Mobile integrated social services increasing employment outcomes for people in need (MISSION).

In the MISSION project, a pilot programme will be implemented in the Belgian city of Kortrijk to test an innovative outreach approach for the integrated delivery of local services, aimed at the integration of disadvantaged families in the labour market. Multi-disciplinary case handlers will 1) visit a well-defined target group of disadvantaged families; 2) make an assessment of the specific problems and needs of these families, making use of a newly developed smartphone application; and 3) guide these families in finding the right kind of support for a period of 6 months, instead of expecting these families to muddle through the multitude of local services on their own. In short, the case handler will be the single point of contact for disadvantaged families, bringing a one stop shop in social welfare delivery on their doorstep. The effectiveness of the pilot programme will be tested by means of a randomized controlled trial. The experimental design will enable us to test whether close counseling by case handlers helps in improving take up of local employment services. Moreover, it will be examined whether and how the programme can be transferred to cities with similar problems.

Keywords:POVERTY, SOCIOLOGY OF WELFARE

Disciplines:Applied sociology, Policy and administration, Social psychology, Social stratification, Social theory and sociological methods, Social work, Sociology of life course, family and health, Other sociology and anthropology