The social service workforce includes a wide range of workers, from government-employed social workers to trained community case workers, who play a key role in connecting vulnerable children and families to services—including health services—and work hand in hand with health workers to achieve a world in which everyone, everywhere, has the health care they need to thrive.

Our experience in strengthening the social service workforce includes improving leadership, planning, and development at national, district and provincial levels, disseminating national norms and standards for child protection, workforce development and other social welfare-related interventions, and supporting implementation of workforce information systems.

Our key approaches include:

• Applying a systems-strengthening lens to assessment, intervention design and implementation
• Building capacity at all levels to better manage and train social service workers and improve service delivery to vulnerable children and families
• Generating evidence for effective orphans and vulnerable children and at-risk youth programming through research, evaluation, and sharing of promising practices
• Empowering leaders in government, training institutions, professional associations, and social service workers through technology and tools for continuing education and decision making