The transition from institutional to community care for vulnerable people has been shaping the welfare system in Europe over the last decades. For the period of 2014-20 deinstitutionalization became one of the highlighted priorities of the European Commission in order to promote reforms in disability and mental health care in the convergence regions, too. Between 2007 and 2013, Estonia as many other Eastern European countries has implemented the first wave of deinstitutionalization and during the new EU budget period a second wave will be occurred in order to continue and hopefully complete the transition. In this study, we try to give an overview on the experiences of different European countries highlighting good practices and possible pitfalls. This study has been conducted at the request of the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs.
This paper provides insights into the operational features of community-based financing mechanisms. These include CAF groups, which are self-financed communities where people save and lend money to each other. The implementation of such self-financed communities in the Netherlands is supported by Participatory Action Research (PAR). This paper discusses the first results of this research by exploring whether and how participation of group members can improve their well-being with regard to social networks, financial household management and entrepreneurial positioning based on the capability approach of Amartya Sen, a well-known economist. For this PAR, three groups were formed, guided, observed, analysed and compared. This paper demonstrates how solidarity economy processes at the grassroots level can contribute to the general well-being of vulnerable people in the Netherlands. For the particular context of overconsumption, inequality and overindebtedness, Sen’s notion of freedom will be reconsidered and adjusted.
Indonesia’s peat forests remain severely threatened by forest fires, oil palm plantation development and extractive industries, which leads to biodiversity loss, increased emissions of greenhouse gases, and the marginalization of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. In 2008 the Government of Indonesia introduced the Social Forestry Programme under which Indigenous Peoples and local communities can acquire a 35-year management permit. Since then, about 10 percent of Indonesian State Forest has been designated for community-based forest conservation and restoration initiatives. The devolution of authority to the local level has created a new playing field. The Social Forestry Programme reverses more than a century of centralistic forest policy, and requires a fundamental re-orientation of all actors working in the forestry sector. The central question underlying this proposal is how Dutch civil society organizations (applied universities and NGOs) can effectively support Indigenous Peoples and local communities in the protection and restoration of peat forests in Indonesia. This project aims to set up a Living Lab in Ketapang District in West Kalimantan to study, identify and test novel ways to work together with a variety of stakeholders to effectively conserve and restore peat forest. In Ketapang District, Tropenbos Indonesia has assisted three Village Forest Management Groups (Pematang Gadung, Sungai Pelang and Sungai Besar) in securing a Social Forestry Permit. Students from three Dutch Universities (Van Hall Larenstein, Aeres Hogeschool and Inholland) will conduct research in partnership with students from Universitas Tanjungpura on the integration of local ecological knowledge and technical expertise, on the economic feasibility of community-based forestry enterprises, and on new polycentric governance structures. The results of these studies will be disseminated to policy makers and civil society groups working in Indonesia, using the extensive networks of IUCN NL and Tropenbos Indonesia.
