The Citizen Lab in Monterotonde, 2025, began by screening the film “I, Daniel Blake”. Afterwards, a packed cinema engaged in discussion with representatives from Monterotondo’s social services, cooperatives and Involve.
The film “I, Daniel Blake” is about a man with a serious heart condition who is forced to look for work by the employment agency even though he is unable to work on doctor’s orders. It is an endless battle with an inhumane employment agency that only checks boxes bureaucratically.
The film prompted a discussion with the audience and with several representatives of social services and cooperatives from Monterotondo and Involve.
The film is about a fundamental injustice: this person was no longer seen as a human being, but as a thing to be ticked off a list. This businesslike and bureaucratic approach was introduced in several countries, with England leading the way and other countries, such as the Netherlands, following suit.
Monterotondo has many cooperatives that help people with mental health issues, among others. These social cooperatives are a blessing for public social services. Public social services have a duty to value people and provide them with effective support. Cooperation with social cooperatives is essential in this regard, as they serve as a sounding board for social services. Apart from providing their services, they engage in dialogue with public services about supporting people and feed these services with new practices.
The audience shared various testimonials; life stories pointed to the need for tailored support that takes people’s aspirations into account.
Here too, social cooperatives are pioneers: they have the space and the opportunities to listen and respond within their means. Thanks to their good cooperation with other (public) services, they can count on personalized and person-centered support.
The message from Monterotondo is therefore that public services need cooperative services and vice versa. Cooperation between civil society and government benefits users: they have a voice, they receive tailored services, and they are supported. Government services benefit because they have an additional source of feedback and are both questioned and supported by civil society. Civil society benefits from the recognition of its experiences, expertise, and social approach.
How can effective collaboration be developed?
Trust in each other’s expertise and experience is a start. Various forms of collaboration can grow from this trust. It starts with effective referrals, where all necessary information is shared so that the user does not have to repeat their story over and over again. A joint search for an answer: together with the user and the various services. The user should emerge from this search feeling empowered. This also means that the services, both public and cooperative, look at all aspects of the user’s life together: not just work, but also health, housing, family situation, etc. Seeing people as whole human beings.
In this way, social services and cooperatives earn respect and trust and build a human society.