24 Jul 2014

Social workers are agents of social change and as such, their response to social needs of the people is critical, says Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Peter Siele.

Speaking at the heads of social welfare and community development meeting in Gaborone on July 24, Mr Siele said social workers’ guidance and counseling was very critical to the daily lives of the communities they serve.

He said their impact was vital because the service they provided was directly to customers who could vouch if they were delivering per set standards and turnaround times or not.

Mr Siele noted that although his ministry was aware that social work was a demanding vocation that required a degree of professionalism like medical, teaching, engineering, legal and other legal professions, he appreciated the key role they played in the society to reach out to the needy and to change their lives despite the demanding and stressful nature of their duty.

He commended them for their dedication, commitment, compassion and professionalism which had helped turn many lives around for the better. On the other hand, Mr Siele said that his ministry was disturbed by a lot of complaints and public concerns against other social workers who were not delivering.

He noted that while they took training on areas such as case management, counseling, assessment, child protection, welfare advocacy, community organising and others, they were reluctant to improve the quality of life and subjective well-being of individuals, groups and communities.

He said during President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama’s Kgotla meetings, numerous complaints were raised by members of the communities who felt that they were not properly assisted adding that there were incidences of people who had indicated that they had not been assessed or were stopped from getting food baskets due to unfair assessment.

“It has been reported that some of you do not assess the individual but rather assess the environment where you find your customers,” he said.

He urged district leadership to make follow ups on issues emanating from kgotla meetings and encouraged district commissioners and council secretaries to address at least one Kgotla meeting per month as a way of taking services to the people. On a positive note, Mr Siele said government was supporting 31 114 destitute persons, 96 857 old age pensioners, 1 948 World War II veterans, over 36 000 orphans, 30 574 needy students and more than 1 100 children in need of care.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Boipolelo Khumomatlhare said social workers were all-rounders who supported every ministry and departments after assessing their customers. Mr Khumomatlhare urged them to offer professional assistance by having a focus, plan, destinations, to look for lead measures and keep the score card for every village to hold every officer accountable. ENDS