Book Review

According to editors Midgley and Conley, despite a growing awareness of the potential of developmental social work (also known as the social development approach to social work) and an increasing number of social workers throughout the world who believe that developmental ideas have relevance, there is still uncertainty about exactly what the approach involves. This book is a successful and valuable response to the need to illustrate developmental social work in tangible, practice terms

GLOBAL AGENDA FOR SOCIAL WORK AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: A PATH TOWARD SUSTAINABLE SOCIAL WORK

The Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development (2012) reflects the commitment of social workers, educators and social development practitioners to the Post-2015 Development Agenda. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, effective from September 2015, provides a framework for positioning the Global Agenda to contribute towards a more just society. This paper explores how the four commitments of the Global Agenda link with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Implications and opportunities relating to the Global Agenda for social work practice and education are discussed, and guidelines are presented for more sustainable development outcomes for social work practice and education

EDITORIAL

Social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments with the purpose to promote change in people as well as in society. The 1994 democratic elections in South Africa provided the opportunity to challenge the political processes of the past that had influenced and shaped all South African policies, including social welfare and social work. This challenge included the moulding of the social work profession and social work education, within a democratic, developing South Africa that upholds the principles of human rights and social justice. The extent of this challenge, however, can only be fully understood within the context of the historical development of social work education in South Afric

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN AFRICA: SOCIAL WORK CHALLENGES FOR HUMAN, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT1

In Africa a new understanding and thinking of entrepreneurship needs to be contextualised as part of the challenge to alleviate poverty. This challenge was confirmed when most of the heads of state committed themselves to addressing poverty as the top priority for their countries’ agendas when they signed the Declaration at the World Summit on Social Development (1995) and adopted Agenda 21, the agenda for sustainable development in the 21st century, during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992). Whilst there is consensus amongst world leaders that they want to reduce global poverty by half by 2015, the policies and strategies to achieve this were still being negotiated during the follow up to the World Summit for Sustainable Development in South Africa in August/September, 2002

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES OF THE CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (CPD) POLICY FOR THE SOCIAL WORK PROFESSION IN SOUTH AFRICA

The principled decision taken by the South African Council for Social Service Professions(SACSSP) in July 2003, effective from 1 April 2010, was to adopt continuing professionaldevelopment (CPD) as a requirement for practising social work. The decision was based on awidely consultative process, which had commenced early in 2001, continuing through variousphases and drafts, and culminating in the final CPD policy in July 2009 (Lombard, Pruis,Grobbelaar & Mhlanga, 2010)

SOCIAL WORK: A SOCIAL PARTNER IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Like many other countries worldwide, South Africa has accepted the challenge to achieve theaim of the United Nations to alleviate poverty by half by the year 2015. Thin (2002:17) statesthat poverty is a clear indicator that an economic system is not working as well as it should. Thisview of poverty sees it as both a social issue and an economic phenomenon (Thin, 2002:23).The expression of poverty in both social and economic contexts is reflected in the “two worlds”character of the South African economy, which Terreblanche (in Lombard, 2008:23) describesas follows

A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL DRUG MASTER PLAN: LESSONS FOR ALIGNING POLICY WITH SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

 If drug policies, such as the South African National Drug Master Plan 2006-2011 (NDMP2), are drafted according to a social developmental perspective, the efforts of stakeholders could be strengthened to mitigate substance abuse, eradicate drug-related crimes, and contribute towards achieving social development goals. This study determined whether the NDMP2 is drafted in accordance with a social development perspective. Quantitative research, with content analysis as research strategy, was adopted to determine whether indicators of social development are embedded in the manifest content of the NDMP2. Results show the NDMP2 has both strengths and limitations when interpreted from a social development perspective

VICTIMS’ EXPERIENCES OF RESTORATIVE MEDIATION: A DEVELOPMENTAL SOCIAL WORK PERSPECTIVE

Victim-offender mediation is an expression of restorative justice. The wellbeing of victims of crime is a central feature of restorative justice services. The process of restorative mediation entails all parties, i.e. the victim, the offender, their families and members of the community, voluntarily participating in face-to-face dialogue, where truth-telling enables the offender to take personal responsibility for his/her criminal behaviour (Rainford, 2010). An important outcome of restorative mediation is reaching an agreement regarding the strategies to remedy the wrongdoing. A developmental social work perspective counteracts retributive justice in shifting the intervention focus from individual defect and blame to reform and social change (Midgley, 2010). Developmental social work is embedded in investment strategies in restoring people to full functioning in society (Rainford, 2010). In fact, “social investment, economic participation, empowerment and human investment are relevant to all systems and forms of social work intervention” (Midgley, 2010:1

THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE INFORMAL ECONOMY TO THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN-HEADED HOUSEHOLDS IN THE CHEGUTU URBAN DISTRICT IN ZIMBABWE

Of the millions of people living in poverty, women and children are the most detrimentally affected. It is believed that 60-70% of the world’s poor are female and that the trend towards greater poverty among women is intensifying (Chant, 2003). Women who are poor are not only deprived of basic needs; they lack access to resources such as education, land and credit facilities. According to Buvinić and Gupta (1997), women who head households are worthy of special attention because they are triply disadvantaged: firstly, they experience the burdens of poverty; secondly, they experience gender discrimination; and lastly, they have to deal with an absence of support

THE CHALLENGE TO PROMOTE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC EQUALITY IN NAMIBIA THROUGH SOCIAL WORK

Social work is called upon by the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development to promote a more just society. Social welfare services in Namibia are not aligned with the country’s vision to significantly reduce inequalities by 2030. The absence of a legislative mandate is key to social work’s challenge to shift from a focus on primarily psycho-social service delivery to engaging in social and economic justice issues. It is recommended that the Namibian government formalise its adoption of a developmental social welfare policy in order to create an enabling environment for social work to promote social and economic equalit