Social Worker

SOS Children’s Villages invites applications from suitably qualified and interested candidates who fulfill the eligibility criterion for the below one Position.

Job Title: Social Worker

Location:  Baidoa

Direct Line Manager: Project Coordinator

Supervisees: non

Functional Department: Family Strengthening

Job Summary:

Under the leadership of the Project Coordinator, the social worker supports Educare Programme activties to improve access to  quality  basic education services for  families and school aged children  in Baidoa town including children with disabiltiies through existing public schools.S/he ensure that children are kept within thier exieting biological families and prevent crisis that can lead sepration. Social worker is responsible to support children who are at risk of losing the care of their biological family which includes direct work with the children, caregivers and communities, based on the professional social work practice, ethic, values to achieve the sustainable development of the families and integration in the community. He/she is also responsible to ensure the timely completion of the case management procedures at all stages based on the individual approach and on the active participation of children, parents/caregivers. He/she is a member of the multidisciplinary team in the project and coordinates multidisciplinary team work within the case he/she is responsible for. Support Community Education Committees to create supportive groups with local partners for target benefeciaries in the community.

Main duties and Responsibilities:

1. Program Development

·         Supports Project Coordinator in the development of services in the frame of Educare Project.

·         Supports identification of cases of children who are at risk of losing care from their families of origin through different resources (referral, outreach, self-referral etc.).

·         Conducts comprehensive assessment of children and families in strong cooperation with the multidisciplinary team using different resources and social work techniques/methods to identify family needs and strengths and define the required services.

·         Conduct awareness session meetings and capacity buildings for beneficiaries

·         Prepares family/child development plans, with the strong participation of caregivers, children and the multidisciplinary team.

·         Facilitate access to education for vulnerable children and improve children’s performance level in education system

·         Enhance children and youth participation in the decision-making process of their future

·         Provides guidance and counselling services to children and families, in close cooperation with project team.

·         Support Community Education Committees to refer cases based on the national referral system.

·         Develops and recommends child admission criteria.

·         organize sports competition among the targeted public-school children in the target districts

·          Train school children from target schools on Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation (PHAST) and Child Hygiene and Sanitation Training (CHAST) using WHO guidelines

·         Arranges, provides and coordinates the delivery of services to children and families in strong partnership with other service providers and in line with the development plan.

·         Keeps regular contacts with child and family during the implementation of development plan through phone calls, home visits and meetings in project premises.

·         Documents appropriately all activities conducted during the case management stages in the child/family case file by applying methods and tools for gathering information, as well as forms/templates, based on the requirements of national legislation and/or regional guidelines.

·         Provide regular Reports on project implementation and progress of activities

·         Participates in annual planning process of Educare project.

2.      Monitoring and Evaluation

·         Reassesses periodically the child/family needs and progress in meeting the objectives defined in Development Plan and make decisions on the case closure, in cooperation with family members and the multidisciplinary team.

·         Enters data regularly in the Database module, ensures quality of data and uses regularly the reports and data stored in the database to track individual progress of children and families. Provides information for new requirements to Educare project Coordinator.

·         Upon the request of Project Coordinator and in accordance with the national legislation, informs regularly the child protection authorities on the case progress.

·         Supports project Coordinator in the self-evaluation and/or external evaluation processes of EduCare project.

·         Follows-up, evaluates and recommends measures to be taken in order to improve services to children and youth.

·         Collects regularly information about different indicators as defined in the M&E plan of the project unit and reports to project Coordinator.

3.      Human Resource development

·         Participates regularly in intervention sessions, individual or group external supervision.

·         Maintains personal and professional development to meet the changing demands of the job, participates in appropriate training activities and keeps up with organisational procedures, legislation and developments in the professional practice

·         Support teachers dealing with difficult behaviour students

4.      Partnership building and advocacy

·         Keeps regular contacts with service providers to ensure that services are provided according to objectives and actions agreed in the Development Plan.

·         Advocates for the individual child and his/her family to have access to education entitlements or obtain needed services.

·          Collaborates with different external offices on matters of common concern for the provision of better services for the children, attends workshops and meetings as assigned by the FBC Coordinator.

·         Support Community Education Committees in create supportive groups with local partners for target beneficiaries in the community or in partner CBO’s.

·         Support Community Education Committees to refer cases based on the national referral system.

·         Support Community Education Committees to organize group activities for children and families in community centres.

·         Contributes in community development undertaken by the Educare project., i.e., organise/participate in awareness raising activities, community mobilisation events and capacity building of the community partners.

5.      Knowledge Management

·         Supports Educare project Coordinator.in documenting good practises, human touch stories.

·         Keeps regular track of latest developments in social work area as well as changes in national legislation, policies and practises related to children in the target group.

6.      Child Safeguarding (CS)

• Responsible to raise awareness of the SOS Child Protection Policy principles and to prevent and protect children and young people from all forms of abuse, abandonment, exploitation, violence and discrimination
• Ensures strong focus on CS prevention by organising informal and formal discussions, workshops and other capacity buildings activities for children and young people to make them understand the CS risks and protection mechanisms 
• Responsible to report any CS suspicion, concern, allegation or incident immediately, following Child Safeguarding reporting procedures. CS reports should be made to the CS team at project level and/or to the respective line manager  

• Bachelor’s degree in social work, Social Science, Community development, Counselling/Sociology/Mental Health.
• At least 3-5 years’ experience working directly with vulnerable caregivers and children
• Strong experience in facilitating adult and children training sessions and parent capacity support.
• Work experience in a case management system and setting up of CM in fragile setting.
• Good knowledge of social welfare policies, services, laws at national level and set up of national child protection and social system
• Good knowledge of child development, family functioning, human behaviour and social environment
• Knowledge on social work ethics, theories and methods in work with children and families
• Knowledge on child protection and children rights
• Knowledge on social issues facing children and families, such as health, poverty, lack of access to education, child abuse and neglect, gender violence, discrimination, substance abuse etc.
• Knowledge on how traditions, culture, beliefs and customs influence human functioning and development at all levels
• Understanding of cultural diversity, characteristics of special target groups, implications for assessment and intervention
• Understanding of services, including case management, crisis intervention, parenting skills training, family counselling, conflict resolution and individual and group counselling
• Good time management, organisational and administrative skills
• Team works and flexible.

Safeguarding Commitment

SOS Children’s Villages Somalia holds strict child safeguarding principles and a zero-tolerance policy for conducts of sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse in the workplace and other places where the organization’s activities are rendered. Parallel to technical competence, recruitment, selection and hiring decisions will give due emphasize to assessing candidates value congruence and thorough background checks, police clearance reference check processes. SOS Children’s Villages organization is committed to safeguarding the rights of the children and therefore, is expected that every individual who joins with SOS Children’s Villages Somalia understand his/her responsibility in protecting and keeping children always safe.

Interested applicants should send their applications with a CV, clear subject line and scanned copies of your academic and professional certificates indicating telephone numbers and three referees to: this email [email protected]

Closing date is 25thOctober,2022

Competent Female candidates are encouraged to apply.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

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NAGUSOO BIIR ---  SOMALI JOBS

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