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Social workers speaking during the Social Work Indaba currently taking place at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre, Durban, have expressed the need to regenerate the social work practice to make it relevant to current issues facing South African society.

According to the resolutions coming out of the Social Work Practice Commission – one of the six Commissions that took place on 25 March – the curricula offered at universities needs to be revised to better prepare social workers for the reality of community work.

Social workers spoke out on a number of new challenges they are faced with that they allege they are not trained to handle. These include, for example, providing services to the ever-increased number of poor immigrants entering the country, as well as catering to the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people – one of the most misunderstood sector of society.

A concern has been raised that current curricula is Eurocentric and there is a need to develop curricula that reflects the culture of African people while simultaneously including the most current science about mental health and social policy.

The Department of Social Development has partnered with the Howard University on social work capacity building as well as curricula development.

Psychosocial support for social workers also came out strongly as something that needs to improve, especially because practitioners are often confronted with traumatic situations on the field. The expressed view was that effective social work practice cannot take place unless social workers were healed from their own scars and receive emotional and trauma counselling.

The commission that dealt with working conditions and retention strategies, discussed a number of issues ranging from improved remuneration, availability of resources, access to developmental programmes and enabling tools, especially for disabled social workers. This, according to the social workers, would go a long way in improving the quality of services they render.

Minister of Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini, who participated in the working conditions and retention strategies commission urged social workers to organise themselves so they can have a stronger and unified voice speaking out on their interests.

The Indaba aims to develop proposals and interventions aimed at addressing factors that impact on social work practice, critically look at the social work approaches and techniques which are applied within the practice as well as to develop strategies that will promote integration and a multi-disciplinary approach among relevant role players in the delivery of social services. It ends 26 March.

Issued by Department of Social Development