The aim of this study is to create a system of indicators for the minimum income scheme in Portugal (Rendimento Social de Inserção), serving as a basis for the creation of a model for evaluating the service provision of this policy by local authorities. The research question that will guide our work is to what extent does the decentralisation of competences to the local level contribute to alleviating the causes of poverty and improving the quality of the services provided? The decentralisation of competences has been seen as a mechanism for combating poverty. Several international organisations, such as the World Bank, the OECD and the European Union, refer to the potential of decentralisation to enable local authorities to develop sustainable development processes. Several authors such as Von Braun and Groot (2000) and Crawford and Hartmann (2008) argue in favour of decentralisation, pointing out that local governments are better informed about the needs of their populations than the central state. Proximity makes it easier to monitor the citizen-beneficiary and can also allow for easier and more effective evaluation of social workers. However, some questions arise, namely the fact that these positive impacts of decentralisation depend on two factors, namely the resources that are made available to local authorities (Jütting e Corsi, 2005 and Harris and Posner, 2022) and also how local authorities themselves implement programmes (Harris and Posner, 2022). In the Netherlands, for example, during the process of decentralisation of competences (2003 and 2015), the problem that emerged was related to the way social workers acted in the execution and monitoring of social assistance recipients, who adopted a welfare philosophy. And it was through the initiative of the municipalities that they were open to changing the paradigm of the social intervention model (Oliveira, 2024). In Portugal, there were those who opposed decentralisation on the grounds that local authorities had insufficient and inadequate financial resources, human resources or technical resources to carry out the competences assigned to them. If we add to this the already existing gaps in the literature on models for evaluating service provision, the need to evaluate service provision in public policy and for political decisionmakers becomes even greater. Studies on social intervention models include doctoral theses (Reis, 2020), but also the books by Sousa et al (2000) and the manual on Collaborative and Positive Practices in Social Intervention by Rivero et al (2013), which, when studying minimum income, end up addressing the social intervention models of social workers and some evaluation indicators. Of the various existing studies, they are assertive in referring to the collaborative approach as an empowering intervention, focussed on the " reappropriating the capacity to act" (Soulet, 2007: 4). The phenomenon of poverty is multidimensional, not just limited to a lack of material means or economic circumstances, but to subjective perceptions and social bonds and identities (Ravaillon, 1997; Gordon et al., 2000, Specker, 2007, Carmo and d'Avelar, 2021). This study aims to understand how local authorities are operationalising these new competences in their approach to social intervention, and whether this is promoting a better quality of service in social policies, particularly in terms of mitigating the generational reproduction of poverty (Sousa, 2005). We propose to carry out this project along three structural lines. The first is to contextualise and frame the issue, where we will consolidate our theoretical-conceptual model by mapping the key dimensions of access and quality. A second, evaluating the processes operationalised by the municipalities. Lastly, the study's recommendations. The study follows an action research approach in four Portuguese municipalities, selected on the basis of socio-territorial typologies representative of the Portuguese reality (Carmo, 2023). The data will be collected using documentary analysis, namely administrative records from the social action departments of the municipal councils, interviews with the local authorities and the public. The aim of this study is to contribute with recommendations for improving public services at local level, while safeguarding the fact that these are case studies and therefore extrapolation should be taken into account. The team is multidisciplinary, made up of sociologists, social workers, human resources managers and public policy specialists, who have accumulated a significant amount of experience in research, evaluation, teaching and political contributions in different areas - analysis and evaluation of public policies, poverty and social exclusion, namely in the study of social minimum schemes and decentralisation of competences. The conditions are therefore in place to guarantee the implementation of this project.

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With the objective to increase the research activity directed towards the achievement of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the possibility of associating scientific projects with the Sustainable Development Goals is now available in Ciência_Iscte. These are the Sustainable Development Goals identified for this project. For more detailed information on the Sustainable Development Goals, click here.