The National Alliance for Social Responsibility held with the special participation of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy – Ivanka Shalapatova, the biggest event in the social field for the year, which brought together more than 150 representatives from state institutions, municipalities, providers, managers and teams of social services, consumers, NGOs, together with qualified speakers and experts of NASO. Once again, the Alliance made it possible for the Forum with the longest history to meet the professionals involved in the development of social services and care for people. The program of the Forum includes the following topics. Presentation of good practices in the social field.
Introduction to the participants was made by:
Mr. Georgi Georgiev, Chairman of the National Alliance for Social Responsibility
Ms. Ivanka Shalashatova, Minister of Labour and Social Policy,
Mr. Ivan Portnih, Mayor of Varna Municipality
Ms. Valeria Buzhan, Vice President of EASPD,
Dr. Marina Stefanova, Founder and Chairperson of the Board of the Bulgarian Association of CSR Specialists, lecturer at the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” moderated the first part of the event.
Among the official guests of the event were Timothy Ghilain, Interim Chief Executive of the European Association of Social Service Providers for People with Disabilities (EASPD), Valerija Buzan, Vice President of EASPD, Luk Zelderloo, former Secretary General of EASPD, an expert at ESF+, Ivanka Shalapatova, Minister of Labour and Social Policy, experts from the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Social Assistance Agency, Agency for Quality of Social Services and other representatives of central and local government.
The participants in the forum had the opportunity to address their questions, opinions, and comments to Minister Shalapatova related to the criteria for successful management of social services, the functionalities of the Integrated Information System, the lack of specialists willing to work in the Family Type Accommodation Centers, the importance of prevention in the social environment, the difficulties in working with persons with dementia, the problems in providing social services in small municipalities.
The Minister of Labour and Social Policy answered all the questions and paid special attention to the topic of successful management of social services, which according to her is extremely important. She said that for young staff who want to develop into leadership positions, there are no opportunities for academy training and leadership training which is empowering, modern and successful and added that she is open to having a conversation and sharing suggestions for successful management.
On the functionalities of the Integrated Information System that will be implemented in social services, Minister Shalapatova said she is optimistic and that with the help of the professionals in the country, there will be a good balance in collecting quantitative and qualitative data to give a clear direction of work.
Regarding the Family Residential Centres, she added that a very good format has been developed for the provision of care in the FRCs and that there is a shortage of people willing to work in these services, but this needs to be changed.
Regarding prevention, she said that it is happening successfully in Bulgaria.
Minister Shalapatova appealed about the problem of dementia and that it is necessary to think bigger and to look for ways to work with the health system. About mobile teams in small municipalities, she expressed her opinion that it is not cost-effective for Bulgaria to create mobile teams in every small municipality, and the practice is to center them in larger municipalities, but to give access.
The discussion was also joined by representatives from the MLSP, the Agency for Social Assistance (ASA), and the Agency for Quality of Social Services (AQSS), who answered a number of questions related to the planning of social services, the Quality Regulation of the SU, the National Map of Social Services, which should be ready in 2024, and the financing of social services.
Ms. Teodora Lyubenova, Chief Expert “Social Inclusion”, MLSP, supported the statement of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy, stating that there is continuity and MLSP continues its work with the aim of grading social services, including the improvement of the Ordinance on standards for remuneration of employees performing activities for the provision of social services, which are financed from the state budget.
Ms. Venelina Bogdanova, Head of the Department “Social Services for Adults”, ASA, told about the process of creating the National Map and the financing of social services. She noted that the data collected from the social services is currently being analyzed and the approved ones will be included in the Map. Regarding the funding, she said that for now they are funded in the old way. Under the new order, funding will happen after the adoption of the Map, and new financial standards will be developed.
Representatives and experts from the Agency for Quality of Social Services (ACSS) – Ms. Diana Petrova and Ms. Hristina Panteva actively participated in the discussion. Ms. Petrova answered questions on the topic and shared more about the Agency’s work and support of social services.
Representatives and experts from the National Association of Municipalities of the Republic of Bulgaria, including Rositsa Dimitrova, Co-Chair of the Social Policy Committee, Veliko Tarnovo Municipality – Director of the Directorate; Veselina Boteva, Vice-Chair of the Social Policy Committee, Plovdiv Municipality – Director of the Directorate and Maya Kazandjieva, Vice-Chair of the Social Policy Committee, Burgas Municipality – Director of the Directorate, also spoke on the topic.
The second part of the Forum was devoted to good practices and opened a discussion on “Providers, organization, management and quality” in which special guests from Europe, representatives from municipalities, NGOs, and universities participated and shared their successful models for the development of social services. Also participating on the topic were experts from NASO who presented their good experiences on the topic of “Partnership in support of good practice development”.
On the last day of the Forum, the program continued with an interesting and inspiring workshop, moderated by Prof. Sevdzhihan Eyubova, on “Motivation and Teamwork in Social Services”. The workshop started with a game that aimed to bring out important messages about teamwork and in particular for social workers.
The second part of the Forum was devoted to good practices and opened a discussion on “Providers, organization, management and quality” in which special guests from Europe, representatives from municipalities, NGOs, and universities participated and shared their successful models for the development of social services. Also participating on the topic were experts from NASO who presented their good experiences on the topic of “Partnership in support of good practice development”.
The National Annual Forum ended with an emotional, inspiring, and meaningful conversation between the ambassadors of partnership and success of NASO – Dr. Marina Stefanova, Sofia University, and Mr. Luk Zelderloo, Former Secretary General of the European Association of Service Providers for People with Disabilities and expert at the European Social Fund +, on the topic “Leadership, Partnership, Success Rules for Better Lives”. In the beginning, Dr. Stefanova addressed the participants with the statement that there will always be problems, but it is important for people to solve them – personally and professionally. She also said that we need to talk to a person who deals with difficulties, and who knows how to face the tailwind, which is exactly what Mr. Luke Zelderlo is, so she conducted an interview with him in which he gave his advice and messages on how to be successful, develop useful partnerships and deal with crises and challenges in work and life.
