Involving user representatives in the evaluation of the quality of social services – from a pilot to a large-scale project in Slovakia

Across Europe, stronger involvement of users in social services, especially in the evaluation of their quality, is seen across Europe as a 'good thing' in terms of human rights, social justice and improving the outcomes of social services. The study presents the main results of the qualitative research aimed at exploring the current Slovak approach to involving user representatives in the system of evaluating the quality of social services. The pilot project implemented in the years 2019–2021 indicated the fulfilment of the initial expectations of its actors and that the involvement of user representatives brings added value (a different perspective) to quality evaluation. However, the question of selecting a 'representative' user for evaluation purposes, as well as more precisely clarifying their roles in evaluation teams, remained open. Initial discussions about the ongoing large-scale project use the framework and rules of new legislation on inspections in social affairs. Social work has proven to be a crucial integrating factor for initiating, designing, implementing and evaluating national initiatives in this field in accordance with its essence as a human rights discipline.