This week, on August 9-11, together with the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Center for Social Services and the Zakhid Shans Charitable Foundation, we organized training for 20 participants who want to become social work specialists.
Having worked closely with social services at the local level since 2020, we have noticed that social services on the ground need to be strengthened. We have now re-established our operations in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast and have decided to start helping to improve social services here.
This area of support consists of selecting motivated community representatives, training them, and employing them as community-based social workers for six months. At the same time, Tdh plans to carry out an advocacy campaign to continue the work of the specialist in the community after six months, but at the expense of the community budget.
In the first months of their work, Tdh will provide them with a monthly salary, equipment for work, and reimburse their travel expenses to different locations in the communities.
Currently, the first stage has been completed - training of potential specialists. It was an intense three days of work involving practitioners and experts in the field of social services. The participants gained an understanding of the role of a social work specialist, familiarized themselves with their duties and daily work. In addition, the participants were exposed to the topic of potential risks in the process of performing work and how to respond to them in practical cases.
The next stage, after the training, will be the selection of candidates to work directly with families in the communities.
"I think social services are important, especially in times of war, because not every family knows how to cope with certain problems. Families don't always know where to turn, how to behave in a given situation, and the social worker can coordinate all this and help solve all these issues. If I get this position in the community, I want to put the knowledge I have gained today into practice and help people in their difficult situation," Ivan Hrechuk, Verkhovyna village community.
"I am an IDP myself and used to work at the Department of Social Protection in Sievierodonetsk, so this area is very close to me. It was very interesting to learn that there is such a new area as mediation, and that social services are not only about providing social benefits, but also about the opportunity to help families with children and to help IDPs according to their desire, interest and needs. Now I would like to help people, learn even more information about the organization of work in the social sphere, etc." - Yulia Radionova, Ivano-Frankivsk city community.
"I have a desire to be useful to the community. I have not been here long, so I would like to bring some benefit and help where it is needed most. This training helped me to understand who and to whom I can apply, with whom to cooperate, what I can help with, and to whom to refer. This information is worth its weight in gold, but many people don't know it. People who need help are not alone. We have entities that provide assistance, the main thing is to know who to turn to," Iryna Sokolovska, Poberezhzhia village, Yezupil territorial community.
Our activities are carried out within the framework of the project "SMILE - Support for children and their families during Migration and Integration in new Local Environments", implemented with the participation and financial support of the Crisis and Support Center of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France and the Oak Foundation.
