The Deputy Minister of Social Welfare Ms Marilena Evangelou held a press conference today on: "Social Worker of the Neighbourhood" for the presentation of the programme "Ensuring Social Workers in Communities or Clusters of Communities and Local Authorities", co-funded by the European Union.
The programme was presented by the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare and the Deputy Director of Social Welfare Services, Ms Maria Kyratzi. The President of the Union of Municipalities and Mayor of Larnaca, Mr. Andreas Vyras, as well as the President of the Solea Complex and Mayor of Evrychos, Mr. Xenakis Xenophontos, also addressed the audience.
"The Neighbourhood Social Worker" has only recently started to be implemented and is currently being implemented on a pilot basis for a period of six months in the Municipalities of Larnaca, Limassol, Paphos and Paralimni, in the communities of the mountainous areas of Paleochori, Evrychou/Solea and Pera Pedi/Fini, as well as in the Municipality of Polos Chrysochous. In her greeting, the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare expressed her conviction that through this action the citizen is served faster, more effectively and more qualitatively.
In her greeting, the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare expressed her conviction that through this action the citizen is served faster, more effectively and more qualitatively. The aim, she added, is to make the welfare state more people-centred, with empathy, reducing the distance from the citizen, which is included in President Christodoulides' governance programme. "It is commonly accepted, moreover, that local authorities, as the closest authorities to the citizen, can explore more directly and highlight more effectively the needs and sensitivities of their community."
Each municipality or community participating in this programme, the Deputy Minister added, has been staffed with professional and experienced social workers and supervisors. Addressing them, she thanked them for the great and difficult work they do. "The frontline," she said, "is the mirror not only of our Ministry of State, but also of our country. It is our human face," she added.
Present at the press conference were, among others, mayors, community leaders, a representative of the President of the Union of Communities, partners, supervisors, social workers and officials of the State Ministry of Social Welfare.
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