JUBA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan on Friday launched an online database and application which will enable social workers to provide timely life-saving support to vulnerable children affected by conflict.
Mary Kojo, director general in the Ministry of Gender and Social Welfare, said the app together with the case management handbook launched by Save the Children and UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), will ease protection of vulnerable children and also reunification efforts with their families.
"Case workers before the launch of this database and handbook used to find it difficult to do their work with children but with digital support their work will be eased," said Kojo in Juba.
She disclosed that a significant number of children are still yet to be reunited with their families in the country after five years of conflict separated them.
Rama Hansraj, Save the Children country director, said the app will help case workers to reach out to children at the worst end of conflict or disaster and those who have been abused, exploited or lost their parents.
She added that most case workers in South Sudan often walk for hours under scorching sun, wade through mud, travel for days on bumpy dirt roads to knock on doors and make sure children are safe.
"They are in every corner of South Sudan yet until now have found it difficult to communicate with other case workers on the other side of the country. With this new app, we are bringing their work into the 21st century," said Hansraj.
The app and online system with the first ever case management handbook for case workers gives step by step guidance for field workers on how to manage vulnerable cases, including how to speak with children to reduce trauma, assess child and family data and also will ensure children at high-risk get specialized support they need to survive and recover.
