Human Resources for Health in 2030 (HRH2030) 

The first step in this project was to conduct a thorough needs assessment within the ICBF national and regional structure.  This included meetings and working with multiple ICBF upper level staff, subcontractors, health department officials, professional therapists, academics, para-professionals and parent groups to determine special areas for capacity building.

The two social workers, one consultant in the US and one who worked onsite in Colombia, were recruited and facilitated planning and decision-making meetings in multiple regions in Colombia. They developed meeting objectives and monitored progress and developed significant training and capacity building tools.  This work ultimately resulted in (1) The development of a Colombian Child Protective Services Case Management model and manual for ICBF along with multiple regional trainings on the model (2) The development of a curriculum, “Mi Familia,” a parental training program, to be utilized by ICBF intervention teams and subcontractors to help with the prevention of child abuse and support reunification goals.  This is a new tool to be utilized throughout the country to help educate parents around parental roles, disciple, children’s developmental milestones, etc.  

The social workers along with the entire HRH2030 team were able to develop strong collaborations including with SENA, the national Colombian training institute, and the national and regional health departments and provide direct technical assistance.  The HRH2030 Social Worker also conducted a workforce analysis of social workers in Colombia and those providing direct social services to children experiencing abuse and neglect.   This information led directly to significant capacity building efforts and trainings, such as assessing for sexual abuse, treatment planning, follow up activities for re-establishing children’s rights and family reunification.  All of this directly contributed to the development of the social services workforce centered on child protection services development in Colombia, a key goal of USAID.

Another key effort of the Social Work Consultant was working with the HRH2030 staff and ICBF to get trained on and implement an evidenced based assessment and evaluation tool globally recognized for use in child protective services. The Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS), from the Praed Foundation, is a multi-purpose tool developed for children’s services to support decision making, including level of care and service planning, to facilitate quality improvement initiatives, and to allow for the monitoring of outcomes of services.

This tool became part of significant national training effort with approximately 100 newly certified ICBF social services professionals equipped to utilize the tool on an ongoing basis to evaluate the psychological and social needs of children at high risk.  Plans are now underway to create a Training of Trainers (TOT) for ICBF staff to continue to train new staff throughout Colombia. 

AIHA’s social work efforts contributed to the development of the social services workforce. These efforts were all focused on leaving the Colombian ICBF system with sustainable tools and trainings that will have long term impact to improve the quality and effectiveness of Colombia’s child protection services.  

To learn more about this project, read: Addressing the Needs of Children in Adversity by Strengthening Colombia’s Social Welfare Workforce and Bringing Social Support Services to Vulnerable Children in Rural Parts of Colombia.