The attitudes of social workers towards implementing developmental social work

M.A.A new welfare policy which introduced the developmental approach in the welfare system was implemented during 1997 in South Africa. The developmental approach encourages the introduction of social programs that contribute directly to economic development in the communities. Developmental social welfare implies a variety of role players in a system of social services which focus on social development. Social workers happen to be one of them. A developmental social welfare policy implies that social work should shift focus of attention to strategies that would contribute to social development. The extent of basic development needs in our country demands that social workers should clearly define their roles and outputs at this point in time so as to address these needs and outline their distinctive professional contribution in a social welfare system within socio-economic development. The focus of this people-driven, people-centred approach is on developing human capacity and self-reliance within an enabling environment. The community development process has a major contribution to make in realizing this objective. For community development to take place, people need to act collectively. People need to be organized in the community so that they can be able to function as a unit. Through community development, social workers unleash people's collective potential, build their capacity and help them to organize themselves around common concerns. However, social workers need to recognize the role played by economic factors in development initiatives. Realizing that the new developmental approach was just been introduced to social workers, this study seeks to explore and describe the attitude of social workers towards this paradigm shift