Building Local Capacity

Building Local Capacity for Social Support to Children and Families in Ethiopia

This project aims at enhancing to and quality of social support in Ethiopia to 16,000 vulnerable children and youth and an equal number of family members, by building local capacity to provide social support. The project is innovative for two reasons: it leads to the development of a training model accessible to replicate and adapt by other organizations and institutions working with social support throughout rural and urban Ethiopia and it builds partnership among Danish and Ethiopian organizations and education and research institutions, which have not cooperated at this intensity before.

The project idea came from discussions among AC International Child Support and Save the Children, Denmark (SCD) in 2008, based on expressions from their Ethiopian partner organizations on the need for stronger competencies within the field of social support.

Focal problems identified

There is a gap between the existing and needed social support services to vulnerable children and families in rural and urban Ethiopia
Disappearing traditional structures
Low priority from the government
Social worker education at degree level
Fragmented initiatives on para counseling
Severe lack of services in rural areas

Stakeholders

Integrated Family Service Organization
AC International Child Support
Save the Children Denmark
Addis Ababa University – School of Social Work
VIA University College Aarhus, Denmark – Social Work Department
Organization for Child Development and Transformation (CHAD-ET)
Forum for Sustainable Child Empowerment (FSCE)
Sign Language Training and Social Organization (SLTSSA)

Development Objective of the project

Access to and quality of social support services for vulnerable children and families in urban and rural areas of Ethiopia have increased

Target groups

Children and young people
The parents and guardians
Para counselors
Social workers
Institutions and organizations providing Para counseling

Outputs

An assessment study in three parts on existing and needed social support interventions in the project areas has been conducted and documented
A TOT program on Para counseling has been undertaken for 25 social workers, improving their skills of social support, dissemination of knowledge, and supervision
Documentation of the model, consisting of TOT training and Para counseling manuals, as well as the assessment study report and a process description of the project, has been prepared
Information on the project and documents are distributed and presented at a conference participated by 250 relevant actors
The model and the manuals are available and accessible to download from the internet, including the webpage of AAU
A pixie document on the project, with guides to manuals in English and Amharic, is produced
The capacity for social support is enhanced within the partner organization
Networking is established among the participating universities, governmental institutions, and NGO’s
Building Local Capacity for Social Support to Children and Families in Ethiopia
Plans for how Para counseling can be a part of future activities in the involved institutions and organizations have been developed

Implementation period