Social participation, collective support and community care and social innovation will be the three areas of work for consolidating a participatory and innovative social services model. This is set out in the new government measure on social action “Driving people’s voices, transforming social services”, promoted by the Area for Social Rights, Health, Cooperation and Community.

One of the key points in the measure is the promotion of participation through a new forum that will gauge the vision of users regarding the most suitable policies and actions to go with processes. The intention is also to set up new territorial social action groups (TAST) to strengthen networking between different social services. At the same time, La Marina Comprehensive Care Centre will become a laboratory to put into practice a new model for reception and interaction between various services and members of the public.

The idea is to make the system more agile and flexible, at the same time simplifying management through the launch of an app and the use of artificial intelligence in various tools such as conversational systems and chatbots. Finally, the measure includes the city’s intention to take part in international activities to generate and exchange knowledge, such as the European Social Network (ESN) and Eurocities, consolidating Barcelona as a leader in social innovation and action.

The measure represents another step towards consolidating essential universal social services, centring on people from a cross-cutting perspective and with a clear focus on guaranteeing rights.