Webinar Explores Models for Training Frontline Social Service Workers
Well-trained frontline health workers are essential to address the social service needs of vulnerable children and their families. But what are the best models for providing basic skills training to this workforce, which relies on a variety of paid and unpaid workers, including community members? More than 80 participants from 11 countries participated in a webinar hosted by the Social Service Workforce Strengthening Alliance via CapacityPlus on September 8 to hear about and discuss three best-practice models for extending the social service workforce.
Nathan Linsk, codirector of “twinning” partnerships between the University of Illinois at Chicago and social service training institutions in Tanzania and Ethiopia, set the stage for the two-hour interactive session. He explained how the webinar’s topic stemmed from the identification of training and curricula as a key priority area during the November 2010 Social Welfare Workforce Strengthening Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, and described some of the challenges related to expanding educational opportunities to meet the demand for social service workers.
Kathy Scott outlined the approach of South Africa’s National Association for Child Care Workers, which uses experiential learning methods to train unemployed rural women to provide services for youth facing hardships in their communities, including orphans and vulnerable children. Linsk presented the model used by the twinning partnership in Tanzania, which combines basic and follow-up coursework with a supervised six-month field practicum to deploy community-based staff and volunteers to fill gaps in meeting the needs of children and families. Lynette Mudekunye of the Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative (REPSSI) described an 18-month certificate program for community-level social service workers—including caregivers, teachers, social workers, and police—developed by African academics and now applied in 10 countries. Students, often from remote areas, do not have to leave their communities to complete the course, but receive mentoring support and submit their assignments to an academic institution for marking.
In conclusion, Linsk noted that while community-based training has enhanced the knowledge of frontline workers, there remains a need to better establish values, ethics, and other guidelines. Courses should support ongoing professional development and career paths and, as possible, be integrated into formal professional training initiatives. Programs should also be part of overall workforce development plans that address such issues as how graduates will be absorbed into the social service system, how policies and regulations should be changed to accommodate these new workers, how workers will be supported (and paid, as appropriate), and how the workforce will be sustained.
The second in a planned series funded by PEPFAR, the webinar allowed participants to ask questions and communicate among themselves during the session via a chat function. A recording of the webinar is available at www.ovcsupport.net.
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Photo by Paul Marsden. (Caregiver and children at TOSE Respite and Care Centre, Harare, Zimbabwe)
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