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The Practice Of International Social Work

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SWP 31/AB Research Proposal Lisa Davis Dec 3/14 This paper will explore the practice of international social work and some of the explanations of why it has come about, along with the consequences of internationalization for social workers, their profession and education.
. International social work has been practiced for many years. George Bwarren, first coined the term ‘international social work’, in 1943. Warren used this term to describe social work practice in agencies that engaged in organized international efforts (Xu, 2006). This term was also defined as a distinct field of practice, which stressed the importance of specific skills and knowledge to work in international agencies. An example of such agencies includes, the …show more content…

(Hiranandani, 2008). Canada also participated in the founding of the World Health Organization and United Nations in 1945, and drafting the Universal declaration of Human Rights in 1948. (Hiranandani, 2008). Healy (2001) as cited by (Zu, 2006) believes that international social work should not be viewed as a field, rather prefers the term international action. Due to increased global interdependence, local social workers as well as domestic human service agents have greater opportunities and a responsibility to engage in international activities. Although not all social workers working in the field associate themselves as actively participating in international social work, many agencies nationally become involved with international issues. (Hugman, Moosa-Mitha, Moyo, 2010. P. 630). Claims, “All of us have, in different ways, become international social workers: we are all migrants, we all practice, teach and/or research in more than one country; we all address international issues in our work as we presume that global issues are increasingly local.” Since the 1990’s , increased immigration has influenced international forces and has helped redefine the unique practice of international social work from western helpers of professional imperialism, in which western knowledge was transferred from the richer nations (global north) to the poorer nations (global south). (Zu, 2006). Internationalization has changed social

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