Involving users of social services in the community planning process in Karlovy Vary Region

This Master's thesis deals with the description of the current state of community planning of social services and the mid-term planning of development of social services in the Karlovy Vary region. At the same time, the thesis reflects the historical content which led to the use of the community planning method in The Czech Republic. In the thesis, the author uses examples from abroad and from The Czech Republic that show specific problems especially encountered by organizers planning social services. The author bases his research on his analysis of interviews held with planning coordinators in the Karlovy Vary region. From the coordinators viewpoint, they describe structure and course of social service planning processes in the region. The author also examines the role of users invited into the planning of social services, how planning organizers communicate with those users, and how all representatives evaluate the plan's results. An additional information source regading social services planning dealt with publicly available resources, particularly websites of individual cities and their regions. The objectives of using this sources were to describe the planning of social services in the Karlovy Vary region and to determine its main active players. In conclusion, the author summarizes the..