The article focuses on the relationship between social problems and the human services programmes, designed to alleviate the theme. It is observed in the policy analysis framework with its distinctive steps such as the problem recognition, design of policy and programmes, their implementation and evaluation. In addition, the recent shift in the evaluation towards post-positivist approaches is highlighted, extending the role of evaluation from the one in assessment of quality in service delivery towards that of democratisation of public decision-making. The author also describes a specific method of 'measuring the performance of services' and discusses its applicability in the Slovenian social context.
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