Anti-poverty practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Anti-poverty practice - Essay Example A 'theory of social work' would aim at developing the participant's ability to build a foundation about human social functioning from which they can continue to analyse and integrate theories from many sources that emphasise social, biological, psychological, and cultural factors in human life.( Dominelli, L, 2004). The theoretical apparatus for social work may include applying theories to understand and explain persons in their environment; identifying, appreciating, criticizing, and comparing social paradigms, particularly with regard to the manner in which they sustain and constrain theories on development and interaction; integrating theories for advancing social work practice and policy; assessing the social effects of different theories, transferring learning across various settings, and forming a unified framework for social work; evaluating the influence of social paradigms on oneself as a social worker; and by identifying world views that affect one's beliefs, actions, and i nteractions and reflecting on their consequences for social work with different mandates, groups, and settings. Social work is generally considered as being 'dedicated' to enhancing human life locally, nationally and globally by that builds on client system strengths and empowerment abilities. The practice is geared to rural and indigenous populations and is focused on improving social and economic justice with at-risk populations. Social workers must be able to promote efforts to develop and improve human services in a variety of settings; to enhance practitioners' ability to work with diverse clients; to promote active efforts to address poverty, structural racism, and oppression; and to contribute to the development of knowledge and scholarly work reflecting rural knowledge and practice that flows from local to international contexts. Social work practice is a process intended to assist people in need or to respond to human needs. The 'mission' of a social worker may be expressed as the following goals: to practice as generalist social workers with knowledge, values, and skills for working with diverse client systems of various sizes in rural settings; to understand and work effectively with diverse populations, especially those indigenous to the area in which he/she works; to promote continued professional development and enhancement of knowledge, values, and skills for generalist social work practice; and to provide service to the community and promote social and economic justice. (Wood and Tully, 2006) Social work and poverty The social work profession's roots are entwined with poverty from the time of the Elizabethan Poor Laws in England which are usually cited as the first attempts at the policy of poverty management, to the present-day's "welfare reform" measures. Although the term "poverty" can be applied to relative depletion of any resource--of the spirit, of health, of attitude-- the term usually refers to economic poverty. Social workers' efforts with respect to those who are poor and the circumstances that produce poverty have been to mitigate the impact of poverty on people as well as to develop policies that prevent poverty. Their concern with poverty