Interagency working for the provision of early childhood services: two case studies analysis at Dutch and Greek local level

Abstract

Multiple agencies offer early childhood services to children and their families. However, because of political, economic or social demands, agencies cannot provide efficiently their services. Research has shown that in order to deal with these demands agencies create partnerships with each other. These partnerships can refer to interagency working which is found in the literature with multiple forms and in different levels. In order to examine and identify some of these forms, this paper examines the role of interagency working in two countries at local level. This study researches the effectiveness factors of interagency working and the barriers of organizations’ collaboration regarding the provision of early childhood services. It uses the two case studies method by comparing a Dutch and a Greek case. The Dutch case study was conducted by Utrecht University researchers and is a part of a European project. It examines the collaboration between the “Centra voor Jeugd en Gezin” (CJGs), the Buurtteams and the preschool education in two Dutch neighborhoods. The Greek case study is a replication of the Dutch and examines the collaboration between the early childhood services in the department of Social Policy, Solidarity and Public Health of a Greek municipality. Findings show that interagency working has different forms in the two cases. Some of the common effectiveness factors are the strong leadership, the co-location and the engaged professionals. One of the common barriers is the lack of funding as a part of the economic crisis. Lastly, the differences lie to cultural or organizational factors.