South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare, in collaboration with Hold the Child and the University of Juba, revealed a shortage of social workers in public institutions during a symposium held on Friday.
This assessment is part of the South Sudan Women’s Social and Economic Empowerment Project, which aims to increase girls’ and women’s access to livelihood, entrepreneurial, and gender-based violence (GBV) services, as well as to strengthen the government’s capacity to deliver these services.
Timothy Yabuta, the representative of the project management unit at the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare and project manager for the South Sudan Women’s Social and Economic Empowerment Project, noted the limited number of social workers in public institutions.
“It has come to our attention that in some areas, one government social worker serves an average of over 14,000 people. For instance, in Warrap State, one social worker is responsible for 113,000 people. This situation is unacceptable,” Yabuta stated during the closing of the one-day workshop on South Sudan’s social workforce assessment and capital development.
The assessment report on social workforce development, conducted by partners led by Hold the Child and the University of Juba, examined 1,665 personnel, with 44.3 per cent of the participants being women.
Yabuta explained that the social worker assessment report identified existing gaps in terms of geographical disparity, professional categories, and sector deployment.
“There are definitely systemic gaps that need to be addressed. Our hope is to support the national and state ministries in delivering these services; it should not solely rely on partnerships with the ministry,” he said.
Naile Salima, the Social Safeguarding Specialist at UN Women, indicated that the purpose of the social workforce assessment report is to identify gaps that need to be addressed in planning, advocacy, and budgeting.
“The assessment demonstrates a united commitment to empowering women in South Sudan. We plan to conduct training for the social workforce, mobilise the necessary resources, and use it as an advocacy, planning, and budgeting tool,” Salima noted.
Tiop Paul, the head of the programme for the Christian Agency for Peace and Development (CAPaD), stated that the assessment report aims to establish guidelines for developing policy and legal frameworks.
Paul highlighted that the Civil Service Act of 2011 lacks adequate job descriptions, performance metrics, and promotion criteria, noting that many institutions do not have job descriptions, which often leads to delays in promotion within public institutions.
“There are significant gaps within institutions. To professionalise social workers, it is crucial to implement the Social Services Act, establish a Social Workers Council, and provide more funding for social workforce development,” Paul emphasised.
“We also need to create a task force to coordinate efforts between the national Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare and the states. The roles of social workers and social protection are vital and need to be addressed urgently,” he added.
Deng Machuor, Executive Director of Hold the Child, stated that his organisation prioritises the training and capacity building of social workers in public institutions to enhance service delivery across the country. “We are committed to empowering our people to reduce vulnerabilities in various communities. The need for training is ongoing, and we urge support for this project. Our communities require these services, but we must first train our social workers,” Machuor concluded.
