Global Social Work Practice: Reflective Practice for Justice and Peace

1. Global Social Work Practice: Reflective Practice for Justice and Peace Collaborative Course: Loyola University of Chicago School of Social Work and Vytautas Magnus University School of Social Work Spring, 2009

2. Faculty Loyola: Professor Katherine Tyson VMU: Professor Violeta Ivanauskiene

3. Group Presentation Assignment • Imagine: You are a team of global social workers consulting with the United Nations • Choose a social problem anywhere in the world and: • describe the nature and extent of the problem and • what social workers could do, if they had the funding from the UN, to remedy it • When all the presentations are completed we will reconsider our definitions of Global Social Work Practice and see if we need to revise it

6. The Singing Revolutions In Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, 1989-1990 The Baltic Way

7. Vytautas the Great (courtesy of Wikipedia)

8. Trakkai Castle Lithuania

9. Church of Vytautas the Great, Kaunas, Lithuania

10. Resurrection Church Kaunas, Lithuania

11. TV Tower Vilnius, LT

12. About Vytautas Magnus University “The beginnings of higher education in Lithuania go back to the 16th century when, in 1579, the college founded by Jesuits in Vilnius became a higher school of education, the University of Vilnius. In 1832, Czar Nicholas I closed the university. After the independence of Lithuania was declared, in 1918, the State Council decided to re-establish the University of Vilnius. Since Vilnius was occupied and the Lithuanian government transferred to Kaunas, this decision was not put into effect. In 1920, Higher Courses of Study were begun in Kaunas, laying the foundation for the establishment of a university. In February 1922, the Lithuanian Government of Ministers decided to establish the University of Lithuania in Kaunas. The ceremonial opening of the university took place on February 16, 1922. On June 7, 1930, the university was named Vytautas Magnus University. It was closed during the Soviet occupation. The act of re-establishing Vytautas Magnus University was proclaimed on April 28, 1989.”

13. Woodcarver at Baltica 2005 Festival, Vilnius, Lithuania

14. Professors Ivanauskiene and Liobikiene Marijampole, LT

15. Professors Ivanauskiene and Tyson Marijampole, LT 2005

16. Globalization and Social Work • What is globalization? (Hare, p. 408) • Economic • Ecological • Social • Role of global social worker: Promote social development via • Direct services (micro and meso level) • Participating in international policy-making or planning organizations • Knowledge base • Socially-constructed: what is that? • Theory • Evidence-based • Indigenous (Hare p. 415)

17. Human rights orientation of this course: • Social services that focus on: • Facilitating healing of social and familial trauma • Advancing social justice within and between countries • Fostering cross-cultural and transnational understanding and cooperation • Advancing self-determination, peace and freedom

18. What are social work roles in your country? How are they similar and different from global social work practice? • Advocate • Program developer and manager • Practitioner with individuals, families, groups • School social worker/social pedagogue • Researcher • Social policy planning • Consultant and supervisor • Educator • More?

19. Characteristics of international social work (Ahmadi) • Consolidation of democracy • Remedying poverty • Global solidarity, conflict prevention, peace-keeping • Transcending nation-states (20) • Creation of solutions based on regional needs beyond national borders (21) • Involving new social actors to frame common solutions

20. Questions about Global Social Work (Gray and Fook) • Definition p. 628, 630-631 • Four debates (p. 627) • Efforts towards indigenisation of sw based on articulating cultural practices, p. 634-5 • How distinguish local from global now? 635 • Universalizing recommendations 637-638 • SW is instrument of government? • SW is discourse about it, or practice? • Who dominates discourse and why? • Value of universal standards for social work (p. 629) but how to monitor? • Final recommendations p. 639

21. International Federation of Social Workers • “The International Federation of Social Workers recognizes that social work originates variously from humanitarian, religious and democratic ideals and philosophies; and that it has universal application to meet human needs arising from personal-societal interactions, and to develop human potential.Professional social workers are dedicated to service for the welfare and self-fulfillment of human beings; to the development and disciplined use of scientific knowledge regarding human behavior and society; to the development of resources to meet individual, group, national and international needs and aspirations; to the enhancement and improvement of the quality of life of people; and to the achievement of social justice.”

22. What is your opinion of this definition of Global Social Work? • The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilizing theories of human behavior and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work. • By: International Federation of Social Workers, 2000

23. Tackling Global Poverty (Seipel) • Define poverty: • 1) Income, 2) Human Poverty Index • Important facts: • Decline in poverty rate; but gap between rich and poor countries is growing (p. 198) • 1.3 billion out of all people in developing countries live below the international poverty rate of $1 per day • Great income disparities within regions and between regions • Growth of external debt among developing countries • “Commitment to education is not prominent in many parts of the world” (198) and in some regions has actually decreased since the 1980s

24. Poverty reduction (Seipel) • An effective anti-poverty approach must have many foundations and be sustainable (199) • Economic growth with equity (200) • Support micro-enterprise • Create jobs through tax policies and legislation, w/ training, savings, health services • International cooperation • Support fair trade • Reduce unmanageable foreign debts • Improve foreign aid • Social investment • Inhibit political corruption • Develop human capital, health & equity • Educate all people • Facilitate solidarity among poor people to advance their political leverage

25. Amartya SenDevelopment as Freedom(1999) • Five distinct types of freedom, all of which focus on human choice: • “1) political freedoms, • 2) economic facilities, • 3) social opportunities, • 4) transparency guarantees, and • 5) protective security” (1999, p. 10). • Definitions: • Transparency guarantees: the need for openness that people can expect: the freedom to deal with one another under guarantees of disclosure and lucidity. When that trust is seriously violated, the lives of many people – both direct parties and third parties – may be adversely affected by the lack of openness… These guarantees have a clear instrumental role in preventing corruption, financial irresponsibility and underhand dealings” (1999, p. 40). • “Protective security” citizens’ need for social, economic, and medical safety nets, which are needed in many countries as well as in many communities in the United States. • Unfreedom includes the recognition that threats to human sustenance are physically dangerous and psychologically shackling.

26. Amartya Sen: Possibility of social choice • Task: develop using systematic investigation, broadly applicable and reasonable axioms about important aspects of social choice • Questions in developing social choice theory p. 188. • Example: how to define poverty? 194 how is poverty shared and distributed? What is comparative deprivation? 197 • Distinguish adaptation and ability to find contentment in life from true social choice

27. Freedom and Self-Determination • Respecting the client’s right to self-determination is a longstanding value of social work • One’s chosen values, cognition, and intentions have significant regulatory impact on subjective experience and even on aspects of brain function • Self-determination is a capacity in each person, hence a standard with which to evaluate a client’s developmental progress; it includes: • Multicultural definitions of selfhood (Ewalt) • Freedom with regard to aspects of life that one’s choices can direct (Sen 1999) • Inner freedom from drivenness by intentions acquired to cope with traumatizing experiences -- Reflective awareness of own intentions and goals and capacity to freely choose between them

28. Self-Determination • Is the birthright of every person • Is manifested in: • A capacity to recognize truth in self and others (integrity in Stephen Carter’s[1996] use of the term) • A stable perception of and action to advance justice (fair, equitable treatment of all) • The ability to think autonomously about oneself and one’s world (a free mind) • The ability to advocate for fair treatment of oneself • Competence in one’s chosen work • A capacity to experience the pleasures of intimacy (romantic and caregiving intimacy)

29. Practice Implications of Cultural Variations in Self-Determination • How directive should social worker be (Gray & Fook, p. 636-637)? • How individualized is the notion of ‘self’? • How much freedom of choice does the person believe s/he has in that society? How much does s/he actually have?

30. Discussion Questions a) How does the concept of self-determination that Patricia Ewalt describes fit with your cultural definitions of self-determination? This includes both the concept of self, and the concept of freedom of choice. b) What kinds of obstacles to self-determination do clients you have worked with experience? c) How do you think social workers can develop self-determination for people 1) individually 2) in communities 3) nationally 4) globally? d) Amartya Sen bases his ideas on concepts of Freedom of Choice (see slide) and he discusses five kinds of freedom. Give examples of those freedoms and unfreedoms in your country.

31. Questions raised in the context of post-Soviet democratization • What is freedom? (see Jurkuviene & Harrison; Stevenson) • Freedom for what? Freedom from what? • What is democracy? (consider Jane Addams’ definition) • How is democracy maintained? • What is the role of civil society in democracy? • How does social work contribute to civil society and thereby democracy?

32. Developing social services in Russia (Tempelman) - Microethnographic study of social workers in Russia found: • Despite social problems accompanying democratization and societal instability, there is excitement about the new freedom • With democratization and increased recognition of social problems, there is a need for defining and developing new forms of practice to respond to the new context • Importance of research to establish practice models and define problem areas • Current issues in social work: • Establishing legitimacy of social work as a profession • Social work education

33. Discussion questions • How does your country need to develop and improve its democracy? • How can social workers in your country contribute to that process?

34. Healey: Global Social Work has four key dimensions • Internationally-related domestic practice and advocacy: • addressing problems that cross national boundaries (e.g., trafficking, drug sales) • Working with international populations • Professional exchange: using knowledge gained from other countries to improve practice and policy in home country • International Practice: Social workers contribute to international development by working in international development agencies – Grameen Bank example p. 11 • International policy development and advocacy: Social work as a worldwide movement influencing policy at the international level, as in educational efforts with UN policy deliberations on violence against women, p. 13 • Discussion Question: What examples of these aspects of Global Social Work have you seen?

35. Global social welfare organizations • United Nations (p. 127 ff) - aims of peace, international amity, cooperation, and harmonizing govt actions to attain common goals; 185 member nations • Economic and Social Council • High Commission for Refugees • UNICEF • UNDP • WHO • UN Fund for Population Activities • World Bank: provides loans to encourage development activities • International Monetary fund: provides technical assistance to countries on financial matters (banking, taxation, etc.) (p. 135) • USAID (138): foreign aid program • Peace corps • NGO: relief and development, advocacy, development education, exchange, agencies engaged in global sw, agencies with branches in many countries

36. Efforts to articulate global human rights • and global professional ethics: The articulation of a view of universal values regarding human life: • The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights at: http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html • Example of universal professional code of ethics: • The International Federation of Social Workers Statement on Ethics at: http://www.ifsw.org/en/p38000324.html

37. Global Social Work Values • What is the debate about between universalism in values and cultural relativism of values? (Healey p. 152) • Do you have examples of how a clash of values relevant for social work is evident in cross-cultural human rights concerns? • In your example, who participates in the formation of the cultural values and who benefits from maintaining them? • In your example, how might value clashes be reframed so people can benefit from the dynamic (e.g. changing) aspect of cultural values?

38. Global Professional Ethics(Pettifor, 2004) • Professional codes of ethics (p. 264): • “promote optimal behavior by providing aspirational principles” • “regulate professional behavior by monitoring and disciplinary action” - eg protect people from the misuse of professional power • Promote ethical thinking rather than rule-following • Consolidate professional identity • Discussion questions: • What kinds of ethical conflicts are problematic for social workers in your country? • Have there been examples of the misuse of social workers’ professional power in your country that concern you?

39. Discussion questions about developing professional ethical thinking • If professional codes of ethics are transplanted from one culture to another: • Can the values and standards fit with the values and standards of the country to which they are transplanted? • Can the values and the standards be consistent with actual practice? • “A basic level of safety, open communication, democratic institutions, and human rights may be essential for professional ethical thinking” (p. 270 Pettifor). Do you agree? Why or why not?

40. Working for reconciliation in the context of massive societal trauma: The example of Rwanda (discussion of Pham et al., 2004) • Define precisely the nature of the trauma Rwandan people experienced due to the genocide • What social efforts were made to generate reconciliation and how effective were they? • Judicial • Legislative • What associations did the authors find between PTSD symptoms and attitudes towards social justice and reconciliation? • Why would PTSD symptoms make it difficult for people to feel comfortable working with others?

41. Working for reconciliation in the context of massive societal trauma: The example of Rwanda (Pham et al., 2004) Rwanda used three judicial processes to rectify effects of the 1994 conflict: • the ICTR, • Rwandan national trials, and • gacaca trials. People responded most positively to gacaca: they felt more informed and involved with the process (p. 610).“When people feel as thought they have more control of the outcome, they are more likely to support the process. Since gacaca is community-based and trials are held publicly within the community, people may be more involved and committed” (2004, p. 610). The least positive response was toward ICTR, about which Rwandans had the least information. Therefore,“a lack of reliable information is the key factor undermining the capacity of the tribunal to contribute to reconciliation in Rwanda” (p. 610) Individuals within the community respond more positively when feeling involved in the justice process.

42. Discussion questions • What examples do you see in your country of PTSD that results from societal or ethnic-level violence? • What are aspects of global social workers roles to assist with this PTSD?

43. Sex, violence, and economic restructuring in Kuwait (Tetreault) • What kind of economic restructuring is currently occurring in Kuwait? • Depressed oil prices force internal economic redistribution among social groups; can intensity ethnic rivalry (237-238) • What is the role of gender in such a context? • “gender violence incorporated as an element of discourse between antagonistic ethnic groups” (238) • “conflicts over ‘women’s proper place’ mask struggles by some groups to retain control and power.” (239) • “Shutting women up in their houses …leaves more jobs for men” (251)– describe how this process has occurred in Kuwait

44. Stigma and access to care(discussion of Castro & Farmer, 2005) • How are stigma and discrimination at the heart of the AIDS pandemic? • Define structural violence. • What did the authors find about why stigma is so hard to eradicate? • How does treatment spark a ‘virtuous social cycle’? (p. 56) • If you apply these ideas to clinical social work treatment, how would clinical social work treatment spark a ‘virtuous social cycle’?

45. Developing culturally sound definitions of well-being and mental health(discussion of Wong & Tsang, 2004) • What are some examples of Western misunderstandings of Asian cultures and values? • What is ‘essentialization,’ why is it problematic, and what alternatives are there? (p. 457) • Can you think of other examples of essentialization? • How might essentialization interfere with forming a good social work alliance? • What are the key dimensions of mental health according to the Asian women? • Spirituality • Social conditions and access to opportunities • Autonomy and self-confidence • Thinking about these definitions of mental health, how would you define mental health?

46. Discussion of “The origins of cultural cognition” • What is the pivotal and quintessentially human capability? • Define: intention; skills of cultural cognition • How do children learn to read the intentions of others? • What do the authors mean by their statement, “language is not basic, it is derived” (27) and why is this important?

47. Discussion of: Cooperation and competition in peaceful societies • How does the researcher define a peaceful society and what are some examples? • What does the researcher conclude about the link between competition and aggression by examining peaceful societies? • What are some hallmarks of child rearing in peaceful societies? • What are some rituals that foster cooperation? Competition? • Do you believe that competition fosters aggression and violence? • How can you as a social worker promote peace in your country? Globally?

48. Discussion questions for: Child-rearing and the development of behavioral inhibition in China and Canada • How is behavioral inhibition defined and measured in this research? Why is it an important concept for child development? • What statistical associations did the researchers find between the mothers’ attitudes and the children’s behavioral inhibition? • Do you agree with the researchers’ conclusions that cultural values are expressed by the mothers express and influence their children?

49. Mother and child, China

50. Canadian children