The challenge to promote social and economic equality in Namibia through social work

Abstract

Social work is called upon by the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development to promote a more just society. Social welfare services in Namibia are not aligned with the country’s vision to significantly reduce inequalities by 2030. The absence of a legislative mandate is key to social work’s challenge to shift from a focus on primarily psycho-social service delivery to engaging in social and economic justice issues. It is recommended that the Namibian government formalise its adoption of a developmental social welfare policy in order to create an enabling environment for social work to promote social and economic equality.

Keywords

• developmental social welfare policy
• Social welfare services
• psycho-social service delivery
• social and economic justice issues