Social work: A social partner in economic development

Abstract

The social and economic nature of poverty calls for an integrated approach to human, social and economic development. Social work impacts both directly and indirectly on economic development. Challenges for social work to contribute towards economic development are embedded in attitude, vision and capacity. The paper concludes that the engagement of social work in economic development should be recognised as a specialised field in social work. This will not only be in line with a developmental social welfare policy shift to a sustainable livelihood approach, but will also firmly position social work as a social partner contributing to the achievement of national social developmental goals.