Citizens' participation and community orientation – indicators of social sustainability of rural welfare services

Abstract

The article discusses the issues of social services in rural areas from a theoretical view point of sustainability paradigms of social work. The ecological crisis existing beyond the ongoing global economic crisis is not separated from the increasing urbanization and weakening perspectives in rural areas. The paper is based on results from a participatory action research project in Finland, which aims at strengthening social service provision in rural areas through citizens' participation and community-orientation. The neoliberal politics of centralization, marketization and privatization are heavily transforming rural regions also in the Nordic welfare states right now. The debates in the rural citizens' forums could be concluded in three tasks of the project's further agenda: a renewed democratic governance of social services, a radical turn towards the involvement of and respect for service users, and practical steps towards citizens as coproducers, especially in the form of village cooperatives. The results encourage participatory approaches in order to create practicable models for social services not only in rural areas. Conceptualizing sustainability can be especially productive in the rural contexts where interdependency of different life areas is more evident.

Ecosocial work and services for unemployed people: the challenge to integrate environmental and social sustainability

“…Direct theoretical or conceptual knowledge about sustainability is largely missing. This is in line with the findings of Matthies, Kattilakoski, and Rantamäki (2011) action research in several Finnish municipalities. However, the openness of the principle of sustainability can also be seen as a strength, leaving space for implementation adapted to context, place, and time.…”

“…multiple ways of knowing in and from practice, as well as a firm foundation through their action as mediators in local contexts'. Another Finnish research project focused on rural areas, citizen participation, and community orientation (Matthies, Kattilakoski, and Rantamäki 2011). The findings were based on data gathered at open community meetings, which included the voices of social workers and other officials as well as citizens.…”

Social work practices in community governance: A systematic literature review

“…In addition, there are seven community-based theories, such as youth community integration theory, community participation, and drive theory, common community integration (Guta et al, 2013) and multiparty cooperation theory (Goulding, 2019). In addition, there are four theories related to socio-ecological sustainability in the study of García and Jonathan et al (Matthies et al, 2011).…”

On the trail of local welfare innovations in rural Finland

“…In addition, the rapidly ageing population, the structural changes in agriculture, and the decrease of municipal tax revenues, partly caused by the two above mentioned developments, have made it difficult for many rural municipalities to sustain services they are legally responsible for (Hänninen & Silvasti, 2010). Along with the pressure on services, administrative reforms have led to the diminution of democratic decision-making processes and thus weakened the possibilities of rural residents' voices being heard (e.g., Häikiö, 2010;Matthies, Kattilakoski, & Rantamäki, 2011;Närhi & Kokkonen, 2014). The reforms include measures as reducing the number of municipalities to take advantage of the economies of scale, transferring the responsibility of providing public services from local authorities to autonomous regional organizations, rationalizing the processes of service delivery including introduction of e-services and self-services as well as contracting the provision of certain services out to private service providers (see Valtioneuvosto, 2018).…”