the public sector is redistribution. The purpose of the public sector is the provision of public goods, and the aim of redistribution as an economic principle is equality.

Social Co-ops & Social Care

!  What is social care? !  From a social & economics perspective, social

care revolves around the notion of “relational goods” and the types of organizations that are best suited to provide such goods.

Relational goods

!  Relational goods are are those goods such as care giving, which are services to persons and which are characterized by the exchange of human relations.

!  In relational goods the quality of the personal relationship is at the core of what is exchanged between the provider and the recipient and can be optimally produced only by the provider and the recipient together.

!  The principle of citizen-directed care demands an organizational form that embodies the principle of user empowerment in governance and control rights.

!  Social co-ops are uniquely suited to the provision of social care because they can transform people from being merely the passive recipients of care, to being protagonists in the design and delivery of their care.

!  Reciprocity is the basis of the model. !  Democratic control is how it’s implemented. !  Social co-ops are social enterprises with a

democratic structure.

History !  Social co-ops were a response to the demand for

new, and better, social services !  Grew against a backdrop of an authoritarian,

bureaucratic and inefficient state, and a freeze on public sector hiring.

!  Everywhere, changes in the role of government vis-a- vis public services, citizen dissatisfaction in quality of care & cutbacks in funding have led to a rising interest in co-op models of service delivery.

Size of social co-op sector

!  14,000 social co-ops in Italy employ 280,000 employees of which 30,000 are disadvantaged workers.

!  23% of paid labour in non-profits; 2% of non-profits !  In Bologna, 87% of social services provided by

social co-ops. !  Quebec: 6,000 jobs, 81,000 members, 6 million

hours of homecare by 101 social enterprises, 47 are social co-ops

Legislation

!  The purpose of a social co-operative is to “pursue the general interest of the community in the human promotion and social integration of citizens”.

!  Legislation stipulates that social co-ops have a special mandate to provide for the integration of disadvantaged persons into society.

Disadvantaged persons are identified as consisting of the following groups: physically or mentally disabled; ex patients of psychiatric institutes; ex inmates; drug addicts; alcoholics; homeless, minors at risk, vulnerable seniors.

Multi-stakeholder Co-ops !  A new model which makes possible the collaboration

of different stakeholder groups to co-produce the service being provided.

!  Typically include: users, workers/carers, community stakeholders

!  Benefits: –  Commitment to user/members –  Eliminate information inequalities –  Allow for blended funding –  Give all key stakeholders control rights –  Promote innovation & problem solving –  Allow for volunteer contribution

!  Social care services provided by social co-ops are not seen as a replacement of public services; they are seen as a complement to public services.

!  Social co-ops receive public funding & employer benefits for the services they provide.

CoPaps

Diffusing Reciprocity

!  Transformation of institutional culture – good ideas are contagious!

!  At both regional and national levels, social co-op federations negotiate directly with governments and municipalities on –  Funding levels –  Quality standards –  Evaluation of services –  Regulatory systems –  State oversight

!  The future role of social co-ops is seen not only as a source of social care, but also as a means to hold government accountable for the provision of public services.

!  Co-op models can help address the following issues: –  An alternative to state delivery on the one hand,

and privatization on the other –  A model for democratizing care –  A model for supporting people receiving direct

payments –  A model for containing costs while improving the

quality and responsiveness of social care –  A means for building a decent society through

reciprocity

Some Key Principles

!  Tenders should be used to achieve service quality not cost savings.

!  People in need should be supported to be people in control.

!  There should be a shift in the balance of power between service users and service providers.

!  Local authorities should hold genuine conversations with their communities.

!  Procurement policies should promote and reward reciprocity as an outcome of care.

What is necessary?

What’s necessary!

!  A coherent alternative vision of social care !  Co-op education: inside & outside government !  Recognition of the distinct roles between State on

one hand & Civil Society on the other !  A new social contract between the social

economy and the State !  Deliberate government investment in the model

– Specific policies identifying the role of social co-ops as a distinct service delivery form with a distinct function