MIDLANDS STATES UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WORK

NAME: BRIDGET TIVAVONE

REG NUMBER: R223560C

MODE OF ENTRY: BLOCK RELEASE

MODULE: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL WORK WITH COMMUNIITIES

MODULE CODE: DSWK535

LEVEL: 1:1

LECTURER: R .MUKURAZHIZHA

QUESTION: EXAMINE HOW COMMUNITY SOCIAL WORK IS AN AGENT OF SOCIAL

CHANGE
Community social work signifies the practice of professional social work with communities as
target population or setting for interventions. Community social work can be a particularly
relevant way of organizing social services to provide community care services Coulshed and
Orme, (2006) the emphasis on the community rather than the individual is considered as one of
the values of community social work. Its approach is devolving power to local communities and
using workers with a detailed knowledge of the local area to enable local communities to take
part in the caring process (Glasby, 2005). Social change entails challenging the sources of
injustice and contributing to the empowerment of individuals and groups who have suffered
injustices. Due to the socio-economic challenges in many Third world countries there is need to
promote social change. The new global definition of social work can be used as a reference
point in the quest for social change.

The IFSW and IASSW in 2014 re-defined social work as a practice-based profession and an
academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the
empowerment and liberation of people. Principles of social justice, human rights, collective
responsibility and respect for diversities are central to social work. Underpinned by theories of
social work, social sciences, humanities and indigenous knowledge, social work engages
people and structures to address life challenges and enhance wellbeing. This new definition of
social work is reflecting the changing focus of social work by adding emerging issues such as
social change and indigenous knowledge. Community social is an agent of social change in the
community because it’s a practice of helping people solve their problem as to achieve change in
the community.

The new global definition of social work is putting emphasis on the need for social work to focus
on promoting social change and development. Social work education in Zimbabwe has a role in
promoting social change and development. According to Patel and Hochfeld (2012), social work
education could be a key driver of change. Social change and development can be realized
through developmental social work. Midgley (1995) alluded to the idea that social development
approach promotes a developmental perspective in social welfare. True community social work
approach is based on the needs of the community and on the empowerment of its members.
Community social work aims to develop a wide range of methods of intervention which are
responsive to community needs. It seeks to develop more local participation in determining the
nature and style of provision of social work services for the community. Communities will be
working in harmony with both formal and informal social networks in communities; focus on the
type and nature of relationships between individuals, families, organizations and groups and the
community; and recognition that the bulk of care, supervision, and control in the community is
undertaken by members of the community are the key components of community social work.

Community Work examines core ideas of social justice and equality that underpin community. It
informs understanding of a range of community concepts and practices that are used to identify
practical skills and characteristics that can help to promote equality by challenging injustice.
Working with people in different types of community can bring the kind of social change that
makes a real and lasting difference. Community social work approach is based on the needs of
the community and on the empowerment of its members. Community social work aims to
develop a wide range of methods of intervention which are responsive to community
needs. It seeks to develop more local participation in determining the nature and style of
provision of social work services for the community.

Community social work is an agent of social change as articulated in the history that social work
was developed as charitable service with its roots in philanthropy .Its concerns was to address
the problem of poverty and had collective developmental approaches to challenge which was
being face by people in community Reisch and Andrew (2002). Another beginning for social
work can be traced to Western Europe where social work developed in response to serious
problems created by the Industrial Revolution. These social problems included alienation,
marital conflict, homelessness, overcrowding, crime and poverty. Welfare assistance and public
assistance: Social workers employed by the Department of Social Welfare administer the Social
Welfare Assistance Act of 1988 which provides for fmancial and other forms of assistance to
destitute persons, that is those categorized as disabled, chronically ill or over 60 years of age.
Assistance provided in terms of this Act includes pauper burials, occupational training and food.

The Ministry of Community and Cooperative Development and Women's Affairs (now the
Ministry of Community and Cooperative Development) was established soon after
independence to spearhead the mobilization of communities (with special emphasis on women)
for development purposes. Rural communities had been neglected in the past consequently,
experienced problems associated with poverty such as high levels of illiteracy, high birth rates.
Malnutrition underemployment, high infant mortality rates. The tasks of social workers in this
ministry include mobilizing communities’ village and ward development committees. They also
coordinate the activities of government and non-government organizations involved in
development programs and linking communities to appropriate resource systems. Some of the
development programs which social workers promote include income generating projects, skills
training, building of community infrastructure and conscientisation of the general public and
women in particular on their rights and obligations, both legal and social. Through this
programmers shows that community social work is an agent of change in the community .These
include ensuring parity in extension services for men and women, making credit and marketing
structure and ensuring that widows and divorced women access equal rights land in
resettlement schemes Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development has
come up with of programs to assist the community through mobilizing resources to empower
women. They are also strengthening and establishing mechanisms for women to effectively
participate and benefit from various empowerment programs. These include the land reform
programme in which the ministry has advocated for women to get pieces of land. The ministry is
also striving to ensure that all women benefit from the agricultural inputs scheme mutating
Mutanana (2015).

Communities are also encouraged to become more receptive to projects, even though they may
have been initiated from outside the community, if they are aimed at the socioeconomic
transformation of that community. Communities are also encouraged to embark on income
generating projects, including uniform making, carpentry, poultry, gardening, fruit canning and
bakeries. As such projects are dependent on capital, social workers may spend considerable
time trying to secure funding for these projects, and assist groups to submit meaningful project
proposals to ensure the viability of the projects. Social workers must ensure that skills training is
provided for project participants, including specific production skills, basic accounts, budgeting,
project planning, management and marketing. While many NGOs are involved in developmental
social work, some provide remedial and curative services, for example rehabilitation of the
disabled, relief of distress, and institutional care for children in need of care. The Coordination
among the many NGOs involved in social service delivery is essential, and it is the task of
another NGO, VOICE (Voluntary Organisation in Community Enterprise), formally the National
Council of Social Service. VOICE's functions include the coordination of activities, giving
direction in respect of service delivery, research in areas of concern to member organizations,
and providing a channel of communication between government and member organizations
Chitereka, C. (2009)

According to Kaseke (2014), in Zimbabwe despite deepening poverty and unemployment, there
has been no noticeable shift in the roles or approaches to social work. Casework has continued
to dominate social work practice despite being questioned by prominent social work academics
such as Midgley, Dominelli, Mwansa and Osei-Hwedie and practitioners who are now
advocating for alternative approaches such as developmental social work Gray, (2010). In
Zimbabwe at practice level, for example, social work services such as the Basic Education
Assistance Module (BEAM) and public assistance are individualistic and short-term in nature.
Developmental social work can be defined as an integrated, holistic approach to social work that
recognizes and responds to the interconnections between the person and the environment; links
micro and macro practice; and utilises strength-based and non-discriminatory models,
approaches and interventions, and partnerships to promote social and economic inclusion and
well-being Patel and Hochfeld, (2012).

According to Gray (1997), the social work philosophy is consistent with that of social
development. Therefore, social work education can play a pivotal role in promoting the
development perspective in social welfare provision. Kaseke (2014) noted that the discourse on
developmental social work points to the centrality of institutions training social workers in
producing social workers with competencies to practice in a manner that gives expression to
developmental social work. He further added that developmental social work is oriented towards
promoting social change.

According to Gray (2002), social work has Western, liberal roots and traditions and while in
some countries it has, from time to time, taken a radical turn, however this has not happened in
Africa. Social work has relied heavily on the residual model of social welfare and practice with a
focus on micro social work interventions while in Africa, there is need to look for more lasting
solutions, such as economic viability, and focus on macro social work in the mould of
approaches such as the developmental approach which goes beyond emergency relief
Mupedziswa, (1993). According to Richie (2008) it is important for social workers to move
beyond an individual analysis of social problems in order for real social change to occur. Social
workers are in a unique position because they are able to advocate and challenge the systems
from within during their day-to-day practice Dalrymple and Boylan, (2013). In practice, social
change can be embedded within social care and social control functions of social work
(Humphrey, 2011). Smith (2009) alludes that the majority of cash transfer programs operating in
Zimbabwe are linked to and supported by other interventions aimed at promoting livelihood
development and early recovery processes. Although the programme is part of the Zimbabwe
social protection scheme of public assistance, it has potential of being used as a springboard to
promote the social change agenda provided adequate financial support is availed for the
allowances to be increased which can stimulate a meaningful take-off result in an improvement
in the income levels of the families and the families using the allowances can be in a position to
start income generating projects or strengthen their existing livelihood activities. Thus a mainly
social care service being used as a springboard for social development.

Community social work is an agent of change in the community it emphasize on the rights of
people. An increasing emphasis has been placed on the rights-based approaches to
development (United Nations Children’s’ Fund [UNICEF] and United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2007). They further stated that, this shift has
been as a result of growing recognition that needs-based delivery approaches have failed to
meaningfully reduce poverty. More importantly it is also felt that combining human rights,
development and activism can be more effective than any single approach. Therefore, social
workers in their various practice settings need to ask themselves the question about what
particular human rights are they upholding and promoting in whatever service they are providing
to their clients. Social workers in practice ought to embrace the rights-based approaches to
development as well as social welfare services provision in a bid to move away from the needs-
based approaches. Promoting human rights through social work practice can be a vehicle of
ensuring that social change takes place. This is because when previously oppressed people
begin to enjoy their rights after the intervention of social workers, change would have taken
place.

Community social work has also failed to gain acceptability in some communities because of the
way things are done which make difficult for community social worker will fail to be agents to
make change in the community. Some people feel they become charity cases and would not
want to be among the beneficiaries and yet in actual fact there are the ones who will be in need
hence, people who are supposed to benefit end up not benefiting. This has been necessitated
by the methods and procedures which are sometimes used to identify beneficiaries of these
initiatives, sometimes they are discriminatory to the extent that the beneficiaries withdraw.

Religious differences can also hinder acceptability of community work. Many indigenous
apostolic churches forbid girls to continue education after a certain age. For example,
community members and community social worker may try to advocate for end to child
marriages but there are some sects in the society which promote such practices hence the
initiative may be difficult to implement in such a community were majority of people belong to
the such a sect which made difficult made social worker to bring social change in the
community.
In conclusion community social work is a an agency of social in terms of is worth noting that
community work has become part of our everyday lives, we witness it in our communities and
has become an integral part of rebuilding and constructing our country . It has gained
acceptability over the past years because of its promotion of active involvement of members of
the community to come up with solutions to their problems which will bring solidarity in the
society.

REFENCES

Chitereka, C. (2009).Social Work Practice in a Developing Continent: The Case of Africa”

Advances in Social Work 10(2):144-156.

Coulshed, V. and Orme, J. (2006). Social Work Practice: An Introduction. 4th Edition. New York:
Palgrave Macmillan. (pp. 273-276

Gray, M. (2002). “Developmental Social Work: A ‘Strengths’ Praxis for Social Development”
Social Development Issues 24(1):4-14

International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW). (2014). “Global Definition of Social Work”,
http://ifsw.org/policies/definition-of-socialwork/ (Accessed 16/07/15)

Mupedziswa, R. (1995). “Social Welfare Services” in Hall, N. and Mupedziswa, R. (Eds.). Social
Policy and Administration in Zimbabwe Harare: School of Social Work, 81-105

Midgley .J.O. (1995).Social Development; The development perspective in Social welfare

Patel, L. and Hochfeld, T. (2012). “Developmental Social Work in South Africa: Translating
Policy into Practice” International Social Work 56(5):690-704

Smith, J., 2009. Cash Transfers as a Humanitarian and development Programming Tool in
Zimbabwe. Recommendations for Non-State Actors from the 1-2 December 2009 Conference in
Harare. NGO Joint Initiative for Urban Zimbabwe

United Nations Children’s’ Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2007). A Human RightsBased Approach to Education New
York