Damascus-SANA
With the aim of evaluating the pioneering experience in case management in the field of child protection and presenting the results of its pilot application in the Damascus Countryside Governorate, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, in cooperation with the United Nations Children’s Fund “UNICEF”, held a working meeting today at the Sheraton Hotel in Damascus.
Representatives from a number of ministries and NGOs involved in the case management system participated in the meeting, and its axes centered on presenting and evaluating the pilot experience, expansion scenarios, discussions about their application, and discussing results, recommendations and proposals to follow up on work on the case management system, leading to its national adoption in the final version.
Assistant Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Yasser Al-Ahmad explained in a speech that the ministry seeks, through its programs and in partnership with international organizations and NGOs, to implement a set of programs in the field of child and family protection and to enhance the participation of adolescents, noting that future plans are to focus on the possibility of expanding work on the case management system to include All categories of children, women, the most needy groups of the elderly and people with disabilities.
In turn, the deputy representative of UNICEF in Syria, Ghada Kajaji, explained that it is important to complete a case management model to be a starting point for building a sustainable system to ensure the provision of specialized social services in the field of child protection, pointing out that the experience improves oversight by the Ministry of Social Affairs, which enables service providers. From responding in a timely and more effective manner to the targeted cases in accordance with international standards appropriate to the situation in Syria.
The Assistant Minister of Education, Dr. Abdul Hakim Al-Hammad stressed that it is important to monitor the existing cases in the community of children who suffer from societal violence or lack family care, indicating that the number of inclusive schools affiliated with the Ministry of Education reaches more than 173 schools, where the cases inside are followed up to alleviate the difficulties that they face. These children suffer.
In turn, the Assistant Minister of Health, Dr. Ahmed Dhamiriya, pointed out that it is very necessary to protect the vulnerable groups in society, pointing out that the role of the Ministry of Health is to monitor and report cases that appear in health centers and hospitals, study their health causes and treat them in cooperation with all partners and stakeholders.
The representative of the Ministry of Interior in the National Committee for Child Rights, Dr. Yasser Kelzy, indicated that the future vision of the case management experience is to expand and benefit from the possibility of applying it on the ground and circulating it throughout Syria, pointing out that the ministry’s mission according to the system is to respond quickly, organize seizures, document cases and secure legal coverage for dealing With it, in order to deposit it in the centers or protection unit and issue judicial decisions regarding it.
Head of the Syrian Commission for Family and Population Affairs, Eng. Samar Al-Sibai, indicated that it is important to control all cases of violence in all its forms, explaining that treating cases of violence against children requires a system that outlines courses of action from the first step, which begins with monitoring and treating the case for the benefit of the entire community.
The Director of Social Services at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, Awatef Hassan, gave a presentation on the future vision of the ministry and its work plan regarding the experiment, which includes completing work on developing technical manuals, setting a map for services related to case management, developing a description of the role of the case manager at several levels, implementing more specialized training for case managers, developing Management information system software.
In 2016, the Syrian Commission for Family and Population Affairs identified a model for integrated social services in Syria under the title “case management in the field of child protection,” which was applied experimentally in the areas of al-Tal and Douma by linking the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor and the various concerned authorities to register cases.
Muhannad Suleiman
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