The Institute for Social Work signed on Monday a cooperation protocol with the Ponta Delgada Nursing School for the implementation of strategies to promote and improve quality of life, through training, which also includes the promotion of healthy lifestyles and research.
 
The Regional Director for Solidarity and Social Security, who presided over the signing ceremony on behalf of the Regional Secretary for Labour and Social Solidarity, stated that the initiative will continue the work developed in the training of technicians working at day nurseries, with special emphasis on nannies.

According to the Regional Director, this protocol is the result of the “steady and gradual increase of social programmes, services and infrastructures” as well as of the emergence of “new situations poverty and exclusion,” which not only require social intervention measures and methodologies, but also “a continuous training effort for the almost four thousand technicians and workers of the social work system, which covers approximately 30,000 Azoreans.”

Hence, the document aims to promote and develop skills in the social sector, providing adequate responses to the emergence of new problems and reinforcing responses to the existing problems.

Paula Ramos also expects that the signing of the protocol will allow a closer “cooperation to analyse the causes of problems, select training priorities and implement actions based on a systemic and factual knowledge of situations, so that it may be possible to quickly identify the changes to be introduced and their complexity, adjust, on a continuous base, the available resources to emerging needs and innovate responses through concerted and coordinated actions with different services and private social solidarity institutions.”

The initiative is addressed at workers of private social solidarity institutions in the area of childhood, users of social services, with special emphasis on disability, aging and shelter of children and youngsters at risk, nannies undergoing certification or already certified by the Institute for Social Work, as well as at families and community in general.

Under this protocol, the annual activity plan has established, being in force from July to December 2011.

Being addressed at the monitoring staff (home assistant, general service workers, cooks and monitors) and parents, the 2011 activity plan is intended to promote the health and well-being of children aged 0-5 years living in Temporary Shelters.

Furthermore, this activity plan will address the following training modules: preventive health, daily health, infant feeding, artificial feeding; diversified diet, newborn bathing, infant hygiene, airway obstruction, vaccination, accident prevention and first aid.