SOCIAL WORK IN BANGLADESH
Introduction-
Bangladesh is a country that has experienced a great deal of social and
economic change over the past few decades. This has led to an increased
need for social work in the country. Social work as a modern concept as well as an
organized program is comparatively new in Bangladesh
Early History:
the essence of social welfare, the spirit of doing good to one's fellow beings, and the
enthusiasm for taking part in activities meant for the well-being of the underprivileged, can be
traced back to time immemorial. The participation of individual philanthropists, community
groups, and private voluntary organizations in social welfare activities to provide succor to the
poor and distressed has always been considered a religious and moral obligation of the well-to-
do people in this society. For this work, they have traditionally used locally mobilized resources
collected from private channels. Charity, zakat, Baitul mal, wakf, alms giving, khairat,
dharmogola, langorkhana are some of the important institutions inspired by Islamic and Hindu
religious motives that made a fair contribution in the field of social welfare during the pre-
industrial time in Bangladesh. Some of these institutions are found even today, but they have
lost much of their traditional influence and importance.
Voluntary social welfare efforts have been in practice since the early part of this century and
found expression in the establishment of educational institutions, charitable dispensaries,
orphanages, religious institutions, etc. Except in a few cases voluntary institutions and
charitable endeavors remained mostly unorganized, and therefore, had no lasting impact.
Early History of social work in Bangladesh.
The history of social work in Bangladesh dates back to the early 19th
century. During the British colonial period, social work was used to address
the social and economic problems of the country. Social work was used to
help the poor, the disabled, and the destitute. The British government
established welfare programs and social services to help the disadvantaged.
After independence in 1971, the government of Bangladesh established the
Ministry of Social Welfare (MSW) to provide social services and welfare
programs to the people of Bangladesh. The MSW established a number of
social welfare programs, including the National Social Welfare Program
(NSWP), which provided financial assistance to the poor and disadvantaged.
In the 1980s, the government of Bangladesh established the Bangladesh
Social Welfare Council (BSWC) to provide social welfare services to the
people of Bangladesh. The BSWC provided social welfare services such as
health care, education, and employment opportunities.
In the 1990s, the government of Bangladesh established the Bangladesh
Institute of Social Welfare and Development (BISWD) to provide training and
research in social work. The BISWD also established the Bangladesh Social
Welfare Association (BSWA) to promote social work in Bangladesh.
Since then, the government of Bangladesh has continued to expand social
welfare services and programs. In recent years, the government has
established the Bangladesh Social Welfare Foundation (BSWF) to provide
financial assistance to the poor and disadvantaged. The BSWF also provides
training and research in social work.
Beginning of Organized Social Work
Social work was introduced in Bangladesh during the pre-liberation period —
The First Five Year Plan of Pakistan (1950-55) referred to social services as a
relatively new field but of great importance, in as much as social welfare
was conceived of as an endeavor to prevent serious social problems from
accompanying the economic and social changes brought about by
development (Government of Pakistan, 1950).
In the face of mounting pressure from the influx of refugees into the country
in 1951, Bangladesh requested the assistance of the United Nations to
formulate a social welfare policy for the country and also to advise on social
welfare work amongst the large refugee population and other needy and
handicapped citizens. A year after the request, the first UN group of social
welfare consultants came and a temporary agency called "The Social
Welfare Project" was established. The project served as the base of
operation for imparting elementary training in the field of social work.
Besides training, the consultants advised the government to take up the
responsibility for encouraging the growth of voluntary social welfare
organizations and also to initiate community development programs, both in
urban and rural areas. With the assistance of the United Nations, the first
demonstration project of Urban Community Development was introduced in
Dhaka city in 1955. This pilot project proved viable, ushering in an era of
community development work in Bangladesh.
Structural Set-up in Social Work
With a view to encouraging the coming up of local voluntary social welfare
agencies, the government established the National Council of Social Welfare
in 1955. The Council was entrusted with responsibilities in two areas:
(1) to advise the government to deal with the entire gamut of social welfare
under its control and
(2) to evolve ways and means to provide grants in aid to voluntary
organizations to encourage social work activities at a private level.
With financial support from the International Red Cross Society and under
the supervision of the National Council of Social Welfare the Government
introduced hospital social work, the first of its kind in the country, at Dhaka
Medical College Hospital. Till 1958, the public social welfare program was
under the Ministry of Works. In October 1958 a separate Ministry of Health
and Social Welfare was created and subsequently, in October 1959, again,
social welfare was brought under the newly named Ministry of Health, Labor,
and Social Welfare. To create momentum in social welfare activities and to
monitor the same, the Department of Social Welfare came into existence in
November 1961. In 1984 the total structure of the Department was
reorganized by the Government in a bid to meet the changing demand of the
situation and renamed the Directorate of Social Services headed by a
Director General (Department of Social Services, 1985: 2).
Social development and the role of social work
The government of Bangladesh has had several programs to assist rural poor
people in general, and poor women in particular, namely Food for Work (FFW),
Food for Education Program (FEP), Vulnerable Group Development (VGD),
Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF), Women Entrepreneurs Development
Program, and Poor Lactating Mothers’ Assistance Program (Khuda, 2011;
MOWCA, 2011). Along with programmatic interventions, the government has
enacted many laws (e.g., Dowry Prohibition Act, 1980; Suppression of
Immoral Traffic Act, 1993; Women and Children Oppression Prevention Act,
2000) to protect women from discrimination and gender-based violence. With
the aim of mainstreaming women in development activities, the Bangladeshi
government announced a National Women Development Policy in 1997 and
revised it again in 2011. This policy is currently being implemented. The main
instruments for achieving the goal of women’s development identified in the
“National Women Development Policy 2011” are an organization of women as
a self-reliant group at the grassroots level, integration of all initiatives
undertaken by the government, NGOs and other voluntary organizations,
extending support (administrative, legal, financial, and logistic) to all parties
for the protection of rights, creation of awareness, prevention of violence
against women, and changing discriminatory social attitudes towards women
(MOWCA, 2011). a large number of rural poor women are being helped by
many NGOs such as Grameen Bank, Bangladesh Rural Advancement
Committee (BRAC), Association for Social Advancement (ASA), PROSHIKHA,
and Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS). According to official data, 2276
NGOs are registered under the NGO Affairs Bureau, a government regulatory
body for non-governmental organizations in Bangladesh2 (NGOAB, 2012).
Challenges for the social work profession toward social development in
Bangladesh
The history of social work practice in Bangladesh is not as old as it is in the
developed world but the people became familiar with the concept of social
work during the 1950s. After the partition of India to tackle the urbanization
emerging problems, the then-Pakistani government appealed to the United
Nations (UN) for guidance and help and the UN sent a team representing two
member states to review the situation. The team suggested the introduction
of community development services to address the problems in urban areas
(Islam, 2011). Accordingly, a short-term training course on social work was
recommended and organized in Dhaka in 1953. At the same time, the Urban
Community Development (UCD) program was introduced at Kayettuly in
Dhaka, which aimed to improve the situation of slum areas and rehabilitation
of migrants, particularly the influx of refugee migrants from West Bengal,
India.
Two years later, another course was introduced for 9 months with the
technical collaboration of the UN and was renamed after the independence
of Bangladesh as Urban Social Service (USS) (Islam, 1999). After the
emergence of Bangladesh through a liberation war in 1971, government and
private-level workers realized the necessity of rural-based services
considering the mass poverty in rural areas. Then the government introduced
a new program for rural poor people following the USS model called Rural
Social Service (RSS) which undertook various programs targeting women,
children, and youth aiming to make them self-reliant. Both the USS and the
RSS programs are still in operation for the welfare and development of the
poor since their inception. In addition, various social service programs have
been in operation in different settings, such as hospital social services,
correctional services, day-care centers, orphan homes, vagrant homes, and
Rehabilitation Center for Destitute Women (DSS, 2012).
Although social work practice in Bangladesh started more than half a
century ago, it could not attain the status of a profession. As in other
developing countries, social work practice in Bangladesh is not regarded as
a core instrument for the promotion of social development. It is very often
treated as an act of charity, either by individuals or by a group in association
inspired either by a sense of religious duty or simple pity and sympathy by
well-off or status-hungry people (Islam, 2011). The reason for holding such a
belief is that the inception and development of the social work profession
were associated with such situations. Social work professionals could not
change this traditional belief, although many social work graduates were
associated with social service departments from the inception of Pakistan.
Even after independence, this attitude has not changed and still exists. The
challenges of social work practice in Bangladesh will be discussed in the
following sections in four main streams: social work education, social work
literature, social work associations, and social work practice.
Modern Social work in Bangladesh.
Modern social work in Bangladesh has evolved significantly in recent years.
The country has seen a significant increase in the number of social work
professionals, as well as an expansion in the scope of social work practice.
Social work in Bangladesh is now being used to address a wide range of
social issues, including poverty, gender inequality, health and education,
human rights, and environmental sustainability.
In Bangladesh, social workers are employed in a variety of settings, including
government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private sector
organizations. The Bangladesh Social Welfare Council is the main regulatory
body for social work in the country. It is responsible for setting standards
and regulations for social workers, as well as providing training and support.
Social workers in Bangladesh are increasingly focusing on the needs of
vulnerable populations, such as women, children, and the elderly. They are
also working to promote social justice and human rights, as well as
advocating for improved access to health care and education. Social workers
are also involved in disaster relief and recovery efforts, as well as providing
counseling and psychosocial support to those affected by natural disasters.
In addition to providing direct services, social workers in Bangladesh are
also involved in policy development and advocacy. They are working to
ensure that the government and other stakeholders are taking into account
the needs of vulnerable populations when making decisions. Social workers
are also working to raise awareness about the importance of social work and
its role in promoting social justice and human rights.
Social work education
Limited access to social work education is a major impediment for social
work practice in Bangladesh. Only four state universities and two private
universities out of 34 public and 59 private universities in Bangladesh offer
Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in social work (UGC, 2012). However, many
colleges offer undergraduate and graduate level courses related to social
work at the National University of Bangladesh. According to 2008 data, 32
colleges offer undergraduate and 17 colleges offer graduate degrees (Islam,
2011). The course content in academic syllabi can contribute much to make
an eligible and efficient social worker. Even fifty years after the first social
work course was offered in Bangladesh, the social work curriculum is still
not at the same level as international standards. The theoretical knowledge
that we randomly use in developing countries is not developed to consider
local context and problems. The course contents are uneven, dependent on
the availability of interested faculty, and often taught sporadically. It is
crucial for apprentice social workers to take field training during their course
work in order to learn effective use of theoretical knowledge under the
supervision of a professional social worker. As many of the institutions are
run and dominated by non-professional social workers who have no academic
knowledge of social work, students are typically not able to relate
theoretical knowledge to field practice. It is worth noting here that
academics follow the Western concept of social work, but only a few
academicians have graduate degrees from developed countries where social
work emerged as a profession. This situation is gradually changing as many
young scholars are pursuing their higher education in developed countries
and concentrating their research focus on Bangladesh. However, a radical
change in the philosophy and approach to the teaching of this field is
required.
Prospects of Social Work in Bangladesh
The main objective for the introduction of social welfare in Bangladesh was
to provide trained social workers to assist government and private agencies
in the sound development and execution of their social welfare programs
(Rashid, 1964:26). But after four decades of introduction, the achievement in
the field of social welfare is not that much mention worthy as was expected
in the beginning. Still, the prevailing situation in Bangladesh is quite
conducive to the growth and development of the profession. In spite of the
odds confronted by social work after its introduction in the early fifties and
also after a series of changes in all spheres of life, social work even today
can play an important role in the formulation of policy planning, development,
and execution of social service programs. The probable role that social work
can play may be as follows:
• Through careful selection of students and inculcating in them a sense of
professional ethics and a spirit of devotion to humanity the real aims of
social work can be attained.
• Through fieldwork experience the schools can exert an influence on
different agencies in respect of redesigning their methods and practice.
• Social work can extend support to organize new services in areas not yet
covered by any welfare programs.
• It can make contributions to programs designed to improve the quality of
personnel engaged in welfare programs and services.
• It can help in enhancing the skills of professional social workers employed
in different fields by means of specialized training, organizing seminars,
conferences, and workshops on various social issues.
• It can conduct surveys and research studies to compile new information on
the socio-cultural situation including the priority needs of the people and
also evaluate ongoing welfare programs to ascertain their efficacy.
• By undertaking special projects that need to enlist the cooperation of
social scientists, social work can contribute to enriching social research
(Kiani, 1964:36).
Conclusion
Social work is currently an emerging profession throughout the world. It is
not merely a profession that helps individuals to overcome problems. Rather
it is approaches to intervene in wider communities to create an enabling
environment for whole communities so that people can function effectively.
Social work intervention helps people to dream of a better future and enables
them to function effectively by enhancing their inner potential. It is an
important approach to launch a social movement for social development.
However, social work has not gained professional status in Bangladesh for a
thwack of the powerlessness of social workers. Social work professionals
and practitioners are responsible for the marginal role of social work for
social development in Bangladesh. They have failed to convince bureaucrats
and political decision-makers about the importance of integrating social
work knowledge in policy and practice for social development. The future
growth and development of social work practice in Bangladesh are
dependent on the commitment and performance of social workers. To carry
out effective roles in addressing problems in the future, social workers need
to be equipped with modern techniques and practice tools, as well as our
own cultural context and the nature of problems. They need to be more
committed to meeting the basic needs of their clients and help them to
combat contemporary and future problems that will emerge in the years to
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