Photo: C. Mathisse |
SOS Children's Villages is developing a global framework for the village director profession. The starting point is a clearly defined professional profile including a description of the tasks, the required competencies and the responsibilities.
A group of co-workers from different SOS Children's Village professions, all continents and different SOS facilities was involved in this development process within which particular value was attached to the voices of the youths, SOS mothers and village directors. Standards on recruitment, the introductory phase, further development and a possible end of employment provide the national associations with the necessary clarity and concrete support to allow them to put the profile requirements into practice and use them as a basis for developing their own locally adapted concepts.
The first experiences gained from the introduction of the global framework concept are:
- Clear role models keep up motivation and provide orientation.
- Clear career steps support commitment.
- Specific vocational and further training is the basis for good role performance.
- Possibilities for support such as mentoring and coaching are experienced as great and necessary aids.
- The experience of long-standing co-workers is to be used in any case.