Nigeria has a population of 149 million people and is estimated to have the third largest number of PLWHIV in the world. According to the country’s Federal Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social Development, there are some 17 million orphans and vulnerable children in Nigeria.
In response, AIHA established in 2008 an
institutional twinning partnership linking the Federal School of Social Work in Enugu and the Department of Social Work at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka with a US-based consortium that includes Hunter College School of Social Work, Howard University School of Social Work, and the Nigerian Social Workers
Association.
In late 2010, experts from AIHA’s Tanzania Social Work and OVC Support Initiative — including partners from the Institute of Social Work in Dar es Salaam and Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois, Chicago — replaced the Hunter consortium and the Nigeria Social Work and OVC Support Initiative was established.
Key elements of the Initiative include
faculty and curriculum development at both the pre-service and in-service levels. Partners are also working to
increase the capacity of Nigerian social work professionals and educational institutions to advocate for implementation of OVC standards.
Starting in late 2010, partners focused on revising and expanding the Para Social Worker Training Curricula to align it more closely with the Tanzania Program. AIHA’s Nigeria Social Work and OVC Support Initiative supports the Nigerian Government’s health system strengthening efforts by building sustainable capacity at partner institutions to train Social Workers and Para Social Workers to provide much-needed care and support to orphans and vulnerable children, as well as other vulnerable populations.
The revised training curriculum includes an introductory course, supervised field training and mentoring, and a follow up course. This new training package was piloted in the spring of 2011 and the first series of trainings were conducted in August and September of that year.
Updated November 15, 2011
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