Western Balkans Policy Analysis Laboratory

Stream Leaders: Gordana Matković, Center for Social Policy, Belgrade, Sabina Ymeri, ESA, Tirana and Blagica Petreski, Finance Think, Skopje

Economic and overall prosperity does not diminish the importance of social protection and the role of welfare state. The population aging, the transformed world of work and employment, the changed role of the family and the new social values increase the demand for social protection and impose more prominent role of the welfare state.

There are numerous challenges related to welfare state financing. The key challenges include issues of sustainability and equitable financing, pathways for improving efficiency (doing more with less), a combination of public and private financing, an optimal level of decentralization (national versus local financing), and mix of contributory and non-contributory mechanisms (social insurance and social assistance).

Focus of this stream will be primarily on the past or planned reforms in the financing of welfare state, including prospective innovations. Through a mix of brainstorming sessions and interactive discussions, case studies and theoretical presentations, participants will explore the following issues:

• Decentralization of social protection – what are the challenges and what works?
• Financing of preschool education – local versus national level, private versus public funds;
• Earmarked transfers for the financing of social care services – an attempt to overcome the disadvantages of decentralization;
• Privatization of pension insurance – should we follow the path of structural reforms?
• Extension of social security to workers in the informal economy – an attempt to reduce non-contributory financing of social security?
• Universal basic income – new ideas;
• Financing of healthcare – is there a justification for tax-financed healthcare in Western Balkans?

Stream Leaders: Nermin Oruč, Center for Development Evaluation and Social Science Research, Sarajevo and Aleksandar Baucal, Faculty of Philosophy, Belgrade

This stream is going to focus on different types of inequalities of life opportunities related to the socio-economic background in Western Balkan countries (e.g. inequalities of income and consumptions, inequalities in employment, access and quality of social services, inequalities in educational opportunities, gender inequalities, urban vs. rural gaps etc.).

The stream will start with conceptual and methodological issues and an overview of inequality trends in the Western Balkans and its main drivers.  The first session will review available databases for analysis of inequality in the Western Balkans and train participants how to calculate various indicators of inequality (income, consumption, education, employment, …), their decompositions and visualizations from available datasets. It will have a specific focus on systematic review of indicators, data and trends in Western Balkan countries in terms of different inequalities. The first session will also include interactive discussions aiming at the long term social and political implications of such inequalities.

The second stream session will be focused on identification on different social, political, financial, policy related, and institutional mechanisms contributing to creation and maintenance of inequalities through a supervised small-group work and an interactive discussion.

The third session will be focused on systematic integration of key conclusions from previous two sessions, identification of key barriers and opportunities for improvement of equity in Western Balkan countries as well as creation of a joint advocacy platform and action plan.

The stream will use similarities and differences existing among Western Balkan countries as a platform for building better understanding of rising inequalities in the region as well as for building capacities of participants for analysis and formulation of policy proposals.

Stream Leaders: Paul Stubbs, The Institute of Economics, Zagreb and Maja Gerovska Mitev, Faculty of Philosophy, Skopje

This stream will explore the principles behind, rationale for, and aspects of the delivery of community-based services, broadly defined as accessible services to individuals, groups, families and communities that seek to empower and enable the right to independent living as opposed to placement in restrictive, institutionalised, settings.

Across the Western Balkans, developing a range of community-based services has been a crucial element of reform processes aiming to transform institutions and contribute to deinstitutionalisation. Through a mix of interactive discussions, case studies and external resource persons, participants will explore:

• The right to inclusion and independent living;
• Working with users’ strengths;
• Planning community-based services;
• Delivering holistic community-based services;
• Financing community-based services;
• User involvement, advocacy and leadership; and
• Inspection, monitoring and evaluation.

Whilst seeking to avoid an approach to community-based services that focuses on specific vulnerable groups, examples from practice for persons with disabilities, children at risk of abuse; and young people leaving institutional care will be used to illustrate the challenges involved.