Provincial evaluation unit for social policies

The Evaluation Board for social policies, in accordance with Article 23 of Provincial Law no. 13 of 2007, carries out the following activities

• overall ex-post evaluation of the social policy system for the purpose of drawing up the subsequent provincial social programme and drafting the relevant end-of-term report
• annual in itinere or ex post evaluation of the interventions provided by the service providers and drafting of the relative report analysis of the cost of the services provided, also in comparison with that sustained by other territorial realities for the same services
• strategic evaluation of the interventions to be included in the provincial social programme, consisting in the ex ante evaluation of the economic and social impact of the interventions
• ex ante social impact assessment of innovative or experimental projects
• communication of the evaluation results to the evaluated subjects and appropriate dissemination

Article 27 of Law No. 13 further stipulates that the core unit performs the following functions

• it analyses and verifies the quality of the services provided, also in relation to the use of available resources
• takes into account the peculiarities of the contexts in which the assessed activity takes place
• it takes into account the ability of the providers to adapt the interventions to the evolution of needs and of the relative response methods
• also takes into account the degree of involvement, in the activities carried out by the provider, of other public and private entities present in the reference territory
• verifies the impact of the social-welfare services provided
• takes into account any certificates of service quality assessment issued, on the basis of international standards, by recognised societies
• verifies the pursuit of social responsibility purposes.

In accordance with Article 23 of Provincial Law no. 13 of 2007, the Province appoints the evaluation nucleus for social policies, which is composed as follows

• three experts in social and welfare policies with proven experience and competence, one of whom is designated by the minorities of the Provincial Council and one of whom is designated by the Council of Local Self-governments
• two experts in social policy evaluation from the academic world
• two experts with direct experience, at least five years, in the management or evaluation of services to the person, one of whom is designated by the most representative trade union organisations at provincial level.

Depending on the topics dealt with, further experts, officials of the Province and representatives of public or private subjects working in the field of social policies may be invited to take part in the work of the core group, but they do not have the right to vote.

The Province makes use of the evaluation team to ensure rational and responsible management of the interventions within its jurisdiction, according to criteria of quality of performance, appropriateness of results, and effectiveness in the use of resources