Urban poverty and implications for social work training and practice: the Malawi scene

Abstract

This paper assesses the role that social work can play in social development and in particular in mitigating the effects of poverty in urban areas. The paper supports the thesis that while the philosophy of social work is relevant to solving problems, its methods and training of social workers need to be made more relevant to the Third World to make an effective contribution to solving the problem of poverty. The paper therefore sees a new role for social work in the context of social development which in turn has wide-ranging implications on its methodology. Using Malawi as an example it acknowledges that this process has already begun but needs to be pursued further.