The Department of Social Development (DoSD) in the Northern Cape Province realises the value of capacity building in the Social Workers and Social Auxiliary Workers (SAWs) who serve the communities of this province. CEFA conducted capacity building training intervention programmes with 3 specific groups.Workshops were conducted with 40 Social Workers from the whole province. These workshops covered topics of Developmental Social Work, understanding the role and scope of SAWs, workplace mentorship for SAWs, a reflection on management of workload of Social Workers and SAWs, general office administration and support of SAWs, as well as group supervision.

Two groups of SAWs were included in capacity building workshops in Kimberley and Upington. The first group consisted of 76 SAWs currently in employment with the DoSD throughout the Northern Cape Province. The second group consisted of 26 SAWs currently employed in NGOs. These workshops provided a refresher course focussing on topics which included understanding the new Children’s Act of 2010, understanding their role and scope of authority and responsibility within the application of the new Children’s Act, various focus areas of human problems, understanding the vulnerable position of aged people within communities, as well as group supervision.

This was a six months’ capacity building training programme for the Northern Cape that was completed in 2011. The presenters of this project were Dr Patrick Smith and Dr Lesley Corrie. Should you wish to offer a similar programme for your organisation or province, or if you want us to tailor a capacity building programme to suit your needs, please contact us at 021 8733998.