STATEMENT DELIVERED BY THE NATIONAL COORDINATOR SOCIAL WORKERS SIERRA LEONE, HASSAN KOROMA.   

I believe there are two sets of people that are in this hall: One that will say oh, that is our student. And the other will say oh, that’s the guy championing social work in Sierra Leone. So, as a result of these, I am so excited to be here and I am honored to be part of this great occasion.

Representative of Honorable Vice President Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, representative from the Ministry of Tertiary and Higher Education, the great Minister of Social Welfare, Madam Baindu Dassama, the Chief Social Services Officer, Madam Mariatu Bangura, Country Representative UNICEF Sierra Leone, heads of organizations, and all protocols observed. I bring you warm greetings from the entire social work community.

Social Workers Sierra Leone, including our social work colleagues, are excited about this effort taken by the Ministry of Social Welfare and UNICEF to revised and harmonized the social work curriculum. It’s a big gain towards improving the social work practice in the country. But more importantly, this speaks to the passion of the Ministry of Social Welfare with the political mandate to improve the welfare of citizens.

When you talk of social welfare at all levels, social workers are instrumental and pivotal to achieving welfare expectations in this regard, be it in the health sector, education sector, the correctional facilities, improving the lives of special (the populations) etc, as required of them. So, this effort by the ministry, I should say, is an action towards answering the cry of citizens and even non-citizens living in this country who deserve a quality of life when it comes to service delivery. To attain effective and efficient service delivery, especially on the side of social workers, competence is key. So, let’s applaud the ministry of social welfare and UNICEF for this gesture.

             CROSS SECTION OF SOCIAL WORKERS SIERRA LEONE (SWSL) ATTENDED THE LAUNCHING

Secondly, with this effort, we at Social Workers Sierra Leone hope to see a unified social work. Currently, there is big disunity among social workers, especially among students and graduates from different social work institutions. And also, there is a disconnection between educators and practitioners. There has been this battle of who has the best social work program among institutions of higher learning. Hopefully, this effort will now lay such a situation to rest. When the standardized curriculum is implemented, I guess the focus will shift to output, rather than who has the best Program.

I have taken a glance at the revised curriculum, and I am satisfied with the contents, especially in some key areas I saw. These are rightly the dictates of the profession and the necessary knowledge building. Mainly, the nine competencies, ethics, and values of the social work profession.

No matter where you went to school, if you are presenting yourself as a social worker, you’re expected to be grounded on these key competencies. For the sake of time, let me conclude by also calling on the attention of the government, through the Ministry of Social Welfare, to the other major steps to be taken to strengthen the social work profession.

1. To legitimize the profession: I am aware of the ongoing work by the Ministry of Social Welfare and UNICEF on the social work council bill. We are eager to see it come to fruition as the weight of its existence in the profession will be great. Considering Social work practice is largely governed by legislative frameworks and policies based on policy and regulated by law.

2. We need practitioners and specialists in the role of social work to act as practice educators/supervisors/mentors to support students during training and throughout the first year as Qualified Social workers–those who have practiced social work to involve them in the teaching. This is essential as social work covers a range of practice issues in both private and public sectors, and above all, it is a recognized profession worldwide.

3. Also, mapping out social work jobs both in the public and private sector is required. This is because Social Workers are meant to be civil servants, or let’s say, government welfare officers. Unfortunately, there is more work to be done for the recognition and benefits of Social Workers in our country

4. Social Workers Sierra Leone, as the only existing social work organization in the country, for the last 12 years, we need your continued support. We need to work more closely and strategically with other organizations. We need you and UNICEF to intervene in the controversial status of Sierra Leone at the IFSW body. I won’t go into details on this, just to highlight it.

One last good news I have for you: all of us here will one day leave this world, but before we leave this world, let us use this opportunity for those at the government level to support the development of social work, those practicing, the same for the academics. Together we can.

Thank you all. God bless Sierra Leone; God bless our noble profession – Social Work.