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HSSW102
NyahFussell
[Name of the Institution]
HSSW102
Introduction
Social work practice refers to the professional application of techniques and values for helping people and communities through counseling and tangible services. There are diverse social welfare programs that work for the betterment of communities. In this paper, two important core social work practices i-e community development and social activism are discussed and evaluated on the basis of their distinctive performance and response to social problems.
Discussion
Social work values and standards are the foundation for practice fields in order to address societal problems. Social workers identify and assess the problem before any intervention and scrutinize the possible implications for the community. There are several areas of intervention such as counseling, advocacy, case management, and group work. However, the most effective practices are community development and social activism. Both practices cover the majority of the population under a single involvement.
Community development practices are focused towards active participation from community members and providing them full representations in the policies that affect their lives referred to as a people-centered approach. firstly, the community members are educated about any social, environment or psychological issues and its impact on the community, which are then associated with the course of action. This practice encourages the diverse interests of the community and asks for their support as well. The practice also works to enhance the leadership roles of community members and utilize all the available resources and strategies for the long term and sustainable welfare of the community. Initially, these programs were focused on economic welfare and finances were utilized in business activities. The concept has lately evolved and considered health and social issues as an important concern for community development such as child care, hygiene concerns, mental health, protection for disabled people and migrants and refugees CITATION Pay15 \l 1033 (Payne, 2015).
Community development was highly focused on social issues and proposed that community relations and connections are significant for the overall growth of the community. The concept of self-help has arisen as a result of community development practices where people become self-sufficient to cope up with unpredictable issues. Communities started helping each other in difficult times and even in some areas collected and saved money to be utilized in difficult situations. the self-help groups of India is a great example where locals are trained in first aid medical facilities to cope with any alarming situations. They collect funds from every house and utilize it by the community collectively to develop sewerage systems.
Social activism is a deliberate action to fight for bringing about social change. If the activist feels that there is a cause and it should be changed, he sets an intentional objective of pursuing his goals. Social activism is more concentrated towards social issues as compared to a health issue. They are more concerned about the negativity persisting in the society, for example, women harassment, gender rights, fighting for transgender, domestic violence, safeguarding the minorities. Social activism is interconnected with political activism where society gathers to challenge a government, institutions, right to vote and public policies. Media has a significant role in social activism, as it is the most convenient platform to spread awareness among the masses. Most of the cases are solved due to social media pressures on the authorities in recent times.
Role of Social workers
In community development, social workers mostly perform on the grounds and worked connectedly with the community. They identify the potential issue, aware the community about the consequences of that issue, and then plan by keeping the views of the community in first place. It is described as a people-centric approach, which is planned and executed according to the desires of community members. It is also called as community mobilization, where the issues require a transformation and social workers perform their tasks effectively by awareness of community members.
Social activism required a sudden and quick response to the social issue. It is mostly a result of unintentional incidence which has negative effects on the masses. Social activism is influenced by emotional attachment to the cause or any political affiliation and threat with that particular issue which needs to be made reliable and acceptable for the people. correct. The social workers perform reliability consenses before intervening in sensitive issues. They look into the pros and cons, and the long term impact of changes brought by social workers. However, at times, activism is done through social media to reach out to maximum people and get the attention of public representatives CITATION McW01 \l 1033 (McWilliams & Siegel, 2001). Although, it's the easiest way but not reliable because many opponents get the advantage of the opportunity and exploit the activism activities. Social activist makes sure that their voices reach and heard by the targeted portion of the population. They also involve government sensitive causes and intervene through their supporting awareness campaigns. It educates people to fight for their rights and get full advantage of available resources without any discrimination
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Social Work Practices
Social work practices are based on the concept of responsibility, care, empathy, and compassion towards social issues. Without social workers, people go to hospitals for minor issues. However, social workers have made all the facilities available at doorsteps. In court cases, people do not have to struggle hard to make their voice heard and file cases against the culprits. Social workers help people in distress and share their problems and involve the right organization. The core success of social workers is their determination to work for the rights of communities, they work hard to bring justice in peoples lives. They make sure that the refugees are at better conditions in the new area, they provide them with assistance to support their families. All the families are properly registered in terms of getting benefits.
Social work practices are not easy, especially performing in underdeveloped areas. Certain target groups are hard to deal such as mentally disturbed individuals. They require one to one sessions with them and also struggling to bring them into connections with their family members. Similarly, child protection, vaccination and ensuring that they grow up in a healthy and peaceful environment is not easy. Social workers decide different strategies for each case. Sone nay is solved with peer coordination, while some with family support CITATION All03 \l 1033 (Allan, Pease, & Briskman, 2003).
Every individual is unique for the social worker and one solution does not fit for everyone. Therefore they make sure that their particular intervention is beneficial for the target group. For social activism, social workers involve the police department and law enforcement agencies to smoothly appeal for their concerns and bring them to international platforms. The cases of acid attacks, harassment, child abuse are the issues that are hard to eliminate from societies by just condemning and awareness. But it also requires the lawmaking representatives to make strict laws against such acts of cruelty and punish their culprits.
Conclusions
Social work is essential practiced carried out in every country for different issues. Some countries are experiencing the issue of underdevelopment while others are facing the consequences of modernization. Social worker plays an important role in all aspects; their practices have gain peoples trust with time. Communities are strongly dependent on them for solving their issues and bringing them to international concerns. Social workers play an important role in the growth and development of societies and intervene in every sensitive issue and solve them efficiently. Social work is not only the responsibility of professionals but each citizen has a responsibility to serve for the betterment of people.
References
BIBLIOGRAPHY Allan, J., Pease, B., & Briskman, L. (2003). Critical social work: An introduction to theories and practices. dro.deakin.edu.au.
McWilliams, A., & Siegel, D. (2001). Corporate social responsibility: A theory of the firm perspective. Academy of management review,
Payne, M. (2015). Modern social work theory. Oxford University Press.
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