THE Institute of Social Works (ISW) has come up with a community engagement outreach programme that would enable people to realize society needs and ways to address social gaps in communities.
Rolling out the scheme, ISW Programme Coordinator, Ms Rukia Mwinyi said that the package would be one of the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children guidelines to implement community projects.
She made the revelation in Dar es Salaam recently, while briefing Social Welfare Officers and some Kijitonyama Ward personnel on the programme, adding: “Our main aim as a social work institute is to engage communities particularly on social welfare issues.
Communities have an opportunity to share their social problems with Social Welfare Officers and other experts from the institute in order to address their challenges.
“In the programme we will use participatory approach as the best way for the community to identify problems and find their solutions together with their local government leaders,” Ms Mwinyi said.
According to her, the programme that started at Kijitonyama Ward, Kinondoni Municipality in the city would thereafter spread to other community members in Dar es Salaam region.
“We will start here (Kijitonyama Ward) and we expect to reach others in the community with the main aim of making sure that the community engagement programmes are implemented as planned,” said the Coordinator.
Ms Mwinyi, who is also the lecturer at the institute said: “We focus to engage communities in addressing social problems in order to improve their psycho-social wellbeing for individuals and families, and to address socio-economically related problems in communities.”
On her part, a Health Officer from the Ward, Ms Vumilia Kyando said that the programme would amicably help to address social problems which exist in the communities.
However, she thanked the institute for new programme, saying: “We will start with Mpakani Street in Kijitonyama Ward and we expect to move to other areas and mobilize our people to engage in it and openly present their social problems to the Social Welfare Officers, who will come up with solutions.”
She further said that community engagement would increase visibility and understanding of the residents’ vision to identify common issues, which affect them and also have a say on decisions being made for their lives, neighbourhoods and towns.
