Issues and Recommendations for Community-Based ICT Implemantation in the Social Sector

Author(s):  
Oscar Gutierrez

Complex Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications dedicated to support the provision of community-based services can rarely be implemented by single social services agencies. Technical and funding requirements make it almost prohibitive for such agencies to undertake them in isolation. Furthermore, in the social sector the degree of service interdependence within a community makes it almost necessary that such complex systems be implemented in collaboration as a community-based initiative. But implementations in this context are filled with challenges not normally found in single institutional ICT projects, making community-based ICT initiatives paradoxical and difficult to manage only with conventional project management techniques. This chapter compares ICT management in various sectors. Using the case of Homeless Management Information Systems in the United States, the chapter presents some complexities involved. It then presents a model for understanding the contrasting opposing forces at play in the social sector and offers implementation management recommendations to increase the likelihood of their success.

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 90-94
Author(s):  
Audronė Vareikytė

The development of social services is discussed in the paper. The institutional care system was dominating for a long time in Lithuania. The community-based social services are a new thing for social service users, providers and organizers. The different amount of resources is given to social services in municipalities. Almost 60 percent of social service fund is dedicated to institutional care and there is a tendency to increase the funding of institutional care. The childcare is mostly institutionalised. The social service system has to be directed towards the efficiency of the system, the involvement of private organizations and NGO into the provision of social services, the priority of community based services.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Azeez. E.P

Social Capital is the most crucial asset which significantly influence the efficacy and resilience of any community. Social capital is a dependent variable that depends upon the competence and coherence of the individuals in the community and mode of social relationships, trust and networks they maintain. It is one of the most sustainable social resources that originate from human relations and results on the mutual support of people. Utilization of Social capital has a wide applicability in the process of social inclusion, especially in dealing with the vulnerable and disadvantaged sections in the community itself. Voluntary organizations are very keen to utilize the social capital for community/social services and community development in a sustainable manner. Community based de-institutionalized Palliative Care is one of the foremost among such organizations that made social capital in a strategic way for social inclusion and community well being. This paper analyses the extent to which different elements of social capital helps in initiating the sustainable community based palliative care movement by assessing the unique intervention strategies carried out by the palliative care. This paper explores conceptual questions of how social capital and voluntary community based services are correlated. A case study method was adopted for the study in which ten palliative care units were analyzed. The results show that a number of social capital elements are playing a vital role in the sustainability of community palliative care movement in Kerala.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 7-9
Author(s):  
Vilija Blinkevičiūtė

The present text is the opening and welcome speech to the 4 international conference “Social work and the development of community services”, which was in 2001, Vilnius, November 23-24. The speaker was Vilija Blinkevčiūtė - the minister of Social security and work ministry of Lithuania Republic. The minister welcomed the participants of conference and presented the goals of the Eleventh Government of the Republic of Lithuania to develop and enhance the social assistance system.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  

Developed by Paulo Freire, critical consciousness (CrC) is a philosophical, theoretical, and practice-based framework encompassing an individual’s understanding of and action against the structural roots of inequity and violence. This article explores divergent CrC scholarship regarding CrC theory and practice; provides an in-depth review of inconsistencies within the CrC “action” domain; and, in an effort to resolve discrepancies within the existing CrC literature, presents a new construct—transformative action (TA)—and details the process of TA development. Comprising three hierarchical levels of action (critical, avoidant, and destructive) for each level of the socio-ecosystem, TA serves as a model for community-based practitioners, such as those working in the fields of social work and public affairs. The authors argue that transformation is necessary to deconstruct the social institutions in the United States that maintain and perpetuate systemic inequity, creating dehumanizing consequences. Through critical TA, community workers can make visible hidden socio-structural factors, such as institutionalized racism and White privilege, countering the historic trend of community workers acting as tools of social control—that is, socializing individuals to adapt to marginalized roles and accept inferior treatment; maintaining and enforcing the status quo; and facilitating conformity with inequitable societal norms and practices. The authors also discuss the implications of community-based TA practice.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S238-S238
Author(s):  
Pamela B Teaster ◽  
Georgia Anetzberger

Abstract Researchers, practitioners and policymakers are daily confronted with multiple and competing situations regarding vulnerable older adults and the complex issues that they face in all aspects of their lives. Challenges can arise in the provision of social services, dispensing justice, conducting research, or addressing legal issues. The purpose of this symposium is to discuss dilemmas that vulnerable older adults and concerned others face by elucidating current and future challenges facing this population, particularly in the realms of compromised health (cognitive impairment); effective status (gender); care arrangements (home and community-based services); and abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Teaster and Anetzberger discuss relevant ethical theories and principles as well as a definition of vulnerability. Santos and Nichols-Hadeed report on ethical issues embedded in vulnerable elders’ cognitive status. Bowland and Halaas highlight the intersection of ethics, gender and vulnerable elders. Niles-Yokum and Beaumaster discuss the nexus of ethics and the provision of home and community based services for vulnerable older adults. Heisler considers vulnerabilities of older adults and ethical challenges when addressing elder abuse. Throughout the papers, we weave the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice.


1979 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-33
Author(s):  
Allie C. Kilpatrick ◽  
Gary L. Shaffer

Baccalaureate social work personnel in the United States have gone through a significant transformation during the past decade. Always a significant part of the social work labour force, they are now being prepared to assume a profes sional role. The two studies discussed in this paper highlight some of the current trends in Batchelor of Social Work programmes which have been accredited by the Council on Social Work Education since 1974. As this transition continues into the 1980's, the Baccalaureate practitioner will play an increasingly important role in the delivery of social services in the U.S.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 299-312
Author(s):  
Ari Juhani Helin ◽  
Tomi Dahlberg

Information and communication technology (ICT) has become an integral part of the daily municipal administration, production and development of municipal services. Social services and health care account for ≥ 50% of municipal ICT expenditure. Municipalities operate and develop their ICT activities with limited ICT resources. This is an incentive for inter-municipal ICT cooperation. Four sets of secondary data are analysed in this article to evaluate how ICT cooperation is carried out in 20 Finnish municipal regions. Transaction cost economics (TCE), resource-based view (RBV), resource dependency theory (RDT) and the concepts of Granovetter’s social network theory are reviewed. The data are used to describe the expected and perceived economic and social benefits of inter-municipal ICT cooperation, and to understand the social connections that influence the execution of inter-municipal ICT cooperation. The data analysis revealed distinctive differences in the amount and forms of ICT cooperation, and regarding its governance. The results suggest that public organisations were able to benefit substantially from well-organised ICT cooperation. The characteristics of social networks were also found to relate to variations in the degree to which ICT cooperation was performed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia M. Rodriguez ◽  
Alexa M. Lahey ◽  
Justin J. MacNeill ◽  
Rebecca G. Martinez ◽  
Nina E. Teo ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare some of the United States’ most devastating health and social inequities faced by people experiencing homelessness. Homeless populations experience disproportionate rates of underlying health conditions, stigma and marginalization that often disenfranchise them from health and social services, and living conditions that potentiate the risk of COVID-19 transmission and adverse outcomes. Methods: Guided by the socio-ecological model, this community-based participatory research study examined the impacts of the COVID-19 public health crisis on people experiencing homelessness in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, and the ways in which homeless service providers prepared for, experienced, and responded to the pandemic. Eighteen (18) semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives of 15 community-based organizations, including shelters and other homeless service providers.Results: Qualitative content analysis revealed multilevel challenges and responses to COVID-19 impact mitigation in this community, including the implementation of diverse safety measures, policies and novel service delivery innovations.Conclusions: Community-based organizations, including homeless shelters, are uniquely qualified to inform pandemic response and disaster risk mitigation in order to respond appropriately to the specific needs of people experiencing homelessness. Many of the emergency measures put in place by homeless service providers in Tippecanoe County, Indiana created opportunities for innovative solutions to longstanding challenges faced by homeless populations that can inform better service delivery moving forward, long after the COVID-19 pandemic. The lessons learned and shared by homeless service providers on the frontline during the COVID-19 pandemic have important implications to improve future disaster response for homeless and other vulnerable populations.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Saadiah Mohamed ◽  
Jaizah Othman ◽  
Othmar Lehner ◽  
Ruhaini Muda

While the premise of Islamic finance embraces  the principles of maqasid al-shariah and risk sharing with  claims to social justice and welfare, the direct impact of the modern Islamic finance industry and its contribution to the social sector  has been limited. This paper examines the claim among critics that there is an inherent  weakness of the present day Islamic banking and finance in terms of its underdeveloped social sector and argues for the need for new models that will enhance a proliferation of shariah compliant financial products  for solutions in the social sector. The paper examines the emergence in Social finance of  social bonds as new financing tools targeting on  social needs and problems that otherwise would not be tackled.  This paper discusses  the benefits of  structuring such a shariah compliant product and  makes recommendations for structuring this new asset class  referred to in this paper  as social sukuk. 


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