Resources Database

The Grand Challenges for Social Work are designed to focus a world of thought and action on the most compelling and critical social issues of our day. Information and communication technology (ICT) has the potential to dramatically shift and enhance social work practice in the coming decade. Integrating technology in to social work and creating practice innovations through ICT will make transformative social change possible.

The purpose(s) of this article are to: (1) propose a functional framework for understanding and impacting the basic social policy development processes; (2) review and discuss concepts and perspectives of service eligibility as a seminal element of social policy and services delivery with consideration of the factors and forces, which influence service eligibility definitions and applications within social policy development processes; (3) illustrate the range of national socio-economic indicators of social priorities and policy development; and (4) propose implications for social work prof

There appears to be growing awareness of and demand for a child protection system that works in harmony with the cultural and social contexts in which they operate. Increasingly, there is an understanding of the role that culture has in determining how and why a system functions as it does and ultimately the effect it has on the protection outcomes for children. In many countries with few resources, it is imperative to draw upon positive cultural assets, including protective family and community practices, such as kinship care and traditional mediation processes.

This paper explores how medical social work is designed and implemented in Pakistan, and the field of medical social work is defined as it relates to Pakistani culture.

A summary of 10 academic pieces regarding burnout in the social and humanitarian work fields, the documents provides data regarding issues, such as potential gender differences in facing and coping with burnout and best practices that could be implemented to prevent and solve burnout. Some of the other documents discuss burnout in relation with other issues faced by social and humanitarian workers, such as stress and post-traumatic stress disorder.

This presentation was given by Beth Bradford at the ISPCAN European Conference in September 2015.

This document highlights some of the key learnings from two districts in Rwanda that can be used by organizations, governments and other social and child welfare actors that are implementing deinstitutionalization programs. Professional case workers and community psychosocial workers were found to play key roles in the reintegration process and in prevention activities.

This new working paper focuses on the role of gatekeeping in strengthening family-based care and reforming alternative care systems. Gatekeeping refers to systematic procedures aimed at ensuring that alternative care for children is used only when necessary, and that the type of care provided is suitable to the individual child.

The aim of this study from Friends International is to identify the perceptions of potential short-term international tourists concerning children's residential care in Cambodia.

The international migration of parents from the global south raises questions about the health impacts of family separation on those who stay behind.

This brief guidance note seeks to provide advice on protecting and supporting the mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants in Europe. It describes key principles and appropriate interventions to guide all those who are designing and organizing emergency services and/or providing direct assistance to the affected people.

Ebola has exacerbated mental health issues in Liberia as the outbreak has ravaged the mental and physical health of the population and health workers, including at the Mental Health Unit at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. Through the use of mHero, the Ministry is developing use casees to find out more information from mental health clinicans.

Entered into in 2000, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) helped to set ambitious targets around the world and re-shaped decision making by developing and developed nations. Yet, there is still more work to be done, and the new Sustainable Development Goals aim to build upon the goals and accomplishments of the MDGs.

UN Women recently translated the Compendium of Gender Equality and HIV Indicators to French, Spanish, and Portuguese. The compendium provides a set of standardized indicators to measure programmatic areas vital to the intersection of gender and HIV that may be used at national, regional or programmatic levels.

A study of experiences of social workers employed in public service organizations in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, shows an increasing shift toward neoliberalism and new managerialism impacts on the functions and levels of satisfaction in day-to-day practice.

This report is a review of 11 studies in 12 countries on effectiveness of intervention for street-connected children and young people that promote reintegration.

Presented at the George Washington University Global Health Mini-U, this presentation highlights the ways in which social service workers when working collaboratively with health care professionals can improve overall well-being.

This guide was developed to aid care workers in ethical decision-making when caring for children and families of key populations, including people living with HIV, people who use drugs, sex workers, transgender people, and gay men and other men who have sex with men.

Child friendly spaces (CFS) have become a widely used approach to protect and provide psychosocial support to children in emergencies. However, little evidence documents their outcomes and impacts for children. This summary report includes a systematic review of existing evidence as well as six multi-agency impact evaluations of CFS in different emergency contexts.

This presentation during the Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy reviews the gaps in accessibility to psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers in rural areas and makes recommendations for how to address and improve this problem.