Social workers to be officially recognised

The Government has approved the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affair's project to officially classify social work as a profession.

Social work, which as a profession has been in existence for more than a hundred years in the West, involves supporting vulnerable individuals, families, groups and communities, such as abused children.

To promote the profession, a budget of VND2.347 trillion (US$130 million) has been allocated to train staff until 2020.

By 2015, the ministry hopes to increase the existing number of "care-in-the-community" workers by 10 per cent. Each commune or ward will have at least one part-time social worker, who will earn the minimum salary paid to a full-time civil servant.

By 2020, the ministry hopes to double the current number of "social workers" in the country.

During this period, 60,000 staff, who currently perform similar duties of a social worker, will be retrained.

The Government has called on the Ministry of Home Affairs to give social work a formal job code. It has also been told to create positions for social workers in a number of agencies and organisations, such as the Ministry of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs; schools and universities; orga-nisations such as the Viet Nam Red Cross, the Viet Nam Women's Union, the Youth Union; health services such as hospitals; non-governmental orga-nisations and justice departments.

Nguyen Van Hoi, deputy director of the Social Protection Department, said a recent survey had shown that there were about 35,000 people engaged in unofficial social work in the country.

Hoi said that since 2004, universities and colleges had run courses in social work and trained about 2,000 students.

"This is still a new profession so our priority is to raise people's awareness about the job. The project is also a good opportunity for those working in the field to receive formal training," Hoi added.

Le Hong Loan, chief of UNICEF's Child Protection Programme, said: "There is an urgent need for social work to be recognised as a profession in Viet Nam as it contributes to social welfare and protection. It will become increasingly important while the Government pursues its goal of turning Viet Nam into an industrialised and modern country by 2020."

There are 2.6 million children with special needs – 9 per cent of the total child population – in the country. That means that there is a high demand for professionally trained social workers, Loan said.

She said social work includes counselling, casework, case management, group work, social advocacy and social research on vulnerable people such as children with special needs, the elderly and adults with disabilities.

Social work is also important for the rehabilitation and ongoing psycho-social support of drug abusers, commercial sex workers, people with HIV/AIDS, abused women and children and criminals.

The project will take effect on May 10.