SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT MOVES TO REPOSITION THE SOCIAL SERVICE PRACTITIONERS’ PROFESSION

By DSD News

• The Department of Social Development is hosting a three-day session, from 14 to 16 October 2026, at Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, Gauteng, to reposition the social service practitioners’ profession.
• The gathering brings together national programme managers, supervisors, stakeholders and departmental officials, including social workers, child and youth care workers, and community development practitioners.
• Delegates are expected to agree on governance frameworks for professional compliance and development, and to identify provincial implementation priorities for the 2027/28 reporting cycle.

Boksburg, 14 October 2026 – The Department of Social Development (DSD) today began a three-day session at Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, Gauteng, aimed at repositioning the social service practitioners’ profession and advancing the role of the social service workforce in fulfilling the Department’s mandate.

The session, which runs until 16 October 2026, focuses on positioning social service practitioners for professional excellence, regulatory compliance and the delivery of quality, integrated social development services. Discussions will also centre on strengthening professional governance, compliance, support, training, learning and development.

The social service workforce plays a central role in advancing government’s social development mandate and in realising the Department’s vision of building a caring and self-reliant society. To this end, the Department remains committed to strengthening the capacity, competence and professional compliance of social service practitioners, so that individuals, families and communities receive quality services.

Participants include national programme managers, supervisors, stakeholders and departmental officials, among them social workers, child and youth care workers, community development practitioners, supervisors and managers.

By the end of the gathering, delegates are expected to have reached:
•⁠ ⁠agreed governance frameworks for professional compliance, professional support, training, learning and development;
•⁠ ⁠consensus on provincial implementation priorities for the 2027/28 reporting cycle;
•⁠ ⁠improved alignment between regulatory requirements and departmental practice;
•⁠ ⁠a coordinated approach to strengthening the professional development of social service practitioners, guided by a shared vision of placing social service practice at the centre of implementing developmental strategies; and
•⁠ ⁠a shared strategic understanding of the mandate of the Directorate: Occupation-Specific Learning and Development for Social Service Professionals, within the Department’s approved organisational structure.