Social assistants must be employed through contest, expert

The system of financing social services isn’t efficient and transparent and the lack of system of evaluating concrete social needs leads to difference in the quality of social services in different districts. Another issue is that because social services are provided by the local public administration, very often the people employed in the system are relatives of the mayors or local councilors. Romanian UNICEF expert Victor Giosan told Info-Prim Neo that the decentralization of social services in Moldova should include a contest for the appointment of social assistants. The contest should be difficult in order to limit access to the job and prevent those who don’t have relevant education or training to get it. The expert added that another need of the social work system in Moldova is to improve the quality of services. The allotted funds must be spent transparently. “The financial issue is present everywhere in the world. Many countries are in economic crises and in this context it is important to spend money efficiently and to identify the real needs of the people. Money must the distributed with maximum of efficiency according to prioritized needs”, he explained. The problems related to the decentralization of social services by the local public administration were discussed during the international conference “Decentralization reforms: from strategy to action”. The problems listed by experts are only a first step, which will be followed by a series of public discussion with more experts in the field. The decentralization itself will start in 2013.