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SOCIAL CARE THEMATIC BUDGET 1.
Social Care Thematic Budget
The Social Care Thematic Budget is an initiative of Wijkbelangen Emmerhout (http://www.emmerhoutspringlevend.nl/welkom). This is a local Community Group from the municipality of Emmen in the Dutch province of Drenthe. This initiative was developed with the support of Movisie1 (www.movisie.com), the Dutch Institute for Social Work and of LSABewoners/LSA, the Dutch National residents platform (http://www.lsabewoners.nl/en/). It is intended to monitor the budget for Social Care policies in the Emmerhout neighbourhood. It aims to promote greater transparency and the actual implementation of the rights to social care and the Right to Challenge from a human rights perspective. Characterization of Emmerhout Dr. T. Postma, advisor of the local community social enterprise Op Eigen Houtje and a member of the Study group on budget monitoring, characterizes Emmerhout as follows: “In due time it became apparent that the municipality with their initial top down attitude and culture of highly skilled civil servants versus the local workers, could not adequately deal with both local and external circumstances; they, therefore, needed for their policy making more input, knowledge and commitment of the local communities and villages in order to arrive at innovative solutions for complex problems at the policy level. Local organisations like district councils as here in Emmerhout came into life and started to participate as recognized partners for the municipality and showed their strength in working bottom-up and in a certain respect, also middle-out. Therefore, this already proven successful district council was asked to participate in the budget monitoring experiment of the Emmen municipality. We, as a local grass root organization, take part, because it fits in our ambition and vision of having an open government and to govern our own district; another part of our vision is that we need to have empowered, committed, and knowledgeable residents to provide for high quality input and countervailing power vis- à-vis the government and its civil servants to obtain a real ‘civil society’ and realise optimal happiness and wellbeing of our population. Note that this district may be considered a district containing generally people that can be characterized as having on average a low social economic status (i.e. high unemployment, social isolation: loneliness, less urban mobility), and also 1 The
Social Care Thematic Budget is an activity carried out as part of an international project supported by Oxfam Novib, under which Brazil and Uganda apply the methodology at district level and the Netherlands at the neighbourhood level.
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greying of the local population is an issue here, as recognized by the district council, the latter means the coming into existence of empty schools and specific problems for the elderly." Source: Postma, T. Presentation Budget monitoring Emmerhout, 3 October 2015, Emmerhout. The information sources that we used to work on the Emmerhout budget were at the one hand national, i.e., the Data Portal of the Dutch Government (https://data.overheid.nl/); and on the other hand local. We used Open Spending (www.openspending.nl) from the Open State Foundation to check the figures available on Emmen. We also used budget documents available (May 2015) on the site of the municipality of Emmen. Furthermore we used written documents produced by civil servants of the Municipality of Emmen at the request of local citizens involved in budget monitoring. The local residents received from Movisie and LSA a training on thematic budget monitoring based on a of human rights perspective. Beside they followed a training on neighbourhood budget offered by the municipality of Emmen. The Social Care Thematic Budget in Emmerhout includes local budget-related Programs and Actions contemplated in the local Budget Regulation (Social Domain, Care and Wellbeing). The local Study group Budget Monitoring has chosen the following area: Relationships with citizens and Authorized Consultative Partners; Sheltered Employment Act; Social Support Act Guidance; Participation; Grants Social and socio-cultural work; Sheltered housing; Sport; Budgets informal care. On the National level, the Thematic Budget includes the national budget-related Programs and Actions contemplated in the Long Term Care Act, the Social Support Act, the Health Insurance Act, the Childcare Act, the Participation Act and the Health, Welfare and Sport Budget Act. The following items were identified for building this Thematic Budget: a. National resources available for social care policies as defined in the Social Care Act; a. Local resources available for social care policies as defined in the local Social Domain and Wellbeing Budget Regulation; b. The actions contemplated in the implementation of the local Social Domain and Wellbeing Budget Regulation;
1.1.
The concepts of Social Care and Community Rights:
Social Care is care that close to the (living) world of the person seeking help can be organized, often with the support of one's own circle of acquaintances. This seems to point any fingers in the same direction: greater emphasis on own strength of citizens, less technocratic and bureaucratic regulations, with a central role for clients and their networks.
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Community Rights The local citizen platform Wijkbelangen Emmerhout is part of the national residents platform LSABewoners that want to introduce Community Rights in the Netherlands, i.e. rights which allow residents to get more space to develop local initiative. We therefore chose to adopt a Social Care concept in this project that is related to one of those community rights, namely the Right to Challenge which includes: Enabling citizen initiatives to take in hand public tasks, including health and care, by biding to run authority services where they believe they can do so differently and better, either as a performer or as a direct taskmaster assigning pieces of work to and monitoring the work of professional implementation organizations. It entails: •
Improving the quality of collective public services;
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Democratization of access to city services;
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Promoting policies designed for turning neighborhoods into more sustainable places for people to live in.
In this context, Wijkbelangen Emmerhout manages for now eight years a local municipal neighbourhood budget. It has taken in 2013 the initiative for a resident driven social enterprise (Bewonersbedrijf2 Op Eigen Houtje). Through this initiative local residents of Emmerhout aims to develop the neighbourhood on the economic, physical and social level. Op Eigen Houtje strives as much as possible to earn its own money and therefore be as less as possible dependent on municipal grants.
2.
What are Thematic Budgets?
The Thematic Budgets are a tool developed by Inesc3 for monitoring the Federal Budget in connection with the Racial Equality, Children and Adolescents, Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) and Environmental agendas using open data available at the Follow Brazil platform (Federal Senate), which also hosts analyses carried out by Inesc. The main distinguishing feature of the TB methodology is that it is focused on the so-called subjects of rights4: which expand the notion of budget to address issues beyond those dealt with by public administration agencies, considering both the intersectoral nature of public policies and other policy impacts on the same topic or territory, often acting in opposite ways and with different interests. Considering the key importance of subjects of rights, another essential aspect 2
The principles of a Residents Company are derived from how in England Community Development Trusts Enterprises operate. The model of BewonersBedrijf is an initiative of LSABewoners, the National Partnership Active residents (LSA). An association of and for active residents. 3 Based on Inesc's work, the Feminist Center for Studies and Advisory Services (CFEMEA) developed a methodology for preparing the Thematic Budget for Women and the National Food and Nutrition Security Council developed one for preparing the FNS Thematic Budget. 4The focus on subjects of rights is recommended in Inesc's Budget and Rights methodology. To learn more, kindly visit: http://www.inesc.org.br/biblioteca/publicacoes/metodologia-do-inesc/manual-deformacao-em-orcamento-e-direitos-orcamento-publico-para-a-promocao-dos-direitos-humanos/view.
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of the methodology is that of the need to keep an ongoing dialogue with social movements and civil society organizations whose actions are focused on a certain topic.
3.
Dialogue with subjects of rights
A partnership was established with LSABewoners to build this thematic budget together with Wijkbelangen Emmerhout. That local platform of active residents has a working group dedicated to study budget monitoring in relation a.o. to social care and right to challenge. Meetings were held with the platform to discuss the social care budget, and considering the guidelines for public policies on social care currently in force, we identified the above mentioned Budget Programs at the national level that could have an impact on social care in the Emmerhout neighbourhood. Then we focused on the local and the sub-local level. Identifying the Loca (Financial)l Open Data Opportunity Structure We define the Local (Financial) Open Data Opportunity Structure as the whole of conveniences and conditions that are favourable to make (financial) information available to the public without any restriction. We identified the Budget Programs hereunder at the municipality level that are of interest for the citizens. To do this we consulted first (spring 2015) the online available PDF-files of the Emmen budget and in the autumn the online open database OpenSpending.nl from the Open State Foundation. Budget Programs (links to OpenSpending): • Budget Main Function Governing Board 2015. • Budget Main function Culture and Recreation 2015. • Budget Main function Social Services and Social Services 2015.
OpenSpending.nl offers a sustainable access to all If3 information (Information for Third Parties). It is the first milestone towards financial transparency. However the database does not offer detailed budget posts at this moment (October 2015). If3
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namely offers three levels where you often come at the lower level to budget posts as 'purchase not durable goods' and 'other clearances’. There is a need for more insight and depth. Where If3 data provides but three layers of detail, the underlying information (in the neighbourhoud) was indeed that which Wijkbelangen Emmerhout is looking for. Beside the database does not offer financial breakdowns on district and neighbourhood level5. Taking in account the results of this scan we concluded that in Emmen/Emmerhout, the Local (Financial) Open Data Opportunity Structure does not allow a thorough monitoring of the budget. There is a case here for the deepening of the local democracy in regard to financial flows. The study group budget monitoring decided - based on local priorities and available data - to focus on the following social domains:
• Begroting Hoofdfunctie Algemeen Bestuur 2015 • (1) Relationships with citizens and Authorized Social Partners. • Budget Main function Culture and Recreation 2015. • (2) Grants socio-cultural work. • (3) Sport. • Budget Main function Social Services and Social Services 2015. • (4) Participation.
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(5) Assisted living (6) Accompaniment (7( Sheltered Employment
Based on this selection, a broad debate can be launched with local residents and the local government to advocate for the need for adopting an intersectoral approach to the planning, implementation, and monitoring of this policy, which is not limited to transportation. 4.
Monitoring the Public Budget 1.1. Revenues: Revenues for the Social Care Policy are made up of: municipal and State funds.
Funds earmarked in the State Budget for Social Care are decentralized to the municipalities (disposable) under the Social Support Act, the Participation Act and the Childcare Act. Under the Sheltered Unemployment ACT funds are devolved, i.e. the The Open State Foundation works actually on the disclosure of the financial reports detail of local governments wit a blue print in the province of Groningen. 5
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municipality cannot dispose as will of it. This budget is not disposable, meaning that the budget is not transferable to a citizen initiative to implement the services: it cannot be used directly by the neighborhood. Examples of functions / products are for the Social Support Act: • Assistive devices; • Domestic care; • Coaching / Daily Time Occupation; • Short stay; • Transport.
1.2. Spending: Municipality of Emmen Regarding expenses, we identified items and sub-items of the Emmen’s municipality Budget that have an impact on social care at the neighbourhood level: • • •
Budget Main Function Governing Board 2015. Budget Main function Culture and Recreation 2015. Budget Main function Social Services and Social Services 2015.
The main budget program of the Emmen’s municipality related to social care is the Budget Main function Social Services and Social Services 2015.The budget executing agencies at the neighborhood level would be: • Caregiving; • Social Support Act Office Local Office; • Social neighborhood team. Due to the lack of data we were not able to determine the budget execution rate neither on the neighborhood level nor on the municipal level. Next steps: A advocacy campaign will be organized to request a plan of action on tracking financial detail reports up to the neighborhood/zip code level.
1. Relationships with citizens and Authorized Social Partners. Authorized Social Partners are an important link between the municipality and the residents. They consist of group of residents, entrepreneurs and other representatives of a village, neighborhood or area. They are the official representation and the permanent interlocutor for the municipality. They are also an important point of contact for all residents of the area. The consultative council has officially recognized 35 Consultation Partners.
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• Budget Emmen municipality: € 2.184.925. • Budget Emmerhout : € 25.685 Ambition / dream: At this time, residents of Emmen manages by themselves this budget through the ASP/EOP. This participation mechanism is already in place and it is the most important form of citizen control on municipal budget in Emmen. The 35 ACP's (EOP) from Emmen have the money and the right to spend it themselves.
2. Grants socio-cultural work. Shaping a movement in the direction of shared self-reliance. It is not (anymore) to the government to regulate matters that belong to the society itself. Residents (groups of) are able to pick up things and organize. •
Budget Emmen municipality:
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Budget Emmerhout: not applicable.
€ 5.789.358
Participation from the point of view of the residents: Neighborhood: weavers, community social enterprise (Bewonersbedrijf Op Eigen Houtje), Repair Café en so on: everything that falls under Emmerhout Glue6. Neighborhood budget: First stage: further development and implementation of Emmerhout Glue, sustainability, methodology development, empowerment etc. Position residents: From the perspective of the district: to customize. Residents know what is happening in the neighborhood. To work based on what already exists and build on. Neighborhoods' based effort direction neighborhood budget: Increase citizen participation in drawing up local economy plans. Ambitions / dreams: One’s own choice with respect to type of support expected, the residents know what is needed and what skills are required.
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An example of an innovation developed in this district is the so-called Emmerhout-glue, this is a social innovation in terms of a network organization that ensures a more integrated approach of people with their individual problems, which necessitates former independent organizations and initiatives to collaborate.
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3. Sport. Promotion of Sports and Culture within the municipality of Emmen; Increased participation of young people in sports and culture; Increased participation of seniors Sport and Culture; Make sport available; Make culture available through Centers of Visual Arts and grants.
• Budget Emmen municipality € 1.186.700 • Budget: Emmerhout: € 221.433 Participation from the point of view of residents: Neighborhood: Comprehensive school involvement, activities from the neighborhood team, developing experience / move garden, experience path, Emmerhout glue, movement and culture for adults, community social enterprise Bewonersbedrijf. Neighborhood budget: First step is no budget without first commitment. Position residents: From the perspective of the neighborhood: both organizers and participants. Effort from the neighborhood in direction of the neighborhood budget. community social enterprise Bewonersbedrijf, see above Effort towards residents to strengthen participation: Promoting participation by organizing together with citizens . Ambition / dream: Emmerhout: hub of well-being
4. Participation. Work and Study; Preventing inflows and encourage outflows from the alimony; Promoting reintegration of non-alimony titleholders (so called NUGers in Dutch); Encouraging social participation; To participate and to develop; Income: income provision for people in the alimony system; Implementation of special assistance, minimum income and long-term allowance; Social affairs and health care through debt services; The (early) repayment of (the causes of) financial problems; Poverty Policy
• Budget Emmen municipality € 61.713.192 • Budget Emmerhout: € 6.180.743 Ambition / dream: Decrease in number of welfare recipients
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5. Sheltered Housing (assisted living) Sheltered housing is about providing shelter and support to people with mental illness. These are people for whom participatory support from a protected residential is central.
• Budget Emmen municipality € 15.842.000 • Personal contributions from clients ad € 200.00 • Budget Emmerhout: € 1.200.000 Emmerhout-Glue: people with disabilities are vulnerable, but live in the district and it has to be made sure that this group does not become isolated. Participation from the point of view of residents: Awareness in the neighborhood that it consists of a diversity of residents. Information for the neighborhood, where Assisted living find place whereby local residents are tempted to accept. Ambition / dream: "Your neighborhood, so you can decide”
6. Accompaniment Activities aimed at promoting self-reliance and participation of someone so that she / he can stay in his own environment as long as possible •
Budget Emmen municipality € 19.474.000
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Personal contributions from clients ad € 779,000
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Budget Emmerhout: € 1.500.000
Participation from the point of view of residents. Neighborhood: Community Social Enterprise / Bewonersbedrijf Op Eigen Houtje, residents, zorgcafé's developing policies informal care. Neighborhood budget: First up: with tenders, further refinement and expansion, securing method Emmerhout-glue, all of course in cooperation with the formal healthcare organizations in the district. This means that the budget for institutional partners not obviously fully go to the institutional partners. Given the developments and experiences it is not in line to cluster budgets with other neighborhoods budgets.
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Position residents: From perspective village / neighborhood: control and responsibility into own hands, empowerment, utilize the talents of the residents. Ambitions / dreams: Nobody fall between two stools in Emmerhout
7. Sheltered Employment (Re)integration on the labor market of vulnerable groups (like people with a disability). Promoting Social Return on Investment, by developing tenders cycles which support the employers commitment to the goal to include more 'vulnerable persons in the labor market. " This budget not disposable and is used to fund the operation of social work companies. •
Budget Emmen municipality € 32.720.000
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Partly Government subsidy ad € 29,839,000
Ambition / dreams: The residents have some ideas about this. These ideas can not be carried out until now, because the budget appears not transferable. From the perspective of the local economy, the residents see opportunities to get tot work with this group whether independently, or in partnership with the social work company Emco. Possible projects: neighborhood information point, community social enterprise, (garden maintenance - for example, for individuals), edible garden, laundry - and ironing, cleaning windows, small maintenance jobs, local bus.
12 Findings Citizens from Emmerhout:
Find budget monitoring based on a human right perspective an ‘eye opener’ to analyze their local practice
Find budget monitoring a powerful tool to have a say in local policy and take responsibility for the development of their local community;
See a strong connection between local community rights (Right to Challenge) and budget monitoring;
Have a strong tradition of community building and citizen driven change
Have strong networks from local to national level
Are social enterprise oriented
Financial flows
The Local (Financial) Open Data opportunity structure in Emmen: o
Allows citizens to have a global insight in financial flows on the municipal level
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Needs a sharpening along both the financial and urban dimensions in order to be fully useful for citizens on the sub-local level, i.e.:
Detailed financial reports from at least all budget lines pertaining to the policy themes that are of interest for active citizens.
Financial breakdowns on the zip code level. Emmerhout (7.000 unhabitants) has three zip code areas (7823, 7825, 7883) and 173 zip codes.
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Open Data need to be translated in a human-friendly and visual way (Open Datavisualization)
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There is in Emmen/Emmerhout a case for an advocacy toward the improvement of the local (Financial) Open Data opportunity Structure.
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The Right to Local Open Data is strongly connected to Community Rights.