Social Work -- A Serious Career Option

There was a time when social development work was not considered a serious career option. Social work as a paid profession is a relatively recent phenomenon in India. Earlier, people were engaged in voluntary social work, and a number of organisations paid an "honorarium" or wages lower than they would get in other professions. Following the economic liberalisation that arrived in the early nineties opening up the social, health and education sector to the global world we live in, social work has emerged as a challenging, specialised profession with new areas of growth and a host of career options. If you want your work to make some difference to the world or if you’re looking for a career with meaning, action, diversity, satisfaction, and an abundance of options, consider social work. With almost 300 million people living below the poverty line and 70 per cent having little or no access to safe drinking water, sewage, medical facilities and education, the scope of work in this area is indeed enormous.

Social work has acquired newer definitions: no longer does it mean doling out charity to the impoverished, but their empowerment. The government implements a number of welfare programmes in the social sector in the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode – which calls for private service delivery or management of public funded projects. The term ‘private’ in PPP encompasses all non-government agencies such as the corporate sector, voluntary organizations, self-help groups, individuals and community based organizations. The concept of PPP has now taken a deep root and the NGOs have started occupying an increasingly prominent political role, influencing policymaking in all areas of social and economic change.

Our educational system and institutions have also evolved in synch to incorporate the emerging needs, such as bringing in business and management skills within the voluntary sector. The IITs, traditionally viewed as providers of scientific and technical manpower, now have a Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) and offer a five year integrated masters programme, leading to Master of Arts degree in Development Studies and Economics.

Any development work carries business-like problems, which is why social entrepreneurs need to be equipped with business skills. Students from IIMs are doing their summer internship with organizations dealing with social issues. At the Mumbai-based SP Jain Institute of Management Research (SPJIMR), all the management students have to undertake a 6-week project after their first year with an NGO or the corporate social responsibility division of a corporate. IIMC has a centre called 'Management Centre for Human Values' (MCHV) to train its students on a range of issues from business ethics to corporate social responsibility. These business schools are making an effort to produce more socially-sensitized MBAs.

Job Profile

Social work involves bringing various resources to meet the needs of the community by helping them initiate remedial action by influencing the social policy or creating awareness; mobilising resources and monitoring their utilisation. In a popular website, the advertisement for the job of a social worker specified the responsibilities as follows:

• Responsible for fund raising, financial management, evaluation and monitoring of a specifically assigned project.
• Should be experienced in planning, implementing and monitoring specific programs assigned in the field of social development.
• Should possess ability to prepare and evaluate project proposals, reports, be able to network with individuals, corporates, national and international funding agencies, seeking support for organisation's projects.
• Should have strong leadership and management qualities, along with a high level of personal energy, commitment, entrepreneurial flair, communication skills and particularly fund raising ability.

Options for studies
Courses in social work are professional and job-oriented even at the undergraduate-level. Several universities offer Bachelor’s as well as Master’s in social work.

The Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences, a pioneer institute and a deemed university, offers immense choices to anyone interested in social work. There are several certificate programmes in which persons working in social organizations may participate. You may do Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Social Work, with a specialisation in Rural Development. Many interesting courses are available including MA in Social Entrepreneurship, MA in Social Work and Development Studies, Master of Health Administration and Master of Hospital Administration. MA in Social Work offers specializations like local democracy; rural and urban community development; disability; community and mental health; criminology and correctional social work. MA programmes in Development Studies and Education offers specializations in Women’s Studies; Dalit and Tribal Studies; and Socio-legal Studies and Human Rights.

Tata-Dhan Academy, a pioneer institute in Development Management Education, Training and Research, conducts Post Graduate Diploma in Development Management at Madurai (www.dhan.org) and gives full fellowship covering all fees, course materials, board and lodging to those who agree to serve designated organisations for three years after completion of the course.

Tremendous job satisfaction awaits you if you are passionate about working with socio-legal issues. Law schools often include several courses designed to address relevant social issues in their course curriculum, including gender concerns, caste-based discrimination, employment, working conditions, environmental protection and the marginalisation of various peoples. The premier National Law School in Bangalore, for example, deals with these matters in detail through the Centre for the Child and the Law (CCL), the Centre for Women and the Law (CWL), the Centre for Law and Economic Analysis and Research (CLEAR) and the Centre for Environmental Law Education Research and Advocacy (CEERA). These centres address such issues through various research projects and action plans. Students work with professors on the same projects and the Government often takes the assistance of these centres. A sizeable number of law school students join Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that work with these issues. Graduates from law school are also offered opportunities to work with international organisations such as the United Nations and with international war and crime tribunals.

Employment opportunities and remuneration:
There are various opportunities, including teaching and research, employment in both government and private sectors. Social workers are required in government welfare departments, women’s welfare, youth and community development and rural development programmes. Other jobs are related to the specific areas of specialisation. Social workers can be attached to hospitals, children’s homes, institutions for the disabled, homes for the aged, community centres, prisons and rehabilitation centres, schools and other organisations. They may also find employment in charitable organisations; organisations for social reform and with NGOs involved in AIDS prevention and ecological awareness. Social workers in the field of non-formal education work in literacy programmes in rural or urban areas. Social workers can also work as welfare administrators.

If you work with an established NGO, you would also be financially comfortable. However, the job entails a degree of financial insecurity because all NGOs are not well funded, and the pay may be meagre. Large international organisations like the UNDP, the WHO, the ILO, UNICEF, etc offer high-profile jobs with salaries to match. While mostly contractual in nature, the work mainly involves liaising and policy planning and demands a high level of experience, expertise and hard work.

For sheer variety, few occupations can match social work, which offers the broadest range of opportunities and scope for growth, and above all, self-satisfaction.

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