Social work education as a catalyst for social change and social development: case study of a Master of Social Work Program in China

In response to the urgent need for professionally trained social workers to help in alleviating emerging social problems in China after the introduction of the market economy, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Peking University launched a Master of Social Work (China) Program for social work educators in 2000, with the aim of developing a critical mass of social work educators to take up the future leadership in developing social work and social work education in China. To date, seven cohorts of over 230 students consisting of social work educators, NGO and government officials have been admitted to the program, and graduates of the program are playing a pivotal role in spearheading the development of social work education and fostering social development through the process. In this paper, the authors will present the vision and mission of the Master of Social Work (MSW) Program, the teaching and learning strategies adopted, and the ways in which the program has facilitated social change and social development through its educational process

Global COVID-19 lockdown highlights humans as both threats and custodians of the environment

The global lockdown to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic health risks has altered human interactions with nature. Here, we report immediate impacts of changes in human activities on wildlife and environmental threats during the early lockdown months of 2020, based on 877 qualitative reports and 332 quantitative assessments from 89 different studies. Hundreds of reports of unusual species observations from around the world suggest that animals quickly responded to the reductions in human presence. However, negative effects of lockdown on conservation also emerged, as confinement resulted in some park officials being unable to perform conservation, restoration and enforcement tasks, resulting in local increases in illegal activities such as hunting. Overall, there is a complex mixture of positive and negative effects of the pandemic lockdown on nature, all of which have the potential to lead to cascading responses which in turn impact wildlife and nature conservation. While the net effect of the lockdown will need to be assessed over years as data becomes available and persistent effects emerge, immediate responses were detected across the world. Thus initial qualitative and quantitative data arising from this serendipitous global quasi-experimental perturbation highlights the dual role that humans play in threatening and protecting species and ecosystems. Pathways to favorably tilt this delicate balance include reducing impacts and increasing conservation effectiveness