Social Work in Cambodia: Looking Ahead - PowerPoint Presentation

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Social Work in Cambodia: Looking AheadBy Prof. Vimla V. Nadkarni, Ph.D.President, International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) 

Keynote Address presented at the International Conference on “Professional Social Work in SE Asia: Education and Qualifications” organized by Department of Social Work, the Royal University of Phnom Penh and the Association of Professional Social Workers of Cambodia (July 21-22, 2015)

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I congratulate the Department of Social Work at the Royal University of Phnom Penh and the Association of Professional Social Workers of Cambodia that have co-organized this conference on “Professional Social Work in SE Asia: Education and Qualifications” in collaboration with the University of Washington-Royal University of Phnom Penh Social Work Partnership. I sincerely thank the Conference Co-Chairs Kimkanika Ung and Ratana Sann with Program Chair Saveun Nhim for inviting me to give this keynote address. Both

University of Washington in Seattle, USA and EWHA in South Korea have contributed to the development of social work education in Cambodia.

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The Context and Rationale for Social Work in CambodiaThe article titled “Rebuilding Post-Conflict Cambodia By Educating Tomorrow’s Social Workers” written by Tracy W. Harachi School of Social Work University of Washington, Mara Schneiders Social Worker and Dalin Meng Social Work Department Royal University of Phnom Penh in 2010 was an eye-opener for me as it took me into the depths of what the people in Cambodia are facing specially the poor living mostly in the rural areas.

It is a tremendous challenge for the government and the people to resurrect the dignity and respect of the country and its people and take it forward towards economic and social development after the terrible history of oppression. The people have experienced both heaven and hell on earth: heaven when the Khmer Empire had its golden age in the 9th to the 13th centuries. And hell when the Vietnam War

extended into Cambodia, giving rise to the Khmer Rouge, which took Phnom Penh in 1975 and carried out a campaign of mass killings. As

researched and reported in the media and published materials, the elders who witnessed the massacres are still feeling its impact and need social and psychological support.

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The guard outside the Arms Museum told my husband Vithal C. Nadkarni, a journalist and writer, when he visited Angkor Vat in 2007, that he lost his arm while fighting the murderous Khmer Rouge. His entire family perished in the great wave of terror that Comrade Pol Pot unleashed on this gentle land. He said all this without expression, as though he'd lost all feeling. ….His kids had died a bloody death. "Why? What had his kids done to deserve such a fate?" No answer could possibly wipe out his anguish. You may have already worked with several such individuals who relive their experiences each time we talk to them or ask them questions and we only hope that by listening to them they feel some relief but no resolution.

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Cambodia thus needs large numbers of helping professionals and among them are the social workers who can contribute to social change and community building and development by working with the communities where the people need all kinds of support, whether psychological, material, educational, physical, social, political and economic. It is the social worker who can play a significant role in working with people so that they can lead their lives to their fullest potential, with less distress and greater peace. However, this she/he can do only in partnership with the people themselves, the political institutions and other social organisations and professionals.

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Onset of Social Work TrainingThe beginnings of social work training are very similar to what we have seen in many of our countries around the world. In India, for example, an American Missionary brought professional social work and set up the first graduate school of social work in 1936. The students received a diploma in social service administration; the course was a generic one. It was three decades later with expansion that the school became the Tata Institute of Social Sciences and was recognized as a deemed university that offered Master of Arts degrees in Social Work. Although the course began on indigenous experience and knowledge, post-independence it was greatly influenced by the American social work education as the faculty were sent to the United States to complete their doctoral degrees in different specialist areas and they returned to head departments with different

specializations.(Deemed University is a status granted to high performing institutes and departments of various universities allows full autonomy in setting course work and syllabus,

and its own guidelines for the admissions and fees).

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8/10/2015Tracy, Mara and Deng’s article describes how social work training was initiated in the University of Pnom Penh. Tracy and her team resisted to import faculty from abroad to teach. They started by recruiting grassroot level workers who were then provided a scholarship to complete their master’s degrees at University of Washington in Seattle. Slide8

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Social Services of Cambodia a local NGO was the first to start paraprofessional training in social services in 1992 basically to impart micro level skills to village based volunteers for direct work with people with focus on counselling and micro level interventions on sexual abuse, domestic violence, work with orphaned children and

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There are several other International NGOs providing specific training modules for very specialized work. These are described in fair detail in the article showing how while there may be contributions by foreign NGOs working on social welfare, there is a dearth of central resources from the government to sustain this activity. Thus there are various challenges and yet excitement and optimism for the development of SWE in Cambodia. Some of the challenges that the article mentions need to be addressed by the government, the university system, the faculty and other stakeholders.

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Some Challenges

Recognition of the profession

The country has a history of social work in the form of charity and social services. Paraprofessionals and volunteers work within their own communities for problem solving. There are religious leaders and elders who provide

counselling and also have local courts to handle legal cases. The concept of social work is viewed as charity and social service and not requiring any qualifications in many of our societies.

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Harachi (2014: vii) in her review of social work practice in Cambodia observes that “most in Cambodia are unfamiliar with the term professional social worker; often the term refers to a direct social service provider, who is generally a paraprofessional. There is little awareness that globally a professional social worker has particular educational training that utilizes theoretical and empirical information to solve human and social problems.” This is commonly found in many Asian countries where social work is not recognized as a profession and do not have a social work council to regulate professional education and practice.

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8/10/2015The recent establishment of the Association of Professional Social Workers in Cambodia will play an enormous role in Cambodia, to provide legitimacy to the profession and help to establish minimum standards to operate as a social worker. It needs to be expanded to cover social work education and the Ministry could give it legal status to regulate the opening of new departments with minimal standards as outlined in the Global standards document of IASSW like the Council for Social Work Education (a non-government organization which is recognized by the government to regulate social work education in the USA). Slide13

Language

and cultural issuesThe primary challenge for professional social work education to take off has been the lack of familiarity with the English concepts as there is no equivalence in the Khmer language. This is a problem in most of our countries where English is not the first language and several researchers have criticized the imposition of social work education from the western world as a colonial legacy. The reality is however that most countries in the Asian region have been influenced by social work education from America or UK or Australia or even some parts of Europe. The way ahead would be to accept this reality and build indigenous knowledge based on the country’s specific context. And teach social work in the local language based on indigenous materials, This is a long-term process and needs great commitment and resources. The government for instance in India provides resources to universities for developing and translating theoretical and scientific books in the local languages.

However

, with the opening of ASEAN borders (to happen soon), it is likely that the Royal University of Phnom Penh and other Universities in the Region will turn to operating their Universities in English in order to serve students from other ASEAN countries.

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Legal, Political and Social Sanction

This is where political and legal recognition of social work as a profession and discipline is essential as materials can be developed only if there is financial and infrastructural support: the Cambodian government needs to step in urgently to provide support. As the report of Ministry of Social Affair, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY) and UNICEF indicates that there are only two social workers (not professional social workers: the term is informally used for the MoSVY staff) for 25,000 people per district.

But there is an optimistic note with the Minister of MoSVY Vong Sauth who has already acknowledged the importance of social work training and has expressed the need to expand social work to other social sectors and ministries including health, education, justice and interiors (Harachi 2014) .

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Defining

Social WorkUnderstanding what social work is all about is very important in this process. This understanding is facilitated by the International Definition of Social Work which was unanimously accepted in the Joint World Conference on Social Work, Education and Social Development in Melbourne in 2014 (IASSW/ IFSW

2014; http://www.iassw-aiets.org).According to the Global definition of the social work profession:

“Social work is a practice - based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people. Principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities are central to social work. Underpinned by theories of social work, social sciences, humanities and indigenous knowledges, social work engages people and structures to address life challenges and enhance wellbeing.”

A radical shift in this definition is also that countries and regions can add to the definition based on their own contexts.8/10/2015Slide16

The major difference in this definition compared to the earlier definition (IFSW/IASSW 2000) is that social work is seen as both a profession and academic discipline. Social workers are change agents and development practitioners promoting social change, development, social cohesion, empowerment of people and their freedom from oppression. Social workers work with both people and structures and social work education and training is based on not only theories in social work, the social sciences and humanities but very important the knowledge derived from the indigenous people. This is very significant for development of social work practice that is sensitive and responsive to the differential needs within and across countries. We acknowledge that the country’s people have their own knowledge about their environment, about relationships within the family and community, about problem solving and coping, which we have to respect and value and use in our teaching and practice.

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Speeding up the expansion of SWE in Cambodia: a grassroots and participatory approach

The social work profession is young in Cambodia and hence more exciting as it is open for innovation. Should Cambodia speed up the establishment of more departments or schools of social work so as to train large numbers of social workers to cater to the needs of at least 19.8% of its population who are poor and mostly live in the rural areas (http:/www.mop.go.kh./Projects/tabid/148/

Default.aspx). Ideally, using a participatory approach

to curriculum development in social work education would mean that: 

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Social workers along with local community workers or paraprofessionals make a community assessment of local issues and social problems and also document people’s local forms of problem-solving, their resilience through their cultural practices to deal with their life and well-being, their community institutions (economic, social, cultural,) which provide them sustenance.

Based on this research, the findings are then communicated back to the community and using a participatory approach, the curriculum for social work is planned.

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This

we tried in India before developing the Rural Campus of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences at

Tuljapur in rural Maharashtra, an overnight train journey from Mumbai. Social workers were appointed to work in the villages

surrounding the future campus area.

Over ten years after community needs assessments and gaining acceptance of the local people and planning need-based interventions, we developed the Bachelor of Arts in Social Work degree programme. The land given by the government was rocky, dry and without any water. The land had to be made fertile with the help of the local people and experts like horticulturists and engineers who worked hard to create water sources and dig into the rocks to build the infrastructure. This took at least ten years before the degree programme could be initiated. Several social workers became faculty in the same institution. 8/10/2015Slide20

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In the initial years, children of the farmers in the neighboring villages were admitted as students and in fact majority seats were reserved for them. Most of them came from the economically backward communities which meant that the institute had to organize scholarships for several of them to sustain them through the three academic years of the programme. Another important development to encourage more young women to join was the need for a hostel with built in safety measures so that the farming families which did not give freedom to their girls for higher studies would feel confident to send them for the social work programme. The government later provided fellowships to encourage the graduates to take up rural social work for at least two years. Interestingly several of them competed for the Masters degree in Social Work in the main city of Mumbai campus. Now they have greater choice with our five campuses. This kind of strategy means that the process is as important as the outcome.

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This is a slow process but probably would lead to more genuine analysis of the social situation and socio-economic conditions of the people.

I understand that this participatory approach of involving stakeholders’ in a meeting in a “kick-off” event before the BSW programme was

conducted by DSW, RUPP.

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Importing from the developed world

However in the current scenario of globalization, privatization and commercialization of the social sector, and pressure on world resources with conflicts increasing within and between countries, with the greater divisions between the rich and the poor, social issues and problems have increased multifold with negative impacts on people. There is an increasing demand for trained social workers and for professionalization, we cannot wait.

So we superimpose our own experience on the theoretical base, research and field practice education from other schools especially from the developed countries and thus adapt to our country context. This is a challenge to indigenizing the curriculum to the country context..

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To meet the challenge to build knowledge and develop theory from the grassroots is where we need social work researchers who will work with other social scientists to do research in the local language and also develop materials for teaching in the same language.

For this the faculty may need to focus on attaining doctoral degrees which will impart them good research skills.

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I am taking the example of Myanmar as there are some similarities in the way both countries suffered under cruel and oppressive regimes. Both face similar issues in the processes of democratization in governance with international non-government organizations helping to rebuild infrastructure and revive some of the health and education programmes.

Social work education in Burma began at the Yangon university in 1962 with the help of American faculty. However with the oppressive military regime taking over the country, and uprising of students in 1988, the school was discontinued.

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Social Work Education in Myanmar

Photograph: Gemunu Amarasinghe/APSlide26

In 2006, with the support of UNICEF Child Protection, the first Postgraduate diploma in Social Work was started in the Yangon University’s department of Psychology with the help of faculty from Australia. The curriculum was developed on curricula borrowed from the TISS and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia. The diploma was taught initially by the Burmese Deputy Director of Social Welfare and U Taik Aung, both of whom had completed a 2-year social work programme at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in India (Costello and Aung 2015).

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8/10/2015Sharing of examples of development of SWE in Southeast Asia among countries facing similar challenges is so essential and needs to be encouraged.IASSW hopes to see greater bonding and mutual exchanges among Southeast Asian schools and increased linkages with the Asian Pacific Association of Social Work Education and IASSW.Slide28

Role of International Social Work organizations

We are in a global context where the social work profession has got more organized through the establishment of international organizations. Countries that are new to the profession of social work would need support of the international associations like IASSW.The International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) is an organization of more than five hundred schools of social work, regional associations of social work education and affiliate organizations working towards strengthening social work education globally. The IASSW along with its partner associations (IFSW and ICSW) was established in 1928. It provides various forums for interactions and capacity building on social work education across countries and continents through bi-annual world conferences; an online social dialogue magazine; funding for international projects; capacity building of faculty; and interactive social media sites (http://iassw-aiets.net).

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The International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) has thousands of social workers as their members and their focus is on strengthening social work practice. The International Council of Social Welfare (ICSW) which was in its initial decades an association of social workers working on social welfare and social development is today a membership of all kinds of organizations in the field of welfare and development.

The major contributions of IASSW and IFSW have been the development of the Global Definition and Ethics in Social work, a Statement of Principles (http://www.iassw-aiets.org) as well as the Global Standards for Education and Training in Social Work. Along with ICSW, the organizations have also developed the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development which is aimed at the development of a social work perspective on the following four themes namely promoting social and economic equality, promoting dignity and worth of people, promoting environmental and community sustainability and human relationships.

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Global Standards for Education and Training in Social WorkA very critical contribution of IASSW and IFSW is the development of minimum quality standards in a document titled “Global Standards for Education and Training in Social Work”. It provides guidelines to social work educational institutions to adopt the minimum standards for ensuring quality education. It was the mandate of IASSW to develop these standards as part of its vision and mission. It covers all the components of social work education.

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The document provides guidelines for setting up a social work educational programme with focus on all its components. It reflects what minimum is required to establish good quality social work education in the country. Ideally there should be no compromise in achieving high quality social work education. However, there is realization that this development may not happen overnight and without the support of the government, this may not become a reality. Hence the first condition will be that there is political, social and legal sanction and recognition that social work is a profession and academic discipline.

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From the joint article quoted above I see that the department of social work is aware of the Global standards and the faculty have tried to implement at least some of the aspects while setting up the social work degree programme in the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

I am delighted to learn that the DSW is one of the first departments to have undergone an informal self-assessment review by the ASEAN University Network in 2013 and it is now a candidate for formal accreditation by the Phillippines Accreditation Association for Schools, Colleges and Universities.

For the sake of all those who are not familiar with the Global Standards document, I wish to highlight a few points in each area and you can go through the detailed document which is available on both our websites: http://www.iassw-aiets.org and http://www.ifsw.org.

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1. Standards regarding the school’s core purpose or mission statementAll schools aspire toward the development of a core purpose statement or a mission statement which is clear to all those who have a stake or responsibility in the school. This statement reflects the values and ethical principles of social work. Harachi, Mara and Dalin provide insights of how our mission to protect rights of individuals may go against the respect for status in the rural context of Cambodia. Does this mean that we will delete this from our mission statement? This is not necessary as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights also recognizes collective rights over individual ones except where this violates against the right to life and well-being. In India for example, there are local groups of elders who do not allow marriage of young people from the same village. There are honour killings if they do. Will we as a social work fraternity support this decision which goes against the freedom and right to life of the couple?

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A. Standards regarding programme objectives and outcomes

Schools specify programme objectives and expected higher education outcomes. These reflect the values and ethical principles of the profession in its programme design and implementation. They also identify the core areas of knowledge, processes, values and skills within the context-specific realities and the instructional methods to enable students to achieve optimal intellectual, emotional and social development. The RUPP department of social work has outlined its vision, mission and goals/objectives.

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B. Standards with regard to programme curricula including field education

The curricula including field education is consistent with the vision, mission, and objectives of the programme. There are clear plans for the organization, implementation and evaluation of theory and field education components of the programme. The curricula helps social work students to develop skills of critical thinking and scholarly attitudes of reasoning, openness to new experiences and paradigms, and commitment to life-long learning. There are planned linkages and partnerships between the schools and field placement agencies or settings as well as service users. While the DSW has instructors who have not only the appropriate educational degree but also relevant experience.

I urge the Ministry and Cambodian Association of Social Workers to pay adequate attention to recruitment of faculty and fieldwork supervisors with appropriate educational qualifications and practical experience. This will ensure that these programmes will produce competent social workers for the country.

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Standards with regard to core curricula

The curricula is based on local, national and/or regional/international needs and priorities. There are universally applicable components which cover the profession, the social work professional, the students, and field education. Knowledge areas ranging from societal problems to human behavior and development, social work’s origins and purposes, social welfare policies and laws are given in some detail in the document.

Teaching of the Methods of Social Work Practice includes practice skills in, and knowledge of, assessment, relationship building and helping processes, application of social work values, ethical principles, knowledge and skills to confront inequality, social, political and economic injustices and promote care, mutual respect, and mutual responsibility amongst members of society.

Knowledge and skills in Social work research and research ethics as well as the importance of advocacy and social change are outlined.

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The document suggests that the curricula should communicate the overall perspective of social work education and practice to the students, whether it be a welfare or development oriented or human rights or an eclectic strategy.

Guidelines regarding teaching staff include that they have a minimal master’s degree in social work with some field experience. The school ensures adequate staff-student ratio; continuous staff development and involvement in curriculum development. The practice of equity and diversity in recruiting and appointing policies of the school is clearly stated.

Staff participate in research, publications, policy formulation and community outreach initiatives.

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3. Standards with regard to social work students

There are very clearly stated policies and procedures for recruiting, admitting and retaining students with involvement of practitioners and service users. Due recognition is given to minority groups that are under-represented and/or under-served. There is provision for student advising and regular evaluation of the student’s performance.

Policies related to non-discrimination against any student on the basis of ‘race’, colour, culture, ethnicity, linguistic origin, religion, political orientation, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, physical status and socio-economic status are explicitly stated, along with student access to grievance and appeals procedures.

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RUPP’s BSW degree programme is only offered to students who pass the national high school exams with grade requirements and are offered a free slot to a government university. This is termed a “scholarship” in the Cambodian context. However, it is important that the DSW is involved in the selection process as the professional faculty will be better able to select the right candidates for the professional social work degree programme.

Also as in India which has a similar freeship available for students from economically disadvantaged castes and tribes, the colleges and departments of social work select the candidates who are certified by the government to receive the government scholarship. This is reimbursed to the

university/ department/ college by the respective state governments.

It is important to note that the DSW has been able to enroll equal numbers of women and men from diverse backgrounds, individuals who come from the province and are disadvantaged.  

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Standards with regard to structure, administration, governance and resourcesSocial work programmes are implemented through a distinct unit known as a Faculty, School, Department, Centre or Division, which has a clear identity within the educational institution. The school has a designated Head or Director who has demonstrated administrative, scholarly and professional competence, preferably in the profession of social work. The Head or Director has primary responsibility for the co-ordination and professional leadership of the school, with sufficient time and resources to fulfill these responsibilities.Budgetary allocation is sufficient to achieve its core purpose or mission and the programme objectives. It is stable to ensure programme planning and sustainability.

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There is adequate physical infrastructure for teaching, for meetings of professional and administrative staff, with essential equipment. Library and, where possible, internet resources, necessary to achieve the programme objectives, are made available. The school/programme or the University should play a key role with regard to recruitment, appointment and promotion of staff and strive toward gender equity, diversity and participation in all its policies and practices. The school must promote the development of a cooperative, supportive and productive working environment to facilitate the achievement of programme objectives. The school develops and maintains linkages within the institution, with external organizations, and with service users relevant to its core purpose or mission and its objectives.

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5. Standards with regard to cultural and ethnic diversity and gender inclusiveness

The school makes concerted and continuous efforts to ensure the enrichment of the educational experience by reflecting cultural and ethnic diversity, and gender analysis in its programme either through mainstreaming into all courses/modules and/or through a separate course/module as well as in the field work component. The school provides learning and practice opportunities to its students to develop self-awareness and work with diverse population groups within a human rights framework and social work code of ethics.

The school promotes sensitivity to, and increased knowledge about cultural and ethnic diversity, gender analysis, minimizes group stereotypes and prejudices, and ensures that racist behaviours, policies and structures are not reproduced through social work practice.

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6. Standards with regard to values and ethical codes of conduct of the social work professionSchools consistently aspire towards:Focused and meticulous attention to social work values and ethical codes in curricula design and implementation.Registration of professional staff and social work students with national and/or regional regulatory (whether statutory or non-statutory) bodies, with defined codes of ethics. Taking appropriate action in relation to those social work students and professional staff who fail to comply with the code of ethics, either through an established regulatory social work body, established procedures of the educational institution, and/or through legal mechanisms.

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Need for a Mechanism for regulating quality

In the countries where there is a long history of social work education and professional practice, national associations of schools of social work or social work education have been established and they set standards which are recognized by the government to regulate quality of the social work educational programmes that register with them. In this regard, the Global standards document provides a good reference.

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For instance, in the USA the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is a nonprofit national association representing more than 2,500 individual members, as well as graduate and undergraduate programs of professional social work education. Founded in 1952, this partnership of educational and professional institutions, social welfare agencies, and private citizens is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation as the sole accrediting agency for social work education in this country (http://www.cswe.org/). The Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) accredits professional social work courses on the basis of the Australian Social Work Education and Accreditation Standards 2012 (ASWEAS) (https://www.aasw.asn.au/careers-study/education-standards-accreditation accessed on 07-06-2015). AASW is a member of the Asian Pacific Association of Social Work Education (APASWE).

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While several Southeast Asian countries have a long history of Social Work Education, some of them are approaching IASSW and APASWE for supporting the formation of associations in their countries that would work closely with their governments to recognize and regulate social work education. 8/10/2015Slide47

ConclusionI would like to conclude with an optimistic note that IASSW and APASWE look forward to very positive developments in Cambodia. As Mahatma Gandhi said: “Be the change you want to see in the world”. If we want to see any change in this beautiful country, we must begin with ourselves. And change will happen.Thank you. (vimla@iassw.net

)

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