During November-December 2019, COERR Mae Sarieng organized meeting and workshop for community-based social workers.

   On November 12th -14th, a refresher course on case management, child protection law, child protection referral system, child and family assessment form, social work principles, family tree drawing is organized for COERR field staff. There were 17 participants, of 12 female and 5 male, attending the refresher course at Mae Lama Luang temporary shelter and 16 participants, of 9 female and 7 male, at Ban Mae La Oon temporary shelter.

   A workshop was organized on November 26 and 28 for lessons learned session and how to move forward. There were 25 participants attending the workshop at Mae Lama Luang and 35 attending at Mae La Oon.

   The latest sessions took placed on December 3 at Mae Lama Luang and December 4 at Mae La Oon, about conclusion of social work in 2019.

Principles of Social Work, Case Management and Child Protection Referral System Training
were focused on November 12th.

On November 13th , the contents were more about Child Protection Referral System.

   On November 14th, the Case Management contents covering at incident report, risk person identification, child and family’s assessment, fact finding, planning and implementation according to individual’s needs, monitoring to promote effective outcomes.

   At the meeting held on November 26 at Mae Lama Luang temporary shelter and November 28, held at Mae La Oon temporary shelter, there was a session in which participants were assigned to patch a picture of a child. They were divided into 4 groups. Group One drew a head. Group Two drew body. Group Three drew arms. Group Four drew waist and legs. Then each group came out and patched all parts to form the picture of a girl.

   The outcome was that the four parts did not match each other: the body was too big, the head was too small, the limbs were in unusual size compare to the body. The participants were asked to brainstorm why mistakes occurred. The results were that it was because each group did their own drawing without communicate with other groups. The trainer compared the mistakes to the unsmooth operation of child protection referral system.

   Then participants were assigned again to brainstorm for the betterment of the social work in 2020. The outcomes were as follows: more dialogues or communications, dedication, sincerity, clear roles and responsibilities, reliable fact finding, social work knowledge and skills, monitoring, etc.

   The workshop ended with an encouraging story of two water buckets. Bucket A had a leak so it contained less water and it was sorrow for being worthless, comparing to Bucket B. The owner then told Bucket A to take a look at the beautiful flowers that bloom along the way from the water leaked from Bucket A. This story was to tell that everyone had his/her own value. Challenges were unavoidable but the outcome of work and the future of children should be our aim.