The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Academy, the agency’s premier training and learning facility, will soon re-open its doors and to provide further competencies to social workers and paraprofessionals both from the public and private sectors across the country.

Director Justin Caesar Anthony Batocabe of the Social Welfare Institutional Development Bureau (SWIDB) said the renovation of the facilities of the DSWD Academy will soon conclude, and classes are likely to begin by March.

“For turnover na po siya next week, and by March, we will have our classes there already, may naka-calendar na ho diyan,” Director Batocabe told reporters at the Thursday Media forum on February 6 at the DSWD Central Office’s New Press Center,

Built in 1970 through then First Lady Imelda R. Marcos, the DSWD Academy, formerly known as the Social Welfare and Development Center in the Asia and the Pacific (SWADCAP), is now a learning facility envisioned to become a center of excellence for community development and social work in the Indo-Pacific Region.

The training and short courses the academy offers seek to provide opportunities for the development of the competencies of social workers and paraprofessionals to meet the ever-changing trends in social work practice.

Director Batocabe said the improvement of the DSWD Academy and its competency as a center of learning have become one of the priority initiatives of the agency under the leadership of Secretary Rex Gatchalian.

“Through the years, it (SWADCAP) has fallen into disarray. But under the visionary leadership of Secretary Rex Gatchalian, binigyan ito ng pansin para puntahan ng social workers, something that they can be proud of, and where learning can take place,” Director Batocabe explained.

Aside from the significant improvements with the physical look of the Academy, the SWIDB director said the agency has been working double over the past few months to improve its certificate courses, training framework, and modules with the help of local and international partners.

Among these are the Australia Awards and Alumni Engagement Program Philippines (AAAEP-P); ASEAMETRICS HR Solutions Inc.; Asean Social Work Consortium-Philippines; and the International Training Center (ITCILO).

“We really partnered up with these organizations so we can ensure that our training and courses are at par with both local and international standards,” Director Batocabe said.

The SWIDB director told the Media Forum that the agency is in talks with the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) to affirm that the courses being offered by the DSWD Academy will be counted as part of the required continuing learning credits of the participants.

“We will give them a certification and we’re working with the PRC na ito po ay maging Career Professional Development compliant para may bigat ang certificate na hawak, and that can form part in their curriculum vitae,” Director Batocabe told reporters.

In the long run, the DSWD Academy also seeks to open its doors to other industries that are engaged in life and family building initiatives and local disaster response.

“Soon, we will also be catering to community development workers, mga marriage counselors,  as well as some court employees, and of course meron na po tayong psychological responders during disasters,”  Director Batocabe pointed out.

Some of the lined up short courses and training activities that will be offered by the DSWD starting in March are houseparents’ capacity building; pre-marriage counseling; change management; psychological first aid during disasters; capacity building on children’s rights; and training on anticipatory actions. (LSJ)