Blog

In celebration of World Social Work Day, the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance is sharing events, resources and learning opportunities to drive advocacy efforts and actions for strengthening the social service workforce.

CELEBRATE: World Social Work Day
Every year, World Social Work Day is celebrated the third Tuesday of March, and events are organized throughout the month of March. This year, World Social Work Day is on March 19. The day is an opportunity for social workers and others in the social service sector to celebrate their achievements as well as to raise awareness and support for the important role that social workers play in the lives of vulnerable families and communities. The day calls attention to the need for further planning, development and support to the profession and social service sector.

Read about events planned globally.

ATTEND: The 6th Annual Social Service Workforce Alliance Symposium, May 7
The Alliance hosts an annual symposium to provide a forum to discuss efforts to strengthen the social service workforce.

Collecting and analyzing data to better understand the social service workforce is fundamental and foundational to creating informed advocacy. Regional panels of speakers representing a variety of stakeholders will provide examples of how they have used new evidence and recommendations to better support advocacy efforts and to design and implement strategies to better plan, develop and support the workforce. Speakers and breakout work sessions will also make connections to global trends and progress toward achieving the recommendations within the Call to Action. The Symposium will include the launch of the 2018 State of the Social Service Workforce Report which provides a comparative look at social service workforce development in four regions. 

Participants will be able to join in person in Washington, DC, and via live webcast from any location.

View the full agenda and register now to attend in person or online. 

GET INVOLVED: World Social Work Day Events Around the World
Many national associations and organizations around the world are hosting events today and throughout the month of March to call attention for the need for greater support for social workers and other social service workers. Read about events in Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cyprus, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, India, Japan, Lativa, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, and many other national and global activities. A number of materials have also been developed to help in promoting the workforce today and throughout the year. If you are participating in an event, we encourage you to submit photos, quotes and stories.

View a listing of events taking place and download resources.

WEBINAR: Innovative Approaches to Advocating for the Social Service Workforce, March 20

The Alliance will present during the Global Social Welfare Digital Summit on March 20 at 10:30 am ET on the topic "Innovative Approaches to Advocating for the Social Service Workforce." Join online to learn about materials and methods to advocate in your country to government and decision-makers.

Register now.

WEBINAR: Role of the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance as a Forum to Advance Knowledge and Advocate for Policy Reform, March 26 & 28

Speakers comprised of Alliance staff and Steering Committee members will provide an overview of the Alliance to serve as an orientation for newer members or new stakeholder groups wishing to become more involved. Presenters will share history on the development of the Alliance, existing tools and resources, and highlight current work underway. They will also share the many ways for members to become involved in supporting this work and how to engage with global colleagues. Following the presentation, speakers will answer questions from participants. This webinar is being held at two different times to allow for maximum participation by members across different time zones.

Register now.

ADVOCATE: Participate in the Advocacy Interest Group
Share resources, practical examples and ideas for effective advocacy by participating in the newly formed advocacy interest group. In order to strengthen the workforce and improve the lives of children and families, greater planning, development and support is needed to this frontline workforce. This group is currently gathering existing tools and resources and will then explore gaps and needs for being more vocal and sharing a common global message to advocate for this workforce.

Learn how to become involved.

About the Alliance
The Global Social Service Workforce Alliance works toward a world where a well-planned, well-trained and well-supported social service workforce effectively delivers promising practices that improve the lives of vulnerable populations. The Alliance pursues this approach by serving as a convener for a network of 2,200 members and stakeholder groups in 134 countries, advancing knowledge through dissemination of evidence-based research and tools, and advocating for workforce-supportive policy reforms. Learn more and become a member at www.socialserviceworkforce.org.

As the year draws to a close, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you - our members and other supporters – for the many accomplishments we’ve achieved together. Below are some of the highlights that your advocacy, outreach, expertise and support made possible this past year.

Advocating for Workforce

Some highlights of how you’ve helped us to advocate for workforce-supportive policy reforms at the global and national levels include: 

• Through widely sharing with your networks, 35 organizations have now signed on to show support for the Call to Action for Strengthening the Social Service Workforce to Better Protect Children and Achieve the SDGs. This advocacy tool makes recommendations at the country and global level for governments to initiate, lead and engage in dialogue with partners in order to strengthen the workforce and improve the lives of children and families.
• During the 5th Annual Social Service Workforce Week, members helped to encourage individuals and groups to take specific steps toward achievement of the recommended actions outlined in the Call to Action, and shared replicable examples from their organizations of ways they are supporting workforce strengthening efforts.
• To advocate for the workforce to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, elements of the Global Advocacy Toolkit continued to incorporated into members’ national and regional advocacy efforts to bring greater political and programmatic priority for strengthening the social service workforce, particularly in the areas of ending violence against children, improving health and well-being and supporting refugees and migrants.
• Alliance members participated in World Social Work Day events held around the globe. Alliance staff presented at the Social Work Day at the United Nations event in Geneva and Alliance Ambassadors presented on advocacy approaches at the CRISOWO Conference in Rwanda.

Advancing Knowledge

Alliance members aim to advance knowledge by deriving, organizing and disseminating critical evidence-based research, resources, tools, models and best practices. Here are some of the ways we collectively advanced knowledge in 2018:

• Members with three regions contributed data and input into Alliance-led workforce mappings and assessments in 16 countries within the East Asia and Pacific region and nine countries within the Middle East and North Africa region in collaboration with UNICEF Regional and Country Offices. In addition, the Alliance completed a scoping of eight countries in South Asia, documented in the State of the Social Service Workforce in South Asia Report to establish a baseline of information and data on the workforce in each country to guide and assist country-level action plans toward strengthening the workforce.
• Members shared and responded to a survey to inform the State of the Social Service Workforce Report 2017: Stories of Workforce Efforts to Address Violence Against Children. This third annual report provides insight into workers’ backgrounds, training, education, services provided and organizational factors to demonstrate the value of multidisciplinary approaches to addressing violence against children.
• Alliance Members within the Interest Group on Case Management developed and released two new resources: Core Concepts and Principles of Effective Case Management: Approaches for the Social Service Workforce and a Compendium of the best existing tools, forms, training materials and other resources on case management.
• Five webinars were held over the course of the year, on topics suggested by members ranging from case management and ending and preventing violence against children to the role of a Council and workforce support to refugees. The Annual Social Service Workforce Strengthening Symposium featured partners and supporters sharing examples of how they have helped to elevate the discussion about the workforce, increased visibility and implemented strategies to strengthen the workforce.

Convening Stakeholders

Members from government, NGOs, academic institutions, donor groups, professional associations and community practitioners actively participate in the Alliance network to create a forum for discourse and collective learning. Some of these efforts in 2018 include:

• Through participation in mapping work, Alliance members and supporters helped convene or support formation of multi-stakeholder country task groups in more than 12 countries. In Uganda, Alliance Ambassadors and staff actively participated in the National Social Work Symposium for the launch of a national social service workforce strengthening strategy.
• Through sharing updates and inviting colleagues, members helped the Alliance network to expand by 600 members and 20 countries, totaling 2,100 members in 131 countries in 2018, increasing the reach of the network and numbers of workforce advocates.
• The second cohort of the Alliance Ambassador program began in September, with 10 Ambassadors from 10 countries. The first cohort finished their two-year terms, contributing to formation of a national association of social workers, training social service professionals on improving disability inclusion in programming, drafting of a bill on regulating and licensing of social work as a profession, increased budget allocations for hiring more social service workers and development of a code of ethics for social workers.

Looking Ahead to 2019

Many exciting efforts are underway and will be realized in 2019 through continued support by you - our members and partners. Through your input and participation, we continue to develop new tools and resources for a stronger workforce.

• The Alliance is developing a toolkit for UNICEF to support Country Offices in implementing the programme guidance on strengthening the social service workforce specific to child protection. The guidance will be released in the coming months, and the toolkit will be publicly released mid-2019 and include a tool specific to carrying out national workforce mapping, one of the most requested tools by our members.
• The Alliance's State of the Social Service Workforce 2018 Report will include a multi-regional analysis and assessment of the workforce. Data from the three mappings and assessments in the East Asia and Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia, will be compiled for this report, which will be shared during the 6th Annual Social Service Workforce Strengthening Symposium in May 2019.
• Members will have increased advocacy opportunities. A new advocacy interest group will launch in early 2019 for members to exchange effective advocacy approaches for greater political will and programmatic support to the workforce, and members will also be asked to participate in sharing how national plans of action are underway toward achieving the recommendations within the Call to Action.
• Additional details will be shared in the coming months. Through sharing knowledge and contributing expertise across the network, we all play an important role in contributing to a stronger social service workforce.

With Gratitude

As we enter the season of gratitude, we would like to express our appreciation to all of you - members, advocates and supporters of the Alliance’s work - toward building a stronger social service workforce that is best positioned to meet the needs of vulnerable populations. We are thankful to Alliance Steering Committee members, staff, Ambassadors, interest group members, consultants and the many others who have contributed their time and talent this year. We are thankful to our donors – USAID, GHR Foundation, UBS Optimus Foundation and UNICEF – for supporting ongoing and new work. We look forward to continued engagement to advance this work in 2019 and invite our members to join our circle of friends by donating to this work. 

IntraHealth International has joined the Call to Action: Strengthening the Social Service Workforce to Better Protect Children and Achieve the SDGs. This call is close to our hearts, because our mission—which is to improve the performance of health workers and strengthen the systems in which they work—includes social service workers, from government-employed social workers to trained community case workers or volunteers on child-protection committees. They play a key role in connecting vulnerable children and families to services, including health services, and work hand-in-hand with health workers to achieve a world in which everyone everywhere has the health care they need to thrive.

This inclusive commitment is what motivated our choice to sign on to the Call to Action and its specific recommended actions align with much of our work in health and social welfare systems and workforce strengthening.

For example, in Botswana, we’re a partner on two USAID-funded projects that are improving the lives of orphans and vulnerable children and their families. One is the Catholic Relief Services (CRS)-ledCoordinating Comprehensive Care for Children (4Children) project, where IntraHealth worked alongside the government of Botswana and USAID on the qualitative portion of a national situational analysis of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC).

The analysis revealed the high caseloads district social workers experience (especially given that one professional covers several villages), and how difficult it is for them to meet expectations. They face the heavy burden of administering assessments for households that need government cash transfers / OVC grants, and suspicion from community members, some of whom accuse them of corruption when their households are deemed ineligible for assistance.

“We know the community does not like us,” one respondent told us. “They think we are corrupt, when we are following the policy. They think we have bad attitudes, when we are overworked and overburdened.”

A motivated, well-equipped workforce is essential for providing high-quality services—and to providing a safety net for the families most
at risk. The results show us some of the challenges to making that workforce a reality in Botswana.

Under the Project Concern International (PCI)-led Botswana Comprehensive Care and Support for Orphans and Vulnerable Children project—which empowers communities to seek, support, and provide HIV/AIDS-related services to OVC and their parents/caregivers—we’ve used what we learned from the situational analysis to support government systems and workforce strengthening efforts at the national level.

We’re doing this mainly by seconding a senior technical advisor to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, which is the primary custodian of OVC, particularly the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Community Development.

So far, we’ve helped:

• Form a technical working group to assume ownership of the national-level efforts
• Complete an assessment of the existing system of enrolling children in social protection/welfare services (like OVC grants and other forms of assistance such as birth registration, emergency food and clothing, and psychosocial support).
• Determine which gaps to address within structures, systems, and procedures.

Findings from the assessment point to a need for more effective policy dissemination, so that across sectors and down to the civil society organization (CSO) level, all those who are involved in delivering services to OVC are clear on their roles, responsibilities, and reporting requirements, as well as joint planning at the district level with CSOs, since they are one of the major partners in OVC programming in Botswana.

“OVC problems require a multisectoral approach,” one government policymaker shared during the assessment, “and that calls for information-sharing, joint planning, and partnership in program implementation. If there is poor coordination, the management of the programs will be compromised, hence negatively affecting the quality of service provision.”

According to Ms. Boipelo Seitlhamo, senior social service workforce advisor with the project, internal consultative meetings on the report results “created dialogue with the Department of Social Protection and paved the way for developing an action plan that prioritizes response to gaps in knowledge and implementation of policies, reporting and referrals, including a mechanism for tracking and documenting OVC interventions.”  

After the report results and recommendations are widely disseminated, the project plans to work with the Department of Social Projection, the lead agency in rolling out a revised enrollment system that will ensure that all eligible children are assessed, registered, and receive benefits in line with the Children’s Act. The results will also inform a new national framework for forging effective working relationships between government and CSOs to deliver better services for OVC.

For decades, IntraHealth has worked to improve health and social systems around the world, partnering with countries to better plan, develop, and support their frontline workforces. And as the HIV epidemic continues and other threats—such as Ebola and Zika outbreaks and global refugee crises—grow, so will the needs of vulnerable children and their families. Our work is far from done.

IntraHealth International was the host and a fiscal sponsor of the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance from 2012 to 2016 under the USAID-funded global CapacityPlus Project.

Caption: Ms. Seitlhamo presenting a report on the assessment of existing system for accessing OVC social protection services during consultative workshop.

By Sr. Margaret Kubanze, Secretary General, Association for the Religious in Uganda

As Uganda places a stronger emphasis on community-based, family-oriented care toward implementation of a national alternative care framework, the Catholic Care for Children in Uganda (CCCU) initiative is supporting training religious caregivers within care institutions. The purpose of this training is to support family reintegration, prevent future family separation and ultimately end institutionalization within Uganda.

Launching Catholic Care for Children in Uganda

CCCU is an initiative of the Association of Religious in Uganda and financially supported by GHR Foundation in Minneapolis, USA. The program goal is to strengthen Religious Institutes in becoming champions of child care reform and improving outcomes for children living outside of family care. For a smooth and effective community-oriented paradigm shift to community-based care for children, the CCCU program was launched in 2016.

The program is currently working with 17 Religious Institutes operating 46 child care institutions (CCIs) with 1,773 children. Children enter the institutions largely due to family poverty and the mentality that children will have greater access to nutrition and education in institutions rather than remaining with their families. These families don’t understand the negative results of sending their children away to be raised outside of a family.

The program is being implemented in three phases, from 2016-2021. The program began with a rapid assessment to determine the skills and qualifications of those running the institutions. A second assessment was undertaken to determine the extent to which the legal frameworks for child protection are being implemented. Both studies revealed a need for greater training and education for staff, as well as increased awareness on the negative impacts of institutionalization.

Building Staff Capacity to Care for Children

To build the capacity of staff, 80 scholarships were awarded for education in social work and social administration. A total of 46 staff, one per institution, obtained a bachelor’s degree in social work, and an additional 17 staff are continuing to work toward a master’s degree in social work. Additionally, 176 Religious staff members were trained in a certificate course on protection of children that included learning about the alternative care framework and implementing effective case management practices. The trainings were conducted by professors in the Department of Social Work at Makerere University in partnership with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development.

Phase IIis a two-year phase, from 2018-2019, that aims to ensure the 46 Catholic Care Institutions are exceeding the new standards set by the government for operating child care institutions. The program will support a few CCIs as a pilot to transition children to community/family-based care in preparation for mass program rollout in Phase III, which is expected to begin in 2021 and will support all 46 CCIs to align their work with the Alternative Care Framework and transition entirely to community- and family-based care.

Emerging Legal Frameworks in Uganda

The Children Act, passed in 1997, is the overarching legal framework for the welfare and protection of children in Uganda. An amendment bill was passed in April 2016, and includes significant changes in the legal environment for the care of orphans and other vulnerable children. In addition to broadening of the definition of children’s rights and violence against children, there is a stronger emphasis on community-based, family-oriented care.

This includes development of a stricter Alternative Care Framework that specifies a continuum of care and mandates that institutionalization must be a last resort. The framework defines six core care options in preference: (1) family reunification, (2) kinship and community care, (3) domestic adoption; (4) foster care; (5) inter-country adoption and; (6) specialized institutional care. A Deinstitutionalization Plan is also being developed and includes empirical evidence on the negative impacts of institutional care on the overall development of children, the increasing abuse and exploitation of children in child care institutions including child trafficking, and the higher costs associated with institutional care (Carter, 2005, and Walakira et al, 2014). If implemented, the plan will result in resettlement of approximately 64% of children currently in institutional care. The rules and regulations for approved homes were been revised in 2013 and made more stringent as far as approval and minimum standards for child care institutions are concerned. Legal liability is placed on individuals and organisations operating unapproved homes.

Implementation of the framework and deinstitutionalization plan will result in immediately halting approval of institutions while a systematic assessment of existing ones is conducted, subsequently resulting in closure and more strict inspection of child care institutions by government.

In anticipation of this and based on the principal law’s highlight on family-based care, these strategies are already being adopted and implemented into the current work of Catholic sisters and brothers caring for orphans and other vulnerable children. Catholic Care for Children in Uganda believes strong gatekeeping mechanisms blended with effective case management practices, skills that are being developed through social work studies, will prevent unnecessary admission of children into instructional care and prevent the prolonged, unnecessary stay of children in CCIs. This will not only contribute to de-institutionalization efforts in Uganda but also promote child protection by ensuring that every child is entitled to enjoyment of parental care and protection that is free of abuse, violence, exploitation and neglect.