National Association of Child Care Workers (NACCW)
Program Initiator: National Association of Child Care Workers (NACCW)
Goal: to provide the professional training and infrastructure to promote healthy child and youth development and improve standards of protection, care and treatment for orphaned, vulnerable and at-risk children and youth in family, community, educational and residential group care settings.
Brief description: Strategies and Areas of Operation:
• Consultancy and Mentoring Service to child and youth care workers and institutions.
• Skills development (the NACCW’s Training Department offers the Further Education and Training Certificate (FETC) in Child and Youth Care Work. This is a 16 module course that is usually completed over two years).
• Developing and replicating models (the NACCW has developed a model of community-based child and youth care. Named Isibindi (meaning courage) child and youth care workers service children, youth and their families in communities across South Africa – usually where social services are scarce.
• Professionalising the field (The Association has been advocating for the recognition of the autonomy of the profession of child and youth care work; for statutory regulation that will safeguard the rights of children, youth and their families and provide professional accountability for the standards of services rendered.
