In search for a place for the third sector in the Polish welfare system. Toward a limited coproduction?

The Polish welfare system, similarly to other European countries, is in a state of constant transformation. One of the components of this process is connected with changes in the role of third sector organizations. In essence,... [ view full abstract ]

The Polish welfare system, similarly to other European countries, is in a state of constant transformation. One of the components of this process is connected with changes in the role of third sector organizations. In essence, third sector organizations have been successively gaining on importance inside welfare mix.
In the beginning of the political transformation, non-profit organizations were considered as embodiment of the idea of civil society developed by anticommunist opposition (Arato, Cohen 1992, 31-36). They were expected to be a part of ‘an alternative society’ - independent from political and administrative influence of the state. In order to emphasize this independence, they were called (even in legal documents like the act for the disabled from 1997) as ‘non-governmental organizations’. Since then this narrow perception of civil society and non-profit organizations has been fading away. The relations between third sector organizations (a term that has been replacing ‘non-governmental organizations’) and public administration are considered to be crucial for the development of the sector and delivering high quality welfare services (e.g. in KPRES 2014).
Taking above statements into consideration, the aim of this paper is to investigate the dynamic process of institutionalization inter-sectorial relations in Poland. In order to do this, the authors use a concept of coproduction (Pestoff 2009; Pestoff, Brandsen & Verschuere 2012). With a special regard to two public policies (education and social assistance), the paper investigates the role of the third sector on three levels of public policies development: policy formulation – co-governance, implementation co-management and service delivery –co-production. The process of inter-sectorial institutionalization is analyzed by research on the official discourse (official acts, documents, strategies, etc.) as well on everyday practice (real engagement of the third sector in public polices formulation and delivery).
The paper exemplifies a thesis that a limited co-production has been developing in Poland recent years. According to it, third sector organizations are officially described as a significant partner for public administration in shaping welfare state. However, this openness to inter-sectorial relations limits itself mostly to official rhetoric. In reality, the third sector has been granted access to only one dimension of co-production – service delivery. Polish third sector organizations are very limited in their ability to influence policy formulation and management. For example, in early childhood education and care policy (ECEC), third sector organizations are still perceived as subjects which are institutional alternative for the public and the private for-profit sector or which play a supplementary role for other two sectors (according to market failure/government failure theory by Weisbrod 1977). Third sector organizations’ engagement in ECEC policy formulation is, in fact, strongly limited to the veneer form of co-production visible in consultative but not decision-making bodies (on the national level) or it does not exist at all (on municipal level) (Ciepielewska-Kowalik 2013). This narrow perception of the role of the third sector in Poland seems to be stable, regardless the increasing engagement of this sector in welfare delivery, both in quantity and quality dimension.
The paper is based on the most recent Polish research results on third sector organizations, including both quantity and quality dimensions (e.g. data from Central Statistical Office, official documents and strategies, authors own research conducted within 2011-2015).

Keywords: Poland, co-production, the third sector, public policies

References:
Arato A., Cohen J. (1992), Civil Society and Political Theory, Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Ciepielewska-Kowalik A. (2013), Institutionalization of social enterprises and co-production in Poland in transition period. A case of early childhood education and care. Paper presented at the 4th EMES International Research Conference on Social Enterprise “If Not For Profit, For What? And How?”, July 1-4, 2013, Belgium, University of Liege.
KPRES (2014), The National Programme for the Development of Social Economy, Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Warsaw http://www.ekonomiaspoleczna.pl/files/wiadomosci.ngo.pl/public/korespondenci/portal_ekonomiaspoleczna/KPRES_23.06.2014.pdf (downloaded 15.10.2014).
Pestoff V.A., Brandsen T. (eds.) (2008), Co-production. The Third Sector and the Delivery of Public Services, London/New York: Rouledge.
Pestoff V.A. (2009), A Democratic Architecture for the Welfare State, London/New York: Routledge.
Pestoff V.A., Brandsen T., Verschuere B. (eds.) (2012), New Public Governance, the Third Sector and Co-production, New York: Routledge.
Weisbrod B.A.(1977), The Voluntary Nonprofit Sector, Lexington: Lexington Books.