Location: Syria
Organization: UNICEF
Title: Child Protection Specialist
Please tell us about your role in advocating for or strengthening the social service workforce.
There is no model for social work in Syria. The current "social workers" are office staff and paper pushers but not those who do the real social work.
Being the focal point for establishing "Case Management" system in Syria, I was involved in the advocacy to government partners to have a social work model for Syria by introducing social work curricula to the University of Damascus (UOD). This will be accomplished by supporting partnership between an academic institution that is advanced with social work with the UOD to support the establishment of a BA and MA of social service in Syria. Currently, we're supporting the selection of the university to partner with the UOD to introduce the social work curricula. The contract will also cover building capacities of current social workers to fill the gap until the new graduates are in place.
What motivates you to work in this field?
Social work in Syria has a long way to go. I'm digging and building the base but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel regardless of all the challenges.
From your experience, please describe one or two key challenges that you face in strengthening the social service workforce?
There are plenty of challenges in this field:
1- it's a very new field of work in Syria where limited (or rare) capacities are available.
2- this profession is not of high income and only those who can work voluntarily are interested in it.
How long have you been a member of the Alliance?
More than 2 years.
What was the primary reason you decided to join the Alliance?
Knowledge sharing, to benefit from best practices and experience of different countries.
What value does the Alliance bring to your efforts to strengthen the social service workforce?
Enriched my knowledge on social work and provided names of specialist in this field.
