Social Service Workforce

The group developed a set of guiding principles for working with para professionals to form a base from which to develop programs and activities related to how these workers can be trained, developed, deployed and supported. The group also decided that an important contribution to this area of work would be the development of a competency framework for para professionals that would outline the functions and competencies of para professionals and could be used to provide program guidance, accountability and ultimately inform both training and supervision. [from resource]

This report sheds light on key social service workforce data and trends in 2014, showcases innovative and effective workforce strengthening initiatives, and highlights the impact of a lack of data in this fairly new area
of focus. This first annual report is envisioned as a first step among many other global, regional, and national
efforts to better describe, depict, and analyze efforts to strengthen the social service workforce. [from executive summary]

This working paper explores the topic of social service workforce strengthening as it relates to child care reform. It is intended to be a useful resource for reform efforts and a practical and accessible 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 the process. The paper illustrates key issues by drawing on the experiences of Indonesia, Moldova, and Rwanda, three countries in the process of reform. [from

This technical report 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. [from resource]

The objective of this TAT [Think and Action Tank] initiative was to synthesize existing knowledge and experience with child rights, health equity and social justice into a conceptual and operational framework and tool to translate the principles and norms of human and child rights, health equity, and social justice into child health practice. [from executive summary]

Data collectors implementing the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) survey tools must be trained to a high standard. To enable this, MEASURE Evaluation has developed a training manual and materials for data collectors. Groups wanting to implement the OVC survey tools will need to adapt this training manual and materials to reflect the aims and design of the specific study. [from introduction]

The focus of this study is to better understand how social workers and related professionals are
trained and educated—both formally and informally—to engage in social work practice, especially as it is related to child protection, in the West and Central Africa region. [from executive summary]

A Framework To Design, Test, Spread, and Sustain Effective Practice in Child Welfare is a practical guide for strengthening child welfare systems. It describes a process for exploring problems in child welfare, developing interventions, building evidence about their effectiveness, integrating effective interventions into routine child welfare practice, and continually improving on their delivery. The framework is designed to promote better integration of evaluation with program and policy decision-making and to encourage stronger partnerships between child welfare stakeholders.

Social care and support services include such areas as the protection of children from violence and exploitation, care for chronically sick or disabled children and adults, support in dealing with the social difficulties of those affected by conflicts and disasters and responses to gender based violence. The aim of this paper is to make proposals for a unified coherent strategic framework which clarifies the vision, nature, scope and rationale for social care and support services. [from introduction]

What does the population health approach in action look like in the health care context? This study looks at applying a population health approach in a health care setting. The study articulates the merits of applying a population health approach and brings to light associated barriers and opportunities. It also features patient- and program-level perspectives and population health insights from senior health care leaders at The Ottawa Hospital who were instrumental in establishing OICH.[from introduction]

Knowledge of the relation between health-system factors and child mortality could help to inform health policy in low-income and middle-income countries. We aimed to quantify modifiable health-system factors and their relation with provincial-level heterogeneity in under-5, infant, and neonatal mortality over time in Mozambique. [from abstract]

This webinar discusses multidisciplinary teams in communities and local health facilities. A summary and a complete recording are available.

The Global Social Service Workforce Alliance hosted this webinar to discuss tools for attracting and supporting the social service workforce in underserved areas. The complete recording, transcript and a compilation of related resources is available.

This analysis was conducted with the overall purpose to review the roles and responsibilities of the Ministry staff, including social workers and record clerks at national and regional level, and ascertain the capacity gaps that hinder fulfillment of their obligations towards children and women in the context of the HIV and AIDS pandemic in Namibia. [from introduction]

The intent of this study is to inform stakeholders about the opportunities for and constraints on building the social work workforce within the child welfare sector in Africa through an analysis of Africa-specific program descriptions and evaluations; government policies, laws, and strategic plans; and statistical data on the child welfare and social welfare workforce. [from summary]

The purpose of this study is to inform stakeholders about the current status of social work in the region, describe the practice environment, identify gaps between what is expected of social workers and the reality, provide examples of best practices, and make recommendations for furthering the development of social work in the region. [from summary]

The overall aim of this qualitative research was to inform governments and donors about the importance of investing in social work education and social work workforce development to improve the lives of vulnerable children and families. [from abstract]

Each of the presentations from this webinar was followed by a brief question and answer session. Many questions centered on the specifics of each speaker’s experience working with their respective associations and local challenges to promoting these reforms. Other questions related to raising public awareness of the social service workforce and the role of government support to implementing systems for regulation, certification, and licensing. [adapted from publisher]

This paper describes a text message-based solution that harnesses the prevalence of mobile phones coupled with several open source tools to empower para-social workers who carry the primary responsibility in providing essential services to the growing population of orphans and vulnerable children in Tanzania. [adapted from abstract]

This situational analysis of a twinning center’s para-social worker training program in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Nigeria provides a descriptive snapshot of the evolution and current status of the programs, and identifies lessons learned and promising practices across all three programs, especially those that might guide possible program scale-up or replication. [adapted from summary]

This document combines the presentations from the first Social Service Workforce Strengthening Webinar series. It includes: Health Workforce Strengthening efforts: Progress and Challenges; Global Health Workforce Strengthening Initiative; and Local Health Workforce Strengthening Initiative. [adapted from author]

In an effort to facilitate the social service workforce to meet the needs of a larger population, a number of training models have been developed to equip local community members with basic social work skills and support them to work with vulnerable children and families under the supervision of social work professionals. This webinar presented several promising training models currently implemented in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. [from summary]

Violence in the social services work place in general, and the developmental services in particular, has increased in the last several years. Findings from an ethnographic study suggests that new, lean forms of work organization remove opportunities to use or learn many of the tacit or practice skills workers previously used to keep themselves and their clients safer in the work place. This article describes many of these skills and the new management schemes that remove the possibility to develop or transmit these praxis skills.