Rural Social Work and Social Perspectives of Sustainability

Dear Colleagues,

Owing to spatial location, rural communities in the Global North and South are grappling with unique challenges and a compendium of factors impeding social work service delivery. The nexus of social work and rurality and the implications for sustainable development remain under-researched and least understood. Through a disproportionate level of attention on urban areas, rural areas and the countryside remain a significant yet under-served population by social workers. Rural areas are held back by inadequate access to key services and social amenities, a shortfall in infrastructure, in particular transport and connectivity, rising poverty rates, and limited/non-existent specialist health services. In the Global South, the situation is further compounded by rising levels of poverty and inequality, fragile governance, limited reach of social/public services and social protection coverage, and traumatized communities trapped in conflict. Social work’s mandate as “a practice-based profession … that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people” (IFSW, 2015: 19) is an arduous task to practice for social workers deployed in rural areas aiming to provide wholesome support and professional help for vulnerable at-risk groups.

Aims of the Special Issue:

The key question of this Special Issue is how rural social work can be re-configured to enable rural people’s problem solving, aimed at enhancing sustainable development. It is important to highlight what is working well, who are the key players, and what are the challenges and insights. Amidst social workers’ limited reach, rural inhabitants display resilience in fashioning out innovative ways of delivering services, resolving pressing needs and problems by themselves through indigenous/local approaches. There is a need to unpack these innovative ways and challenges, herein characterized as social perspectives of sustainability. The intersections between rurality, social work, and sustainability are often missed in social development planning.

This Special Issue aims to achieve the following:

1. Uncouple the enmeshments of rural social work and sustainable development;
2. Uncover innovative ways and challenges of problem solving grounded in relational networks and other forms of agency in rural communities;
3. Consider the role of rural social workers in the implementation of social/welfare services.

Suggested themes:

We encourage contributions on a broad range of topics, which may include but are not limited to the following:

• Social work/welfare in rural areas and the countryside—issues at play and pointers for practice;
• Rural social work, NGOs, and sustainable development;
• Remote communities and innovative models of social work practice;
• Hidden/invisible coping strategies, strength-based perspectives, and adaptations;
• Social justice, green social work, and environmental justice;
• Notions of “cultural competence” and applicability in rural communities;
• Social work/welfare policy drivers and configuration/re-configuration in rural areas;
• Rural social workers’ skill set, regulation, and practice environment;
• State–social work relations and rural service delivery/implementation;
• Indigenous approaches to social work, challenges, and insights;
• Ethical dilemmas and value-based systems;
• Professional social work capacity, capability, and work with other agencies;
• Resilience, rural social work research, practice, and sustainability;
• Vulnerability of service user groups and social work response;
• Nexus of rurality, social work, and sustainable development.

We welcome original research articles, reviews, case studies, and policy perspectives that enhance our understanding around the social work set-up in rural areas and the countryside. We encourage empirical, inter-disciplinary approaches that provide insights on the interconnectedness of rural social work and sustainable development in addressing/resolving pressing problems.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Reference

Spitzer, H; Twikirize, Janestic. Social innovations in rural communities in Africa's Great Lakes region. A social work perspective. J Rural Studi. 2023, 99, 262-271.

Dr. Charles C. Fonchingong
Guest Editor

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• rural social work
• agency
• social welfare
• relational networks
• resilience
• sustainability
• practice
• service delivery
• social perspectives
• rural communities