Fauziah Mocsin

MSW604

Paper Assessment 1 Developmental and Environmental Influences

I am a Bio-Psycho-Social-Cultural-Spiritual Being. Sitting in this four corner of my office makes me think

about the life I have. Thinking about the things happened to my life makes me smile and say, that’s what

life is… imperfection. Let me start describing myself in my biological description. I am a person some to

have a female sexuality. With a fair complexion and a height of five feet and three inches. Not to mention

my average weight for the past two years is sixty-five (65 kilos). I came from a separated family and my

mother took all the responsibility to raise us up. Furthermore, I am a mother of five children -four of them

have already started schooling. I work as a municipal social worker on one of the municipalities of

Maguindanao Province. I also have many friends who are always there for me, ready to listen to the angst

of my life. Psychologically, being a working mother, it is really hard to balance my time between my

children and my work. My stress added up when my husband remarry another woman -though it is

allowed in our culture.it really saddened me to the time that I could not even understand why did my

husband do that to me and to our children. My heart was sorely laden. Life must go on, they said. Albeit

all problems and challenges in life, I am still thankful that God has given me this wonderful life. These

challenges make me stronger and strengthen my faith.

Based on Erickson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development I am now in the stage of intimacy vs. isolation.

Accordingly, people in early adulthood (20s through early 40s) are concerned with intimacy vs. isolation.

After we have developed a sense of self in adolescence, we are ready to share our life with others.

However, if other stages have not been successfully resolved, young adults may have trouble developing

and maintaining successful relationships with others. Erikson said that we must have a strong sense of self
before we can develop successful intimate relationships. Adults who do not develop a positive self-

concept in adolescence may experience feelings of loneliness and emotional isolation. This mean that I

have passed through the stages of trust v. mistrust, autonomy v. shame, initiative v. guilt, industry v.

inferiority, and identify v. role confusion.

I am about to enter Generativity vs. Stagnation stage. Accordingly, when people reach their 40s, they

enter the time known as middle adulthood, which extends to the mid-60s. The social task of middle

adulthood is generativity vs. stagnation. Generativity involves finding your life’s work and contributing to

the development of others through activities such as volunteering, mentoring, and raising children. During

this stage, middle-aged adults begin contributing to the next generation, often through childbirth and

caring for others; they also engage in meaningful and productive work which contributes positively to

society. Those who do not master this task may experience stagnation and feel as though they are not

leaving a mark on the world in a meaningful way; they may have little connection with others and little

interest in productivity and self-improvement.

Being a Social Worker, one of the usual partners we have in conducting our social work is the non-

government organization commonly known as NGO. Among them is the United Nations High

Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), an international non-government organization whose primary

objective os to uphold the rights of the refugees, stateless persons as well as the Internally Displaced

Person (IDP).

Among the three social welfare goal, I think UNHCR pursued the humanitarian and social justice goal

because UNHCR is rooted in the democratic ideal of social justice, and is based on the belief that man has

the potential to realize himself, except that physical, social, economic, psychological and other factors
sometimes hinder or prevent him from realizing his potentials. Based on this goal, it submits that it is right

and just for man to help man, hence, social services. The work of UNHCR involves the identification of the

most afflicted, the most dependent, the most neglected, and those least able to help themselves, and

making them the priority target for the investment of scarce resources.

Being a social worker, I do have some limitation as to performing my job. There are:

Time – There are instances in which the preparation for some activity is constrained due to some

circumstances. Like for example, in the conduct of relief operation for the Internally Displaced Persons,

the distribution became so disorganized. There are some IDPs that were not listed.

Skill – in a humanitarian organization, community organizing skills is very important. However, not all

staffs are inclined in this skills which eventually result to unsuccessful implementation of project or

activity.

Ethics – There are instances were in some humanitarian workers failed to act within the limits of

humanitarian ethics. There are cases of some humanitarian workers who abused their authority and took

advantage of the vulnerability of their persons of concern.

Agency Function- Despite the most interesting objectives of an agency, there are still limitations on the

assistance they can extend to the Internally Displaced Persons. In the case of UNHCR, they cannot

distribute food assistance because they are not authorized to do so. They can merely monitor the

protection issues, make a documentation of those and do the referral to the concerned agency. It is up to

the agency who has mandate whether to acknowledge the report and give prompt action or not. However,
most of the time, it took a long time to receive an action from the concerned agency. It requires a long

effort -negotiation and follow-ups.

As I understand, the terms equality and diversity are often used interchangeably but while linked, they

each have a different focus that is important to understand. Equality focuses on creating a fairer society,

where all individuals can take part in and access the same opportunities. It is underpinned by a legal

framework which places statutory duties on individuals, communities and organizations to ensure that no

one is disadvantaged as a result of a number of protected characteristics. Diversity literally means

difference, and is concerned with the range and variety of individuals and groups. It is often linked, within

social policy, with differences in life chances and social inequalities arising from individual (or group)

characteristics.

The identification of difference has both positive and negative effects, and as a social worker returning to

practice it is important that you both refresh your understanding of some of the key themes and issues

and update your knowledge of the underpinning legal frameworks that shape contemporary social work

practice. The following table provides an overview of the differences between the two areas.

As a social worker, I believe that social workers need to be aware of power dynamics and be proactive in

addressing these through anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive approaches. Working with diversity and

becoming a culturally competent practitioner are core tools in the social worker’s toolkit. As a qualified

social worker I should be very familiar with the principles underpinning equality and diversity. However,

there have been some significant changes to both law and practice over the last decade.
Nowadays in our society, while equality and diversity in social work practice go beyond what is set out in

legislation, itis important to be aware of the legal provisions and protections that underpin work in this

complex area. The issue of power, and its use, is a key consideration in both equality and diversity.

Diversity issues may sometimes be more difficult to identify and respond to, but ensuring a fair and equal

society is underpinned by a legal framework that you will need to apply to your practice regardless of your

particular setting.

Social work aims to ‘alleviate poverty; liberate vulnerable and oppressed people with the ultimate aim to

promote social inclusion’ (International Federation of Social Workers, 2012). The means by which this is

achieved is via approaches such as anti-oppressive practice (AOP) and anti-discriminatory practice (ADP).

While linked, these two approaches differ in focus – ADP focuses on tackling or reducing the discrimination

faced by individuals from other individuals or organizations/institutions, whereas AOP seeks to tackle

discrimination by focusing on the wider problems of discrimination within society itself and how this is

perpetuated by social structures and systems (Dalrymple and Burke, 1995; Dominelli, 2002).

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