By Precious D. Freeman
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in collaboration with the Government of Liberia, has organized a crucial meeting on the development of a national harmonized curriculum and legislation on social work.
Speaking during the webinar session yesterday, UNICEF Representative to Liberia, Andy Brooks, explained that the meeting has been organized in response to the growing need for standardization of Social Work education, as well as professionalizing and regulating the social work profession in Liberia through framework for license and accreditation of social workers.
Stressing the need for social work curriculum at bachelor degree levels, he noted that social work education combines specialized coursework with hands-on experience.
Those who complete the program will acquire knowledge and skills working with individuals, families, groups, and communities, assisting them to access services, provide support, conduct advocacy, and promote social justice and human rights.
According to him, the meeting is part of a south-south experience sharing, bringing together policy makers, academicians, and social work practitioners and students from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, South Africa, and Mauritania.
He furthered that the aim of the meeting is to ensure a collaborative effort in the development of a cohesive and unified curriculum and legislation on social work, and that Liberia will be looking forward to learning from particularly Ghana and Sierra Leone, who have already developed national standardized curricula and legislations on social work, while South Africa shared their experience on license and accreditation framework.
Speaking further, the Assistant Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Josephine Greaves, noted that in 2021, the Government of Liberia and UNICEF started the discussion to support the strengthening of the social service workforce to accelerate the achievement of results for children.
She added that both the Government of Liberia and UNICEF recognize the importance of a system approach to delivering services to children, families, and communities.
According to her, as a first step to strengthening the overall child protection system in Liberia, a national leadership group was established comprising of the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, the National Social Work Board, the Association of Liberian Social Works, and key social work institutions, to guide the mapping and assessment of the social service workforce, which was critical to the process.
“The mapping and assessment reviewed the status of the social service workforce in three respective domains, which include planning the workforce, developing the workforce, and supporting the workforce,” she said.
Madam Greaves continued that the assessment found several challenges confronting the workforce, which include limited skilled workforce, inadequate resources, weak institutional measures, and the lack of adequate policies and legislations that provide the enabling environment for social workers and paraprofessionals to properly carry out their mandate.
“I can proudly say we have, together, achieved some of the recommendations, including developing guidelines and SOP on Case Management of Vulnerable children, a training curriculum led by the National Leadership Group (NLG) Social Service Workforce Strengthening Capacity Development Strategic Action Plan,” she said.
Meanwhile, she congratulated UNICEF Liberia for the efforts and support in ensuring the process reached this level.
She cautioned everyone to work in ensuring the vulnerable population, especially children, in making sure that they are supported to move from their vulnerability to fulfilling their full potential.
