Social work is very significant when it comes to addressing a majority of the fundamental issues that continue to affect our societies directly or indirectly by collaborating with other academic disciplines. The discipline developed from its early foundation as one of the academic disciplines inculcated in the Ugandan educational curriculum in 1952 when the
first Social Work training institution, Nsamizi Training Institute of Social Development was established. The establishment of this institution was guided by the need to equip and train clerical officers with the requisite knowledge and skills to serve in the colonial government’s social sector. The completion in this course by the new clerical graduates culminated in the award of diploma and certificates in Social Work. Before this institution was established, people who desired to pursue this path towards career development had to obtain these studies from oversea countries like Britain or the USA (Spitzer H.,Twikirize, M, J. & Wairire, G.G., 2014).
The Department of Social Work and Social Administration was established in 1963 at Makerere University to facilitate training in Rural Development, Social Administrationand Social Welfare before finally providing the course as a degree programme later in 1969. The 1980s saw the transformation of the education sector in Uganda with the establishment of other universities besides Makerere which up to that point had been the only institution of higher learning in the country ( Spitzer et al., 2014).
Currently, 35 higher institutes of learning are offering degree studies in Bachelor of Social Work and Social Administration.
A majority of the social workers are employed in the private sector which is majorly composed of non-governmental organizations while others are employed in the government departments and agencies. The health sectors absorb a significant number of qualified social workers who are incharge of running various social health programmes within the communities followed by community development and education. Low absorption of social workers is witnessed in the food security sector , gender and environmental protection and lastly the children social agencies when it comes to issues of social protection Northern Uganda employs majority of social workers more than any other region in Uganda. Their primary target was to provide relief and rehabilitation of individuals, groups and communities during and after the war (Twikirize et al., 2013).
However, the number of social workers operating within Uganda is not easy to determine.
Accordingly, the Uganda Social Protection Public Expenditure Review (2012:71), documents that the sector is faced by a constant problem of understaffing. It is even more challenging to try and determine how many of them are involved with unemployed youths and the education sector. Relevant bodies that are supposed to offer employment to social
workers are often financially constrained. In most cases,vacancies are not filled due to insufficient budgets but in the event, they are, it has been established that social workers take up other activities due to low wages. Another challenge insufficient skill by individuals who are involved in the social work sector in Uganda. At the district level where social workers are distributed, the numbers are worrying. The highest number of social workers deployed in a district is ten, some have six while some districts have none.
This reduces the efficiency and impact of social workers in providing solutions to the problem of unemployment and education that is affecting the country.
Traditional social networks such as the community and family continue to provide the much-needed framework in which social workers can reach out to the individual.
However, these traditional networks are constrained by several socio-political and economic factors that affect the degree to by which they are effective. To fill this gap, NGO and government organizations have from time to time tried to supplement efforts by social workers but even this remains insufficient to cover the whole country. NGOs in Uganda appear to focus their efforts on a small geographical area or communities within a province or a district. Theoretically, NGOs are considered to be providing support to government efforts in a particular field, however, in reality, much of their work is done in areas where there is no government input. While NGOs and in extension social workers offer services in health, family counseling,and community mobilization, they are also highly involved in the provision of education services through private schools.
The role of social workers in promoting community development is done through four distinctive features both of which have limitations and strengths and what distinguish them from each other is the extent to which the community owns the initiative. These four approaches include; initiatives in which the NGO acts as the direct provider through identifying and implementing projects while the community members act as beneficiaries. Secondly, the community is involved in an initiative proposed by the NGO which then does the planning and training of community members, who in turn become both volunteers and beneficiaries. The third approach is where community members manage and own initiatives that have been mobilized by NGOs. Here the external agency provides funding, acts as a catalyst, facilitates networking activities and offer capacity building services in programs owned by the community members. Community members
play roles such as planning, assessors, analysts, implementers while being beneficiaries of the project. The fourth approach is where the community manages and owns initiatives that have been developed by the community itself. NGOs provide funding and capacity building while community members are involved in the daily management of the programs (Wessels, 2009:16).
Uganda Social Protection Public Expenditure Review (2012:34-5) emphasizes the importance of Social workers (NGOs) in community development. It highlights its contribution to the reduction of poverty in Uganda through promoting the development of social capital. Indeed, such measures not only help provide better opportunities for individuals, they help bridge the social inequality gap, promote economic stability and security. In their wide range of activities, community development officers make important contributions in mobilizing and supporting the marginalize segments of the Ugandan population and provide them with means and training of getting employment and education. Lombard & Wairire (2010), Patel (2005) and Lombard (2007, 2008) point out that social workers are critical players in denouncing and fighting against different forms of social exclusion, marginalization,and oppression that feature promptly in the causes of unemployment and lack of access to education. These scholars add that in contrast, social workers employ non -discriminatory approaches, strength-based advocacy, social investment and community empowerment strategies that in turn promote economic and social integration and inclusion. This approach is referred to as developmental social work and is promoted through partnership, self -determination and participation (Patel, 2005: 18 -39; Midgley, 1995, 2010).