International Social Work

International social work is based on a society which is living in chronic poverty and chronic hunger, as one of its manifestations. In rural areas throughout the world, working the land to provide nourishment to its people, as well as to making microbusiness ventures with other countries with the fruits of their labors, is one way that social workers can be involved in eradicating hunger and poverty. As defined by the Brundtland Commission, called Our Common Future (Schobert, & Barron. 2004. p. 182), it was said that: “the essence of sustainable development is ‘a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development, and institutional change are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations’” (World Commission on Environment and Development. 1987. p. 46). Every poor, hungry country looks for this, to meet their human capacities and to ensure health and safety for their members.
The World Hunger Relief, Inc. (WHRI), an agribusiness intervention, works to promote development and end hunger in countries that are developing. They train and educate others in sustainable agriculture, which consists of animal husbandry as well as crop production (Scales & Streeter, 2004. p. 184). In Ferrier, Haiti, a rural community with a population of about 4,000 people which suffers from chronic poverty and chronic hunger, WHRI went in, along with several other organizations, to produce both fruits and vegetables, and to start a small animal husbandry. The project was a success for about three years, when political unrest forced its hand, and an international embargo on Haiti allowing the production of fruits and vegetables to eat, but not as a cash crop to be exported to the U.S. The members of the cooperative decided to “fell the trees to supply much-needed firewood, lumber, and charcoal” (Scales & Streeter. 2004. p. 185).
Social workers are able to “effectively employ interpersonal and group skills to identify problems, to mobilize strengths and assets, and to forge collaborative alliances to empower communities” (Scales & Streeter. 2004. p. 188).
The idea of working with rural communities in developing countries is intriguing. It is not that we, as a nation, do not have impoverished neighborhoods with hungry children in them. Or sections of the country where medical care is non-existent. In America, at least in North America, hunger and poverty is not an all-encompassing problem as it is in some developing countries. And, if we were to work with the skills and mindsets that we learned in graduate school, we could possibly do a lot for promoting world-wide peace and advocating for the rights of human beings.

Scales, T.L. & Streeter, C.L. (Eds.), (2004). Rural social work: building and sustaining assets. Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

Schobert, F.M. & Barron, D.A. ( 1987). Community development in an international setting: The role of sustainable agriculture in social work practice. In Scales, T.L. & Streeter, C.L. (Eds.), (2004). Rural social work: building and sustaining community assets. (p. 182). Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

World Commission on Environment and Development. (1987). Our common future. In Scales, T.L. & Streeter, C.L. (Eds.), (2004). Rural social work: building and sustaining community assets. (p. 182). Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.