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AVI volunteer and development partners celebrate World Social Work Day in Cambodia

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15 March 2011
AVI volunteer and development partners celebrate World Social Work Day in Cambodia

AVI volunteer Alison Birchall is working as a Social Work Capacity Building Advisor with Homeland (Meahto Phum Ko' Äômah, also known as MPK) in Battambang Province, Cambodia.

Left: AVI volunteer Alison Birchall proudly displays a t-shirt Homeland (Meahto Phum Ko' Äômah) produced for World Social Work Day 2011.

Together with the local social work staff, she has helped organise a walk challenge to celebrate World Social Work Day 2011, which is celebrated on 15 March each year.

The walk challenge involves a 15km ramble from the Angkor era temple of Ek Phnom to Homeland's children's residential centre and is aimed at promoting social work's contributions to society and encouraging ongoing dialogue with all partners on how communities can meet the challenges linked to social conditions.

Says Alison: "For a country like Cambodia, events like World Social Work Day are important for emerging professions such a social work. For the Social Workers involved here, this is the first time that their work has been acknowledged in this way, and it starts to nurture the idea that social work can be a profession, not just another job."

Alison has been working as an AVI Social Work Advisor for one year now. In addition to designing an event that highlights the contribution MPK's social workers make to the community,  the social workers are hoping their walking efforts will inspire donations to assist with creating a more child-friendly social work space that the community can benefit from.

Local social worker Silin says: "I hope that we can create a safe place for the children to talk to us about the secret things they feel."

The theme for World Social Work Day 2011 is Social Work voices responding to global crises: Together we develop the agenda. Every day, Social Workers respond to individual and family crises - they open doors for service users and offer solutions for a wide range of problems. Social workers are also skilled in analysing the frameworks of social conditions, and know how to change them to foster a more dignified life for all people, in all communities.

For more information about Homeland's efforts around World Social Work Day, or to make a donation towards the child friendly space, check out the project details at http://pledgie.com/campaigns/14630 or visit the Facebook page Social Worker Reek Reay (Happy Social Worker).

More about Homeland

Homeland is a not-for-profit community based organisation working with vulnerable children, especially street children, trafficked children and children orphaned by HIV and AIDS and other causes. Homeland was established in 1997 in response to the need to safely reintegrate trafficked children into Cambodian society.

For more information about Homeland visit www.homelandcambodia.org