Cooperation between non-governmental sector and local government institutions delivering social services

Išanalizavus socialinių paslaugų teikimą Utenos apskrityje, konstruojami savivaldybių ir nevyriausybinio sektoriaus bendradarbiavimo modeliai. įvertinamos bendradarbiavimo kliūtys bei barjerai. Testuojami keturi galimi bendradarbiavimo raidos lygmenys. Rekomenduojama dabartinį nevyriausybinio sektoriaus dalinio finansavimo modelį keisti „kontrakto“ modeliu. Siūloma įvesti nevyriausybinių organizacijų socialinį auditą.Solving the social service delivery problems on a local level, non-governmental organizations are often being involved by municipal institutions. The role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) is not solely to deliver services themselves thus decentralizing the process and reducing costs but also to form a public opinion about governmental decisions. The financial support is very important but not a single element of the cooperation between government and the non-governmental sector. The analysis of the social services delivery process in the municipalities of the Utena district allows to construct the presumptive co-operation models between municipalities and the non-governmental sector, as well as to define its constraints and barriers. Four presumptive levels of the co-operation have been tested: individual search for co-operation, the public legitimation of inter-relations, coalition formation and the creation principles of the co-operation between two sectors. It has been shown that the co-operation on the "public legitimation of inter-relations" level is predominating in a majority of municipalities, though the elements of the "coalition formation" level of non-governmental organizations are evident only in two cases. The co-operation on the "individual search for co-operation" level, though leads to limited results, docs allow the involvement of particular NGOs into the public service delivery process thus enhancing the scope and quality of services. The co-operation on the "public legitimation" level ensures higher transparency, establish the principles of openness, honesty and impartiality. The financial support for NGOs is based on local normative acts, information on priority fields, application rules and dates. This level of co-operation is typical for the majority of municipalities in the Utena district, thus ensuring equal opportunities for non-governmental actors. However, the co-operation on the "coalition formation" level can solve problems emerging between the two sectors due to, for instance, contradictions among similar NGOs. The regularity of contacts between municipal institutions and the NGOs coalitions, two-sided information flow enables bigger co-operation projects, creating national and international networks. Enhancing the co-operation level up to the "formation of principles" level would enable an equal long-lasting partnership. Establishing the legally based elements of the co-operation between municipalities and NGOs, the roles of partners would be mutually recognized, and possibilities to work for the local community would be enhanced. The foundation supporting the social service delivery projects is partnership, especially the one of different levels (municipality - NGO). In the paper the typical problems of co-operation between the two sectors have been identified. It is usually difficult for municipal institutions to formulate their tasks because of scarcely tangible results in social services, there are even difficulties to detail all service conditions in a contract and to give equal accessibility for users to these services. Usually it is difficult to choose from similar projects. The impossibility to avoid a judgment on value creates additional complications. It has been shown that barriers arc emerging due to the lack of consolidate activities in the both sectors examined. Two-sided barriers may be caused by the differences in the nature of the sectors themselves. The typical features of a non-governmental sector are: a particular independent organization, a simplified structure, activities stimulated by people's needs, the variety of financial resources, flexible methods of governance. For a public sector is typical: a strong hierarchy structure, one stable financing source, strong regulation procedures, non-flexibility of working methods. The lack of the municipal officials' experience in working with NGOs is an additional constraint. In addition, the process of the NGOs involvement into the public service delivery is complicated, because: contacts with service users, other institutions ate necessary as well as the reaction to the positive and negative interim achievements. The "vicious circle" of the two sectors' inter-relations in a territory examined has been confirmed: lacking the resources for their activities, non-governmental organizations are not able to show their essential results, and when the results are absent, it is impossible to receive granting from the municipality. There are limited resources for the NGOs financing in a territory examined: for instance, only four NGOs out of forty received more than SO thousand litas from municipalities in 2002, when more than half of all municipalities received only up to 5 thousand litas. In a situation of the municipal resources shortage for financing non-governmental projects, it is recommended to change the existing system of partial granting is and to establish a contract model. While introducing this model, granting would be connected with the expected results; it would enable the participation of a business sector in a contract procedure. A project of the highest quality and with the lowest cost could be chosen