Background: Accountability is ubiquitous in social systems,
and its necessity is increased in formal organisations that supposedly aim to
predict and control behaviour. Today’s public authorities need to show value
diversity, understand and respect different cultures, and design and deliver
culturally relevant and responsive programs and services. Accountability in
social work is crucial for ensuring professional legitimacy and adherence to
public organisational practices. This is particularly important in the Estonian
context, where social welfare is undergoing rapid changes due to
Europeanization and public administration reforms.
Aim: This chapter aims to shed light on accountability in
administrative social work within the Estonian welfare model. Specifically, it
seeks to examine how the responsibility of the nation-state is shared in
ensuring social well-being and to explore how the provision of necessary social
services to residents can be predicted.
Methods: A meso-level model was employed, integrating
contemporary research and expanding perspectives from individual, group, and
organisational levels into a coherent framework. A case study approach was
used, analysing publicly available documentation and data from three Estonian
local governments (Viru-Nigula, Lüganuse, and Mustvee) collected between 2020
and 2022. To study the process of accountability, a concept has been developed
with the following features: legal basis, political discourse of well-being,
theoretical discourse, standards, public information, applied methods,
profession/profession, decision-making process, and evaluation.
Results: The study reveals challenges in predicting social
service provision to clients. These challenges stem from the fragmented nature
of the Estonian welfare system, the lack of clear criteria for allocating local
social benefits, the limited professional autonomy of social workers in local
governments, and the opacity and lack of evaluation mechanisms in
accountability processes in Estonian social welfare.
Conclusions: The research highlights the need for clearer
definitions of social work roles, stronger professional autonomy for social
workers, and a more client-centred approach to social welfare in Estonia.
Future research directions include exploring the perspectives of social
workers, clients, and policymakers on accountability in social welfare and
conducting comparative studies with other countries.
Author(s) Details
Vaike Raudava
Department of Social Science, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Please see the book here :- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/nicass/v5/6613
