engleski

Project management in social work and social policy: new financial opportunities for research and practice

Social work is quite young profession, slightly over one hundred years old, and much younger academic discipline. By definition social work is profession that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people based on central principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities and by engaging people and structures to address life challenges and enhance wellbeing (ifsw.org). Some of the social circumstances, especially dramatic one as crisis (economic and other) definitely had effect on the social work profession. Knežević (2013) quotes that the social work is profession of crisis (because it deals with personal, group, community and social crises) and wonders if it is during the economic crisis the time of the crisis of social work profession itself. Global economic trends certainly affect the survival and quality of certain social services, and the helping professions are rarely a priority of political and other sources of power. That means that we need to find alternative resources to keep the world changing and giving the people and society possibility to achieve their full potentials. Scientist and practitioners in helping professions and wider are confronted with a limited budget for research and developing new and innovative social services and project funding could be alternative source of financing research and practical activities. In the presentation it will be focused on the question of new demands which have been increasingly posed on universities and academic community in Croatia regarding financing and financial self-sustainability. Based on some recent experience in participating in the European (FP7) and domestic projects, new opportunities and challenges for social work and social policy research and practice will be discussed.

social work; social policy; project management; research; practice

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