With exposure comes opportunities to learn new skills and get new experiences that in turn advance your professionalism and make you aim higher career-wise. UKR has been on the front in instilling more skills and knowledge to its staff through taking them to workshops and conferences to advance their skills.
The Social Work Day Conference on April 7, 2022 provided a perfect learning opportunity for our 5 staff who were in attendance. The event brought together 45 like-minded organizations and stakeholders in the field of social work who offer service to humanity at St-Martin Catholic Social Apostolate, a faith based grassroots organization that cares for vulnerable groups of people in Nyahururu, Kenya.
There, our staff got the chance to interact with colleagues in the social work profession, share notes, and exchange ideas on how best to improve the practice of social work and serve humanity and also share their experiences.
The keynote speaker during the conference was Timothy Okatta, a Social Worker and Secretary General of the Association of Social Work Educators in Kenya (ASWEK). Mr. Okatta commended non-profit organizations on their efforts to ensure that children have access to quality education through support to large numbers of of children to attend schools.
He also highlighted the need for realization of a new eco-social world through lobbying and advocating for review of policies that exclude other segments of the society, challenging cultural practices, beliefs and attitudes that promote exclusion, economic empowerment programs to uplift the economic status of the people and full implementation of policies and laws.
Subsequently, three of our staff attended the Inaugural International Social Work Education and Practice Conference organized by the Association of Social Work Educators in Kenya (ASWEK), an organization that is committed to contribute significantly towards the growth of social work education in Kenya at Maasai Mara University in Narok, Kenya. The conference brought together social work practitioners from all over the globe
The three days’ conference theme was “advancing sustainable development goals through social work education and practice.” It provided an avenue for our social workers to learn on topics, emerging trends in social work education, social work within and beyond Africa, specialization in social work practice, and legal and ethical issues in social work education and practice, among other topics. These trips have given our staff the liberty to bring in fresh ideas and thoughts into our organization, spearheading change and improving efficiency and effectiveness in delivering our service to humanity.
