Lagos excited as CEWHIN hands over SOP, training materials
Commissioner for the Ministry of Youth and Social Development (MYSD), Lagos State, Mr Mobolaji Ogunlende was full of excitement on Friday when the Centre for Women’s Health and Information (CEWHIN)
Commissioner for the Ministry of Youth and Social Development (MYSD), Lagos State, Mr Mobolaji Ogunlende was full of excitement on Friday when the Centre for Women's Health and Information (CEWHIN) officially handed over 'to him and other key officials of the ministry, a set of key knowledge materials developed under its project titled 'Capacity Strengthening of Social Workers and Development Officers through Training, Manual Development, and Standard Operating Procedure Review.'
The project, supported by the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Programme (RoLAC) and International IDEA, and the materials were handed over to the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development (MYSD) at the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa, Lagos.
According to CEWHIN, the project was designed to “provide technical support to social workers and youth development officers within the Ministry to strengthen professional practice and improve service delivery for children, youth, and other vulnerable groups.
As part of this initiative, CEWHIN worked in close collaboration with the Ministry to develop key knowledge materials aimed at enhancing social work practice and standardising service delivery processes within the Ministry.
“These materials include: Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on Effective Service Delivery for the Ministry of Youth and Social Development; Training Manual for Social Workers and Youth Development Officers; Guidance Notes on Writing Social Investigation Reports (SIR) and Survivor-Centred Approaches.”
Beyond the development of the materials, CEWHIN said the project also included a Training of Trainers (ToT) programme for social workers, adding that “the training equipped selected participants with best practices in social work and case management, delivered in collaboration with facilitators, to strengthen professional practice in line with international standards.
“The official handover event included a presentation of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) by CEWHIN, remarks from key stakeholders, and the formal handover of the SOP, Training Manual, and Guidance Notes to the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development.
The statement noted that the trained social workers are expected to cascade the knowledge and skills acquired to their colleagues across different departments within the Ministry, thereby expanding the impact of the initiative and strengthening institutional capacity.”
Elated by the feat, the commissioner said it's coming at the perfect time, but of course “I must recognize and thank our partners. I keep saying the government cannot do it alone. There's power in collaboration. United we stand, divided we fall. I thank our partners and our sponsors, RoLAC and CEWHIN. They've been very, very instrumental in delivering this project, as I like to call it. And what this simply means is that as a ministry, as a state and as a people, we have operating procedures that would guide every step that we take.”
He noted that “we started this journey about two years ago, and we've come to the end of it. And we have launched it and received this, and what we intend to do is to ensure that all of the staff, all of the members of the Ministry of Youth and Social Development, would use this document and be guided by it for effective service delivery to our people in Lagos State. And this is what is expected from us as a government under the leadership of our governor, Governor Babajide Olushola Sanwo-Olu, who has given me this platform to be able to thrive and to be able to ensure that we have effective projects and activities like this to give citizens a better service delivery to ensure that Greater Lagos continues to rise.
Read Also: Why Nigeria must pursue diplomacy to safeguard national sovereignty, by Tuggar
''As you heard earlier on, one of the key submissions that I made is that we should actually make this document one of the documents that every member of staff would need to study to be able to do their promotional exam. That way, it just does not remain as a paper. It is a document that will be imbibed into the day-to-day activities of everyone under this ministry.
“And that is the only way we can get the best of the best out of everyone. If you know that to get promoted to the next level, you need to answer questions from this document, then it would encourage you to read it. It would encourage you to understand it, to be able to move to the next level. So that is one of the key takeaways I expect to happen with this.
Also speaking on the successful handover of the SOP and other materials, the State Project Coordinator for the Rule of Law and Anticorruption Program, Ajibola Ijimakinwa said: “Today is a day of joy for both the Ministry of Youth and Social Development and International IDEA, because we are here to officially handover the SOP that was developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth, especially the directors and the committee that was set to review and implement it. I must commend the ministry, because like the PS said, they had already put something together, but they needed a technical partner to support them to ensure it's more coherent, provide more clarity, and the technical partners CEWHIN with the support of International IDEA, were able to come together with the directors and do a thorough job of which we have a legacy document to show forth to the world of what the Ministry of Youth and Social Development has done, what they should be doing and to ensure that service that is provided to the vulnerable groups is improved in Lagos State.”
