Trace the development of social work practice in Middle East Countries
The development of social work practice in Middle East Countries Social work is a practice-based profession that promotes social change, development, cohesion and the empowerment of people and communities.
Social work practice involves the understanding of human
development, behavior and the social, economic and cultural institutions and
interactions.
Social work professionals working with families and
institutions have helped to provide and advance the following social impacts:
- ·
Civil
Rights
- ·
Unemployment
Insurance
- ·
Disability
Pay
- ·
Workers’
Compensation
- ·
Reduced
Mental Health Stigma
- ·
Medicaid
and Medicare
- ·
Child
Abuse and Neglect Prevention
The Development of Social Work Practice
in Middle East Countries
Introduction
Social work education has a crucial role to play in imparting
knowledge to the students and in preparing them for the realities of practice
in the conflict-ridden society. The development of social work practice in
Middle East Countries , The knowledge and information on history of social work
practice and education in different countries, in particular, is very important
to understand respective country’s history of charity or philanthropy work,
evolution of social welfare system, existing social problems with the enduring
socio-cultural situation and recent social work approaches to comply with the
same problems, for creating programme of action to ameliorate social conditions
of a country.
Middle East countries, dominated by Muslims, encounter social
problems like poverty, discrimination against women, consequences of man-made
disaster and so on. In spite of having huge quantity of oil reserved, poverty
also persists in this part of the world.
As per the UNDP report, in 1998, Iraq was ranked 42nd out of
the 77 poorest countries in the world. In this zone, women continue to suffer
from severe discrimination in the work place, home and court and from
restrictions on their freedom of movement and their choice of partners. In
Saudi Arabia, the religious police enforce strict gender segregation and a
women’s public dress code of head-to-toe covering.
Turkey: The modern Republic of Turkey was came into existence on October 29, 1923
from a portion of the Ottoman Empire, following the empire’s collapse as a
result of World War I. It became a secular state in 1928; The development of
social work practice in Middle East Countries - women gained the right to vote
in 1934; and a multi-party system was established in 1946. Turkey’s population
was estimated at 66,493,970 in 2001, out of which 99 per cent represented
Muslim—primarily Sunni. Christians account for less than 0.1 per cent of the
total population.
The official language of Turkey is Turkish. By 2001, 96.7 per
cent of the adult population was literate. The infant mortality rate is 47
deaths per 1,000 live births. Life expectancy at birth in 2001 was 68.9 years
for men and 73.7 years for women.
Turkey has a
longstanding history of social services. The Ottomans religious foundations and
some professional organizations performed active role in this field. The development
of social work practice in Middle East Countries , Since independence in 1923,
the public institutions have taken over the social services issues. The General
Directorate of Social Services and Child protection Agency is now the largest
social assistance organization of Turkey, with its provisional directorates in
80 provinces. It provides support to children, adolescents, aged and disabled
persons and families through different categories of homes, day care centers, adoption
hubs and so on.
Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia, monarchy of the Middle East, is known as the birthplace of
Islam. Its government is based on the sacred Shari’ah law of Islam, which is
interpreted according to the strict Hanbali rite by the learned religious
elders, or ulama. The country has a population (2001) of 22,757,092. All Saudis
are Muslims and the national language is Arabic. In Saudi Arabia, during 2001,
the adult literacy rate was 94 per cent; life expectancy at birth was 66 years
for men and 70 years for women; and the infant mortality rate was 51 deaths per
1,000 live births. Saudi Arabia has the highest reserves of petroleum in the world. The development of social work practice in Middle East
Countries, It ranks as the largest
exporter of petroleum and keeps a strong voice in Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC), which has much influence over international oil
pricing.
The cultural environment in Saudi Arabia is highly
conservative. Men and women are not permitted to attend public events together
and are segregated in the work place. Many foreign workers, especially women,
face exploitative working conditions. The development of social work practice
in Middle East Countries , The stereotype of Muslim women in Saudi Arabia
today, as uneducated, with no rights and no opportunities is a caricature born
of ignorance or malevolence. Saudi law does not protect many basic human rights
and the government places strict limits on freedom of association, assembly,
and expression. Arbitrary detention, mistreatment and torture of detainees, restrictions
on freedom of movement, and lack of official accountability remain serious
concerns.
Israel: An
estimated 6 million Jews (more than one third of the world’s Jewish population)
in central and eastern Europe were killed by German Nazis during World War-II.
Realizing the massacre of Jews by Nazi, the Jewish demand for self-government
greatly intensified in Palestine.
As a result of seven
years of war, faced with numerous terrorist attacks by Jews on British, the
British government in 1947 decided to leave Palestine keeping the issue of
partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. The development of social
work practice in Middle East Countries , Since Arab protested against the
partition plans, civil war i.e. war of independence started.
The Arabs failed to prevent the establishment of the Jewish
state and thus Israel became independent in 1948. Hebrew and Arabic are the
official languages now in the country.
Social work discipline has become quite advanced in Israel as
a result of professional association, council, registration system, and so on.
The ‘Israel Association of Social Workers’ functions as both trade union and
professional association and actively involved in the innovation and
improvement of the profession.
The ‘Council of Social
Work Education’ came
into being in the decade of 1980. Five heads of the schools mentioned above, a
representative of the American Joint Distribution Committee, a secretary and a
treasurer were the members. The development of social work practice in Middle
East Countries , The ‘Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs’ maintains a
registry of social workers, with registration on the basis of degree received
from one of the above mentioned five schools or recognized institution in
abroad. This registration is required for the employment in public sector in
Israel.
Conclusion
Social work discipline more or less
emerged in the African and Middle East countries between 1920 to 1950.
In particular, the gloomy social
situation and sufferings of the people after World War I, during Great
Depression, and after World War II have paved away for this discipline to
appear. The development
of social work practice in Middle East Countries , In Africa,
the main issue was poor white problems.
Black although suffered much, there
was reluctance on the part of the service providers to extend help. In Middle
East, religion played gigantic role along with the misery of the people.
The development of social work practice in Middle East
Countries Hence, ‘Islamic reorientation of social work’ is an important
issue there. Anyway, personnel trained from the America and Europe led and
carried on the professional activities during the early days of social work
education and practice in both the regions. In the beginning, baccalaureate
level training was the backbone of social welfare in most of the countries.
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