Reclaiming international social work in the context of the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development: Some critical reflections

Abstract

The protection of human rights and promotion of social justice is a shared spirit manifested within all social work. Islands of local concern are directly affected by global stresses and inequalities and the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development has created a space for repositioning social work globally in addressing these challenges. This article opens up definitions and examples of international social work, arguing the need for integrating an international outlook within social work education and policy in order that the emerging workforce, wherever they may be, are equipped with the knowledge, skills and values for international action.

Professionalism and professional education in the context of sustainable development

“…Such side of the professional training, especially in the social work, is emphasised by Robert Weinbach [10]. The professionalism understood as the attitude to employee social upward mobility is highlighted in works of Saks [11], Palattiyil, Pawar [12], et al To some extent such approaches are solidarized by J. Henslin, who insists on alignment of initial student possibilities that is appropriate to strategical approaches to solution of social issues in several foreign countries [13].…”

Transforming Social Work: Contextualised Social Work Education in South Africa

“…These reasons intersect with a desire to have South African education validated as world class. To meet these expectations, South African educators must ensure that content and pedagogy have relevance to their students and prospective service users through centring the indigenous and attending to issues of decoloniality, while adhering to global standards and including global content (Palattiyil, Sidhva, Pawar, Shajahan, Cox & Anand, 2018). In creating a social work professional identity, it has been difficult to identify what is unique to social work as a discipline and thus what is universal to social work (Mwansa, 2011), and questions of contextualised social work simply serve to heighten such anxietiesparticularly in a neoliberal world that privileges Northern social work interpretations.…”

Health needs and challenges of women and children in Uganda’s refugee settlements: Conceptualising a role for social work

“…Notwithstanding, the majority of social workers are employed in the NGO sector/civil society organisations for instance as social workerscasework and group work, counsellors, programme officers, community mobilisers and educators, monitoring and evaluation specialists. However, it is important to note that while social work in Uganda is well established with clearly defined functions, professional social workers assume an inadequate statutory welfare role related to legal powers for assessment and intervention in situations of need as understood in the Western model of social welfare (Palattiyil et al, 2018). This makes social work practice distorted with both non-social work professionals or unprofessional people practising social work (Twikirize, 2014).…”

“…However, it is important to note that while social work in Uganda is well established with clearly defined functions, professional social workers assume an inadequate statutory welfare role related to legal powers for assessment and intervention in situations of need as understood in the Western model of social welfare (Palattiyil et al, 2018). This makes social work practice distorted, with both non-social work professionals and unprofessional people practising social work (Spitzer et al, 2014).…”