17 Nov 2021

Collaboration between Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund and social welfare professionals can help improve service delivery.

Speaking during the MVA Fund-social workers forum in Maun on Tuesday, Maun Administrative Authority acting senior council secretary, Ms Ledule Thando said there was a gap between the two, yet they were providing similar services to the same clients.

Therefore, she said, collaboration would enable them to merge their services and avoid double dipping.

“As service providers, let us introspect and see how much we are doing to serve our communities. This forum has opened our eyes to understand each other’s role and to appreciate that working in silos was not ideal at all,” Ms Thando added.

She said people were losing lives due to road accidents, but those who lost their loved ones were not provided with counselling.

She also stressed the need to improve road safety education at community level as well as develop and implement community road safety programmes.

For her part, social welfare officer, Ms Kebaneilwe Leselamose, said collaboration with MVA Fund was a welcome move as they provided similar services.

She said they had recorded beneficiaries who also benefited from MVA programmes, adding that they could avoid double dipping if they worked as a team.

Ms Leselamose also wished that beneficiaries could be drilled on financial education to avoid abuse since some beneficiaries, who were assisted from MVA Fund ended up registering under the destitute programme because they misused funds claimed under loss of support.

MVA Fund senior manager, corporate and communications, Mr Mookodi Seisa, said effective stakeholder engagement was critical in driving the mandate of the fund and enhancing quality of life.

The fund’s vision, he said, was to give best chance to normal life and support to those affected.

MVA Fund case management manager, Ms Buyani Chidoda, said collaboration with social workers was ideal.

She said social workers were central to welfare support, adding that ‘I believe we can work harmoniously to serve our claimants residing in remote areas’.

She said some of their challenges such as limited comprehensive and consistent psycho-social support in remote areas; inadequate facilities and specialists and limited emergency medical services coverage, among other things.

Ms Chidoda said the forum would promote good working relations

MVA Maun branch manager, Mr Cecil Mosojane, stated that the forum intended to provide a holistic understanding of the functions and operations of MVA Fund by sharing and reinforcing products and services in terms of loss of support claims management and psycho-social rehabilitation of injured claimants.

The forum, he said, also aimed at improving service delivery as well as pave way for establishment of a memorandum of understanding with social workers,through the Department of Social Protection. ENDS