Social workers have traditionally played a crucial remedial role in addressing social inequalities. However, a more developmental social welfare approach emerged for South Africa’s social workers when the country became a democracy and focused on correcting the social injustices of colonialism and apartheid. The shift repositioned social work to its historical advocacy role for social change and justice. This purpose of contributing to developing a more just and fair society for all has shaped social work globally and prepared it for its next big leap: a rethinking of its role in a globalised, rapidly changing world.

It’s tempting to think of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) only as a health issue. The pandemic certainly has all the hallmarks: the daily metrics of infection, hospitalisation, and death, and in the fight against it, the frontline workers heralded by the media have been in healthcare. But to think of the coronavirus pandemic as solely a health issue is to miss its broader, longer-lasting impacts, where social workers responding at the frontline have been largely ignored.

The coronavirus pandemic in many ways exacerbated existing inequity issues. It exposed and exacerbated existing poverty and inequalities in and across countries. This was most clearly evident when more developed countries used their economic power to secure vaccines first, hoping that closing their borders would keep them safe while the virus somehow disappeared. The inequities were also in the supposedly logical guidance to ‘work from home’ – a luxury which not all in developing countries have access to or could afford. As those economies shut down, millions of people lost their jobs or income, triggering food insecurity, which increased their vulnerability but, on the positive side, showed the resilience of many people in overcoming adversities. However, increased vulnerability negatively impacted households and livelihoods, evident in an increase in social ills such as gender-based violence. The informal sector was the most vulnerable due to a lack of access to social protection systems. In this broader field of impact, the frontline is not the hospitals and clinics, it’s within the communities most severely affected, and social workers are leading the charge.

The fundamentals of social work lie in humanity’s social and evolutionary instinct to protect and nurture the most vulnerable within a community for the benefit of the community at large. In ancient times, informal communal policies addressed the challenges that impacted the most vulnerable. As communities developed, those policies became more formalised. It wasn’t until the first industrial revolution in Europe and North America, which cemented socioeconomic disparities, that more organised social services emerged and the social work profession took form. Primarily through religious and charity organisations, social workers initially implemented the policies of governments directed at addressing the needs of those marginalised by the rapid, imbalanced development of the political–industrial complex.

“The fundamentals of social work lie in humanity’s social and evolutionary instinct to protect and nurture the most vulnerable within a community for the benefit of the community at large. “

Gradually, as social workers formalised their roles further and found themselves at the forefront of non-governmental organisations and other groups with lobbying influence, they could channel their ground-level experiences and insights. Instead of just implementing social work policy, they started influencing it. Social workers became advocates for human rights. By the end of the last century, social welfare policies had evolved from conventional remedial practices towards a more developmental approach, primarily influenced by social workers’ resistance to historical discrimination and violation of human rights as a result of colonialism and apartheid.

A more developmental approach

Antoinette Lombard is a professor in social work and head of the Department of Social Work and Criminology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Her work in developmental social work points to a critical moment in its formation. During apartheid, social welfare was guided by a policy rooted in colonialism rigged in favour of the white ruling class. It was discriminatory and abusive towards the majority of South Africans, who were Black. When the country became a democracy in 1994, there was a dramatic shift in social welfare policy to one focused on providing social services to all citizens, including those marginalised and disadvantaged by colonialism and apartheid, and in doing so, actively contributing to developing a more just and fair society for all.

A more developmental approach to social work, according to Lombard, paved the way for social workers in South Africa to be social-change agents on all intervention levels: individual, family, group, and community. Developmental social work doesn’t dismiss traditional social work; rather, it takes social work back to its original roots of identifying with those at the margins of society, due to inequality, poverty, and vulnerability.

Although indigenous to South Africa, the human rights priority at the heart of developmental social work helped spread the approach to other countries in Africa and into the global North, evolving and becoming more prominent. As it did, the role of the social worker became central to an ever-expanding scope of influence. According to Lombard, developmental social work requires that social workers examine the world from a broader political, socioeconomic, and cultural perspective in working with individuals and communities. This deepens their understanding of what makes societies unequal and how social ills such as poverty, hunger, homelessness, and lack of access to education, health, and income contribute to discrimination, exclusion, and unjust societies. As such, developmental social work is the foundation paradigm for its next big leap.

The next big leap

Writing in the British Journal of Social Work, Lombard and André Viviers argue for social work to be relevant in the 21st century, it must adopt a more transformative social-policy approach, including policy advocacy. Moreover, in the face of the social, political, and economic interconnectedness of globalisation and impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, social workers’ responsibilities extend beyond the immediate. They are working within a rapidly changing global society. Therefore, social work needs to contribute to policy transformation at the micro–macro interface to promote social justice at the local, international, and personal and political levels. Social welfare policymakers need to think beyond a problem–response approach and recognise that the drivers of social welfare needs in their own backyard can apply in another country thousands of kilometres away. They therefore need to become more anticipatory and agile.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is exacerbating inequality by segregating the job market into the low-skilled/low-wage and highly skilled/high-wage segments of the workforce. Those without access to technology are left behind, while those plugged into the matrix can surge ahead. The dramatic rise in the fortunes of the so-called ‘Big Tech’ attests to the influence of technology. Like the other industrial revolutions, this is entrenching inequalities and fundamentally changing how we work, live, and relate to each other.

Lombard and Viviers argue that these inequalities, compounded by the consequences of globalisation and highlighted by the coronavirus pandemic have fuelled social, political, economic, and environmental issues that demand a rethink of the relationship between social work, social policy, and broader policy.

“Because they facilitate capacity development at the local and personal levels, social workers operate at the very touchpoint of social, and broader, policies shaped at the political and global levels.”

Transformation through collective action

At the very core of this rethink is a central principle of developmental social work: social justice. Social workers cannot address the myriad social, political, and economic complexities that characterise the rapidly changing world one by one, but they can be advocates for fundamental human rights. Moreover, because they facilitate capacity development at the local and personal levels, they operate at the very touchpoint of social, and broader, policies shaped at the political and global levels. Their experiences are real, so policymakers must value their input.

Notably, the work of social workers – as advocates for human rights – crosses international boundaries. Furthermore, by focusing on inalienable human rights and social justice, social workers in developing countries share common ideals and purpose with those in more developed countries. Lombard and Viviers suggest a pathway for these ‘connected’ social workers to make a marked change to their roles: collective action. Why not use the tools of the Fourth Industrial Revolution? Technology can build relationships and forge strong networks in social work communities, including among students and professionals. In conjunction with advocacy NGOs and influential media organisations, researchers can monitor and evaluate policy implementation and hold governments accountable to adhere to global standards of human rights to advance social justice. Social media is on hand to provide a public rallying cry on their behalf.

As Lombard and Viviers point out, transformative change requires empowerment for collective action, which starts with dialogue and then shifts to local action before connecting a community with movements for change that collectively have the power to transform structural inequalities at a societal scale. At the next level, this can have international transformative repercussions.

Such a rethink of social work’s role in a rapidly changing world would help bridge the inequity between developed and developing countries writ large by the coronavirus pandemic. As the direct guardians of human rights and social justice, social workers have a moral and ethical imperative to use their shared priorities and collective knowledge to contribute to policy transformation at the micro–macro interface, with the overall purpose of shaping a better world for all of us.

References

• Lombard, A, (2017) Social Work Academia and Policy in South Africa. In Gal, J, & Weiss-Gal, I, (eds) Where Academia and Policy Meet: A Cross-National Perspective on the Involvement of Social Work Academics in Social Policy. Policy Press.
• Lombard, A, (2019) Developmental social work in South Africa. In van Breda, A, & Sekudu, J, (eds) Theories for decolonial social work practice in South Africa. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
• Lombard, A, Viviers, A, (2020) The Micro–Macro Nexus: Rethinking the Relationship between Social Work, Social Policy and Wider Policy in a Changing World. British Journal of Social Work 50, 2261–2278. doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcaa180

Research Objectives

Antoinette Lombard and André Viviers rethink the relationship between social work, policy, and wider policy in the South African and global context where inequality and poverty are rife.

Bio

Antoinette Lombard is a professor in social work and head of the Department of Social Work and Criminology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. She is a leading scholar in developmental social work and social development, and is a rated researcher at the National Research Foundation in South Africa.

Andries (André) Viviers (PhD) is a research fellow of the University of Pretoria. He is an experienced practitioner in social work and scholar in public policy, with a special interest in social policy and the adaptions required from the social work profession at a global and local level. He holds a Masters degree in Social Work (with distinction) from the University of Pretoria.

Contact
Professor Antoinette Lombard
Department of Social Work and Criminology
Humanities Building, 10–21.1
University of Pretoria
Private Bag X20
Hatfield, 0028
Republic of South Africa
E: antoinette.lombard@up.ac.za
T: +27 (0)12 420 2325/2030
W: Prof Antoinette Lombard – Staff Profile

Mr André Viviers
PO Box 1067, Menlyn Central
Pretoria, 0077
Republic of South Africa
E: andriesviviers@gmail.com

T: +27 82 4944028

Rethinking social work’s role in a rapidly changing world