Pamplona: Neighbourhood Children Services—A Grassroots and Local Council Initiative

Abstract

The Neighbourhood Children Services in Pamplona are social activities aimed at the prevention of social problems amongst children in Pamplona. They are the result of a movement of community associations that developed leisure activities for children and of their integration into the local government structure of social services, while retaining a specific way of working. They show a blurring of limits between practitioners, volunteers and service users, who in fact become co-producers of services. It also shows some of the ambivalence that may be found in social innovation projects. Born out of an initiative of grassroots associations, it was integrated into the municipal structure due to its effectiveness and efficiency by local authorities who did not have much initial sympathy for such organisations. It has been criticised by advocates both of traditional public responsibility on the left and of a more corporate approach to service management on the right, but it has been able to find support on both sides of the political spectrum for different, sometimes opposite reasons.