Co-Management and Accountability in Welfare

Transcript:Co-Management and Accountability in Welfare:
Co-Management and Accountability in Welfare Services A Cross-Country Comparative Study of Home Elderly Care Emanuele Frezza “Innovation in Local Government” Joint PhD-Training School Spetses, Greece 13.09.2015 Co-management The term co-management refers to an arrangement in which the third sector produces public services in collaboration with the state (Pestoff and Brandsen, 2008). Co-managing public services with third sector organisations represents a relevant source of innovation in the on-going process of public administration reform. The simultaneous engagement of public and non-profit stakeholders for the delivery of a wide range of services occurs mostly at the local level and it has become increasingly common. Even though literature on the topic of joint collaborations between state and third sector actors is extensive, the notion of co-management is still observed by scholars without the support of a unique theoretical and analytical framework. Accountabilty in Public-Third Sector Partnerships: a contested issue In several Western European countries, the creation of public-third sector partnerships for the purpose of welfare services delivery represents an example of a diffused and expanding co-management practice… …However, within those partnerships, public administrations are faced with the need and pressure to hold third sector organisations accountable for quality of service provision and such task is becoming more complex and contested given that: Several types of public-third sector partnerships have been established and their change and reorganisation are constantly in motion. Different accountability mechanisms are progressively introduced into different partnerships, leading to the identification of specific accountability types. Distinct accountability types seem to have become predominant in countries characterized by distinct welfare and administrative systems. RQ: Under what conditions are third sector organisations held accountable to public administration when welfare services are co-managed through partnership agreements? RQ1: What types of public-third sector partnerships exist in Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom for the provision of welfare services? RQ2: What accountability mechanisms are introduced within them? RQ3: What factors influence the emergence of specific types of accountability? Public-Third Sector Partnership Types: a theoretical insight 1) Contracting: the state devolves social services delivery to third sector organisations, however remaining the sole responsible for service provision. 2) Third-party government: service delivery is still transferred to third sector actors, but additional tools can be used by the public authority to allow individuals to choose their own service provider. 3) Cooperation: a relation where there is free flow of information between the two sectors, non-profit organisations follow government rules and