Ghana on Tuesday joined the international community to mark the World Social Work Day with a commitment to project the social work profession and the development of social policy in national policy formulation.
Ghana also used the day to acknowledge the core values, embraced by social workers, social work educators and policy practitioners and
developers, as the foundation for the achievement of the government’s “Better Ghana Agenda”.
Speaking at a press conference as part of a month long activities organized by the Institute of Social Work Ghana, Mrs Anastasia Kpei Ninsau, Principal Social Development Officer, Department of Social Welfare, called for the integration of Social Officers into national development agenda.
She also called on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to involve Social Workers in their administrative structure as “Social workers are skilled in analyzing social conditions, have the ability to help the nation to respond to economic and social changes which disproportionately affect vulnerable people”.
Focusing on the theme: “Social Work Voices Responding to Global Crisis; Together we develop the Agenda,” Mrs Ninsau, who is also the
Coordinator of the Institute of Social Work, said the development of a Global Agenda gave Ghana the opportunity to take stock of the experiences and to articulate a new and crucial vision for engagement that could mobilise “our members and partners – and beyond.
She expressed concern about the deplorable state of Social Welfare institutions…. ”The only destitute home – Infirmary in Ashanti Bekwai and other such residential homes for the vulnerable people are in sad state”.
Mrs Ninsau therefore called on the government, the private sector, civil and non-governmental organizations to utilize the
expertise of Social Workers.
“As Social Workers we have the ability to link people affected by development projects to resources that exist to help them meet their
needs for economic empowerment”.