Group Picture of the Participants
The Department of Social Work, in collaboration with the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina, organised a day's seminar on Financial Capability and Asset Building (FCAB) for selected social work practitioners in Accra.
The seminar was held at the N-Block at the University of Ghana with twenty-five representatives from selected Government and Non-Governmental Organisations who supervise social work students’ fieldwork participating in the event.
In her welcome address, the Head of the Department of Social Work, Dr. Augustina Naami, said, “Financial Capability and Asset Building (FCAB) generally involves helping people to acquire the knowledge and skills required to make sound financial decisions for themselves and their families.”
“As people who work with vulnerable populations, social work practitioners ought to be equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to build the financial capacity of their low-income clients. This seminar aimed to equip practitioners to enable poor and vulnerable clients to understand and navigate the increasingly complex financial environment, minimise the risks they are exposed to, and maximise their opportunities for better living standards,” Dr. Naami stated.
The HoD also noted that the seminar on FCAB for social work practitioners was the first of its kind in Ghana and applauded Professor David Ansong, the brain behind the FCAB-Africa initiative, and his team from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA, for supporting for the initiative.
Dr. Augustina Naami, Head of the Department of Social Work
The Dean of the School of Social Sciences, Prof. Mavis Dako-Gyeke, who established the FCAB initiative at the Department of Social Work during her term as Head of the Department, noted in her remarks that the FCAB seminar aligns with the mission of the School of Social Sciences and the University of Ghana, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals and the African 2063 Agenda.
She highlighted the need to support the FCAB initiative at the Department of Social Work.
Prof. David Ansong, who joined the seminar virtually, stated that the essence of the FCAB-Africa initiative was to find ways to improve people’s financial stability and security to advance their social and economic well-being in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Prof. David Ansong, University of North Carolina
“The FCAB initiative also seeks to provide practitioners with the competencies to assist their clients in building their financial capability and assets,” he indicated.
According to Prof. Ansong, the FCAB-Africa Initiative is operational in six African countries and at different stages. He used the occasion to applaud the Department of Social Work at the University of Ghana for their efforts in moving the FCAB project forward.
As part of the seminar, three presentations on FCAB were made by faculty members from papers that they had published in a special issue in Global Social Welfare (2022).
These included a presentation by Prof. Mavis Dako-Gyeke and her co-authors, which focused on incorporating FCAB in the social work curriculum to prepare social work students to address the financial needs of their clients.
In her presentation, Prof. Dako-Gyeke emphasised the need to train faculty to help build their capacity to teach FCAB and become familiar with how FCAB could be integrated into the social work curriculum. The presentation also covered educational opportunities, curricular resources, and ideas for infusing FCAB content into the existing curriculum.
Prof. Mavis Dako-Gyeke, Dean School of Social Sciences
The second presentation featured Dr. Augustina Naami and Dr. Abigail Adubea Mills presenting on the role of social workers in providing FCAB for vulnerable populations, using persons with disabilities as a case study. They argued that FCAB interventions for persons with disabilities are necessary to break the cycle of poverty among them and change the narrative of being the poorest of the poor.
They also maintained that the role of social workers is crucial in attempts to break the cycle of poverty among persons with disabilities.
Dr. Kingsley Saa-Touh Mort, the current Fieldwork Coordinator at the Department, gave the final presentation at the seminar. He revealed that building the capacity of field education agencies to design and facilitate effective project-based learning opportunities for practicum students could potentially equip a new cadre of professional social workers with FCAB competencies.
Following the conclusion of the presentations, Dr. Abena Ampomah, on behalf of the Department, announced that as part of the FCAB Africa initiative, a baseline survey was being conducted in collaboration with the University of North Carolina School of Social Work.
The survey she mentioned is targeted at understanding ways to equip current and future social work professionals with the necessary competencies and skills in FCAB to build the financial resilience and capability of economically marginalized clients.
The seminar ended with a call from the participants for further engagement with the Department of Social Work on the FCAB initiative.
Dr. Akosua Agyemang, in her closing remarks, reiterated the commitment of the Department of Social Work at the University of Ghana to promoting the FCAB-Africa initiative through a range of activities involving social work faculty, practitioners, and students.
