Experts discussed current challenges in social services at a regional meeting in Ruse

Thursday, 18 July 2024

The current challenges in the development of social services were discussed today by experts during a regional meeting organized by the Municipality of Ruse and the National Alliance for Social Responsibility (NASP). The discussion took place in the Battenberg Hall of the Regional History Museum and was attended by the Chairman of the Management Board of NASP Georgi Georgiev, the Director of the Social and Health Activities Directorate in the Municipality of Ruse Milena Vlahova, Diana Petrova - Director of the Control, Monitoring and Licensing of Social Services Directorate at the Agency for the Quality of Social Services (AQSS), the Director of the Regional Social Assistance Directorate in Ruse Venelina Pencheva, managers and specialists from social assistance directorates, municipalities, providers and teams of social services. The event was hosted by Elena Petkova, representative of NASP for Ruse and Chairperson and Program Director of the ''Equilibrium'' Association.

At the beginning of the meeting, Milena Vlahova delivered a congratulatory address on behalf of Mayor Pencho Milkov. "I believe that through the constructive dialogue and joint efforts of all attendees, the quality of the social services we provide to citizens will be further improved. I thank all participants for your contribution to the development of the social sphere," says the greeting of the Mayor of Ruse Municipality.

The Chairman of the Board of NASP Georgi Georgiev thanked the local administration for the organized meeting. "Ruse is one of the leading cities in the development of social services and social policies. In terms of the way services are managed, the municipality is in one of the leading places, and very often it is in first place. Here many services are managed by external contractors and the percentage of this indicator in Ruse is almost the same as in Europe and around the world, and this is a very good indicator," Georgiev stressed.

Snezhana Georgieva, Chief Expert at the Regional Social Assistance Directorate in Ruse, said that a good dialogue and interaction between the institutions has been established, which is the basis for the successful implementation of activities for resolving individual cases.



The Director of the Social and Health Activities Directorate Milena Vlahova presented the social services on the territory of the Municipality of Ruse. As of July 1, 2024, a total of 50 social services are provided. 44 of them are on state-delegated activities, including 3 specialized institutions for adults; 3 social services and 1 health and social service - municipal activities; 1 social service "Care at Home" and the "Personal Assistance" Mechanism. In the provision of social services, the Municipality partners with 12 non-governmental organizations. As of the end of June 2024, approximately 4500 residents of Ruse use various social and municipal services. About 2000 employees have been hired to help those in need. The newest service related to early childhood development has been implemented since July this year. A multidisciplinary mobile team has been created, which will work on the territory of the nine nurseries in the city.
Vlahova also highlighted some of the priorities the directorate is facing. One of them is caring for people with dementia. It became clear that many letters are received from relatives of people with dementia with the desire to accommodate the patients in the "Prista" specialized home. Vlahova stressed that solving this problem should be one of the directorate's priorities - to find an opportunity to support the families of people with this neurological disease, without breaking away from their usual home environment.
Diana Petrova from the Agency for the Quality of Social Services (AQSS) also spoke in support of Vlahova. "We have to get used to seeing social services as support activities. And we must focus our efforts on developing the services in a home environment", stated Diana Petrova.
The meeting continued with the sharing of good practices and a discussion on the challenges in the provision of social services.

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