Values and Principles of Social Work

MSW Class Work on the values and principles of social work & identifying 10 social workers.

 

A.    Primary Aims of Social Work Profession

 

1.      To enhance human well being and help meet their basic needs.
2.      Particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed and living in poverty.
3.      Focus on individual well-being in a social context and well being of the society.

 

B.     Social Work Core Values

 

• Social Service: Social workers are committed to helping people in need and addressing social problems.
• Social Justice: Social workers challenge social injustice of all forms. The person who has undertaken the task of social work needs to keep in mind that ensuring and upholding social justice is a crucial aspect of the social work that they do. Social work needs to be done with the objective of making sure that at the end of it, every person has an equal opportunity.
• Dignity and Worth: Social workers value and respect every person, no matter their differences.
• Relationships: Social workers recognize the central importance of relationships in human well-being.
• Integrity: Social workers value and protect the trust they earn with clients and communities. It is one of the truly fitting core values of social work given that it is integrity itself which sparks out the true spirit of social work. Integrity is a feeling which is borne out of moral correctness and the need to conform to one's value systems. When integrity is made a part of the core values, then only can the social work be deemed a success.
• Competence: Social workers practice within their abilities and work to enhance their professional expertise. Social service and social work today require a great deal of competence, hard work and a drive to excel, much as is the case with any corporate job. An incompetent person most certainly cannot go for social work, nor is any less than the best performance demanded by those who are in it.

 

C.    Names of individuals who have contributed towards social service and the kind of works they have done.

 

1.      Bill Gates has supported the following charities:

 

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: Supporting health and education around the world. Prior to Warren Buffett's 2006 donation of $37bn, the fund stood at $29.1bn and had made $10.5bn in grants since 1994. 70% of that sum was spent outside the US, and the largest single grant was $1bn to the United Negro College Fund. Commenting on Buffett’s donation to the fund, Bill Gates said, “It is a big challenge to make sure this money gets used in the right way, but it is one we are thrilled about.”

 

Children's Vaccine Program: Creating access to lifesaving vaccines for children around the world.

 

Children with AIDS: Children with AIDS Charity (CWAC) was set up in 1992 to help the youngest of those infected or affected by HIV/AIDS maintain a good quality of life. It is a national UK charity with the aim of working towards a future without poverty or prejudice for these children and their families. The charity responds to the specific practical, emotional and educational requirements of children and their families infected and affected by HIV.

 

Earth Institute: The Earth Institute at Columbia University brings together talent from throughout the University to address complex issues facing the planet and its inhabitants, with particular focus on sustainable development and the needs of the world’s poor.

 

Other charity works where he contributed are Estamos, Food Bank For New York City, GALVMed, Make A Child Smile Appeal, MASSIVEGOOD and The Lunchbox Fund.

 

2.      Angelina Jolie

 

The Jolie-Pitt Foundation, dedicated to eradicating extreme rural poverty, protecting natural resources and conserving wildlife, donated $1 million to Doctors Without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organization created by doctors and journalists in France in 1971. The organization provides aid in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters, for emergency medical assistance to help victims of the Haiti earthquake.

 

3.      Elton John

 

Sir Elton John has seen many of his close friends die from HIV/AIDS over the years, and established the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) in 1992 to try to stem the destruction the disease causes around the world. He also supported 41 charity and foundations related to HIV/AIDS.

 

4.      Mother Teresa

 

Mother Teresa was considered as the Global Icon of Selfless Social Service. Teresa's Missionaries of Charity continued to expand, and at the time of her death it was operating 610 missions in 123 countries, including hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counselling programs, orphanages, and schools.

 

5.      Mahatma Gandhi

 

The pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement. He was the pioneer of satyagraha—resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon ahimsa or total non violence—which led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi led nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women's rights, build religious and ethnic amity, end untouchability, and increase economic self-reliance. Above all, he aimed to achieve Swaraj or the independence of India from foreign domination.

 

6.      Raja Ram Mohan Roy

 

He was a founder of the Brahma Sabha in 1828 which engendered the Brahmo Samaj, an influential Indian socio-religious reform movement. He is best known for his efforts to abolish the practice of sati, the Hindu funeral practice in which the widow was compelled to sacrifice herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. It was he who first introduced the word "Hinduism" into the English language in 1816. For his diverse contributions to society, Raja Ram Mohan Roy is regarded as one of the most important figures in the Indian Renaissance. Ram Mohan Roy's impact on modern Indian history was a revival of the pure and ethical principles of the Vedanta school of philosophy as found in the Upanishads.

 

7.      B. R. Ambedkar

 

He was an Indian jurist, political leader, Buddhist activist, philosopher, thinker, anthropologist, historian, orator, prolific writer, economist, scholar, editor, revolutionary and the revivalist of Buddhism in India. He was also the chief architect of the Indian Constitution. Ambedkar spent his whole life fighting against social discrimination, the system of Chaturvarna — the Hindu categorization of human society into four varnas — and the Hindu caste system. He is also credited with having sparked the bloodless revolution with his most remarkable and innovative Buddhist movement. Ambedkar has been honoured with the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award.

 

8.      Patricia Mukhim

 

She is deeply involved in the social upliftment activities of the Meghalaya people. She have a vast experiences in conflict management, consumer rights, issues of corruption in government, gender sensitization and focus on rural poverty is simply gigantic. Currently, She is serving as Director of Indigenous Women's Resource Centre, Shillong and also is a member of District Consumer's Forum. She is a social science researcher, particularly of the Khasi matrilineal society and its transition over the years. She campaigned actively and relentlessly for ending militancy in the region, apart from working in the drug addiction problem amongst the youth of Meghalaya.

 

9.      Irom Sharmila Chanu

 

Known as the "Iron Lady of Manipur" or "Mengoubi" ("the fair one") is a civil rights activist, political activist, and poet from the Indian state of Manipur. Since 2 November 2000, she has been on hunger strike to demand that the Indian government repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA), which she blames for violence in Manipur and other parts of India's northeast. Having refused food and water for more than 500 weeks, she has been called "the world's longest hunger striker".

 

10.  Anna Hazare

 

He is one of India's well-acclaimed social activists. Anna Hazare is one of India's well-acclaimed social activists. Anna is well known and respected for upgrading the ecology and economy of the village of Ralegan Siddhi which is located in the drought prone Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra state. The erstwhile barren village has metamorphosed into a unique model of rural development due to its effective water conservation methods, which made the villagers self-sufficient. Earlier, the same village witnessed alcoholism, utter poverty and migration to urban slums. Inspired by Hazare’s unique approach of salvaging a hopeless village, the state government has implemented the `Model Village’ scheme as part of its official strategy. Hazare is now synonymous with rural development in India. Hazare believes that our freedom is at the teeth of danger due to corruption and unless it is eliminated, the country will not be free in its true sense. Therefore, a peaceful war has been waged against corruption with the help of immense support from people.