AWARENESS FOR CULTURAL RESPONSIVE SOCIAL WORK

THE social work practice is built on culturally sensitive practices that advocate for social and economic justice for those who are oppressed, disadvantaged and vulnerable or even discriminated upon.

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) reminds social workers of one of their principal duties of being culturally competent. “Obtain education about and seek to understand the nature of social diversity and oppression,” NASW’s National Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity (NASW, 2001).

NASW further asserts that, there are standards that as a professional one needs to adhere to, in order to promote cultural competence: including self-awareness, cross-cultural knowledge, skills and leadership. Although “diversity is taking on a broader meaning to include the sociocultural experiences of people of different genders, social classes, religious and spiritual beliefs, sexual orientations, ages, and physical and mental abilities.

Many institutions of higher learning like the University of Swaziland (UNISWA) create space for social work students to explore identity formation through its emphasis on self-awareness. The argument is knowing who you are and what influences your behaviour and how you react to issues.

The new social workers are taught to strengthen their critical thinking and new effective ways of practice or applying their theories. The purpose is to attempt and do away with professionals who conform or settle for reasons like economic and job security reasons. As educators we want to instil the mentality or path of self-discovery of who are they, where are they coming from and which direction they are taking to and then speak confidently in all spheres of their practice and professionalism.

This article is labouring to advise that all social workers need to have a brilliant understanding of how their practice and delivery services are affected by societal structures and issues surrounding cultural and ethnic differences. If the profession gives a blind eye to cultural sensitivity, they can find themselves reinforcing (unintentionally though) oppression of some populations through factors like race, gender, sexual orientation and so forth. Some  of the ethical codes highlighted by the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) ‘respect’ and ‘empowerment .’ Therefore, or ‘good’ intentions are thwart our actions when confronted by dilemmas related to incompetence around cultural issues.

Issues of cultural values should involve how social work practitioners deal with cultural differences when serving their clients. This will also promote good relationships between service users and providers of services. A culture competent social worker should respond appropriately to issues such as: Tribalism, Euro centrism, Xenophobia, human rights, discrimination, stereotyping, stigmatisation, faith, religion, social class, gender, race and so on.

Social workers should appreciate culture differences and continuously review their knowledge and skills pertaining to different cutlutres.This will not only appreciate the strength and weaknesses of different cultures, but it will also enable them to advocate for policies and legal tools that promote human rights and discourage cultural practice that promotes bad practices like in the field of child protection .The author’s argument lies on the fact that social ills like violence, child abuse, wife battering, dysfunctional families and others may be curbed through understanding and  identifying legal tools and policies that are not only relevant, but that do away with oppressing other groups in all societies.
Social work and social work education need to begin to examine how there may be very different  value  bases  in  different  ethnic/religious   groups  which  may  be  at  odds  with Western  libertarian,  individualistic  social  work  values.  This  is  true,  for  example,  of Muslim,  Sikh  and  Buddhist  approaches  to  morality  and  ethics.  Such  issues  can  be particularly  contentious  in  relation  to  definitions  of  child  abuse  and  how  social  workers work in culturally sensitive ways, without exhibiting cultural relativism (see Dingwall et al 1983; Corby, 2000), and youth offender work (Sender and Littlechild, 2006).  
Conclusively, the balancing act between social work values and cultural competency to protect all groups is fundamental. What is your role as a decision maker?

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