Location: Tanzania
Title: Social Welfare Officer
Organization: Iramba District Council
Overview
Happiness is a Social Welfare Officer at Iramba District Council in Tanzania. She manages all social welfare services including child protection cases, psycho-social support and counselling, and conducts follow-up home visits with at-risk families in collaboration with other team members. As a National Integrated Case Management System (NICMS) custodian, Happiness leads the team in dealing with child protection cases to ensure that cases are reported, needs assessments are conducted, care plans are implemented, and monitoring and follow-up are implemented. For the period of October 2022 to September 2023, Happiness and her team dealt with 63 referrals. Happiness coordinated her team effectively to manage all the cases based on the needs of the child and the family. The follow up on the progress of the children is ongoing, while some services like family reintegration are complete.
Her Training and Skills
Happiness has a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from University of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. Also, she has attended many skills enhancement seminars, workshops, and trainings based on child protection, juvenile court procedures, National Integrated Case Management, gender-based violence, positive parenting and adolescents rights. Having completed several trainings on various technical areas, gives Happiness the ability to be a great Social Welfare Officer who effectively manage all cases she comes across.
A Successful Case
Sara Fred* (11 years old) was identified by a health worker as having been sexually abused by her cousin. Sara reported the abuse to her parents but they remained silent because the house they lived in belonged to the perpetrator’s father and they were fearful that by reporting the case they would be removed from the house. Due to the complex nature of the case, Happiness and the case management team intervened, placing Sara in a temporary children’s shelter while the case was being settled.
After Sara was placed in the shelter, Happiness conducted a home visit to identify supportive adults and also worked with Sara’s teachers so her studies would not be disrupted. Because Sara’s parents were hesitant to file a case against the perpetrator (Sara’s cousin), Happiness and her team convinced the local social welfare office to assist the parents to file the charges. Sarah remained in the shelter, and she was supported in preparing her testimony. Ultimately, Sarah’s parents agreed to file charges.
To make sure Sara’s family remained safe after filing charges, Happiness spoke with the perpetrator’s father and the owner of the house. He was anguished and very upset for what his son did and he assured Happiness that Sara and her family could continue to live in the house while the case was ongoing. Happiness also linked Sara and her family to USAID-funded Kizazi Hodari project for more support while continuing to follow-up on the legal processes.
What She Loves About Her Job
Handling child protection cases such as Sara’s requires skills and training, as well as the less quantifiable, but extremely important, qualities of patience and understanding. For Happiness, her work is more than just a job. She states, “It is my passion to help vulnerable children and their families.” She is happy to be a Social Welfare Officer because “just helping one or two children become successful in their lives is the greatest achievement one can ever get.” Also, Happiness finds it rewarding when children become empowered and choose to live their lives to the fullest even after going through a devastating life event, although she does note the “heartbreak” caused when cases do not turn out successfully. This could be simply because of resource limitations or because legal procedures do not favor a child for various reasons, such as lack of enough evidence. She also gives credit to the vital role that caregivers and supportive adults play in supporting children to recover from various life challenges.
