Social workers' historical and contemporary understanding of the social development approach
Authors: Nkqubela Aphiwe Jackson Ntloko  
Published: January 2024

Colonialism and apartheid influenced South African social welfare policies. After South Africa gained political freedom in 1994, democratic social welfare laws like the White Paper for Social Welfare were implemented (1997). Despite democratic social development initiatives, poverty, unemployment, and inequality marginalise most South Africans. Eurocentrism dominates social work practice and education with significant proposals for higher education decolonisation and indigenisation. Participatory action learning action research approach was used for this study (PALAR). PALAR uses critical, transformational, and democratic research methods to build a social work practice approach for African social systems in South Africa. For this research, an Afrocentric social work practice model was co-constructed for South Africa by black social workers who were purposefully and conveniently selected. The objective was to understand social workers' historical and present conceptualisations of the social development approach. Preliminary findings imply that social development does not address structural inequalities in South Africa, such as race and the land question. For example, after a decade of its adoption, the approach has not significantly addressed large-scale poverty and unemployment. Social development in practice is welfarist, disempowering, not community-based, and insensitive to African culture. Social development services are not adequately integrated. Social development in South Africa towards social welfare is a miscarriage; lacks relevance and appropriateness outside the Euro-North American axis and remains Eurocentric in all aspects. The social development approach does not represent the African values system and nor relatable to the African social systems. South African social work needs to be reimagined. Indigenous knowledge systems need to take precedence to realise relevance of social work practice approaches in South Africa. An Afrocentric turn to social work practice for South Africa's relevance is a viable answer.

How to cite this article using ASWNet style
Ntloko, N. A. J. (2023). Social workers' historical and contemporary understanding of the social development approach. People centred – The Journal of Development Administration (JDA), 8(2), 48. Social Work and Development Student Conference (SWDSC), 16 June 2023. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jda.v8i2.6
Conference Abstract
Social Work and Development Student Conference (SWDSC)
Held on 16 June 2023, Day of the African Child (DAC)
Organised by Africa Social Work and Development Network (ASWDN)
Conference Organising Committee: Danzel Rademan, University of the Free State, South Africa (Chairperson); Atuhairwe Collins, Student, Master of Social Work, Makerere University, Uganda (ViceChairperson); Never Winnie James Sebit, South Sudan; Bachelor in Social Work, RCSS, India (Secretary); Tatenda Sukulao, Bachelor of Social Work, Midlands State University, Zimbabwe (Vice-Secretary); Norman T. Manyika, Student, Bachelor of Social Work, University of Zimbabwe (Committee member) and Takudzwa Banda, Bachelor of Social Work, University of Zimbabwe (Committee member).
Visit journal website: https://jda.africasocialwork.net