The main goal of the project "Development of Professional and Contemporary Social Work" (further "The Project") is to improve the quality of social work as a profession and the science, as well as promote the availability of social services that meet the needs of people by investing in the continues professional development of professionals working in the social sector, as well as by improving the quality of social work studies.
The project with a total funding of 12 470 000 euros, including ESF Plus funding of 10 599 500 euros is planned to provide professional competence development for the managers of municipal social service agencies and social service providers – NGOs, social workers, family assistants, care professionals. Besides The Project activities include leadership trainings for social workers. The Project activities include also development of new social work methodology – a set of techniques and approaches relevant to the profiles of clients’ target groups – for the competent and needs – based social work with different groups of clients (for instance, adults and children with diverse special needs, refugees), and development and implementation of training programs for the acquisition of respective methodologies, as well as creation of multi - professional teams (social workers, healthcare professionals, law enforcement professionals, educators, civil protection specialists) to prevent or mitigate local crises and their consequences.
The implementation of all the above-mentioned activities will be monitored by a constant evaluation in the form of various studies, which will be concluded with the ex-post evaluation of the project, where the effectiveness of all the mentioned activities will be measured and assessed. The Project also includes the set of informative and educational events, measures to promote the understanding and awareness in the society - discussions, seminars, meetings, hackathons, summer schools.
The Project team consists of ministry employees experienced in project management, as well as highly qualified social work professionals with academic and research experience.
The beneficiary target for this project is to have 3099 persons involved of which 2603 persons will improve their professional competence.
Project’s finance total: EUR 12 470 000
ESF+ contribution: (European Social Fund Plus) EUR 10 599 500
Period: October 2022 – August 2028