This presentation is by ESN's Policy Director, Alfonso Lara Montero at the Latin American Congress of Social Work in Merida, Spain on 20 October 2017. ESN has run a session on social innovation with ESN members from Belgium and Finland presenting evidence-based social services for children and families.

1. Social services innovation
An evidence-based approach
Alfonso Lara Montero,
Policy Director, Deputy CEO
Congreso del CGTS, 20 October 2017
esn-eu.org

2. The European Social
Network
esn-eu.org
Independent network for public social services organisations:
Social services directors and professionals associations
Social services departments in local & regional
governments
Inspection agencies
Research organisations
125 members in 34 countries
EaSI funded
Peer learning & knowledge exchange
Policy development

3. The European Social
Network in Spain
esn-eu.org
Departamentos de Bienestar en las CCAA de Galicia,
Asturias, Navarra, País Vasco, Catalunya, Castilla-La-Mancha,
Andalucía
Diputaciones de Barcelona, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, SUMAR
Vitoria
Meridianos
SIIS, Instituto Donabedian
Consejo General del Trabajo Social

4. The European Social
Services Conference
esn-eu.org
Sevilla, 28-30 Mayo 2017
Junta de Andalucía, Diputación de Sevilla, Obra Social La
Caixa
Inversión social frente a austeridad
Innovación para mejorar la calidad de vida

5. Paradigm change
in social services
esn-eu.org
• From intervention to prevention
• From rights implementation to lives’ improvement
• Social services on equal footing with health and
education
• From measuring outputs and processes to
measing outcomes

6. Paradigm change
Main elements
esn-eu.org
• The need for social services to be evaluated
• Not only output but also outcome indicators
• Use not only common sense but also test and
verification
• Selecting most effective interventions
• Ethical principle of ‘no harm’
• Work with other disciplines e.g. pay attention to
scientific approaches from health

7. Our point of view
esn-eu.org
• From intervention to prevention
• From rights implementation to lives’ improvement
• Social services on equal footing with health and
education
• From measuring outputs and processes to
measing outcomes

8. Introduction
Evidence-based social services
• International review of
evidence-based hubs
• Templates with key questions for
planning & evaluating services

9. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
2007
2010
2013
Evidence-based social
services in other countries
Sweden

10. Joint initiative
Evidence-based social
services in other countries
The Netherlands

11. Challenges
esn-eu.org
• Language & culture differences

12. Challenges
esn-eu.org
• Different values
• Lack of continuity because of lack of funding & project-
based services
• Reluctance to implement EBP from abroad (USA)
• Lack of information for programme implementation
• Implementation fidelity
• Local adaptation

13. Types of knowledge
for service planning & evaluation
esn-eu.org

14. Types of knowledge
esn-eu.org
1. Target population
• What’s the problem?
• What’s the scope?
• What are the risk &
protective factors?
2. Type of intervention
• Primary?
• Secundary?
• Tertiary?

15. Types of knowledge
esn-eu.org
3. Programme implementation
• Is the context favourable for implementation?
• Does the programme follow a specific model?
• Who is leading and managing the initiative?
• How is engagement of users, families or carers facilitated?
• Has the programme been implemented elsewhere? And
evaluated?

16. Types of knowledge
esn-eu.org
4. Effects
• What were the effects
sought with the
programme?
• What’s the evaluation
plan?
• Before/After
• Controlled group
• RCT
• Mixed
5. Costs & Benefits
What are the
programme/evaluation
costs?
What are the potential
benefits?

17. Example of EBP in social
services
esn-eu.org
II: Community intervention teams in Sweden (K3)
• Quasi-experimental with experimental and control group
• 20 towns/100 young people in each group
• Measurement 1 (before the intervention): anti-social behaviour,
behavioural challenge, drug and alcohol abuse, family and peer
relations, work with social workers
• Measurement 2 (after the intervention): At 6th, 24th and 60th
month, delinquency, mental health, addictions.

18. Text and content copyright © 2014 Project Oracle. All rights reserved.
A children and youth Evidence Hub
18
Example II: Project Oracle
WORKING WITH
CHILDREN AND
YOUTH SECTOR
ACROSS LONDON
(Project delivery by borough)
Ecosystem
approach

19. Text and content copyright © 2014 Project Oracle. All rights reserved. 19
Evidence standards of project Oracle

20. Text and content copyright © 2014 Project Oracle. All rights reserved.
L1 L2 L3 L4
6. Lack of understanding of cost-
benefits analyses
7. Difficulties to access Universities
and external experts
5. Lack of knowledge of
comparison groups
methodologies
1. Lack of qualitative/quantitative evaluation skills
3. Unable to access data collection tools of high
quality
8. Not knowing where to go for support
4. Limited resources to access an external evaluator
2. Limited understanding of what quality
evaluation means
Challenges

21. Conclusion
esn-eu.org
• Five types of knowledge for the development of EBP
social services programmes
• Implementation fidelity & local adaptation
• Evaluation needs to be planned at the initial phase and
should include pre-, during and post-assessment
• Indicators should be agreed and maintained throughout
the process
• Train professionals who need to collect data
• Cooperate actively with service professionals and users

22. Muchas gracias por
vuestra atención y nos
vemos en Sevilla
@A_LMontero