CONSULTORIA/ASSESSORIA NA POLÍTICA NACIONAL DE ASSISTÊNCIA SOCIAL (PNAS): trajetórias profissionais de assistentes sociais mineiros/as

Abstract

The National Social Assistance Policy (PNAS) expanded the possibilities of occupational spaces exercised by Social Workers, driven to new challenges in terms of formulation, management and evaluation. Demands have grown, ranging from research, planning, qualifications, training, project management as well as advisory services and consultancies, facing new challenges such as the need for professional qualification and also facing the precariousness of work within the Unified System of Social Assistance (SUAS). This research aimed to understand the process of professional development of Social Workers from Minas Gerais in the field of consultancy and assistance in PNAS. This is a research with a qualitative approach, guided by the (auto)biographical method, proposed by the Brazilian Association for (Auto)biographical Research (BIOGRAPH). Two individual, in-depth interviews were carried out with each of the participants. All interviews were recorded, transcribed and their contents treated using biograms and the ATLAS.ti software. The analysis of the results shows a sociodemographic profile of consultants from different age groups. The option for Social Work, which for one group was not the first choice, but also shows, for another group, the influence of the perception of social inequality. Regarding the exercise of consultancy/assistance in

PNAS, the existing challenges refer to the lack of theoretical-methodological, technical- operative and ethical-political contributions, as well as the absence of regulation of the

performance of consultants/advisors in PNAS. The search for professional consultants/advisors with a diversified domain in the most diverse areas of management, public policy management, planning, as well as administration, transcend the knowledge offered in the graduation in Social Work, therefore, there is a need to call for this discussion the teaching institutions in Social Work, responsible for professional training, from the perspective of expanding discussions on consulting/assistance, since the Social Worker has been increasingly invited to participate in the management of public policies, in particular the PNAS. Bringing socio-assistance security as pseudonyms for the research subjects allowed the expression of singularities and similarities of this professional group, whose trajectories are unique and marked by the commitment to the National Social Assistance Policy (PNAS), in a country where the field of social security is threatened.