Social Work in Moldova in the 21st Century: Fulbright Specialists’ Reflections

Abstract

The Republic of Moldova ranks low in common living standards and human development indicators in comparison with other European and transitional economies. The social work profession within Moldova is also in transition. Two Fulbright specialists discuss their experiences as social work professors in Moldova. First, the need for social work education and professional social workers is detailed. Second, training of Moldovan university faculty and government officials is considered. Third, how students were educated through classes in Moldova and through distance-learning co-taught courses from the USA is detailed. Finally, the specialists reflect on the continuing need for professionalism in such transitional economies.

Social work in Azerbaijan: Achievements and challenges of the profession

“…In Moldova, social workers are seen as helpers who bring food to the poor (Rodgers and Wermeling, 2018). Although in Kazakhstan social work is growing due to close cooperation of local and international agencies, the people's awareness of it is still very low (Grebneva, 2006).…”

“…The third pillar of social work development related to the establishment of social work education: Armenia started its first social work education program in the early 1990s at Yerevan State University (Khachatryan, 2011), Estonia in 1991 at Tallinn University (Kiik and Sirotkina, 2005), Russia in 1991 (Iarskaia-Smirnova, 2004), Ukraine in 1994 (Boiko and Kabachenko, 2016), Lithuania in 1995 at Vytautas Magnus University (Constable et al, 1999; Ritchie, 2003), Moldova in 1997 at the Moldova State University (Rodgers and Wermeling, 2018), Azerbaijan in 2005 at Baku State University (Huseynli, 2017), Uzbekistan in 2005 at the Tashkent State Institute of Culture (Ganieva and Kim, 2010), Georgia in 2006 at Tbilisi State University (Saitadze and Dvalishvili, 2021), Kyrgyzstan in 2006 (Davis and Blake, 2008), and Kazakhstan in 1991 (Grebneva, 2006).…”