Examining the functioning of public social assistance system: The case of Antalya

Social assistance had become a key policy tool worldwide in alleviating poverty and reducing hunger. However, many authors highlighted that implementing social assistance programs has been facing many obstacles. This research examined Turkey’s public social assistance system in the districts of Antalya. A face to face survey was conducted with 100 households functionally selected from Konyaaltı town Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundation (SASF) beneficiary list, and 10 administrators responsible for districts and municipalities’ social assistance and services. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the perception of beneficiaries on the assistance system and varieties of assistance programs they benefited from. Due to the findings it was seen that the municipalities mostly provide in-kind assistance and use different criteria for evaluating social assistance applications. However, it was seen that municipalities do not have a common system in monitoring social assistance. In addition, it was seen that foundations provide cash and in-kind assistance and use a common criteria in evaluating the applications for social assistance within a common monitoring system. There is no common social assistance system where all public institutions are included, and all social assistance can be monitored country wide. Accordingly, “social assistance and income ratio of the households can not be determined accurately. The same household might receive different assistance from various resources and their level of need for social assistance is not known. Accordingly, the total value and amount of social assistance provided to beneficiaries cannot be calculated accurately. In addition, there are various types of social assistance and their follow-up is difficult. Accordingly, it is required to simplify the types of social assistance and an integrated “social assistance monitoring system” including all public and other relevant institutions should be developed country wide.