Social Service Workforce

Working Paper on the Role of Social Service Workforce Development in Care Reform

Sarah Dwyer — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 18:17:15 +0000

Author's name:

Better Care Network and Global Social Service Workforce Alliance

January 2015 (All day)

Working Paper on the Role of Social Service Workforce Development in Care Reform

This working paper explores the topic of social service workforce development as it relates to child care reform. It is intended to be a useful resource for reform efforts and a practical overview for use by policy-makers, practitioners, and service providers in contexts that are either considering the implications of care reforms for their social service workforce or are already engaged in a process. The paper illustrates key issues by drawing on the experiences of Indonesia, Moldova, and Rwanda, three countries in the process of reform, each within their own context and history, social and political system, protection structure and services, and social service education system.

The Composition of the Social Service Workforce in HIV/AIDS-Affected Contexts

Sarah Dwyer — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 19:02:23 +0000

Author's name:

Kelley Bunkers, Amy Bess, Alex Collins, James McCaffery, and Maury Mendenhall

August 2014 (All day)

The Composition of the Social Service Workforce in HIV/AIDS-Affected Contexts

The social service workforce plays an invaluable role in supporting, protecting, and advocating for vulnerable children and families. This technical report describes the composition of the social service workforce drawn from several sources of data, including a literature review primarily focused on workforce issues in HIV/AIDS-impacted countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It is intended to help the field move toward a common understanding of functions associated with different cadres within the social service workforce, titles associated with workers who perform these functions, and education or training that is typically associated with these cadres. Taking into consideration the differences across countries, the authors propose additional emphasis on some broad areas—including examples of promising practices—that will help to clarify the composition of social service workforce. A more in-depth look at how public-sector social service workers are classified in Kenya is available as an annex.

Symposium Report: Supporting Families, Building a Better Tomorrow for Children: The Role of the Social Service Workforce

Sarah Dwyer — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 14:09:32 +0000

Author's name:

Alex Collins

May 2014 (All day)

Symposium Report

This report summarizes the contents of the symposium “Supporting Families, Building a Better Tomorrow for Children: The Role of the Social Service Workforce” hosted by the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance with support from PEPFAR/USAID and the National Association of Social Workers Foundation. Held at the National Press Club and made available via live webcast on April 29, 2014, the symposium contributed to the growing body of knowledge regarding the role of the social service workforce in promoting strong families and better futures for children. Expert presenters discussed current initiatives to strengthen the social service workforce and improve systems and services that promote well-being, protection, and healthy development. In addition to the report, the full program is available on the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance’s website, along with videos and presentations.

Situational Analysis of the Twinning Center Para-Social Worker Training Program in Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Nigeria

Sarah Dwyer — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:45:36 +0000

Author's name:

Laura Guyer, Dana Singleton, and Nathan Linsk

September 2012 (All day)

Situational Analysis of the Twinning Center Para-Social Worker Training Program

CapacityPlus conducted a situational analysis of a para-social worker training program in three country contexts. Para-social workers are volunteers who have received training in foundational skills in basic social service delivery to help address the human resources crisis in delivering social services to vulnerable populations, including children. This analysis validated that the twinning model is adaptable and should be employed to build a cadre of para-social workers at the local level. The analysis also provides the needed data for promoting and funding twinning practices and creating para-social worker cadres as an emergency human resources response to serving children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS.