PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 27th, 2012 Telephone: 255-2126881 http://www.twinningagainstaids.org http://www.twinn

Tanzania will have social workers at ward and village levels for the first time ever following the start of a new Social Welfare Assistants program which has been developed after long time efforts and collaboration between the Department of Social Welfare of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Institute of Social Work and American International Health Alliance (AIHA), one of key partners in strengthening health systems in the country. Social Welfare Assistants are going to be a new cadre at the ward-level in Tanzania. The program will be launched on June 30th 2012 at the Kisangara Institute and to be r rolled out in other Social Welfare Department colleges throughout the country. The Ministry of Health and epartment Social Welfare has set a goal to have 6,000 Social Welfare Assistants to bridge the human resource gap in the health sector and the start of the program marks a milestone in strengthening the severely overstretched healthcare workforce since the Social Welfare Assistants will play a ssistants critical role in ensuring vulnerable individuals and segments of the population have access to the care and support services they need. The development of an educational program to produce Social Welfare Assistants commenced in 2011 and was approved by The National Council for Technical Education ( (NACTE) in 2012. Social Welfare Assistant is now an established Government position with a Scheme of Service adapted in 2008 by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the Prime Ministers Office on Regional and Local Government Affairs and will be implemented by the Tanzanian Department of Social Welfare, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in collaboration with the Institute of Social Work ute Work. The program has been developed to complement the existing Para Social Work (PSW) Program which was established in 2007 as part of the Social Work Partnership for Orphans and stablished Vulnerable Children in Tanzania Tanzania.With support from the US Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in Tanzania, the American International Health Alliance (AIHA) through its HIV/AIDS hrough Twinning Center, established a capacity building partnership between the Institute of Social Work in Dar es Salaam and the Jane Addams College of Social Work and the Midwest AIDS Training and Education Center at the University of Illinois in Chicago. nd In close collaboration with the Tanzania Human Resource Capacity Project, the partners have to date trained more than 4,026 P Social Workers (PSWs), 642 PSW Supervisors and 103 Master Para Supervisors, Trainers across the country. In addition, AIHA and the partners have supported the development and standardization of a social work curriculum across 12 universities through the Tanzania Emerging Schools of Social Work initiative, and are working to strengthen the , capacity of the Tanzania Social Workers Association (TASWA), a national professional association for social workers. ###