The main purpose of the research
The study aimed to determine how social investments supported under the Programme contribute to the improvement of quality and accessibility of social services and active integration in the region.
The following research methods and techniques have been applied in the course of this evaluation:
▪ Desk research analysis - the analysis includes programming documents, regional and national strategic documents, guidelines, acts, databases from SL2014, competition documents, research reports, evaluation studies, data on public statistics, periodical and annual reports on indicators.
▪ Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) / Computer Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) surveys - these research techniques were applied to:
beneficiaries of the Regional Operational Programme for Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship 2014-2020 (ROP K-PV 2014-2020), a complete sample selection was applied - 175 completed surveys were obtained; inhabitants of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship who are the final recipients of support, a random-layer sample selection was applied - 596 completed surveys.
▪ Individual in-Depth Interviews (IDI) - The IDI study covered representatives of entities involved in the implementation of the ROP K-PV 2014-2020 and
representatives of the Regional Centre for Social Policy in Toruń. A total of 13 interviews were conducted.
▪ Focus Group Interviews (FGI) - this study covered representatives of Social Assistance Centres, Poviat Family Assistance Centres, reintegration entities, family support institutions and foster care system operating in a given area. Four FGI interviews were conducted. A targeted sample selection was used in the study.
▪ Individual Telephone Interviews (ITI)- a study conducted to supplement the attendance of FGI participants: a targeted sample selection was applied, 5 ITI interviews were conducted.
▪ Evaluation Workshop - the evaluation workshop was attended by
representatives of institutions involved in the implementation of the ROP K-PV 2014-2020 and a representative of the Contractor. A targeted sample selection was used in the workshop.
▪ Heuristic method - within this method, the materials and scientific studies needed for this study have been identified and collected.
▪ Benchmarking - within its framework, a complete and targeted selection was applied: the first selection was applied in relation to programmes implemented in Poland at the Voivodeship level (ROP), while the second one was applied in relation to international solutions.
Taking into account the experience from this survey, it is worth paying particular attention to two issues. Firstly, the specificity of the target group of the support under evaluation made it mainly justified to use a mixed-mode research approach - at the stage of CAWI research implementation, it proved impossible to reach such many respondents that would guarantee the implementation of the assumptions concerning sample selection. Secondly, from the point of view of triangulation of the survey data, it proved useful to have a wide variety of categories of respondents in the qualitative research (IDI, ITI and FGI).
Description of the research results
Analysis and evaluation of the degree of relevance of projects in the area of social services and active integration
The first of the discussed elements of this analysis was the dynamics of changes in the number of social assistance benefits in the Voivodeship. In 2018, the most significant were poverty benefits (64.2% of all social welfare benefits) and unemployment benefits (49.7%). Benefits resulting from a long-term or severe disability illness are, in turn, respectively: 36.8% and 34.8% of all benefits. In comparison with 2014, we observe (with only a few exceptions) a decrease in the number of benefits provided – among the reasons for providing social welfare benefits of the greatest importance, the relatively largest decrease concerns unemployment benefits, which reflects a significant
improvement in the situation on the national and regional labour market. However, attention should also be drawn here to the increasingly important category requiring support: senior citizens. Often, people in this category are dependent persons, who are a huge group that needs care. Between 2014 and 2018, the number of residents of
residential social care institutions increased.
In view of the above conclusions, remedial measures are being taken, e.g. the number of daily aid/residence houses has increased significantly. The case of community self-help homes shows that every poviat has such facilities, but their distribution is not evenly distributed (what is important, large urban centres do not offer greater accessibility of such facilities than smaller ones). In the context of these institutions, the needs are growing disproportionately faster than the activities used to satisfy them - a similar
trend is also observed in senior citizens' clubs and self-help homes. Looking further, e.g.
at protected flats, in 2018 we are talking about a noticeable difference in their number, between the national average and the average of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship – to the disadvantage of the latter. Moreover, unlike many other forms of support, in the case of protected housing, we often talk about 'white spots', i.e. poviats which do not have such an aid instrument at all. The situation is different in the case of social housing units, whose availability is higher than the national average.
The analysis also includes support for people with disabilities. The share in the population of people with disabilities aged 16+ (10.5%) is slightly higher in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship than in Poland (9.3%). At the same time, we are dealing with a decline in the professional activity of people with disabilities. In the period 2014-2018, the number of Occupational Therapy Workshops and Occupational Activity Centres increased in the region, however, in the case of the former, there is still a relatively large number of poviats where there are no such institutions. What is
important, within the framework of ROP K-PV 2014-2020 no new entities of this type were planned to be created. In the case of the Social Integration Centres and Social Integration Clubs, we should also talk about the shortages of support institutions in the Voivodeship. Significant changes took place in the field of foster custody, which is related to the statutorily required process of increasing the importance of family custody and decreasing the scale of functioning of foster custody in the institutional model (which is confirmed by a decrease in the share of foster custody graduates in the total number of persons under foster custody).
The intervention evaluated was a response to the problems and trends identified above.
The complexity and diversity of the assistance available within the ROP K-PV 2014-2020 in the scope of social services and active integration should be emphasized. Measures under the ERDF include mainly aid in the form of reconstruction/equipment of
buildings, and ESF measures mainly include integration of persons threatened by exclusion, support for persons on the labour market, increasing the availability of social services, improving the situation of dependent persons and problematic youth and improving access to family support services and foster care. According to the data as of 31 May 2019, PLN 95.3 million was allocated for infrastructure support, 40 co-financing agreements were signed in this respect, which use PLN 64.9 million of the available allocation. PLN 174.2 million of allocations were allocated for support in the scope of active integration, 82 contracts for co-financing were signed in this area for the total amount of PLN 61.0 million. The largest amount of allocation, i.e. PLN 207.3 million, was allocated for measures related to social services, in this area 119 agreements on co-financing were signed for the total amount of PLN 153.4 million. In the context of
planning the future support structure, it should be emphasised that the advantage in the available allocation of financial resources allocated to the area of social services should be increased, while at the same time the stream of support directed to the area of active integration should be reduced. This would be an accurate reflection of the scale and nature of the current needs of the region.
The group most strongly covered by support are people with disabilities and then
dependent persons. The impact of projects carried out (within ROP) on the availability of support should be assessed as definitely significant, which is emphasized by the
representatives of particular categories of support stakeholders. However, one-third of aid recipients still see a problem with the availability of forms of support that would be useful to them. In this case, specific barriers restricting such accessibility, resulting from, inter alia, mismatches between architectural and transport infrastructure, low
motivation, lack of adequate facilities, staff or lack of knowledge about available
support, are of crucial importance. The qualitative study also signalled a lack of interest of potential project providers in the financial resources of project providers and
shortages in smaller urban centres of entities which could undertake the implementation of specific projects.
The relevance and adequacy of support offered within the ROP K-PV 2014-2020 were also analysed in relation to selected strategic documents. The most important of them was the National Programme for Counteracting Poverty and Social Exclusion 2020, with which the ROP is characterised by a relatively high degree of cohesion. Also in the case of other strategic documents (also at the regional level), we deal with a high degree of consistency of interventions in the ROP K-PV 2014-2020 with their provisions.
Analyzing the adequacy of interventions, an attempt was also made to identify the most important problems faced by project participants. Above all, these were problems such as stress, ill-health or financial problems. Difficulties, such as mental ill-health or difficult financial situation, may be eliminated by the projects implemented, but rather in an indirect way – it is difficult to talk about a direct (and noticeable in the short term) impact of the evaluated projects, solution of the problems mentioned above.
Even half of the project participants do not see any forms of support that would be more useful for them than the support received in the projects, which should be treated as an additional confirmation of the adequacy and comprehensiveness of the evaluated intervention. In the future financial perspective, however, it is possible to expand the scope of available aid further, or to emphasise more clearly the availability of specific forms of aid (e.g. by separating specific types of projects, and sometimes – as in the case of senior citizens – Sub-measures dedicated to them).
The analysis did not identify any significant problems related to the project selection process (the analysis covered the selection and evaluation conditions specified in the competition regulations and project selection criteria). In general, the issue of
compliance with horizontal rules should also be assessed positively
Assessment of the impact of project implementation on the reduction of inequalities in access to social services and active integration
The conducted research allowed to obtain opinions on the results acquired through participation in the projects. In the quantitative study, opinions about “soft” effects increasing overall psychological comfort, such as greater satisfaction or making new acquaintances, dominate. As far as the carers of dependent persons are concerned, they have mainly gained new knowledge and skills. The respondents to the survey agreed that without participation in the project, it would not be possible to achieve specific results. As far as the perspective of project implementers is concerned, more than half of the beneficiaries stated that without the co-financing, specific activities undertaken in projects would not be possible (or would be undertaken to a lesser extent / later).
The beneficiaries' perspective on the impact of the projects in terms of quality and availability of services reveals a positive picture indicating that the impact of the intervention was multidimensional and varied. The issue of deinstitutionalisation of support is particularly relevant here. In most projects, we can speak of
deinstitutionalised support, i.e. support provided in the local community, with a greater potential for deinstitutionalisation in social services. Analysing the character of
supported and actually implemented projects, it should be stated that the intervention under evaluation has a positive impact on the deinstitutionalisation process. The deinstitutionalisation process, which takes place in formulas such as providing services in the local community, should be assessed as dynamically progressing and giving noticeable results.
The situation is worse with regard to the participation of social economy entities and the non-governmental sector in the implementation of social inclusion measures. Such a state of affairs usually results from insufficient trust among both parties (public
institutions are the other party here), often reluctance to cooperate and differences in the way public and non-governmental entities function. Another problem here is the smaller (concerning the public sector) financial and organisational potential of social economy entities (including non-governmental organisations).
Analyzing the effects of the most effective projects, we can speak in the case of activities related to professional activation, support for disabled people, activities related to
assistantship and care services, and the creation of social service places. Beneficiaries assessed projects related to social activation better than professional activation
(although in both cases we deal with a generally positive evaluation of the effects achieved).
The analysis of factors influencing the success or failure of the evaluated projects was also carried out. One of them is the target group and the level of difficulty in reaching its representatives. In this context, in the case of the ROP K-PV projects under
evaluation, we notice the effect of souring rather than creaming. In other words, project promoters are unlikely to have used the recruitment approach primarily for those
categories of persons who generate low recruitment and implementation difficulties. To a large extent, this is due to the fact that, in general, within the whole intervention under evaluation, we are dealing primarily with the assistance of persons/groups in a relatively difficult situation.
Project promoters have clearly stated that they prefer to be freer to choose how they provide their services when carrying out their projects, arguing that a more flexible, individual approach results in better results.
The study also included an assessment of cost-effectiveness – it was found that projects in the field of active integration have a higher level of this effectiveness than projects in the field of social services. It should be stressed that, in general, the support covered by this evaluation should be assessed very carefully in terms of cost-effectiveness. This also applies to the use of measures such as employment effectiveness in undertakings whose main objective, however, is social activation.
Sustainability assessment and complementarity
The last element of the evaluation report was the sustainability assessment and
complementarity in the scope of active integration and social services. This evaluation helped to conclude that there is room for complementarity between ERDF and ESF support. Almost half of the beneficiaries undertook “supplementary activities” and these usually had the character of “soft” activities. It is even more important to undertake in the future financing period measures which will allow combining the infrastructural and
“soft” components in the implemented projects (e.g. through the cross-financing mechanism, while in this case, it would be important to increase the financial limits for this instrument).
As such, the support coming from the ROP K-PV 2014-2020 is complementary with many governmental and EU programmes, which partly results from the vastness and diversity of the evaluated intervention, as well as the multiplicity of target groups to which it was addressed.
As far as the issue of sustainability is concerned, from the point of view of project participants, we can speak of the relatively high durability of the effects achieved (also
according to beneficiaries, project participants will benefit from the effects of projects for a relatively long time). The bigger problem is to maintain the durability of
undertakings concerning the provision of social services. For this reason, it is important to undertake diversified activities that will be oriented at reducing the risk of limited durability of particular elements of the system of social services provision in the region (striving to increase the scale of implementation of partnership projects of a cross-sectoral nature; supporting the provision of social services within the previously subsidised institutions, while reducing the level of co-financing for this type of undertakings; considering the introduction of solutions concerning payments for selected social services).
The most important recommendations
Taking into account the current moment of implementation of the RPO WK-P 2014-2020 and the stage of advancement of allocation spending in the measures covered by the evaluation, it was decided that the formulated recommendations should refer to the future financing period. This results from the fact that the implementation of specific recommendations in the current financing period could turn out to be irrational and would not allow achieving the assumed effects, but at the same time their
implementation would mean possible delays in Project implementation.
▪ Maintaining in the future financing period a wide range of available types of projects/activities, with the possible introduction of additional solutions aimed at increasing the effectiveness and adequacy of support.
▪ Determining the amount of allocation allocated for social inclusion and social services in a manner taking into account the current socio-economic situation and current needs of the region.
▪ Ensuring adequate support for senior citizens in the future funding period, where possible.
▪ Concentration within support related to social inclusion on social activation, not on social and professional activation.
▪ Introduction of solutions aimed at reducing the risk of limited durability of the effects of projects concerning the provision of social services.
▪ Undertaking activities aimed at reducing the barrier concerning the necessity of making own contribution by NGOs / social economy entities.
▪ Adapting project selection criteria to the specificity of the projects under evaluation, while limiting the discriminatory nature of certain project selection criteria.
▪ Introduction of solutions aimed at ensuring links between actions co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the ESF.
▪ Admitting the possibility of implementation of information and promotion activities concerning the area of social inclusion, social services and social economy.
▪ Introduction of additional solutions aimed at ensuring accessibility in the implemented projects.