Networking Forum: Innovating social services – Pathways to inclusion and Sustainability

The Austrian Ministry for Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection organized a Networking Forum “Innovating social services: Pathways to inclusion and Sustainability” together with the Albanian Ministry of Health and Social Protection, the North Macedonian Ministry of Social Policy, Demographics and Youth as well as with UNICEF on 17 and 18 November 2025 in Tirana. The Forum was organized in a hybrid setting and provided a platform for national and international participants from Albania, Austria and North Macedonia, to share experiences, innovative models, and practical approaches to social service reform. Key themes presented focused on access to social services as a human right, community-based provision of person-centered services, quality and sustainability with the aim to feed into ongoing reforms of social care in Albania. Kai Leichsenring contributed to the Forum with reflections and examples of good practice on “Monitoring the quality of social services provided in the mixed economy of welfare“.