Nuovi modelli di analisi nei servizi alla persona e alla famiglia

The paper aims to explore the concepts of social partnerships, social co-production and governance, in order to promote a comparison between current thought and ongoing research. The term "partnership" refers to a structural configuration characterized by the co-presence of different social subjects - state, market and third sector - and by reciprocal and collaborative social action that seeks to achieve project goals and is based on the implementation of mostly medium- to long-term relations. The term "co-production" entered into the field of sociological reflection only recently, in particular with regard to the third sector. As with many other sociological concepts, this term presents a polysemy that, on the one hand, enables its application to many and diverse situations, while, on the other makes it difficult to establish an analytical definition that could promote a comprehensive review of the conceptual debate. The functions of governance and of co-governance are essential in both of these two processes (social partnerships and co-production) and often affect the role that third sector organizations can play in policy planning, as well as the contribution they can offer to the improvement of well-being and quality of life within the community. The forms of co-governance are created in an attempt to govern growing differentiation through implementation of democratic initiatives and citizen participation Specifically, co-governance concerns input, while partnership and co-production involve output, or implementation of services. The consideration of each of these three concepts, individually and in combination, has recently begun to be explored in surveys and qualitative studies conducted in Italy, and looks to be useful in promoting understanding of emerging configurations of the third sector in the field of human services. The paper proposes a comparison of different theoretical approaches towards the definition of the above-mentioned concepts, as well as some interesting experiences through which we can observe these phenomena and their social impact.