The Association of Social Workers from the Republika Srpska, in cooperation with the Association of Social Workers of FBiH, and the Association of Social Workers of Brčko District of BiH, as members of the Association of Social Workers and Other Social Workers in BiH, and with the support of UNICEF BiH, OSCE and Save The Children, through the Child Protection Hub project, organized the VI Annual Conference on Social Work, "Improvement of Social Work through the Development of Theories, Methods and Techniques of Work," on Thursday, 21 October 2021, in Bijeljina.

The conference was organized to bring together relevant experts who could share theoretical and practical experiences related to social protection systems in the country and the surroundings. They discussed systemic solutions, the working definitions of disadvantage, and how to contribute to the development of social protection systems.

The conference began with an introduction by Srđana Baralić - President of the Association of Social Workers from RS, and continued with a speech by Mirnesa Telalović, President of the Association of Social Workers of FBiH. Rownak Khan, Director of UNICEF in BiH; Andrea Žeravčić, Director of Save the Children NWB; Vladimir Makarić, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of RS; and Miroslav Jurešić, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy of FBiH also spoke on the importance of social work, especially social workers who work with the most vulnerable categories of society.

Milorad Sofrenić, Director of the Public Institution Center for Social Work Bijeljina, which celebrated its 60th anniversary this year, also addressed the participants, noting how the institution went from a professional service to a public institution over the past decades. The institute has lived through and grown with the necessary progress achieved during this time. The director pointed out that the compassionate employees often work overtime, and strive to continuously improve professionally and make the center what it is. The center has social protection, family law protection, children and youth, and day care centers for children at risk, and children with disabilities. It will go forward in two directions: development, strengthening and improvement of social protection as a whole; and personnel, material-technical and financial strengthening.

After the Ministries presented plans and perspectives for the development of the social protection system in RS and FBiH, the current difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were discussed. Sandra Dobrijević Šipka presented "Analysis of the state of social protection in RS with special reference to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic".

Ružica Jelisavac, from the Institute for Social Protection of Serbia, presented the situation outside of RS and FBiH, and the challenges and strengths of institutional capacities in the social protection system of Serbia. Mirjana Cesen and Vilko Kobil from the Social Chamber of Slovenia, also presented on the situation in Slovenia regarding the pros and cons of the Law on Personal Assistance.

On topics related to modern social work and its application in practice, Dr Nina Babić, from the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo, spoke to the audience about the work activation of social assistance beneficiaries through the concept of social entrepreneurship. By definition, social entrepreneurship is the action of an entrepreneur who recognizes a social problem and a professional, innovative and sustainable approach to systemic change that goes beyond market failures, and takes advantage of given opportunities. While business entrepreneurs typically measure the effectiveness of an enterprise through profit and return on investment, social entrepreneurs assess their success both through the impact on social change and through profit and return on investment. The concept of social entrepreneurship and its value is on the rise in the world. While in the Republika Srpska, this concept is included in the legal solutions of the FBiH, it has yet to legally regulate issues of social entrepreneurship and the problems it solves.

Supervision is a topic that is always relevant in social work. Dr Andrea Puhalić spoke about supervision through supporting the improvement of  the quality of social work, and emphasized that supervision should not only be seen through the administrative roles it enables, but also through the supporting roles that improve individual work.

As part of the Conference, Dr. Andrea Puhalić also presented the publication, "Supervision Handbook", created by Save the Children as part of the ENVISION project - Creating a stimulating environment for the social inclusion of children. The manual is a response to the need for  a better understanding of the nature and content of supervisory support in psychosocial work, especially in the social protection system. Dr. Puhalić emphasized that every social worker should have a copy for quick browsing, and a reminder on the basic concepts of and ways of supervising. You can find the manual in the attachments to this article.

The last lecture was given by Dr. Suada Buljubašić, and addressed management in the social protection system. This current and vital topic was discussed along with the numerous challenges that effective management seeks to tackle.

The conference ended with a discussion on the development of international cooperation between BiH and the countries in the region.

The conference ended by stressing the need for continuous cooperation between the Association of Social Workers from Republika Srpska, the Association of Social Workers of FBiH and the Association of Social Workers of Brcko District BiH, to improve social work, provide support to users, and constantly expand the knowledge and opportunities of social workers in BiH.

 

Attachments
Attachment Size
Knjiga FINAL Priručnik o Superviziji WEB.pdf1.09 MB 1.09 MB

Childhub

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