On the occasion of World Social Work Day, this blog focuses on developmental social services. The importance of this theme needs no explanation.

The 7 pillars of Developmental Social Services

1. Economic Development

• Employment opportunities: Creating and promoting access to decent work and sustainable livelihoods.
• Livelihood support: Strengthening diverse income-generating activities, particularly for marginalised groups.
• Income enhancement: Implementing programmes to increase household and community income levels.
• Savings and financial inclusion: Encouraging savings, access to credit, and financial literacy to build economic resilience.
• Entrepreneurship development: Supporting small businesses and start-ups through training, resources, and mentorship.

2. Community Development

• Family development: Involves increasing income and productive capacity of families.
• Village development: Involves increasing income and productive capacity of villages.
• Collaborative partnerships: Working with communities, local organisations, and stakeholders to co-design and deliver services.
• Participatory approaches: Involving service users and communities in decision-making processes to ensure relevance and sustainability.
• Capacity building: Strengthening the skills, knowledge, and resources of communities to address their own needs.
• Advocacy: supporting marginalised groups to influence decision-making processes and amplify their voices.

3. Developmental Research

• Applied research: Conducting studies to address real-world social and developmental challenges.
• Impact evaluation: Assessing the effectiveness of interventions and programmes to inform improvements.
• Participatory research: Engaging communities in the research process to ensure their perspectives and needs are prioritised.
• Data-driven insights: Using qualitative and quantitative data to guide policy and practice.
• Innovation in research: Exploring new methodologies and technologies to advance developmental outcomes.

4. Sustainable Development

• Long-term solutions: Designing interventions that create lasting positive change for individuals and communities.
• Resource efficiency: Ensuring the efficient use of resources to maximise impact while minimising waste.
• Alignment with regional (e.g. African Union’s Agenda 2063) and global goals (e.g. the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)) into social service frameworks.

5. Environmental Development

• Environmental responsibility: Incorporating eco-friendly practices into service delivery and operations.
• Climate action: Addressing the social impacts of climate change and promoting resilience in vulnerable communities.
• Sustainable practices: Encouraging the adoption of green technologies and sustainable lifestyles within communities.
• Biodiversity conservation: Protecting and restoring natural ecosystems to support environmental and human well-being.
• Environmental justice: Ensuring equitable access to natural resources and addressing environmental inequalities.

6. Policy Development

• Policy analysis: Evaluating existing policies and identifying gaps or areas for improvement.
• Policy formulation: Developing evidence-based policies to address social, economic, and environmental challenges.
• Policy implementation: Ensuring effective execution of policies through collaboration with stakeholders.
• Monitoring and evaluation: Tracking the impact of policies and making data-driven adjustments.
• Systemic change: Advocating for transformative policies that address root causes of social issues.

7. Developmental Training, Education, and Courses

• Developmental Welfare: Training professionals to address social welfare through a developmental lens.
• Social Development: Offering courses on strategies to promote equitable and inclusive social progress.
• Community Development: Equipping practitioners with skills to empower communities and foster local leadership.
• Developmental Research: Providing modules on research methods to study and evaluate development interventions.
• Developmental Fieldwork: Integrating practical, hands-on experience into training programmes.
• Development Administration: Teaching effective management and governance of development programmes.
• Economic Development: Training on strategies to create employment, enhance livelihoods, and promote financial inclusion.
• Socio-Economic Development: Focusing on the intersection of social and economic factors to reduce inequalities and improve well-being.
• International Development: Preparing professionals to work in global contexts and address transnational challenges.

African Social Development (ASD) Model 

Social development is about dealing with social problems at the macro level, that is dealing with social policies, social structures and social institutions. What gap does social development addresses? Social work is often practiced at the micro to meso levels, that is the individual, family and community level. The macro level, involving social work with whole of society (the social), is often ignored, especially in Africa. Social development addresses this gap by working to address social policies, social structures and social institutions. It deals with social problems from a structural angle. 

Kaseke (2001) said social development seeks to ensure that individuals have access to resources necessary for meeting basic needs and in conditions that do not undermine their self-esteem. The pursuit of social justice and egalitarian ideals is at the core of the social development model.

“Social development emerged as a result of dissatisfaction with a development model that puts undue emphasis on economic growth at the neglect of social factors. Economic growth had not necessarily resulted in an improvement in the welfare of the people. Thus social development emerged as an attempt to draw attention to the importance of social factors in the development process…The starting point for the social development model is that the modernisation approach has failed to transform developing countries. The benefits of economic development have not trickled down to the majority of the people. Instead the wealth is concentrated in the hands of few people while the majority live in absolute poverty…Thus the social development model represents a shift from the residual (welfaristic) model. A social development model sees the role of social work as that of facilitating social change and ultimately enabling individuals to realise their potential”, (Kaseke, 2001). He concluded by saying social workers have been dealing with symptoms rather than the root causes of the problems… Thus in order to change the material welfare of the poor, there is need for intervention at both the macro and micro levels…traditional practice of providing public assistance to destitute members of society has failed to make an impact on the amelioration of poverty.

Tesfaye, A. (1974) or Association of Social Work Education in Africa (ASWEA) (1974) Conference Proceeding. Addis Ababa, ASWEA

Selassie, S. G. (1976). Government and the promotion of social equality – a comparative analysis of selected developing countries. PhD Thesis. University of Muchigan

Yimam, A. (1990). Social Development in Africa, 1950-1985: Methodological Perspectives and Future Prospects. Aldershot: Gower.

Gray, M., Mazibuko, F., & O’Brien, F. (1996). Social work education for social development. Journal of Social Development in Africa, 11, 33-42.

Kaseke, E. (2001). Social development as a model of social work practice: the experience of Zimbabwe. School of Social Work Staff Papers. Harare, School of Social Work.

Developmental Social Work (DSW) Approach or Developmentalist Theory

Unlike social development, developmental social work involves both social and economic development. Developmental strategies can be applied when doing work with individuals, groups, families, communities and society at large. In short, developmental approach cuts across all methods of social work. At times, is is referred to as socio-economic development. Characteristics and intentions of developmental approach are:

1. Improving poor people’s productive capacity to address poverty
2. Ensures access to means of production, particularly land, including introducing land reforms
3. Focuses on maximising people’s form of production e.g. farming, mining, fishing, trading, processing and others
4. Creates and supports policies that support people to realise their full potential
5. Focuses at both micro or local (families, villages and communities) and macro or large-scale (district, provincial and national) levels
6. Community level framework or plan locks into national framework or plan
7. Social work curriculum is designed from a social development perspective
8. Economically viable social assistance programs e.g. start-up capital, support, public assistance or others
9. Infrastructure development 
10. Adequate funding for rural programs and rural workers 
11. Does not look at public assistance as an end, but as a way to ensure that people become socially and economically active 
12. Casework and groupwork are not prioritised because they are remedial and palliative, they perpetuate and maintain social exclusion
13. Economic and social strategies are meant to address poverty and underdevelopment 
14. Disagrees with western modernisation’s view that poverty and underdevelopment results from the setup of African communities, lifestyles, cultures and methods 
15. Disagrees with the view that economic growth is the answer to poverty, in fact, economic growth with no human face is the facilitator of inequality

Some roles of development and social workers are:

• Creating opportunities for economic productivity (e.g. farming, irrigation, mining, fishing, off-farm income generating projects, self-employment and enterprises) 
• Lobbying and advocacy for social justice
• Mobilising local savings
• Improving people’s economic productivity skills
• Community workers mobilise the rural communities to improve infrastructure such as roads, bridges, clinics and schools
• Assisting communities to develop development projects (proposals, plans, funding and feasibility)
• Ensuring that communities contribution is valued, pursued and recognised

Mupedziswa, R (2001) The quest for relevance: towards a conceptual model of developmental social work education and training in Africa. In International Social Work. Vol 44;3 Pages 285-300.

Lombard, A. and Wairire, G. (2010). Developmental Social Work In South Africa And Kenya: Some Lessons for Africa. The Social Work Practitioner-Researcher (now Southern African Journal of Social Work & Social Development).

Hochfeld, T et al (2009, 2010a and 2010b)