Ministry of Gender, Child& Social Welfare conducts workshop on child protection/photo by Michael Daniel

The Ministry of Gender, Child& Social Welfare has disclosed that it signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Juba to train and recruit graduates into its social workforce.

Celina Grace Peter who is the Child Welfare Director in the ministry says the candidates to be selected from the public universities will be trained in skills related to child protection in the country.

“It will not be the only the University of Juba but other public universities across the country,”

“We are doing this to get a well-qualified social workforce that will be deployed to the ten states and the three administrative areas to support the states’ ministries handling the children’s problems,” she said.

Grace says the project is in a bit to professionalize the social workforce to deal with child-related issues.

“Anyone working in the child field must have the skills, knowledge, and understanding on how to deal with children’s issues,”Grace added while opening a three days workshop on child protection on Tuesday in Juba.

Meanwhile, Solla Assa, UNICEF Child Protection Specialist says it’s critical for the country to have a professional social workforce to deliver quality protection to children.

She says the main goal of the initiative is to enhance the protection of children in the country.

The child protection workforce is necessary for South Sudan and this is the time,

“We are looking at how we can strengthen the capacity of the workforce so that quality child protection is delivered to the children of South Sudan by the government and national partners, Assa stressed.

The workshop expected to end on Thursday brought together more than 50 participants including state ministers and directors from the ten states and the three administrative areas.