Newsletter September/October 2019

Taking a human rights-based approach in monitoring policies for older people in Europe

The research team of the European Centre developed two tools that can contribute to monitoring legislation and policies and their outcomes for older people in Europe:

• the Rights of Older People Index (ROPI) on Structure and Process Indicators and
• the Scoreboard on Outcome Indicators.

These tools are building on the conceptual framework, created also part of the project, building on the achievements of the disability rights discourse. Categorized under the 10 domains of the conceptual framework, the ROPI Index includes 35 indicators and the Scoreboard includes 17 indicators, relevant for the rights of older people with care and support needs. Together, the ROPI and the Scoreboard fill an important gap, as multi-dimensional tools to monitor the situation of older people with care and support needs, based on a human-rights approach and highlight gaps in legislation and the implementation of policies, as well as gaps in data. Read more here about the results of the ROPI.

Some key findings:

ROPI:

• In the ROPI, Sweden has the highest overall score, Finland positions itself second, slightly ahead of Slovenia, Ireland and Austria. Switzerland, Italy and Poland have the lowest index score.
• Even in front-runner countries in the ROPI there is a substantial room for improvement. There is no obvious geographical clustering in the overall ranking results.
• Areas where countries performed well in the ROPI by having legislation and policy frameworks to protect older people in place, included: Participation & social inclusion and Freedom of expression, freedom of thought, conscience, beliefs, culture and religion.
• Areas where the need for improvement seems to be especially pressing include Life, liberty, freedom of movement & freedom from restraint; Privacy & family life; Adequate standard of living and Remedy & redress.

 

SDGs priorities & challenges in social welfare policy in Eastern Partnership countries on 14 & 15 October 2019

The EESPN workshop SDGs priorities & challenges of scocial policy in the Eastern Partnership countries took place at the Europeanc Centre, on 14 & 15 Octobre 2019. 22 participants from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine as well as the ‘reflecting friends’ from other United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) countries discussed common and country specific challenges and opportunities across UNECE countries in social welfare. The next steps focus on mutual exchange of know-how on key topics, on workshops which will look more into depth into the identified challenges, on expert support and region-specific analysis and research on identified policy gaps and sector needs. Read more about the workshop here:

Dr. Anette Scoppetta (Deputy Director, European Centre): Overview of activities linked to the SD Agenda 2030

Ian McFarlane (Deputy Director, UNFPA Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Office): Keynote: Implementing the Social Pillar of the SD Agenda 2030 in the EaP countries

Alexandre Sidorenko (Senior Advisor, European Centre) & Veronica Sandu (European Centre): Presentation of the results of the international SDG workshop

New project: Distributional impact of asset contributions to residential care (Pflegeregress) in Austria

The abolishment of the asset contribution from users of residential care (Pflegeregress) has generated a lot of press coverage in Austria. Most of the discussion however, has been centred around its impact on the fiscal sustainability of the more

New project: Developing a conceptual model to address gender in long-term care

Improved gender equality has the potential to enhance outcomes for long-term care (e.g. if a greater number of men are able to take up care both as formal and informal carers) and vice-versa (e.g. if gender inequalities in frailty in old-age that more

Final International Conference: Presenting the Project and the deliverables at the EEPOW International Conference and SG Meeting, Lubljana, Slovenia

The final international conference of the Posting of Workers in Eastern Europe project was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia on the 24 October 2019. The conference that brought together all project partners, associated partners and other stakeholders more

EEPOW Peer Review: Mutual learning on occupational safety and health of posted workers in Ljubljana

On the 23 October 2019, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU) organized a peer review in the frame of the Posting of Workers in Eastern Europe (EEPOW) project. The focus of the peer review was on the more

General Assembly Meeting 2019: Our contributions to achieving the SDGs

  The General Assembly Meeting 2019 was dedicated to the European Centre’s contribution to achieving the SDGs. Challenges, results of empirical research and policy recommendations were presented by researchers to the Members of more

New Multi-Stakeholder-Workshop: Register for the Workshop ‘A Society for People of All Ages’ in Vienna, on 6 November 2019!

The Austrian Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health and Consumer Protection (BMASGK) and the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research (European Centre) are jointly organising a multi stakeholder workshop on the more

International Seminar: The future of posting: Third country nationals in the spotlight on 23 September 2019

An international seminar on ‘The future of posting’ was held on 23 September 2019 as part of the two-day Joint Visit organized in the frame of the project Posting of third country nationals: Mapping the trend in the more

IFSW European Conference: Presentation at the European conference of the International Federation of Social Workers 2019: Social Protection and Human Dignity

The 2019 European conference of the International Federation of Social Workers took place in Vienna, Austria, on 8-11 September 2019. The conference theme was Social Protection & Human Dignity pointing out that political changes are more

IFSW European Conference: Panel discussion at the IFSW European Conference: Working towards a Social Europe

Kai Leichsenring provided an input and social policy expertise at the panel discussion to herald the IFSW European Conference Social Protection & Human Dignity at the Vienna Townhall with former MEP Josef Weidenholzer, Nikolaus Dimmel, Rosa more

New Policy Brief: Non-coverage by health insurance in Austria: empirical findings on prevalence and causes

This Policy brief presents a quantitative and qualitative assessment of people not covered by health insurance in Austria. The analysis focuses on an estimation of the number of people concerned, their socio-demographic characteristics, causes for more

Newspaper OP-ED: Op-ed in Der Standard on long-term care financing

Andrea Schmidt and Ricardo Rodrigues have authored an op-ed in the Austrian newspaper Der Standard in which they contribute to the ongoing discussion on models of financing of long-term care in Austria. What could be the consequences of replacing more

New European Centre Report: Institutional Capacities for Implementing the Posting of Workers Directive in the Western Balkans: A needs assessment

The needs assessment conducted in the frame of the EEPOW Project provides a review of the capacities of the four candidate countries of the Western Balkans, namely Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, to implement the Posting of more

New Policy Brief: Monitoring and evaluation of social services in Kosovo: Policy challenges and recommendations

This Policy brief aims to provide a brief overview of the current monitoring and evaluation system of social services in Kosovo. Veronica Sandu and Rahel Kahlert address monitoring and evaluation (M&E) challenges of the status quo, more

New Policy Brief: Job Carving & Job Crafting: New Approach to Solve Old Problems

Job carving and job crafting can be effective strategies to overcome the challenges of labour market (re)integration and to keep workers employed by creating meaningful and productive employment. The approaches, however, require holistic support and more

New Publication: New UNECE Policy Brief: ‘The challenging roles of informal carers’

Our colleagues, Magdi Birtha and Kai Leichsenring, have contributed to the Policy brief published by the UNECE on ‘The challenging roles of informal carers’. There are different approaches to responding to the growing long-term care more

Final Report and Policy Brief: Final Report & Policy Brief: Towards a rights-based approach in long-term care

Countries across Europe, and indeed around the world, are confronting the social, economic and political challenges of an ageing population. Among the most pressing of these challenges is securing adequate and sustainable long-term care and support more