DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL SPHERE IN MODERN TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES

Abstract

The article presents the results of the study of social services development in territorial communities in Ukraine in the context of decentralization. Based on the analysis of the literature, the contradictions and challenges that arise in the process of decentralization of social services are highlighted. The empirical part of the study included a survey of representatives of local communities from six regions of Ukraine, as well as a survey of experts from community mobilization projects. In total, 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted between August 2021 and February 2022. The article describes the features of social services development in communities in the context of decentralization from the standpoint of the communities themselves, namely: targeting and ways of organizing social services in communities; existing mechanisms for evaluating the effectiveness of social services in communities; factors of development of social services in territorial communities. Research has shown that social services in local communities are organized through the creation of territorial centers for social services, and the main recipients of services are families in difficult circumstances, the elderly and people with disabilities. According to the obtained data, the mechanisms for assessing the effectiveness of social services in communities are: collection of statistical data on the situation in the community; survey of service recipients; independent monitoring of the effectiveness of social services. The study proved the presence of factors in the development of social services in local communities, which can ensure the effectiveness of decentralization of social services. The following factors are highlighted: the effectiveness of assessing the needs of the population; level of interaction "local government - population - public sector"; willingness to cooperate and attract external resources. The interviews also provided an opportunity to identify internal and external factors that help and hinder the development of social services in local communities, ie to conduct SWOT analysis.