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Conference Highlights Importance of Strengthening the Social Service Workforce

Nicole Brown's picture

Over three days in September, 400 attendees from 35 countries came together to discuss achieving “Equity, Equality for All Girls, Boys and Youth” at the Regional Psychosocial Support (REPSSI) Forum, held in Arusha, Tanzania. In discussing ways to enhance wellbeing for vulnerable children and their families, participants shared promising practices and innovative approaches to address some of the greatest challenges facing their local communities and nations. The Forum highlighted the ways in which designing and implementing programs that combat these challenges requires a strong social service workforce.

Keynote speakers including Tanzania Minister of Health Hon. Ummy Mwalimu; REPSSI CEO Noreen Huni; Jake Glaser, Ambassador of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation; and representatives from the Southern African Development Community pointed to the importance of multi-sectoral collaboration and highlighted evidence depicting the high cost of inaction on lives and livelihoods.

Case Management working group sessionSeveral sessions throughout the Forum spoke to the importance of social service system strengthening with an emphasis on workforce strengthening. As co-host of the Forum, the Alliance presented three panel sessions. During a session on case management approaches to strengthen the social workforce, three presenters shared the key role of the workforce in providing services for children and families impacted by HIV/AIDS, family separation and disabilities. Case studies from Kenya, the East and Southern Africa regions and Namibia featured the usage of innovative tools and resources on integrating case management into violence prevention programs, and using case conferencing and supervision to strengthen the workforce and improve service delivery. Both sessions also shared the current work of the Interest Group on Case Management, including small group discussions to review a document outlining core case management concepts and principles and an assessment tool that is being designed to review and compile existing case management tools into a compendium that will be located on the Alliance’s website.

A third session hosted by the Alliance shared tips and examples for developing an advocacy campaign to advocate for greater workforce-supportive policies nationally, regionally and globally. The Alliance shared some of the worksheets and steps for creating an advocacy campaign that are included within the new Global Advocacy Toolkit.

Speakers on the Alliance’s panels included Alliance Ambassadors, Alliance staff and 4Children colleagues who shared country case studies and regional approaches. The Alliance also hosted an information table during the Forum to share publications and information with participants. More than 50 new members from 13 countries became members of the Alliance network during the Forum, and many also joined the Interest Group on Case Management.

Additional sessions included a review of the Minimum Standards on Comprehensive Services for Children and Young People in the EAC, focusing on five key strategies to ensure the provision of comprehensive services, one of which is the social service workforce. A session on enhancing country ownership and strengthening systems on psychosocial programs highlighted how community health is improved through social service system strengthening.

In offering closing remarks, the Alliance challenged participants to remain engaged, build on discussions and make progress toward workforce strengthening. In its role as a convener, the Alliance stands ready to provide a platform for ongoing learning from colleagues around the globe, exchanging best practices across borders and deriving new and innovative approaches. The Alliance shares in the aims of the Forum to generate political will, convene people across roles and sectors, and advance knowledge through the exchange of promising practices.