Between support and control: The intersectorial coordination of services networks

Abstract

Social networks, especially those coordinating different social policy services, are responsible for fostering the increase of effectiveness of actions, being able to promote greater social support that must be implemented by public administration, but they can also exercise control of the lives of the poor. The scope of this article was to map social networks in Campinas, state of São Paulo, to investigate the strategy behind intersectorial coordination among social services, education and health as a tool of social support. To achieve this, 13 of the 15 district coordinators of social policies were interviewed, questionnaires were filled out by occupational therapists, with 47.2% (n = 17) of collaboration of the city’s professionals, and two networks being monitored for 4 months. Mapping was conducted of 78 predominantly health sector networks. The following categories were discussed: What is a network? Who conducts network actions? What are the network’s attributes? – Social support or control? It was revealed that there is a gap between discourse and practice. The need for networks is a consensus, however the possibilities of institutional change for implementing such networks are not given. Likewise, the network has an ambivalent function: it can assure support but can also be a control device.