The Role of Para Social Workers in Rural Communities in Uganda: Strengthening Community Resilience for the Protection of Children

Abstract

Para social workers (PSWs) are widely used in African nations to address inadequate capacity in the professional workforce, but there is to date very little academic commentary on the effectiveness of their role. This article considers the potential efficacy of the PSW model in strengthening child protection at community level in Uganda. Twenty interviews were conducted with local government officers, civil society organisation staff and PSWs (10 in each of 2 rural areas), together with four supplementary expert interviews. The data were analysed using a framework of community resilience. The findings suggest that the model has considerable potential to strengthen community-level protection of children in circumstances in which the operation of formal systems is limited by resource constraints and outside interventions may struggle to gain understanding and acceptance within communities. Challenges include the potential for conflicts of interest to arise and the implications of increased reporting of child maltreatment for the response of the formal child protection system, including alternative care arrangements. Given its widespread and developing usage, further research to understand the conditions under which the PSW model is most effective and sustainable in different social, economic, political and cultural contexts is essential. KEY PRACTITIONER MESSAGES: • PSWs can provide significant additional capacity to community-level child protection arrangements at little cost in a culturally appropriate fashion. • A key strength of the PSW model lies in its potential to regenerate community resources through the engagement of community members. • Developing sustainable community-based child protection arrangements requires that attention is paid to balancing fiscal considerations against community ownership and also the response of the formal child protection system to increased reporting of child maltreatment.

It Takes a Village: Challenges and Possibilities in Safeguarding Children in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries

“…Our next paper, from Jennifer Driscoll (2020), looks at another alternative to more formal child protection processes, this time examining the role of para social workers (PSWs) in rural communities in Uganda. Driscoll used a community resilience model to analyse interviews with local government officers, civil society organisation staff and PSWs in two rural areas of Uganda.…”

“…As with Ghana, formal child protection services are limited by resource and financial constraints. At the same time, traditional community responses to child maltreatment have ‘also come under pressure from entrenched poverty, a rising youth population and the AIDS epidemic’ (Driscoll, 2020, p. 417). Within that context, PSWs have arisen as a community‐driven approach to address child protection concerns at a local level.…”

“…They were all drawn from within their local community leadership and saw their role as leading by example and being a trusted source of advice. Their role included ‘identifying children who have been maltreated or who are living in high‐risk circumstances; referring cases to appropriate services and undertaking follow‐up and providing family mediation’ (Driscoll, 2020, p. 423). They were able to deal with a wide range of lower‐level instances of child abuse or neglect, while more serious cases were referred on to governmental or non‐governmental social workers or community development officers.…”

“…In the words of one project coordinator: ‘We encourage the community. Because within the community that's where the child has been born and he knows the people, the culture, the behaviours’ (Driscoll, 2020, p. 427).…”

Surviving on the margins: Volunteers’ agency to survive poverty and vulnerability in Zimbabwe

“…In these domains, volunteers complement NGOs’ interventions by engaging in low-level monitoring and evaluation, new beneficiaries registration, home visits to service users, supporting food relief distribution and materials, awareness raising on community health matters, and advocating for the uptake of NGOs and government services. Based on these roles and what we experienced in the Chegutu district in Zimbabwe, these community volunteers are para-professional social workers (Driscoll, 2020). Volunteer roles resonate with the desired outcomes of interventions by social workers implementing rural development interventions which envisage greater access to social development services for under-serviced populations in remote rural locations.…”