engleski

Changing welfare mix in social services in Croatia: can TSOs answer to new social demands and challenges?

The aim of the paper is to first, explore the contribution and current role that third sector organizations play in provision of social services and in answering to the new social demands and risks in Croatia and, second, the characteristics of environment in which they operate. Unfavorable environment, undeveloped cooperation of TSOs with the government and other stakeholders in service provision result in welfare mix arrangements characterized by dualism in social service system, which questions potentials and contribution of TSOs to lowering inequalities in access to social services. Provision of different social services is one of the central questions for post-industrial societies and for modernization of welfare states, marked by the trends of decentralization, privatization and marketization, as well as new forms of solidarity and social innovations at local levels. Modernization of welfare systems is largely based on the changing of the culture of welfare and changes in the welfare mix arrangements, with the more prominent role of the third sector organizations (TSOs). Trend of the ‘nonprofitization’ of the welfare state (Salamon, 2015) is observed in the Western, as well as in the Eastern European countries. The growth of the third sector in provision of services today is marked by growing marketization, changes in the financial arrangements and cutbacks in public sources, rising bureaucratization etc., which put new challenges to nonprofit service providers. In post-socialist countries, including Croatia, the role of TSOs developed mostly as an answer to unmet social needs and emerging social problems (Bežovan, Matančević, 2017). When it comes to Croatia, notwithstanding the important role TSOs had played in modernization of social, educational and health systems in the end of 19th early 20th century, due to the legacy of the socialist welfare state, the development of welfare mix and of the third sector over past decades have been impeded, the role of the third sector is still relatively weak, and the social service sector is still marked by relatively strong statism, which leaves narrowed space for development of third sector in providing social services and its professionalization. The third sector in Croatia remains fragmented and relatively small compared to the third sector particularly in the western countries. Government was and still is reluctant to partner with TSOs in the provision of social services. Socio-cultural environment is not conducive for strengthening of the welfare mix in Croatia. Lack of trust on the part of both citizens and state authorities in the professionalism and capacity of TSOs, as well as lack of cooperation among key stakeholders are reported to be crucial barriers for the flourishing of TSOs in the social service domain. Overregulation, as representatives of the third sector perceive it, is an unfavorable environment for strengthening its role in the welfare mix arrangements (Zimmer, Pahl, 2018, Pape et al, 2019). The aim of the paper is to investigate the role that TSOs play in provision of social services and in answering the new social demands and risks in Croatia. The paper aims to address the following questions: (1) what is the current role and contribution of TSOs in answering to new social needs and challenges ; (2) what are the characteristic of the environment in which TSOs operate, i.e. the governance structures and relations with policy makers and other stakeholders. The special highlight will be put on the question: do TSOs, and in what ways, contribute to reducing inequalities in access to social rights and social services in Croatia? The paper is based on the extensive desk research of the secondary research and relevant policy documents and secondary data on the scope and size of the sector, and empirical findings from two complementary sources: partly from the author’s PhD research, and partly from the project Third Sector Impact (7th framework project) in which the author participated. The research methods included: (a) interviews with stakeholders holding different positions in TSOs providing social services (e.g. founders, directors, professional stuff, and clients), (b) expert interviews with policy makers. Qualitative content analysis was applied as a method of data analysis. Findings point out that the development of the welfare mix in Croatia take place in relatively unfavorable socio-culture and financial environment, whereas the cooperation of the third sector with the government and other stakeholders develops slowly. On the other hand, social services are characterized by a strong trend of rise of nonprofit providers, as well as marketization of services as an important contribution to increase and diversification of demands. The system of service providers lacks transparency and is to a significant extent marked by clientelism. It consequently results in service system characterized by dualism in terms of service providers and unequal access to services. Following from the presented findings, the contribution of the paper is in better understanding of the role TSOs play in service provision, but it also sheds new light on conceptualization of the third sector with its distinct characteristics and values, and questions applicability of such conceptualization to the Croatian context. Bezovan, G. & Matancevic, J. (2017) Civil society and positive changes (in Croatian). Zagreb: Školska knjiga Pape, U. et al (2019) Changing Policy Environments in Europe and the Resilience of the Third Sector. Voluntas, 30(2), 11-12. Salamon, L. M. (2015). Introduction: The Nonprofitization of the Welfare State. Voluntas, 26(6), 2147-2154. Zimmer, A., Pahl, B. (2018) Barriers to Third Sector Development. In: Enjolras, B. et al. (eds.) The Third Sector as a Renewable Resource for Europe. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan

third sector ; social services ; welfare mix ; third sector - government cooperation ; Croatia

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