The organisation of the social service sector has always been challenging not just because of the broad variety of needs but also the diversity of organisations that serve them. While centralised control can more efficiently mobilise the sector, it can reduce the autonomy of these voluntary organisations. We have written three working papers to highlight such tensions and dilemmas faced by the sector, in order to elicit a dialogue that can help inform what questions are worth asking in a subsequent survey of VWOs.
The three working papers include:
1) “Reimagining the Social Service Sector”
This paper identifies the variety of community assets that are potentially relevant to the “social service sector”, and deliberates on the social causes that are considered relevant and the general approach taken to address these problems. Given new ways of collaboration, we will discuss how these diverse assets can connect and relate to one another, with implications for the growth and vibrancy of the sector.
2) “Comparing Councils of Social Service”
This paper compares various councils of social service across different countries in terms of their governance structure, membership criteria, core functions and focal concerns. This will help inform public deliberations on the appropriate structure and function of charity associations that are relevant to social service sector.
3) “Evaluating Impact across the Social Service Sector”
This paper provides a brief overview of the technical and moral aspects of evaluation, to deepen a dialogue on how performance management and evaluations should be done in the social service sector, and who should do them — so that evaluations support learning and improvement as well as public accountability.
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