“What are the challenges for diaconal work in Europe 2011?”

1. Speech to the Conference of Nordic City Missions
24 August 2011
Heather Roy
What are the challenges for diaconal work in Europe in 2011?
(draft)
Good Morning
First of all, thank you for inviting me to address you at this conference. For me, it is always a
pleasure to speak and to meet organisations who are actually doing the work of diaconia and
it is a particular pleasure for me to be here with you,, the Nordic city missions, to learn a bit
more about your work and perhaps how we could work more together.
As you may have guessed by now I am originally from Scotland and as you will know the
City Mission movement has its origins in Scotland, in Glasgow to be precise. I have not
worked with Glasgow City Mission, rather I worked with another organisation that assisted
homeless young people in Glasgow, but the Church I attended was very involved with the
City Mission and still is, and one of the many things I admired about Glasgow City Mission
was how truly ecumenical it was and it seemed, at times, that the work of the City mission
was the one thing that all churches, regardless of background and denomination, could
gather around and support – quite an endorsement – and I imagine it is similar in your cities.
City missions have a vital role to play, as does all diaconal action, in showing the Christian
commitment to care for the lost, the last, the littlest and the least, being able to do it from an
ecumenical basis strengthens this even more and much is achieved, but given, care,
support, practical solutions and sometimes just time to those in our societies who find
themselves in difficulties.
But even though much is achieved, there is still much to do, and diaconal work all over
Europe is beset by challenges as well as opportunities – and I have been asked to share
with you a few of those challenges and perhaps some ideas on how we can meet those
challenges.
So why am I speaking about challenges in Diaconia? Well, as Secretary General of
Eurodiaconia I have the very privileged position and having regular contact with diaconal
work all over Europe and being able to listen to our members and understand what is
1|Page

2. happening in Iceland, in the Czech Republic, in Armenia, in Serbia… across our network. It
is one of the pleasures of my job that I get to see the actual work happening.
That is what Eurodiaconia is, a network of diaconal social service providers and social
justice actors. Bringing together 34 members in 21 countries in a dynamic, Europe wide
community of organisations founded in the Christian faith and working in the tradition of
Diaconia of whom all are committed to a Europe of Solidarity, equality and justice. And I am
delighted that Oslo Church City Mission became one of those 34 members earlier this year.
Our members come from different backgrounds, churches, diaconal departments of
churches, diaconal ministries structured as separate organisations from the Church,
educational organisations and Christian based but non church aligned organisations but all
are working to provide the services and undertake the advocacy needed to enable the
inclusion, care and empowerment of the most vulnerable and excluded and ensure dignity
for all.
Through the secretariat based in Brussels, at the heart of the European institutions, we look
to bring to decision makers attention the policy changes needed to transform our European
society into places of inclusion and social justice. Such policy work is shaped by our
members, based on their everyday experience of diaconal work.
But we are not just about bringing about transformation through policy changes. No, as a
network we recognise that it is the services and assistance that is being provided every day
that can bring about transformation and therefore much of our action as a network is focused
on bringing members together to share experience and questions on our praxis, our ‘what
we do’. We want to encourage members to be part of a community that shares, partners,
discusses and sometimes challenges with and to each other.
We also think about our diaconal identity – what makes us different from other social actors,
particular secular actors? This theological reflection is also transformation, looking at how
our shared Christian faith transforms the way in which we offer services, support and
assistance.
So this is what we are doing as Eurodiaconia and it is through the networking and
partnership with and between our members that we can see the challenges that our
members face both as organisations and as actors in national and European societies also
facing major challenges. So I want to share with you some of the challenges that are
currently faced by society and by Diaconia and perhaps suggest a few ways in which those
challenges can be met.
2|Page

3. Firstly, I believe that one of the biggest challenges facing us in Europe today is the Crisis..
Now, at the moment, when we say Crisis we think financial and economic and the social
impact of that crisis. But we are here in Norway where the financial crisis has not had the
same impact as elsewhere and indeed our members in Denmark, Finland and Sweden seem
to have experienced less of an impact than in other parts of Europe. But the economic crisis
is a challenge and I want to come back to this but first I think there is a bigger crisis and that
is the crisis of values we currently have in Europe.
Even before the economic crisis of 2008 the global economic situation was distorted with a
concentration of wealth on one side and widespread poverty on the other. In Europe, and in
particularly the European Union, 17% of the population, that is to say 84 million people live
with the constant risk of poverty, the constant fear that they cannot afford their normal
household bills and costs. Economic growth seems to have benefitted the rich more than
the poor in the world and in Europe the gap between rich and poor has increased in the EU
at a time when we supposedly more prosperous, resulting in rising inequalities in society.
Why?
The transformation from an industrial to a knowledge based model of society has come with
important side effects. The transformation of the labour market has come at the expense of
low skilled, low educated workers and their families. Additionally, such change has affected
the economic foundations of whole regions and former industrial cities have been altered -
necessitating a re-adjustment that has caused ghettoization of areas facing extreme poverty
and greater inequalities. We are then faced with the twin challenge of economic and social
instability and continuing on this path is not sustainable.
Much of this has occurred because of choices we have made for our societies, for our
economies. 25 years of prosperity have made economists, governments and the general
public succumb to a seductive belief in a stable, efficient and self-regulating market where
money generated more money and wealth more wealth.. we have not been thinking ‘How
can we share this wealth around.. we have been thinking how can I get richer… This is what
I mean about a crisis of values. We have stopped thinking about WE and now think only
about the I.. what do I get out of this.. how do I make money.. how do I make sure I am ok?
Indeed, this focus on individual wealth, fuelled by a speculative financial system is a basic
failure that has to be redressed before any economic recovery can be achieved.
3|Page

4. Today, nearly every policy decision made by our politicians and nearly every life decision
made by individuals is based on economics… Can we afford more hospitals rather than how
to we provide the best health care? We can’t afford to provide basic services to migrants but
we need them to work in our factories to stimulate our industry and GNP. I can’t volunteer
with my local youth organisation because I have to work two jobs to pay my rent. We have
changed our value – and we have allowed our values to be changed – that is our first crisis
and our first challenge. We need to move away from societies that are built on economic
growth and prosperity and see the indicator of well-being as economic prosperity and rather
move towards societies that are built on values of cohesion, solidarity and social prosperity.
The financial and economic crisis we find ourselves reveals how muddled our values have
become. Growth, competiveness and the market are not ends in themselves but means to
improve the well-being of people and to ensure stable, cohesive society. Growth does not
equal progress. We need to use our voices, as individuals, as churches, as diaconia to
protest against this trend of growth at all costs and insist on a re-evaluation of our values as
a society.
So how is this a specific challenge for diaconia in Europe?
Well, the social impact of the crisis has dragged more people into poverty and the situation
has deteriorated for people already in despair. Millions have lost their jobs or face
reductions in salaries and hours. As public finances have been hit hard the social benefits
level has sometimes been reduced and cuts in social spending have worsened the living
conditions for vulnerable groups.
Our members report an increasing number of people needing assistance for indebtedness,
needing assistance to deal with the huge amount owed often through the acquisition of
goods by credit, something encouraged as a contributor to economic growth. Members
have also seen a huge reduction in the amount local authorities are willing to pay for
essential services such as mental health services, elderly care and home care. This means
our members are challenged to decide if they can still offer certain services – morally they
know they are essential but financially they can no longer do it – or not at the level of quality
they believe the service requires.
Members are having to make tough choices – should we stop providing mental health
support – which is costly – so as to provide more debt counselling – which is cheaper? But
who then provides the services needed for those who need mental health support?
Potentially No one.. and so they become more isolated and once again excluded from
4|Page

5. society? These are tough choices, and diaconal organisations all across Europe are making
them.. but we also need to change the system that has created these choices.
The challenge is not just how we respond to the effects of the crisis through our services but
also how we respond with our voices, with the power and influence we do or could have.
We must speak out about the values we have and the values we need. We also need to
speak out on how to respond to the financial and economic crisis. Billions of Euros have
been spent on bailing out bankrupt banks and now billions of euros are being cut from public
budget as so called austerity measures. So much time has been spent in trying to find ways
to inject ‘confidence’ in the markets. This is in glaring contrast to the little amount that has
been spent on preventing people from the devastating impact of this crisis, and the very little
consideration that has been given to the long term effects of reducing expenditure on social
protection and social services. Indeed, the most effective societies in combatting poverty
and social exclusion are those with the lowest levels of inequality created by redistribution of
income through generous social benefits and adequate access to services.1
Don’t get me wrong, I am not an idealist who thinks that all can be made better by some nice
words and peace and love… we have an economic crisis and actions need to be taken to
get out of crisis but if we do not consider how we got here, and the values that have driven
us, and the social impact the crisis is having and will continue to have for at least the next
ten years then we betray the common good and learn nothing from the crisis and how to
foster social justice, equality and inclusion in our European and global societies. The crisis
is not only about the flaws and wrong decisions with the economic system, but also about
the moral legitimacy of the system and its values..
The social impact of the crisis is on-going and cannot yet be fully measured. In the autumn
Eurodiaconia will be releasing its third report on the social impact of the crisis from the
perspective of our members. We have been monitoring the impact since early 2009, one of
the first European social NGO’s to do so, and we will be looking at how to feed our members
experience and recommendations into policy discussions at European level. But one of the
issues we can see emerging are new forms of exclusion in our societies and the return of
some forms of exclusion that we could have thought addresses adequately by now.
The opening up of Europe, the so called borderless continent – has resulted in a massive
increase in intra-European Union migration (and I include Norway in this as a member of the
Schengen area). Following the fall of communism in Eastern Europe many people in the
countries of that area were faced with major socio-economic challenges including high
1
The Spirit Level - Why More Equal Societies Almost Always do Better, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett
5|Page

6. unemployment, eviction of families from their homes, homelessness, drug and alcohol
addictions and low levels of education. As a result, millions of Eastern European migrated to
western Europe in search of work.
However, although many make a success of their move to Western Europe, there are some
who face socio-psycho difficulties due to already existing conditions or the experience they
have in Western Europe. Many end up in jobs that are not appropriately protected by a
sound legal basis (lack of contract, piece work, week to week contracts etc., lack of minimum
wage, no proper insurance etc.) and in this precarious work situation there is a lack of
security. Often, when redundancies need to be made migrants are the first to be let go and
this can then lead to destitution and homelessness as in many countries EU migrants have
no recourse to public welfare support, at least for a certain period of time.
Often, people who find themselves in such a situation are uneasy about returning to their
country of origin. This could be because of a sense of shame at having ‘failed’ to get regular
employment or because of estrangement from family, criminal activity or other
social/psychological concerns. The lack of recourse to public funds is a sensitive question in
many member states where the social security system is under threat due to austerity
measures and therefore many member states claim they cannot extend the system to cover
migrants.
However, the lack of social security/welfare support that many EU citizens experience and
which leads to destitution for some as migrants can be seen as contradictory to the concepts
of European Free Movement. Such a situation needs a political decision at EU level to
address the question of access to social services and assistance and in the opinion of some
members of Eurodiaconia, also needs financing to be available from the European Union to
cover the cost of supporting migrants who face such difficulties.
But the changes that this new challenge of migration has brought to diaconia in Europe is
not just political, it is practical. There is a changing face of destitution and migration in
Europe. The Berlin City Mission told me recently that in the winter of 2009 -2010
approximately 43% of their users were of non-German origin. During the winter of 2010 –
2011 this had increased to 70%. The Hamburg city mission has reported similar statistics.
Challenges arise on a practical level with language and culture, therefore staff and
volunteers need to be found who share a common language and can understand the socio
cultural backgrounds. Additionally accessing integrated services in the health and social
field in increasing difficulty for migrants who may only qualify for emergency health care and
finally there are challenges with status - in the experience of Berlin City Mission the
authorities regard destitute migrants as tourists, therefore not entitled to continuing
6|Page

7. assistance in Berlin. Another of our members in Finland have faced problems from the
general public about their assistance to migrants after a local politician in an EU state from
which many migrants come to Finland announced publically that his fellow citizens should go
to Finland as this diaconal organisation would give them free health care.
For our members who are working with undocumented migrants, often those from outside
the European Union there are legal challenges too. Our members in France have reported
on how it is potentially illegal to assist an undocumented migrant - where does that leave
diaconal assistance to migrants? I know that here in Norway you have found a good way to
work with the government and the police when it comes to providing health services to
undocumented migrants – well done. But such an agreement depends on the good will and
understanding of the need for such services and not all political colours are in favour of such
services. Even if they are, we still have such fear of migration that it blinds us to the needs
to provide basic social assistance for basic human dignity such as healthcare, shelter, toilets
and washing facilities while the legal and political process continues. I know that here in
Oslo one of your recent challenges has been to argue for basic toilet and washing facilities
for migrants.. This is basis human dignity and we must speak out to those who would strip
such basis rights from any person.
So diaconia is challenged by migration and what it means for the services we provide and
how it has changed the users of some of those services. But migration also links to another
challenge we currently face and that relates to those who run our services, volunteers and
particularly those who are employed in our services.
City Missions and other diaconal services across Europe have general benefitted from a
healthy number of volunteers, willing to give some of their precious free time to serve others
– and in the European Year of Volunteering Eurodiaconia has been promoting the value of
volunteering in overcoming social exclusion and breaking down barriers in our societies.
However, we still need professional, well trained staff to work in our services and this is
where the challenge can arise. Working professionally in social care is not an attractive
option. Caring for the elderly is not seen as being rewarding or a symbol of intergenerational
solidarity but rather something you do if you can’t find a job elsewhere or if you are looking
for a part time job. It is often low paid and involves anti-social hours… There is also a clear
gender bias in social care. Within the EU, 78% of the people employed in health and social
care services are women and the gender pay gap is greater than in the total economy.
I work voluntarily with teenagers and I have not yet heard one of them saying that they want
they want to be a care worker when they grow up… so the sector is lacking appropriate staff
- but the sector is growing. IN elderly care alone there will be a huge rise in demand in the
7|Page

8. coming years as our society ages – and so our members need to find staff and so in some
cases need to look to other countries to meet that need…. But what impact does this have
in the country of origin.. are there other care workers able to fill the gaps left by those that
have gone to other countries to work? What about families? Is migration to work in the care
sector leaving a legacy of separated families, children raised by grandparents? Additionally,
we have to be ready to ask ourselves increasingly difficult questions -are we paying migrant
staff the same as we would non migrant staff? Are we recognising training and
qualifications?. And as an organisation based on Christian values where the principles of
diaconia should flow through the ways we deliver our work are we investing the right amount
of time to ensure that our staff understand our diaconal perspective?
Perhaps I slightly digress here but this last point is one of the challenges our members talk
about the most often -what does it mean to provide diaconal social services.. what makes
us different from other, particularly not for profit, social service providers -and how do we
transmit that difference to our staff and volunteers, particularly if they have no ‘live’
connection to the Christian faith.
Some of our members focus on values, ‘converting’ the tenants of the Christian faith and its
expression through social care into values that can be easily understood and integrated into
daily work, others have put in place training methods, others have certain criteria about who
they can employ. At Eurodiaconia we are trying to support our members in this area through
our theological reflection work and have produced several materials relating to this topic
which you can download from our website. We have also created a faith in social care
network that is designed to encourage debate, discussion and exchange among members.
For some of our members the challenge in this area is the relationship between diaconia and
the church – does one need the other? We have some members who have no concrete
church relationship but are Christian based – we have others who have conflict at times with
the Church they are associated with due to differing views on how to address certain issues.
Frankly, sometimes the challenge is due to power and visibility – if the diaconal work is
cutting edge and the church itself is seen as old fashioned there can be tension. If the
diaconal work has a stronger presence in society then there can be tensions. If diaconal
institutions or services have moved away from the church and operate independently what
does that mean for the relationship with the local church in the local area?
Within Eurodiaconia we are also challenged by the emergence of new church expressions,
movements and denominations, sometimes with very strong social justice orientations. Are
we ready to welcome them into our organisation when in the past we have been very much
8|Page

9. associated with the established, traditional churches of the protestant, Anglican and
orthodox traditions. We have a very wide range of views across our organisations and we
will keep discussing it.
Before I digressed I was reflecting on employing staff in Social Services and this leads me to
my next big challenge for diaconia in Europe today and that is the basic provision of social
services themselves and the legal and administrative barriers that are being put in place.
I may have seemed a bit harsh on the use of migrant employees in our services but I should
qualify that I am concerned about the impact of this practice and not the staff themselves,
and would rather see a care sector that is valued as a place of employment and where
salaries and conditions are fair and just.. but I also think we have to look at the cause of the
situation we have today – diaconal service providers are being asked to provide services at
a low cost because the financing available is low.
In the majority, and for various reasons, local authorities want their social services as cheap
as possible. Although EU public procurement law allows for tendering on quality, it is not
necessarily the reality, partly because not all local authorities understand EU rules but also
because local authorities are interested in value for money – and yes, quality is part of that
but it may not be the overriding concern.
Additionally, the growing private market in care services, particularly residential care
services, means that tender cost proposals can be reduced because transfers can be used
from other income – profit to mitigate loss… not for profit service providers such as Diaconia
cannot do that.. so are at an immediate disadvantage… and when local authorities see the
offer private companies make then it lowers what they are willing to pay for the services…
One of our Swedish members told me about how their local municipality wanted to have an
elderly care home and invited the diaconia to tender for the service. When the diaconia saw
what the local authority was willing to pay for the service they had to withdraw from the
tender as there was no way that the diaconia would be able to provide the high level quality
of care that they believed was needed for elderly people on the budget proposed by the
municipality.
In this European Year of Volunteering we are beset by another challenge and that is the
encouragement in some quarters to replace professional care staff with volunteers so as to
lower costs. Eurodiaconia and its members are absolutely opposed to this and have issued a
statement to the European institutions and partner organisations to this effect. I have said it
already and I will say it again that volunteers are an essential and valuable part of the
9|Page

10. provision of care and actions designed to overcome social exclusion – but volunteers cannot
replace professional staff and it is another false economy it we think we can do that.
Volunteers are not cost free – management, training, coaching are all needed to ensure a
high quality volunteering experience for the organisation and the volunteer.
Additionally, volunteering is freely given - it is a gift of time, skills and interests. It is not
something to be forced because of a lack of the means to employ professional staff and
become an obligation. Replacing professional staff with volunteers in some services runs
the risk of presenting the social and health care sector as a second rate sector to be run on
the cheap and as I said earlier states must not shrink away from their responsibility of
providing social and health care for its citizens by encouraging the use of volunteers.
A final thought on services. It may not be so relevant for city missions but many of our
members are challenged as to what services to provide.. what I mean by this is the
increasing trend to move away from institutional services – care homes etc. to community
and home based services or indeed from the homeless hostel model to housing first models.
There is a need to move away, and it is happening at a rapid pace, from large scale, de
personalising institutions such as were seen in the communist
times in Easter Europe. But to withdraw all kinds of institutional living, as some actors would
propose, is to deny people the choice in their care solutions We need to talk with users to
identify the types of services they would like to have, the choices there should be and
engage with users organisations to ensure choice is available.
The problem about being asked to talk about challenges is that we are faced with so many of
them because our society is faced with so many of them – and some challenges we don’t
even know yet. And we have political challenges, social challenges, economic
challenges…as well as methodological and theological challenges some that go the very
basis, fundamental questions of who we are and what we do.
Earlier this year I attended a meeting of the Directors of some of the Diaconal institutions in
the Nordic countries, those that had started out from the ‘Mother Houses’ or Deaconess
movement. In that meeting the challenge was raised about the purpose of Diaconia – what
do I mean by that.
Well, is Diaconia here to provide services, perhaps on a contracted basis by local
authorities, or are we here to fill the gaps – to provide the services and care for those in our
society who are not reached by statutory or traditional services, the complex,
10 | P a g e

11. multidisciplinary approach that can be missing in traditional service settings. This is also a
question as we see the growing private market in social care – private elderly care homes,
private psychiatric care, private nursing and home care.. private addiction clinics… but there
are not really many private homelessness shelters are there?.. or private health clinics only
for undocumented migrants? or private community centres for low income housing estates…
or the private life skills classes for teenage mothers… so who is to meet those needs if it is
not the private market? ,
This is where the question comes in for diaconia -is our role to go out and look for who is
NOT being served – and provide those services and that care -or do we continue to provide
traditional services such as elderly care, sometimes in competition with the private market.
Perhaps you will be disappointed to know that I don’t have an answer to this – I suspect it is
a bit of both – traditional and new services and activities. – and that we have to do some gap
filling – and there are different gaps in each of our societies across Europe. But I think that
like any organisation we need to be constantly looking at what is happening in our societies
and reflecting on our role in that society in the current context.
Here in Norway, you have recently been hit with a challenge, a tragedy that can never have
been anticipated, could not have been seen in context, and one that brought some of the
darkest days that Norway has known., and across Europe we joined together to pray for
Norway and to ask for compassion, reconciliation, transformation and strength. What is the
role for Diaconia in Norway after this tragedy? I cannot tell you that, but I can tell you what
Johannes told me, that the city mission will be committed to its hard work and to build
fellowship and care instead of hate and violence. There are many different ways to do that
and I am sure that the colleagues here in Norway will be thinking of them and we wish you
every blessing as you do so and continue to bring light when faced with darkness.
And our actions are so important, they meet needs, they comfort, repair, reconcile empower
and transform, and they must be context based, based on what is happening now – and
what we see emerging and across Eurodiaconia we are bringing members together to
discuss the how and to share knowledge and experience.
I started this speech talking about the Crisis, about the rising social needs as a result of
financial failure, about the need to rethink our values, to reverse the trend of people working
for the economy rather than the economy working for people, not to make the most
vulnerable pay for the errors of the banks and the super-rich. We are all challenged by this,
and each of you is working on a day to day basis to mitigate the effects on the people you
11 | P a g e

12. serve. But is that enough? I can stand here and tell you about the problems and challenges
facing diaconia, facing our societies and what we can do about them. Miranda will no doubt
tell you about the challenges facing Roma people in Europe and the increasing isolation,
stigmatisation and exclusion experienced by Roma people… but as I said before it is not
enough. If we do not tell those in power, those who take the decisions that affect people,
particularly the most vulnerable, then we are not meeting our biggest and need and perhaps
our biggest challenged – to change the structures and policies that cause marginalisation,
exclusion, vulnerability and need in the first place. Diaconia is not just here to pick up the
pieces – although we do that very well and it is needed – but we can also be a prophetic
voice, a voice with strength, passion, experience and knowledge of how people have come
to be in the situation they are, about how systems have failed them, of how small changes to
policies or programmes could have a massive effect.
Within Diaconia, we can be afraid to use our voices, to be seen as political, to get caught up
in the sometimes murky and egotistical world of MP’s and Councils..but we must do so…
yes, we are challenged by the changes in society – but we must also be challengers… we
cannot accept societies where the inequality gap is so wide, where our values are distorted,
where access to social security systems is conditional on your productivity, where the dignity
of each person is forgotten. We must work for social justice.
Each person has the right to participate in social, cultural and economic life and this is
achieved by appropriate services that ensure participation and integration but also by the
removal of the structural causes of injustice. That is our biggest challenge in Diaconia, to be
actors in both, to marry care with cause, to be prophetic and to be person focused.
Working together….
12 | P a g e

13. 13 | P a g e