Monitoring of public adviser’s activities: experience of paraprofessional social workers

Abstract

This article outlines approaches to the monitoring of paraprofessional activities in the field of social work on the example of international and Ukrainian experience. The article aims to highlight alternative options for monitoring the work of paraprofessional social workers: on the basis of social services, within the inclusion in an intradisciplinary team, as well as in the format of individual activities of paraprofessionals in society. Based on the results of a desk study of international experience in monitoring the activities of paraprofessional communities, analysis of monitoring reports and surveys of public advisers in Ukraine who are paraprofessionals and work individually in small communities, practical issues of monitoring procedures for paraprofessionals are considered. The complexity of monitoring the activities of this network is connected with the fact that the functions of community advisers are new to the practice of Ukrainian social work, since everyone in this network works in his / her own format. In the context of this monitoring complexity, the analysis was made on the limitations of existing monitoring procedures of the network of public advisers. The results of this study revealed the limitations of formalized and functional approaches to the analysis of paraprofessionals in social work, such as: ineffective approach to paraprofessionals whose functions are blurred, lack of motivation and perception of monitoring procedures as control by professionals. In addition, taking into consideration the demand from the community of public advisers, some alternative approaches to monitoring the activities of paraprofessional volunteers have been proposed, including the motivation-centred approach based on the supervision of public advisers in the performance of their functions.

Keywords

• paraprofessionalism
• public advisers
• monitoring
• social work
• functional approach
• intradisciplinary team
• supervision