EU Supports Professionalization of Social Workers in EaP Countries

Regional conference of EU-funded project "Social Workers in Collaboration for Social Change", which was closed in Tbilisi on March 28, discussed the ways of strengthening professional social work in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Moldova- Eastern Partnership (EaP) Countries. 

At the closing conference, the project consortium highlighted the results achieved over the course of the project and discussed implications for the future development of the social worker's profession in the region.

The main achievements of the project "Social Workers in Collaboration for Social Change" were also presented at the conference.

It was noted that social workers' associations in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova improved their organizational capacities as well as their information services and outreach activities to their 10.500 members and supporters, intensified collaboration with 160 local organizations so they can provide more effective, targeted and coordinated services to vulnerable groups, and also developed and successfully lobbied for 16 new professional concepts and papers on improvement of standards, laws and regulations in the social field.

Moreover, within the project, 15 small grants were awarded to 24 local CSOs in Armenia, Georgia and Moldova with a total grant sum of €540.000 and an average grant amount of €36.000. The small grants covered 8 regions of Georgia, 5 regions of Armenia and 9 regions of Moldova. 

“Local CSOs increased their capacities and skills on social work and service delivery, on inter-sectorial cooperation with other stakeholders and on empowering vulnerable population groups, especially families, to contribute to family strengthening and preservation,” the EU delegation to Georgia reported, adding the main aim of the project has been to contribute to the social well-being of vulnerable groups, to greater social justice and social change by developing and strengthening the concept of and access to social work in the four project countries.

The European Union and the Austrian Development Agency support the project "Social Workers in Collaboration for Social Change". It is implemented by the Austrian organization "Hilfswerk International" in cooperation with the Georgian Association of Social Workers (GASW), the Armenian Association of Social Workers (AASW), the Azerbaijan Social Work Public Union (ASWPU) and the Nursing Association of the Republic of Moldova (NARM) in the time period August 2015 until May 2018 with a total budget of € 1,079,413.

By Thea Morrison