About the Book
Social and Community Development Practice makes a persuasive case for employing a social development approach to community development practice at local and village levels. Towards this end, the book offers a conceptual clarity of social and community development (SCD) by adding new dimensions. It also shows the significance of social policy education for social and community development workers and the need for expanding community development practice from local levels to international levels.
The author argues that the social work profession itself needs to quickly reorganize and strengthen. It needs to consider alternative modes of preparing social workers and community organizers who can reach out at local levels. The profession also needs to develop indigenous ethical standards for SCD practice. The author’s deep reflections reveal the dire need to refocus on SCD practice to address major issues such as poverty and inequality plaguing vast populations around the world.
Table of Contents:
List of Tables, Figures and Boxes
List of Abbreviations
Foreword David Cox
Preface
I: SOCIAL AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (SCD) PRACTICE
A Social Development Approach
Local-level Community Development
Values and Principles
Dynamics of Community Development Practice
II: EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL POLICY AND INTERNATIONAL SCD
Social Policy Education for SCD Workers
International SCD Curricula for Training Social Workers
III: DEVELOPING THE SOCIAL WORK PROFESSION FOR SCD PRACTICE
Adapting the Social Work Profession: Some Issues and Prospects
SCD Education through Distance Mode: An Unexplored Potential
Social Work’s Code of Ethics and Ethics-based SCD Practice
IV: THE FUTURE OF SCD
Social Work and SCD Practice: Reflections and Foreflections
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Index
About the Author :
Manohar Pawar, BA, MASW and PhD, is Professor of Social Work at the School of Social Work and Arts, Charles Sturt University (New South Wales, Australia). He has made distinguished contributions to the field of international social work and social development. His books are translated in Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Khmer, and Korean languages and used for social work education, research and practice internationally.
To advance social science research and publications on community and social development, Prof. Pawar conceptualised and established a new peer reviewed journal entitled the International Journal of Community and Social development, published by Sage. As its founding Editor-in-chief, he has enhanced the academic quality and status of the journal from nonindexed to Scopus indexed, achieving a SCImago ranked Q1 status for the journal in a short period.
In addition, he is President of the International Consortium for Social Development and Editor of Springer Series in Social Development. He has received several honours and awards, including an ARC (Australian Research Council) Discovery grant; Lifetime Achievement Award, 2017, conferred by the National Association of Professional Social Workers in India; the invitation to deliver the Council on Social Work Education 2017 Hokenstad International Lecture, USA; the Australian Learning and Teaching Council’s Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, 2008; and Quality of Life Award 2001 from the Association of Commonwealth Universities.
Prof. Pawar is on the editorial boards of International Social Work, the Indian Journal of Social Work, South Asian Journal of Participative Development, and Journal of Social Development Studies. He also reviews articles for many journals, including the British Journal of Social Work.
Prof. Pawar′s research follows a mixed methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative research methods, including integrating teaching and practice. He has nearly 200 publications, which include over 20 books and monographs, published by leading international publishers (Cambridge University Press, Palgrave Macmillan, Routledge, SAGE, Springer). His research has focused on international social work, social development and social policy, social work and social policy practice, social consequences of climate change and water, social work education, informal care and ageing, NGOs and community development, and virtues and social work practice.
Prof. Pawar has been an invited keynote/panel speaker at many international professional conferences/seminars/workshops organised by universities/academic institutions/professional bodies in Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Nepal, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, and US.
Review :
In this important book, Manohar Pawar makes a major contribution to understanding social and community development practice. He ranges widely over topics such as the tasks practitioners undertake, the skills and training they need and the ethics and values they should embrace. The book is an extremely valuable addition to the literature and is an essential reading for anyone working in the field today.
The book brings to life the concept of social development with razor-sharp clarity and examines the potential for improving ‘well-being’ at various levels of human existence in communities. An indispensable resource for guiding the course of social work education in India and South Asia as well.
Professor Pawar has written an exceedingly useful book for students, practitioners and teachers of social work and social change in the Asia-Pacific region. Comprehensive as well as current in its coverage and analysis of significant concepts, values, issues, processes, principles and strategies of community and social development, this publication promises to fill a serious void in the professional literature in an increasingly important field.
