Unit I

Sustainability and Sustainable

Development

‘What has sustainability got to do

with social work?’ Dr.P.Ilango
Professor
Department of Social Work
Bharathidasan University
Tiruchirappalli
To a social worker the Master said, “I fear
you are doing more harm than good.”
“Why?”
“Because you stress only one of the two
imperatives of justice.”
“Namely?”
“The poor have a right to bread.”
“What’s the other one?”
“The poor have a right to beauty.”

— From Awakenings: Conversations

With the Masters by Anthony De Mello
Why sustainability matters ?
Community incidents like flooding
The impact of climate change - effects
on health, fractured communities, the
movement of populations
The role of social work in emergency
planning
Human services - working with
communities
Why sustainability matters ?
Recognise the dissonance in people’s
aspirations for higher standard of
living rather than quality of life
Connecting with the
relationship between food
production and community
Recognise the way consumerism
locks us all into particular groups and
options
International Policy Statement on
Globalisation and the Environment
‘IFSW calls on social workers and their representative
bodies to recognise the importance of the natural
and built environment to the social environment, to
develop environmental responsibility and care for the
environment in social work practice and
management today and for future generations, to
work with other professionals to increase our
knowledge and with community groups to develop
advocacy skills and strategies to work towards a
healthier environment and to ensure that
environmental issues gain increased presence in
social work education’.
http://www.ifsw.org/p38000222.html
Global Agenda for Social Work and
Social Development: Environmental
Sustainability
Disasters of natural and human origin,
management and prevention
Involvement of local communities in
developing responses
Implications for sustainable social
development
Protecting the physical environment
Proactive engagement with social, human
and ecological development
http://www.ifsw.org/p38002163.html
 PUTTING SOME PIECESTOGETHER

“The fair and equitable

distribution ofresources
to meet basic humanneeds”
“Social development and environmental
management in the interests of “…….development
present and future humanwelfare” that meets the needs
From the BASW Code ofEthics of the presentwithout
compromising theability
of future generations to
meet their needs”
? Brundtland Commision Report
(WCED 1987)

“….promotes social change, problem

solving in human relationships and the
empowerment and liberation of peopleto
enhance well-being”
Extract from the IFSWdefinition of Social Work

Andy Whiteford, 2011

Defining terms, seeking
connections
What does
sustainability
mean to you?
 Sustainability
Economic sustainability or the potential for an
organisation to continue to generate sufficient
income to continue its core business
Environmental sustainability: the deep ecology of the
earth as a total and self-regulating system (Lovelock,
2000).
The need to attend to the serious global
environmental and economic challenges such as
climate change and peak oil already affecting much
of the world’s population
‘The interdependence of social, economic and
environmental systems’ (McKinnon, 2008: 264)
Social Sustainability
Promoting healthy communities
characterised by diversity, equity, active
citizenship and intergenerational processes
(McKinnon, 2008: 265)
‘Recognising the strengths that different
communities bring to the social services
context…Developing and delivering services
that the community can sustain in the future
regardless of the source of funding’,
(Torr, 2010)
Sustainable Communities
A sustainable economy is one that considers the
long term effects of trade and business and has
minimum or beneficial impact on the environment
and people – wherever they are
A sustainable environment is one that maintains
biodiversity without external interference
A sustainable community is a place where people
want to live and work, now and in the future. It
meets the diverse needs of existing and future
residents
Oz Osbourne, 2011
Sustainability and Social Work
There are three types of sustainability in
social work: social, economic, and
environmental. Social work has focused on
social, touched on economic, and largely
ignored environmental. Social workers are
familiar with social sustainability, which
recognizes that individual health and well-
being, nutrition, shelter, education, and
cultural needs must be met (Brennan,
2009).
Environmental Sustainablity
Environmental sustainability requires that
“natural capital remain intact,” meaning
natural resources should not be used in
excess of their rate of renewal. In addition,
nonrenewable resources should be guarded
and used minimally. It is here where the
field of social work has been largely
inactive. How can social work address
these three elements of sustainability in
equal portion?
Community Social Work (CSW)
Community social work is concerned with
developing more accessible and effective local
services (Smale 1988)
Utilising and enhancing local resources it is an
approach to practice that places individual
needs and capacities within a social and political
context and which responds through individual
and collective action
Social Work which ‘seeks to tap into, support,
enable and underpin the local networks of formal
and informal relationships’ (Barclay Committee,
1982)
CSW Processes and skills
Familiarisation and information
gathering
Engagement and assessment
Organisation, planning and
partnerships
Intervention in collaboration with
community members
Mobilising resources for empowerment
Research and evaluation
Social Work Education
characterised by:
Absence of social justice, climate
change, global issues or collective
approaches.
Absence of any discourse about
sustainability
Educational agendas driving towards
'factory farming instead of free range’
Education for sustainability
The term Education for Sustainable
Development has largely been replaced
by the idea of Education for Sustainability
- a move away from the narrow ‘literate
graduate’ view of Education about
Sustainability, with its emphasis on
content & its mission to teach about
change towards an approach that opens
up possibilities to emphasise personal
and value based responses to
sustainability.
Our response

Education for sustainability

Inductive teaching method
Community Development
Projects (CDPs)
Education for sustainability
Teaching critical thinking and
creativity Breaking down divisions
between identities
service user/expert
subject discipline areas (health,
science, education, activism)
modular structures
Focus on human
relationships Students as a
resource
References
Barclay Committee (1982) Social Workers: Their Role and Tasks, London: Bedford
Square Press

Bellinger, A. (2010) ‘Talking about (Re)Generation: Practice Learning as a site of

renewal for social work’ British Journal of Social Work, Vol. 40, pp. 2450-2466
Bellinger A. & Kagawa, F. (forthcoming) ‘Learning Beyond Compliance: A comparative
analysis of two cohorts undertaking a first year social work module.
Creed, Rupert (2009) Every Time it Rains
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/jun/19/flood-hull-truck-every-time-it-rains
Department of Health (2010) Building a Safe and Confident Future: Implementing the
recommendations of the Social Work Task Force, Department of Children, Schoolsand
Families, Department of Health and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in
partnership with the Social Work Reform Board, London,HMSO
http://publications.dcsf.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/00306-2010DOM-EN.pdf
Lovelock, J. (2000) Gaia: a new look at life on earth, Oxford University Press

McKinnon, J. (2008) Exploring the nexus between social workand the environment,
Australian Social Work, 61(3), pp.256-268
Smale, G. et al. (1988) Community social work: a paradigm for change,London:
National Institute for Social Work
Torr, A. (2010) In Conversation with Amanda Torr, In focus SWAPNewsletter
http://www.swap.ac.uk/docs/newsletters/infocus06_online.pdf

Whiteford, A., Horton, V., Garrard, D. Ford, D. & Butler, A. (2010) 'Sustaining
Communities: Sustainability in the Social Work Curriculum' in Jones,P., Selby, D.&
Sterling, S. (eds) Green Infusions: Embedding Sustainability across theHigher
Education Curriculum, London, Earthscan pp. 241-256.
Thank You