Trained social workers with relevant skills a must
Dr Collin AbrahamPublished: Apr 20, 2007 7:32 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
I am writing regarding the problem of untrained officers of the Department of Social Welfare performing specialised functions to the detriment of their clients. Social work skills are a very important qualification that can also be usefully applied for the successful implementation of development projects under the 9MP and indeed for Vision 2020.
Briefly, while there is no question that social workers performing the functions that they are undertaking should be trained to the maximum extent possible in the respective areas of specialisation, it is equally, if not more important, that the training should be relevant to the specific kinds of social problems that they encounter in this country.
As in most Third World countries, it is more the socio-economic 'illfare' in the social system that creates the need for 'welfare'. What is needed in social welfare work therefore, is that the social work skills imparted to the workers should be more focused on training them to be catalysts of change.
In this way they could enable the poor and the disadvantaged to participate fully in the development process and thereby enjoy a better quality of life.
With respect, I happen to have been one of the pioneers in the department in the late 1960s that managed to get trained social workers to very successfully start programmes such as the 'Kampong and New Village' grassroots workers project (Kemas), the Settler Development Division of Felda, contributing to the success of the Muda Double-cropping scheme and having a trained social worker on most of the Jawatankuasa Kemajuan Kampung at district and state levels.
Unfortunately, because there were insufficient trained social workers to embark on these new services, the senior officers in the ministries decided to concentrate on the more 'traditional' social welfare services.
I have no doubt whatsoever that social work skills are ideally suited for the successful implementation of development programmes and I am very encouraged by the government's decision to make it a mandatory requirement for a Social Impact Assessment report to be a necessary condition for all development projects.
We should always aimed for trained and professional social workers. As a pioneer social worker myself, I was trained at the University of Singapore/Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bombay, the Institute of Social Studies at the Hague (Netherlands), Madison and Cornell universities in the US as well as at Oxford University in England.
When there was no more work for me to do in social welfare, I was seconded to other government departments such as the Rural Development Ministry and finally ended up at University Sains Malaysia in Penang as a lecturer in sociology.
Briefly, while there is no question that social workers performing the functions that they are undertaking should be trained to the maximum extent possible in the respective areas of specialisation, it is equally, if not more important, that the training should be relevant to the specific kinds of social problems that they encounter in this country.
As in most Third World countries, it is more the socio-economic 'illfare' in the social system that creates the need for 'welfare'. What is needed in social welfare work therefore, is that the social work skills imparted to the workers should be more focused on training them to be catalysts of change.
In this way they could enable the poor and the disadvantaged to participate fully in the development process and thereby enjoy a better quality of life.
With respect, I happen to have been one of the pioneers in the department in the late 1960s that managed to get trained social workers to very successfully start programmes such as the 'Kampong and New Village' grassroots workers project (Kemas), the Settler Development Division of Felda, contributing to the success of the Muda Double-cropping scheme and having a trained social worker on most of the Jawatankuasa Kemajuan Kampung at district and state levels.
Unfortunately, because there were insufficient trained social workers to embark on these new services, the senior officers in the ministries decided to concentrate on the more 'traditional' social welfare services.
I have no doubt whatsoever that social work skills are ideally suited for the successful implementation of development programmes and I am very encouraged by the government's decision to make it a mandatory requirement for a Social Impact Assessment report to be a necessary condition for all development projects.
We should always aimed for trained and professional social workers. As a pioneer social worker myself, I was trained at the University of Singapore/Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bombay, the Institute of Social Studies at the Hague (Netherlands), Madison and Cornell universities in the US as well as at Oxford University in England.
When there was no more work for me to do in social welfare, I was seconded to other government departments such as the Rural Development Ministry and finally ended up at University Sains Malaysia in Penang as a lecturer in sociology.
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