Avaliar a eficácia de programas municipais de ação social

: o caso de Castelo de Paiva

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the impact of ‘Include Project’, a social-action driven Municipal program in Castelo de Paiva, supported by the methodology of analysis of Mendes’ (2006) methodology. The goal is to evaluate the 'Include Project’s' impact within the beneficiaries, the community and on the inter-institutional relations, and, gradually, its influence on the County’s development. To evaluate this impact there has been a study of some theoretical concepts, such as poverty, social exclusion (and factors associated to them), municipalities, territoriality, partnership and some local intervention, trying to fundament the work opportunities of this dissertation, such as the impact and effectiveness that this project had upon the personal, social and professional skills of the beneficiaries, as well as the employability and social isolation. We have analyzed the “PI” on its entirety over the years (2006 - 2011) and the various actions related to its execution / evaluation. By data availability, and according to our own defined assumptions, we focused our analysis on a 117 people sample that has been on the project throught its duration. Based in our sample we have concluded that “Include Project” had a great impact within our individuals and their households, and gradually, also on the analyzed territory, maximizing local resources and partnerships by individual and systemic responses. Nevertheless, this project also has some limitations correlated with budgetary restrictions, inoperable and ill-defined partnerships and some obvious difficulties were experienced by some beneficiaries on apprehending the project as a tool to enhance social change and to build new life projects.

Date of Award	26 Feb 2014
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Marisa Tavares (Supervisor) & Liliana Fernandes (Co-Supervisor)