The Oyo State Government, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has commenced the training of Auxiliary Social Workers as part of efforts to digitise child protection case management and strengthen social welfare services across the state.

The two-day training, held at the Conference Room of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social Inclusion in Ibadan, brought together 50 Auxiliary Social Workers from Ibadan South-West Local Government Area.

The training focused on the Child Protection Information Management System and is expected to be extended to other local government areas to equip more community-based social workers with the skills required to protect children, particularly in the digital space.

The Commissioner for Women’s Affairs and Social Inclusion, Alhaja Faosat Joke Sanni, said the training was timely, stressing that effective child protection required not only adequate personnel but also accurate, timely and reliable information to support decision-making, case management, referrals, monitoring and planning.

Sanni said the state government was prioritising capacity building, community-based child protection mechanisms, alternative care, prevention of and response to violence against children, gender-based violence interventions and improved social service delivery.

She said the knowledge and skills acquired through the programme would help improve the quality of child protection services at the community and local government levels.

The commissioner urged the participants to take the training seriously and translate the knowledge acquired into improved service delivery in their respective areas of assignment.

Also speaking, UNICEF Child Protection Officer for Data, Planning and Monitoring, Mr Aminu Awal-Sani, said the programme was part of efforts to support Oyo State’s transition from paper-based to digital case management.

Awal-Sani explained that the state was transitioning to PRIMERO, an electronic protection-related information management platform designed to enable Auxiliary Social Workers to identify cases, provide services and make referrals directly from the field.

According to him, the digital platform would facilitate real-time monitoring of child protection cases and improve access to reliable data for decision-making and planning.

He said the Child Protection Information Management Centre at the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development in Abuja, through the National Case Management Dashboard, would also be able to monitor child protection cases across the 36 states of the federation.

In his presentation, the Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF Lagos Field Office, Mr Dennis Onoise, stressed the need to strengthen community-based child protection structures, noting that communities had traditionally played an important role in protecting and supporting children.

Onoise said the shortage of professional social workers in the country made it necessary to build the capacity of Auxiliary Social Workers, who, he explained, could serve as a link between vulnerable children, their families, communities and formal social service institutions.

He said properly trained Auxiliary Social Workers would be better equipped to identify cases of child abuse, document them and facilitate appropriate referrals for support and intervention.

According to him, the digital information management system would allow workers to document incidents such as sexual abuse, physical abuse and harmful practices, including female genital mutilation, using mobile devices.

He emphasised the importance of reliable data in addressing child protection challenges, saying documented statistics would enable governments and development partners to better understand the scale and nature of child protection concerns and design appropriate interventions.

The initiative, he added, would strengthen the connection between community-based workers and formal child protection institutions while improving the documentation and tracking of cases.

The training had in attendance the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social Inclusion, Mrs Oluyinka Shotonwa-Roagess; Director of Child Welfare, Mr Gbémileke Ojerinde; and UNICEF Desk Officer in the ministry, Mrs Oluwawemimo Adediran, among others.