Role of National Institute of Social Development:
A Centre of excellence
V. Jegarasasingam
The National Institute of Social Development (NISD) is recognized by
the University Grants Commission (UGC) as a degree awarding Institute,
under Section 25 of the Universities Act No.16 of 1978. It functions
under the purview of the Ministry of Social Services and Social Welfare.
It is the premier institution in Social Work education in Sri Lanka
producing professional social workers to serve the social welfare system
and to promote social development. This Institute operates under the
provisions of the National Institute of Social Development Act No.41 of
1992. In 2005, the Government declared the National Institute of Social
Development as a degree awarding institute.
The Master's program in Social Work, commenced under the sponsorship
of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), implemented by
the Queen's University, Kingston, Canada in collaboration with the
Ministry of Social Services and Social Welfare. In September 2008, the
Queen's University of Kingston, Canada submitted a proposal to commence
a PhD program in Social Work. Following several deliberations on this
proposal, the Governing Council/NISD appointed a Planning Committee to
develop a five year plan (inclusive of a PhD program) to enhance the
quality of the human resources at the NISD.
![](z_pg-17-role.jpg)
Training program in progress at National Institute of Social
Development. Courtesy: Google |
The Vision and the Mission of NISD is to be a centre of excellence,
nationally and globally in Social Work Education, Training and Research
and to enhance human resources for social development through the
preparation of competent manpower in social work at all levels, generate
and disseminate new knowledge and technologies for social work practice,
provide specialized services for social welfare and social development.
The Governing Council is the apex body and the Academic Affairs Board
functions under the Council as an advisory body on all academic matters.
The functions of the Institute are carried out by four integrated
divisions namely; The Sri Lanka School of Social Work, The Training
Division, The Social Policy Research and Publications Division and The
Administration and Finance Division.
NISD is equipped with a large auditorium with all multimedia
facilities. The library holds over 25,000 publications and it is at
present the largest library in Sri Lanka on reading material related to
social work.
The library provides membership to members of the faculty and
students following the Diploma program in Social Work, the Bachelor's
degree students and Master's Degree students. Both lending and reference
facilities are available.
The Queen's University in Kingston, Canada has made available
e-access to the resources available on the World Wide Web. The computer
lounge has also licensed copies of quantitative and qualitative data
analysis software, SPSS and NVivo. The NISD official website was
launched in Colombo on March 20, 2009.
Mahapola Award Ceremony was held on June 11, 2009, 10 students of the
BSW program and 14 students from the Diploma program received Mahapola
Scholarship Award Certificate.
Training Division of NISD conducts programs on Short Training Program
for Government Officers, Capacity Building Training Program (in
collaboration with National Secretariat for Non-Governmental
Organization) and Diploma in Child Protection Program.
We have held a series of islandwide programs this year upto end of
September and a similar number of programs are earmarked to be conducted
in the remaining months of the year. The training programs cover a wide
range of topics such as Counselling, Social Welfare, Institutional
Care, Community Based Potential Development, Project Writing,
Conflict Management, Leadership and Communication Skills Development.
These programs are conducted both in Sinhala and English.
The Social Policy Research and Publications Division has conducted
several research projects successfully and at present it is engaged in a
research project on Family Policy for Sri Lanka.
Much has been done by the National Institute of Social Development
and the Institute is potentially strong to perform the services
entrusted to it which will enhance the opportunities for the citizens of
the country to be sustainable partners in the development of the
country.
The writer is Social Services and Social Welfare Ministry Secretary
and Chairperson, Council of the National Institute of Social
Development. |