JONATHAN MAPANDA

Date of birth                             :  10 November 1990

Place of birth                            :   Seke

Passport number                     :  GN026080 

Sex                                              :   Male

Marital status                            :  Married

Nationality                                  :  Zimbabwean

Religion                                       :  Christianity

Denomination                             :  Roman Catholic

Languages                                   :   English and Shona

St Alberts Mission Hospital 
Private Bag 9047 
Centenary Zimbabwe

Jonathan Mapanda is a Social worker with 8 years of post-qualification experience. He has robust experience on working with children at individual (casework), macro and mezzo levels while working with the Department of Social Services of Centenary District as well as St Alberts Community Home Based Care as a Child Protection Social Worker. He has been working under the Mavambo Children Vana (MCV) project funded by USAID and Putting Children First (PCF) project funded by Caritas Australia, Australian Aid and the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD). Jonathan has also He is also worked on Water Sanitation and Hygiene project funded by the Jersey Overseas Aid Commission (JOAC). He is renowned for his outstanding experience in research work and extensive experience in social work with children, people with maladaptive behaviors and persons with disabilities including provision of casework, group work and community based child protection services. Apart from being equipped with good inter-personal skills that makes it easy to communicate with people from different levels he also has robust knowledge and experience in the implementation of the National Case Management System. He has been involved largely in advocacy initiatives which include development of various submissions to respective duty bearers which include position papers, petitions and policy briefs among others. He has also been featuring on national radio child protection sessions, television talk shows, and grass root policy discussions as well as dialogue sessions with junior parliamentarians and diverse groups in the community to establish community movements for advocacy cause. His dream is to promote and maintain a sustainable child safeguarding environment that protects children from all forms of abuse as they strive to realize their developmental milestones to their fullest potential whilst employing a developmental approach.

CHILD PROTECTION SOCIAL WORKER

3 July 2015 to Current

• Worked directly with families, acknowledging areas of improvement to ensure the best possible outcome for children.
• Managed Child Sexual Abuse caseloads, implementing appropriate assessment, intervention and investigation for possible bottlenecks.
• Developed effective relationships with children, their families and child protection stakeholders to ensure exceptional levels of care, leading to optimum outcomes.
• Directed and implemented care plans for practical and effective results aimed at best interest of the child.
• Carried out high quality assessments using the national case management system and proactive and integrated interventions to encourage positive change.
• Created specialized care plans by assessing needs through in-depth assessments and therapy sessions.
• Provided children and carers with access to support services for continued patient satisfaction and support.
• Improved positive wellbeing and child support by creating and implementing specialised care plans.
• Conducted assessment interviews with children, thoroughly examining situations and evaluating care needed.
• Safely stored children, carer and family records in lockable cupboards and password secured computers, in compliance with confidentiality laws and St Alberts Mission Hospital Community and Home Based Care regulations.
• Documented discovered behavior patterns and relationship dynamics to inform accurate and effective treatment planning.
• Provided family therapy to low-income families, using behavioral therapy techniques, solution-focused strategies and multi-systems approach.
• Conducted over 18 counselling sessions per week, including individual children, couples and family sessions.
• Conducted paralegal training in collaboration with lawyers to capacitate communities with legal aid.
• Established a community leaders forum that challenge harmful cultural and religious practices that exposed children to abuse
• Trained and mentored activists against Gender based Violence
• Trained and mentored Child Led committees in and out of schools 
• Trained and mentored adult led Child Protection Committees
• Participated actively in the district child protection committees
• Conducted research on child protection issues and project evaluations collaboratively with the Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Learning Officers.
• Facilitated one day to five days psychosocial support camps with children
• Organized commemorations such as the International day for persons with disabilities, 16 days of activism against GBV and the day of the African Child
• Employed Safe Accessible Dignified and Inclusive (SADI) framework in all programming 
• Trained community volunteers on parenting and established parenting clubs in communities
• Prepared scripts for radio sessions on Child protection and participated in these radio sessions as well
• Organized and participated in Child protection television talk shows
• Participated in grass root policy discussions as well as engagement meetings with duty bearers
• Employed the community score card methodology to improve access, availability and quality of child protection services
• Conducted dialogue sessions with junior parliamentarians and communities and supported them to present position papers and petitions as a result.
• Participated in the development of policy briefs
• Contributed to the establishment of the district safe home from fundraising for construction, furnishing it with child friendly material and registration with the department of Social Welfare
• Facilitated training of foster parents to help children coming from the safe home for smooth transition from the safe home to the community.
• Led the advocacy for the establishment of a police base in a hard to reach area were crime has been rampant especially child abuse and Gender Based Violence.

BINDURA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science Honors Degree in Social Work (2015)

Dissertation Topic: A study on child sexual abuse mitigation strategies in Zimbabwean rural communities: A case of Muringazuva ward 8, Muzarabani district.

St Alberts High School (2009)

3 A levels  (Shona, Divinity, History)