Lesson 03: Roles of SCFV Professionals

Hello student!

          Today we are going to talk about the Roles of SCFV Professionals. First, it is important to understand the structure of the SCFV team. In the upcoming modules, we will have lessons on the Reference Technician, Social Educator, and Psychologist in the SCFV, the latter being a special module. Thus, we have structured this lesson in a written and descriptive format for researching and understanding each position, and practical experience regarding the roles will be available in the aforementioned lessons.

          This team must consist of: 1. CRAS Reference Technician working in the SCFV, with higher education qualifications (in accordance with CNAS Resolution No. 17/2011); 2. Social Advisor or Social Educator (as described in CNAS Resolution No. 9/2014.7). These are higher education professional categories that, preferably, may meet the specific needs of social assistance services:

• Anthropologist;
• Home Economist;
• Pedagogue;
• Sociologist;
• Occupational Therapist; and
• Music Therapist.

These are higher education professional categories that, preferably, may compose the management of the SUAS:

• Social Worker
• Psychologist
• Lawyer
• Administrator
• Anthropologist
• Accountant
• Economist
• Home Economist
• Pedagogue
• Sociologist
• Occupational Therapist        

          Higher education professionals who are part of the reference teams and the management of the SUAS must have: An undergraduate degree diploma issued by a higher education institution duly accredited by the Ministry of Education – MEC and Professional registration with the respective Regional Council, where applicable.

          CNAS Resolution No. 09/2014: ratifies and recognizes high school and elementary education professional occupations and occupational areas within the SUAS, in line with the NOB-RH/SUAS, and establishes their duties. As professional occupations requiring a complete high school education that perform support roles in providing services, programs, projects, benefits, income transfers, and CadÚnico, directly related to the purposes of the SUAS, it recognizes:

• Social Educator;
• Social Advisor;
• Social Caregiver.

          Furthermore, for the fulfillment of these functions, it recognizes the Assistant Social Caregiver as a professional occupation requiring a complete elementary education. It is always important to prioritize the formation of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary teams, considering their specificities and needs. The composition of the reference teams considers:

• Number of referenced individuals/families;
• Local and service needs/specificities; and
• Acquisitions that must be guaranteed to users.

          The Professional Profile of the SUAS worker must be planned by managers according to SUAS regulations, technical guidelines, the characteristics of the territory and services, programs, projects, benefits, and income transfers to be offered, the required social work, and the acquisitions to be guaranteed to users. Regarding the employment regime of workers, it can be:

Statutory Civil Servants: These are professionals who have passed a public civil service examination, and their legal employment relationship is governed by specific laws, known as statutes.

Labor Public Servants – Celetistas: These are those governed by the Consolidation of Labor Laws rules; they can be DT – which has a contractual nature and is formalized through a fixed-term contract.

Commissioned Positions: These are positions of trust and commissioned positions, designated solely for management, leadership, and advisory duties, and "declared by law as freely appointed and dismissed."

CRAS TEAM

*These roles also exist in the CRAS: Driver, security, CadÚnico registrar, and cleaning staff;

CRAS TEAM OR COMMUNITY CENTERS REFERENCED TO THE CRAS

See below the job descriptions:

Social Caregiver

• Develop basic essential care activities for daily life and instrumental activities for users' autonomy and social participation, using different methods and methodologies, covering individual and collective dimensions;
• Develop activities for reception, comprehensive protection, and the promotion of users' autonomy and self-esteem;
• Act in welcoming users, fostering a hospitable environment;
• Identify users' needs and demands;
• Support users in planning and organizing their daily routine;
• Support and monitor home care, such as organizing and cleaning the environment and preparing food;
• Support and monitor users in hygiene, organization, nutrition, and leisure activities;
• Support and accompany users in external activities;
• Develop recreational and play-based activities;
• Enhance family and community coexistence;
• Establish and/or strengthen bonds among users, professionals, and family members;
• Support in orientation, information, referrals, and access to services, programs, projects, benefits, income transfers, and the labor market through coordination with labor and employment policies, among other public policies, contributing to the enjoyment of social rights;
• Contribute to improving the care provided to family members in situations of dependency; n. support the strengthening of mutual protection among family members;
• Contribute to the recognition of rights and the comprehensive development of the family unit;
• Support families that have, among their members, individuals requiring care, by promoting collective spaces for listening and sharing family experiences;
• Participate in team meetings for activity planning, process evaluation, workflows, and results.

Social Advisor or Social Educator

PROFILE: Role performed by a professional with at least a high school education, in accordance with CNAS Resolution No. 09/2014. The social advisor works continuously with the SCFV group(s) and is responsible for creating a participatory and democratic coexistence environment.

DUTIES:

• Develop socio-educational, coexistence, and socialization activities aimed at care, defense, and guarantee of rights and protection for individuals and families in situations of vulnerability and/or social and personal risk, contributing to strengthening the family's protective function;
• Develop instrumental activities and documentation to ensure rights, the (re)building of autonomy, self-esteem, coexistence, and social participation of users, using different forms and methodologies, covering individual and collective dimensions, taking into account the life cycle and intergenerational actions;
• Ensure the social participation of users in all stages of social work;
• Support and develop social outreach and active search activities;
• Act in welcoming users, providing a welcoming environment;
• Support in identifying and documenting users' needs and demands, ensuring information privacy;
• Support and participate in action planning;
• Organize, facilitate workshops, and develop individual and collective experiential activities at the facilities and/or in the community;
• Accompany, guide, and monitor users during the execution of activities;
• Support the organization of artistic, recreational, and cultural events at the facilities and/or in the community;
• Support mobilization efforts and intersectoral campaigns across community territories for the prevention and mitigation of social and/or personal risk situations, rights violations, and the dissemination of social assistance unit initiatives;
• Support the preparation and distribution of promotional materials for initiatives;
• Support other members of the reference team at all stages of the work process;
• Support the recording of activities carried out, providing the team with input for coordination with rights defense bodies and for completing the Individual and/or Family Follow-up Plan;
• Support in orientation, information, referrals, and access to services, programs, projects, benefits, income transfers, and the labor market through coordination with labor and employment policies, among other public policies, contributing to the enjoyment of social rights;
• Support the follow-up of referrals made;
• Support coordination with the social assistance service network and public policy initiatives;
• Participate in team meetings for activity planning, process assessment, workflows, and outcomes;
• Develop activities that help prevent the breakdown of family and community bonds, enabling individuals to overcome experienced social vulnerabilities;
• Support the identification and monitoring of families not complying with conditionalities;
• Inform, raise awareness among, and guide families and individuals regarding access to and participation in vocational training, productive inclusion programs and projects, and job placement services;
• Monitor user enrollment, attendance, and performance in courses through periodic records;
• Support the development of opportunity and demand mapping.

Administrative

• Perform administrative management support activities;
• Provide support in human resources, administration, purchasing, and logistics;
• Systematize, organize, and provide information on social assistance initiatives to managers, social assistance entities and/or organizations, staff, users, and the general public;
• Receive users and schedule appointments and interviews for social assistance service activities and user registration in CadÚnico;
• Organize, catalog, process, and maintain documents, ensuring compliance with all necessary administrative procedures, including CadÚnico forms, records, protocols, among others;
• Manage inventory and assets;
• Support the organization and processing of partnerships, contracts, agreements, or adjustments with social assistance entities and/or organizations.

Cleaning role

• Perform cleaning activities with the goal of keeping all environments clean and organized;
• Work in compliance with safety, hygiene, quality, environmental protection, and personal safety standards, utilizing effective communication skills while performing tasks.

Transportation roles

a. land:

• • • • transport reference teams and SUAS users;
      • drive and maneuver vehicles;
      • perform basic vehicle inspections and routine maintenance;
      • work in compliance with safety, hygiene, quality, environmental protection, and personal safety standards, utilizing effective communication skills while performing tasks.

b. river and maritime:

• transport reference teams and SUAS users;
• navigate, dock, and undock vessels;
• manage the crew;
• operate vessel equipment;
• monitor and assist with the loading and unloading of equipment and materials;
• manage passenger boarding and disembarking;
• log vessel data;
• inspect and perform basic vessel maintenance;
• use specialized equipment and devices, such as radios and similar communication tools, sound and light signaling, navigation software, and others;
• work in compliance with safety, hygiene, quality, environmental protection, and personal safety standards, utilizing effective communication skills while performing tasks.

CRAS Reference Technician working with SCFV

PROFILE: Higher education professional who joins the CRAS team as a focal point for SCFV groups. In addition to monitoring service delivery through participation in planning activities and advisory support for the social advisor, this professional ensures that SCFV services apply the socio-familial core principle that guides basic social assistance protection actions.

RESPONSIBILITIES: The responsibilities of the reference technician include:

• understanding social vulnerability and risk situations among families receiving income transfers (BPC, PBF, and others), as well as the potential of the CRAS coverage territory;
• welcoming users and providing information about the service;
• conducting individualized support sessions and home visits for families referred to CRAS;
• developing collective and community activities across the territory;
• referring users to the SCFV;
• participating in defining user entry criteria for the service;
• providing advisory support to facilities delivering SCFV within the territory;
• providing advisory support to SCFV social advisor(s);
• monitoring the development of existing groups at service delivery facilities by reviewing reports, taking part in planning meetings, evaluations, etc.;
• maintain records of the SCFV planning at the CRAS;
• evaluate, together with the families, the results and impacts of the SCFV.
• ensure that information regarding the provision of the SCFV is always up to date in the SISC and use it to support the organization and planning of the service.

CRAS Coordinator

Profile: Minimum of a higher education degree, civil servant, with experience in public management; solid knowledge of legislation related to the national social assistance policy and social rights; knowledge of social assistance services, programs, projects, and/or benefits; team coordination experience, with skills in communication, establishing relationships, and mediating conflicts; strong management skills, especially in handling information, planning, monitoring, and following up on social assistance services, as well as managing the local social assistance network.

Duties:

• Coordinate, monitor, and evaluate the implementation process of the CRAS and the execution of basic social protection programs, services, and
projects operated in this unit;
• Coordinate the execution and monitoring of services, the recording of information, and the evaluation of actions, programs, projects, services, and benefits;
• Participate in developing, monitoring, and evaluating workflows and procedures to ensure effective referral
and counter-referral processes;
• Coordinate the execution of actions to maintain dialogue and ensure the participation of professionals, as well
as the families enrolled in the services offered by the CRAS and by the service provider network in the territory;
• Define, with the participation of the professional team, the criteria for enrollment, monitoring, and discharge
of families from the services offered at the CRAS;
• Coordinate the definition, alongside the professional team and representatives of the territory's social assistance network, of the workflow for entry, follow-up, monitoring, evaluation, and discharge of families and individuals in
basic social protection services within the social assistance network referenced to the CRAS;
• Promote coordination between services, income transfers, and social assistance benefits within the CRAS coverage area;
• Define, together with the technical team, the theoretical and methodological resources and tools for social work with families and coexistence services;
• Contribute to the evaluation, to be carried out by the manager, of the effectiveness, efficiency, and impacts of programs, services, and projects on the users' quality of life;
• Carry out mapping, coordination, and enhancement actions for the social assistance network within the CRAS
coverage territory and manage this network locally;
• Carry out mapping and coordination actions for informal support networks existing in the territory (community leaders, neighborhood associations);
• Coordinate data entry into local information systems and monitor the regular and timely submission of
information about referenced social assistance services, forwarding it to the Municipal (or
DF) Department of Social Assistance;
• Participate in intersectoral coordination processes within the CRAS territory;
• Identify the training needs of the reference team and inform the Department of Social Assistance (of the
municipality or DF);
• Plan and coordinate the active outreach process in the CRAS coverage territory, in line with the guidelines of the Department of Social Assistance (of the municipality or DF);
• Participate in planning meetings held by the Department of Social Assistance (of the municipality or DF),
contributing strategic suggestions to improve the services to be provided;
• Participate in systematic meetings at the Municipal Department, with the presence of coordinators from other CRAS units (when applicable) and coordinator(s) from the CREAS (or, in their absence, a representative of special protection).

* Table from the TECHNICAL REPORT – Guidelines for management and staff in conducting SCFV actions in the context of COVID-19 | 002/2021 – CPSB/SSS/SAAS/SETASC-MT – Cuiabá – MT, May 18, 2021.

Text from:

BRASÍLIA, Technical Guidance Notebook on Expenditures for the Payment of SUAS Reference Team Professionals
/ Ministry of Social and Agrarian Development.

Technical Guidelines: Social Assistance Reference Center – CRAS / Ministry of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger. – 1st ed. – Brasília: Ministry of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger, 2009.