Jim Ife

Community development in an uncertain world : vision, analysis and practice

Introduction 1. The crisis in human services and the need for community 2. Foundations of community development: an ecological perspective in a time of crisis 3. Foundations of community development: a social justice perspective 4. Foundations of community development: beyond enlightenment modernity 5. A vision for community development 6. Change from below 7. The process of community development 8. The global and the local 9. Colonialism, colonialist practice and working internationally 10. Community development: social, economic and political 11. Community development: cultural, environmental, spiritual, personal and survival 12. Principles of community development 13. Roles and skills 1: facilitative and educational 14. Roles and skills 2: representational and technical 15. The organisational context 16. Practice issues.

Human Rights, politics and intercountry adoption: An examination of two sending countries

English Intercountry adoption, once viewed as a means of international charity, has recently been challenged by political and economic forces, leading to vio lation of human rights. The authors compare the experiences of two sending countries – Romania and the Marshall Islands – and suggest the utilization of a bottom-up human rights approach. French L’adoption internationale, autrefois vue comme un moyen d’oeuvre de bienfaisance internationale, a récemment été mise en cause par des forces politiques et économiques, comme concourant à la violation de droits de l’homme. Les auteurs comparent les expériences de deux pays d’origine – la Roumanie et les Iles Marshall – et suggèrent l’utilisation d’une approche intégrée des droits de l’homme, de la base au sommet. Spanish La adopción entre países, una vez que se ha visto como significado de caridad internacional, ha sido un reto reciente para las fuerzas políticas y económicas, principalmente en lo que se refiere a la violación de los derechos humanos. Los autores comparan las experiencias de dos países emisores – Rumanía y las Islas Marshall – y sugieren la utilización de un acercamiento al fondo de los derechos humanos.

Human Rights and Social Work: Ethics and Human Rights

O ne of the important characteristics of a profession is that it should have a code of ethics (Corey et al. 1998). Social workers have long considered ethics an indispensable aspect of their practice, and many national social work associations have codes of ethics to which their members are required to adhere. Social work is no different here from many other professions, except that the importance it gives to values means that social workers are probably more immediately conscious of the ethical aspects of their practice than some other professionals. Certainly social workers spend a good deal of time talking about ethics, establishing and revising codes of ethics, and consciously dealing with ethical issues confronted in practice. The very nature of social work practice, dealing as it does with conflicting values and the making of difficult moral choices on behalf of society, means that ethical dilemmas will be part of the practice of every social worker (Clark 2000). Codes of ethics are not only used to encourage ‘ethical’ behaviour on the part of social workers and to assist social workers who are confronted by difficult ethical dilemmas. They also perform a controlling function by seeking to prevent deliberately ‘unethical’ behaviour on the part of social workers. There is usually some form of sanction associated with the operation of a code of ethics: a mechanism for steps to be taken against unethical social workers, such as expulsion from the professional association, relinquishment of their right to practise, or a requirement to undertake further training (Gaha 1997).

Human Rights and Critical Whiteness: Whose Humanity?

Abstract Human rights have been used since the establishment of the United Nations after World War II to prevent violations by formulating an ideal of humanity where respect and dignity are central. While many writers have questioned their validity given the origins of human rights as a Western project, this paper takes the critique further by positing that notions of ‘the human’ used by human rights occurred during the European Enlightenment and could thus not escape their cultural boundaries. However, this paper goes further still by using the notion of racialised privilege from critical whiteness studies to suggest that human rights is also a discourse that proclaims the original knowledges of white privilege, and hence those whose interests it advances. We look to some post-modern thinkers to consider a position that allows other knowledges to emerge ‘from below’.

Capacity Building and Community Development

This chapter is about the language of capacity building. Language is important in that it powerfully, but often unconsciously, shapes the way we understand the concepts we are using. It reveals the assumptions, often implicit rather than explicit, behind the concepts, and it encourages us to ask certain questions and not to ask others.

A comment on 'Reconstructing and re-conceptualising social work in the emerging milieu'

Abstract The article by McDonald and Jones raises some very important issues for Australian social work, and identifies some of the key decisions that social workers in Australia will be required to make if their practice is to maintain some degree of relevance in the changing context of the early twenty-first century.

Engaging with social work : a critical introduction

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the diverse and contested world of social work. It explores the key concepts and theoretical frameworks underpinning contemporary social work practice, as well as relevant professional skills and strategies from a critical perspective. In a rapidly changing world, it locates critical social work as a part of broader and ongoing struggles for social justice and human rights. Readers are encouraged to think about what social work is or should be, and what sort of social worker they would like to become. The book covers a broad range of topics, including the history and development of social work as a profession, values and ethics, theories for practice, and the fields and context of practice. Definitions of key terms, reflective exercises and case studies are integrated throughout the text. Written by a diverse team of experienced educators, this is a stimulating, rigorous and student-friendly resource.

Human Rights and Social Justice

This section presents the requirements for programs in: • Human Rights and Social Justice B.A. Honours • Human Rights and Social Justice B.A. Combined Honours • Human Rights and Law with Concentration in Transnational Law and Human Rights B.A. Combined Honours • Human Rights and Social Justice B.A. General • Minor in Human Rights and Social Justice Program Requirements Human Rights and Social Justice B.A. Honours (20.0 credits) A. Credits Included in the Major CGPA (9.0 credits) 1. 1.0 credit from: 1.0 HUMR 1001 [1.0] Introduction to Human Rights FYSM 1104 [1.0] Human Rights: Issues and Investigations FYSM 1502 [1.0] Selected Topics in Legal Studies (specifically the section on Global Governance and Human Rights) or approved FYSM 2. 0.5 credit in: 0.5 HUMR 2001 [0.5] Human Rights: Theories and Foundations 3. 0.5 credit in: 0.5 HUMR 2202 [0.5] Power Relations and Human Rights 4. 0.5 credit from: 0.5 LAWS 2105 [0.5] Social Justice and Human Rights PHIL 2103 [0.5] Philosophy of Human Rights PSCI 3307 [0.5] Politics of Human Rights 5. 2.5 credits, comprised of 0.5 credit from each of the five Thematic Groups (see list under Course Categories) 2.5

Comment on John Solas: “What Are We Fighting For?”

Social work has long been characterised by the uncritical and simplistic acceptance and use of concepts that are complex and problematic, and that deserve more careful and nuanced treatment than is evident in much social work writing. Examples include need, rights, ethics, power, practice, evidence, culture, discourse, equity, and social justice, and it is the last of these that is John Solas’ concern in his paper (Solas, 2008). Articles such as this, which question some of the taken-for-granted assumptions embedded in social work writing and thinking, do the profession a service and John Solas’ paper is welcome for this reason. In challenging the use of ‘‘social justice’’, he also interrogates another concept that has presented difficulty for social work, namely equality. Solas’ critique of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) Code of Ethics (AASW, 2002) is perhaps the most controversial aspect of his paper for social workers, and his assertion is that the Code is, in large measure, based on an imperfect form of utilitarianism. This is scarcely surprising, given the dominance of utilitarianism in social and political discourse, so influenced by economic rationalism and crude empiricism. Utilitarianism forms the basis of many of the policies, practice manuals, and managerial practices that form the context within which social workers work, and perhaps it is only to be expected that this philosophy is represented in the Code of Ethics; if it were otherwise, the Code may seem irrelevant for many practitioners. Yet, utilitarianism has serious problems and is in some respects counter to the value base of social work. Solas’ article represents a challenge for social work: to what extent is social work prepared to rediscover its radical tradition and challenge these orthodoxies? In recent years, the emphasis in social work has been, in my view (and presumably also in John Solas’), too much oriented to survival in a hostile environment and to accommodation with these dominant discourses, so that the critical edge that once characterised social work (or at least a significant stream within it) has been lost.

The Changing Role of the State in the Provision of Human Services in Australia

This paper considers how the changing role of the state represents a fundamental challenge to the identity of social work. It explores the effect of economic rationalism and globalization on the welfare state. It argues that an international perspective in social work will improve social works capacity to analyse and find solutions to individual problems and articulate a broader oppositional politics.