UNAIDS estimates that there are between 280,000 and 870,000 children orphaned or made vulnerable by AIDS living in Ethiopia. These children require comprehensive care and support, yet many of the community caregivers currently working with this most vulnerable of populations lack the knowledge and skills needed to address their complex needs effectively.
The Addis Ababa University School of Social Work is collaborating with Jane Addams College of Social Work and the Midwest AIDS Training and Education Center at the University of Illinois - Chicago to strengthen AAU’s capacity to provide both pre-service and in-service social work training in an effort to improve the quality and scope of support available to orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Ethiopia.
Partners are working to meet the immediate needs of OVC by developing a para-social worker training
program that will arm community-based care providers with much-needed case management skills. They are also addressing Ethiopia’s long-term needs for trained social workers by strengthening AAU’s existing degree programs in social work.
This partnership is working closely with a similar
Twinning Center alliance linking the US partners with the Institute of Social Work in Tanzania, making this our first "triangle partnership."
As of May 2008, partners have conducted an initial
assessment visit to Tanzania to observe para-social worker education and training activities at the Institute of Social Work and a professional exchange to the United States to develop the partnership workplan and budget, as well as to participate in a conference on the role of social work in HIV/AIDS care.
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