AAU Community Service and School of social work offered three days training on counseling and Para-counseling for staff members and prisoners of the Kality federal penitentiary from March 21-23, 2018.

The training was given to two hundred individuals, out of which 100 were staff members and the rest were prisoners.

The first training was given by Ashenafi Hagos (Ph.D.) and Emebet Mulugeta (Ph.D.) on social work and case management while the second was delivered by the Masters Practitioner students from school of social work.

The prison staff consisted of professionals with BA Degree and Para-counselors with a high school certificate. The later used to be prison guards currently serving as counselors.

On April 2, 2018 one hundred six (106) trainees were awarded certificates at a ceremony held at the Kality federal penitentiary.

During the event, the director of the campus G/Yesus (Ph.D.) made an opening speech stating that trainees have attained the tools for behavioral change through this training and asked them to share their knowledge with the community when they leave the penitentiary.

He also appreciated the collaboration of higher academic institutions to engage in community service in the prison singling out Addis Ababa University for the vital role it has been playing these days.

Yanea Saed Mekia (Ph.D.), director of the school of Social Work, for her part underscored the importance of students working with prisoners and emphasized the need to sustain the field work in order to serve the community and attain knowledge for themselves.

In his closing remark, G/Yesus (Ph.D.) pointed out the challenges of the penitentiary and requested governmental and community support in finding teaching-learning aids.