Social Work and Development: Prospects in Bangladesh

Social development addresses people's needs and keep them of at the center in the development process. This process also indicates the change in social institutions which ultimate result is progress toward an inclusive society. At present, Bangladesh has achieved rapid progress in many social development indicators which have substantially reduced the situation of poverty despite the poor quality of public service delivery systems that exist. Social development through 'social work model' is yet to be familiar among the policy makers and development experts in the context' of Bangladesh. Social work model may be utilized to introduce new ways of working to resolving the challenges vulnerable people face, aiming at promoting empowerment, enabling people for taking actions to improve their lives. The main objective of this paper is to explore the applicability of social work knowledge and skills to the development activities. Although social workers use their knowledge in a formal way in the development initiatives, their contributions as social workers mostly remain unrecognized. This article is based on data collected from different secondary sources like socio-economic development . reports, development plan and programs and their implementation processes. Based on literature review, the paper finds that the social work practice is hardly carried out to deal with the development challenges of Bangladesh. Social workers face manifold challenges among which lack of professional recognition and absence of strong professional body are most pressing ones. The study suggests that the social workers themselves should take major responsibility to play effective role in development activities alongside the social and economic policy makers and planners.