Social Welfare Workforce Conference Focuses on Strengthening Care for Children

CapacityPlus staff James McCaffery will lead several sessions on social work education and training at the Social Welfare Workforce Strengthening Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, November 15-18. McCaffery will moderate a panel on Systematic Approaches to Workforce Strengthening, facilitate a skills lab on Developing the Workforce, and cofacilitate a session on Providing Feedback to the Social Welfare Workforce Strengthening Framework.

Participants from at least 15 sub-Saharan African countries as well as other regions will examine ways to build a stronger social welfare workforce—including parasocial workers—in Africa, and in particular how social workers can better protect children and orphans, who are especially vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.

IntraHealth International's  Prosper Msuya will discuss Filling the Social Welfare Gap in Services: Recruiting a Cadre of Volunteer Parasocial Workers and Potential for Inclusion in Local Government. Msuya is program manager for the Tanzania Human Resource Capacity Project, an IntraHealth-led associate award of the Capacity Project, the predecessor to CapacityPlus.

Innovative programs in Tanzania have demonstrated that volunteer social workers can successfully help vulnerable children, orphans, and their caregivers by identifying untapped resources in the community. For example, community funds within districts, wards, and villages can be created to provide care for vulnerable children and support them to become self-reliant. These programs are also working to create a parasocial network that connects volunteer social workers to each other so they can better communicate and support these community-based programs.

Photo courtesy of the Tanzania Human Resource Capacity Project. (In Bahi District, Mtitaa village, parasocial workers link children to school equipment)