Sub-Saharan Africa

Towards the Right Care for Children: Orientations for reforming alternative care systems - Africa, Asia, Latin America, commissioned by the European Commission Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development commissioned SOS Children’s Villages International to conduct a study on the possible issue of institutionalization in six South and Central American, Asian and African countries, in order to strengthen the knowledge of the European Commission on the nature, the extent and scope of institutionalization and feasibility of the de-institutionalization.
 
The objectives of this research was to:

• map and summarize the existing knowledge on (de-) institutionalization in the three continents concerned;
• increase the knowledge base on (de-) institutionalization in the six countries; and
• provide guidelines for future EU strategies on (de-)institutionalization in developing countries.

This synthesis report brings together desk reviews and country studies through which a large collection of documents from various sources have been consulted.

The Role of Social Service Workforce Development in Care Reform illustrates key issues by drawing on the experiences of Indonesia, Moldova and Rwanda – three countries are in the process of reform. Each country's reform takes place within their own context and history, social and political system, protection structure and services, and social services education system.

The case studies highlight each country’s reform processes and identifys learning in terms of the approach taken to strengthen and align the social service workforce given the needs of the system, the scope and actors involved, and the different care reform strategies and outcomes. The case studies are presented with recognition of the ongoing and dynamic process and are examples from different stages and contexts of reform.

Home visiting programs for HIV-affected families: a comparison of service quality between volunteer-driven and paraprofessional models investigated whether or not additional investment in paraprofessional staff translated into higher quality service delivery. The study, conducted in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa was conducted over a two-year span. The results suggested that compensation and extensive training programs for home visitors are better able to serve and retain beneficiaries than volunteer home visiting programs.

This end of project evaluation examined how well Children First (CF) had responded to Mid Term Review recommendations as well as evaluation questions regarding innovative, sustainable and effective models of service delivery; quantity, quality and timeliness of results; capacity development for partners and communities; and institutionalization of models within relevant government structures.

CF sought to mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe by developing and improving on effective models of care and support for OVC and leveraging the experience of national and community-based organizations to increase access to quality holistic services for OVC. CF sought to mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe by developing and improving on effective models of care and support for OVC and leveraging the experience of national and community-based organizations to increase access to quality holistic services for OVC. Over the five-year project period, CF included 22 partner organizations that provided education, health, child protection services and advocacy for OVC.

This document focuses upon the situation of orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) in Tanzania and describes the current status of Social Welfare Workforce Strengthening for OVC in the country. The report provides an overview of: 1) Tanzania’s social welfare system and how it supports OVC, 2) the social welfare workforce for OVC, 3) the challenges faced by the workforce for OVC, and 4) the efforts to address those challenges. The report concludes with links to two tools to support these efforts: a guide for assessing the public sector workforce and a training manual for workers supporting OVC.

The Tanzania Para Social Work Program represents a comprehensive workforce development model to strengthen the social welfare system in low-resource countries. The program was developed to equip caregivers and their supervisors with critical knowledge and skills that strengthen their ability to provide care and support to vulnerable children and their families, particularly in communities most affected by HIV/AIDS.

The year-long training program teaches basic social work and child development skills that empower community-based workers and volunteers by improving their ability to identify, assess, engage, and link those in need to existing care and support services.
The intent of the curriculum is to introduce Para Social Workers to the basic concepts, processes, and helping skills that underlie all interventions with children and families, thus providing a foundation for effective intervention with this population. The Para Social Work Program gives community-based workers a basic knowledge of:

• Social work practice;
• Human behavior and development in the social environment, especially focusing on vulnerable children and families; and
• HIV disease including prevention, counseling and testing, treatment access and issues, and related familial, social, and community advocacy.

The emphasis of the program is on skills development. Therefore, theoretical and conceptual material is presented to support its application to working with children and families. Additionally, training methods employed emphasize active, practical skills development and experiential learning. Participants are given numerous opportunities to practice skills presented in the class setting to facilitate their transfer to real-life work with children and families. Participants in the Introduction to the Para Social Work course complete a workbook demonstrating their mastery of the skills included in the curriculum.
This Para Social Work Program includes three stages to achieve basic Para Social Work skills.

The aim 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. Based on principles and practices of family-centered, community-based social work practice for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), this report analyzes the capacity of the child welfare workforce and the education and training of social workers in Africa within the framework of African child welfare policies. Opportunities and constraints of the child welfare workforce in Africa are identified based on the a four-pillar framework that includes: 1) Policy and Legal Framework; 2) Child Welfare Service Models and the Practice Environment; 3) Education and Training; and 4) Outcomes and Performance Measures. One observation that underscores all the other observations and findings is that there exists a historically rich social work profession in Africa that was built on a community ideology and focused on meeting the needs of vulnerable children and families, especially those living in poverty. The loss of community in social work methods, the lack of indigenous knowledge and the underdevelopment of the profession, and the need to build the capacity of child welfare and social work education systems in Africa are consistent themes in this analysis. Results highlight that strengthening child welfare systems necessitates an approach that connects laws, policies, the child welfare practice environment, workforce capacity (including education and training), and defined outcome measures and data collection systems.