The early development of social work: A comparison between the West and Bangladesh,a South Asian developing country

Introduction

According to the social work dictionary, ‘social work is the paid professional activity that aims to assist people in overcoming serious difficulties in their lives by offering care, protection or counseling’ (Thomas and Pierson, 1995). As a helping profession, social work includes the ability to effectively handle problems faced by individuals, groups and the larger community and takes necessary initiatives to improve the lives of people, groups and communities. To improve the lives of people and increase the quality of society, social work is concerned with various social crises or problems, their causes, their solutions and their human impact or consequences. Now the question arises: how did the profession of social work first develop in the West? What is the background of the profession in the rest of the world, specifically in developing countries? If we consider Bangladesh, a South Asian developing country, as a case study, we can compare the development of social work in the West and the third world countries as they almost belong to the same kind of social structures.

In Bangladesh the history of social work originated in the Pakistan regime under the slogan ‘a new profession for a new nation in a new age’. The recommendations were made by United Nations (UN) expert Dr J.J.O. Moore for the establishment of a program of professional education for social welfare practice in former East Pakistan, now Bangladesh (Sarker and Ahmadullah, 1995). An introductory course in social work of three months’ duration was first started in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1953 (Sarker and Ahmadullah, 1995). The College of Social Welfare and Research Center at Dhaka (the capital of Bangladesh), the first of its kind in East Pakistan, was founded in 1958 as a constituent college under the University of Dhaka. After independence in 1971, the government of Bangladesh developed and re-designed programs for professional social work training in Bangladesh. On 9th February 1973, the college was merged with the mainstream of academic programs of the University of Dhaka and holds the name Institute of Social Welfare and Research (ISWR). Now all the general public universities and some private universities of Bangladesh offer both undergraduate and graduate (Masters, Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy) programs for this discipline. Field work is compulsory for both undergraduate and graduate level courses and an intellectual training program is included in the social work curriculum to develop skills and special competence with application of theoretical knowledge in practical situations through fieldwork.

Charity and religion

If we go back to the history, we can see that the history of social work is not so old but the root idea is old enough because the idea came from charity. From history, ‘it is clear that early social work was strongly influenced by religious values and theology. This was true of the charity, settlement, and social gospel movements’ (Heinonen and Spearman, 2001: 23). There is no doubt that current values in social work are influenced by these pioneer movements. In England, the charity organization movement developed during the 1860s to answer the question of how to tackle poverty, and this movement was the pioneer of the development of the social work profession (Woodroofe, 1962). The objective of charity was to help the poor, sick and distressed people. In her book ‘An Introduction to Social Work’, J.B. Piccard stated that ‘traditionally, social work history is introduced by relating the giving of alms, according to Judaic–Christian ethic. Both religions, important in Western thought, urge charity through alms giving; that is, sharing with those less fortunate’ (Piccard, 1979: 27–8). The Islamic religion also has the same view about people in need:

Islam, in a comparatively stable form, institutionalized charity work through systems, like Zakat (the portion of the excess money of the rich people given to the poor), Baitulmal (government fund for poor), Sadquah (sacrificing something in the name of Allah and distribute through poor). Thus in the name of social service, some forms of social welfare activities have evolved and have been in practice in Bangladesh society as elsewhere in the world. (Sarker and Ahmadullah, 1995: 367)

Muslims make up the majority of the population of Bangladesh (around 87 percent of the total), and charitable activities, such as providing services for the poor or distressed people, have been practiced in society since ancient times. So, similar to the West, the idea of social work in Bangladesh has come from religion as well as charity. According to Payne, ‘charity emerged from both religious and social responsibility, and the two were closely related’ (Payne, 2005: 21).

As we know, on 16 December 1971, the new country named Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, gained independence from Pakistan after a nine-month war of liberation. Twenty-four years of Pakistani rule and a nine-month war exhausted the economy of the country. At that time, as a new independent-resource poor country, Bangladesh faced various socio-economic and political problems: ‘large-scale and acute problems existed (and still exist) in primary and secondary poverty, disease, ignorance, unstable employment conditions, inadequate housing, indebtedness, unemployment and underemployment in addition to some institutionalized problems’ (Sarker and Ahmadullah, 1995: 372). After liberation, the government of Bangladesh took some necessary and initial steps to overcome the situation. But the unskilled manpower, poor resources and ill-equipped government was not sufficient to handle the war-torn economy. At that time, some non-government organizations (NGOs) – independent groups unaffiliated with the new state – responded to government calls for aid. Thus the newly-declared nation of Bangladesh was heavily dependent on international aid for the country’s food supply and other primary needs.

During this crucial time immediate responses were received from a satisfactory number of foreign organizations which came forward to rescue the war-ravaged people with their charitable activities. ‘At this critical juncture, some positive responses were made by a good number of committed people who established a few national organizations’ (Shailo, 1994: 9), which actually started working after liberation to help the war affected people. For example, just after the liberation of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), the largest NGO of Bangladesh, started its journey in 1972 by helping the refugees returning home from India to Shalla, a remote and inaccessible village at the northeastern boarder of the country. BRAC helped the villagers by providing them with the materials needed for house construction and tools used in earning a livelihood. Thus BRAC and some other NGOs started their services from the birth of Bangladesh and turned into major social service providing organizations within a short period of time.

Now the question is: why are the NGOs so strong in providing social services in Bangladesh? As we know:

social work practice is carried out in public, non-profit, and for profit agencies and includes direct services to individuals, families, groups and communities, as well as supervision, management, and policy analysis. Local, state and federal government fund public agencies that offer services mandated by legislation. (Gambrill, 2006: 4)

But in this sense, the image of Bangladesh is little bit different. As a resource-poor country, the government of Bangladesh does not have a big budget for welfare activities for the people. Besides this, according to the World Bank, the most significant obstacles for growth in Bangladesh are poor governance and weak public institutions (World Bank, 2005). So it is very difficult for the government alone to work for the overall development of the country. As a result, the government helps and supports various NGOs to work for that purpose. Thus the failures of the government enhance the opportunities for NGOs to work as development partners and supreme social service delivery organizations of the country and, specifically, for the well-being of the poor.

At present, there are some religious NGOs – such as Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Islamic NGOs – that are working in Bangladesh which are referring to themselves as ‘religious’, ‘spiritual’, or ‘faith-based’, and are funded from outside. Although the modern mentality relegates religion to the realm of private life, religious NGOs represent a unique hybrid of religious beliefs and socio-political activism at all levels of society. For instance, some dedicated Christian social workers established Hearts Samaj Unnayan Sangstha (social development organization) in 1990 to bring about the socio-economic and spiritual uplift of the rural poor, especially women for their empowerment, and establish human rights, equity and justice in society. The organizational set-up of HEARTS comprises a general body of 28 members (of whom 23 are women) and an elected executive committee of seven social workers (of whom five are women). However, religious NGOs face some challenges in Bangladesh. For example, every religious NGO is suspected for different types of reasons. Christian NGOs are suspected of evangelism, Islamic NGOs for promoting terrorism, and they are accused of obstructing the activities of secular/non-religious NGOs who promote a greater role for women outside the home. A major criticism against religious NGOs is that they target mainly followers of their own faith (Ahmad, 2004).

Poor and impoverished

Throughout its history, social work has had an interest in and concern for the poor and impoverished: ‘in 1536, a law was passed in England stating that alms collected by local authorities and by the churches on Sundays were to help to relieve the sick and the poor’ (Skidmore and Thackeray, 1976: 37). The collected alms of every town or church were utilized for people in need (Skidmore and Thackeray, 1976) and ‘the income was to be allocated so that the poor, sick, impotent and diseased person, not able to work, might be helped and relieved. In colonial days in America, the basic pattern for assisting the poor and unfortunate followed the poor laws’ (Skidmore and Thackeray, 1976: 37–9). But the law was not so fruitful or effective for the poor because it could not give any sustainable solution for the poor to overcome their poverty.

In Europe and in North America social work had its origin in the late 19th century in the processes of industrialization and urbanization, with their resultant poverty and poor health and living conditions of large numbers of people. Elsewhere it has developed during the twentieth century at varying paces, but often responses to similar processes and resultant social problems. (Lyons, 1999: 6)

At that time (still now), poverty was the biggest concern because it caused various social problems and social instability. Early social workers also struggled enough against poverty. Many movements stated that they wanted to solve the problem, for example:

the charity organization movement in the United States was a significant one because it provided for private agencies that were interested in finding ways and means of organizing help to the poor through individualized services and was believed that the poor needed friendly guidance; they needed spiritual help, as well as material assistance. (Skidmore and Thackeray, 1976: 41)

Not only that, in the mid-19th century the settlements movement also focused on the causes of poverty and took important social initiatives to improve the conditions of the poor. Jane Addams, the pioneer of the social settlement movement, argues that ‘the poor are often victims of circumstance and that it is the responsibility of society to first understand those who are marginalized and then develop means for their participation in lateral progress’ (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2007). The leading NGOs of Bangladesh, like BRAC or the Grameen Bank, have significant philosophical similarities with these two early social work movements of the West. Actually, the activities of NGOs in Bangladesh focus on the World Bank definition of NGOs, in which the objective is very similar to social work. The World Bank usually refers to NGOs as any group or institute that is independent from government and that has humanitarian or co-operative, rather than commercial, objectives. Specifically, the bank focuses on NGOs that work in the areas of development, relief or environmental protection, or that represent the poor or vulnerable people (World Bank, 1996).

In Bangladesh the proclaimed mission of NGOs is poverty alleviation and all the activities of them center round the poorest of the poor. During the 1970s there had been a mushroom of growth in the number of NGOs in this country and an upsurge of interest in offering realistic answers to several issues of human well-being that have so long remained neglected. Among the most neglected section, the traditional development planners always bypassed the poor and vulnerable. So the NGOs, those firstly known as church-based voluntary organizations, devoted themselves to developing the living standard of the rural poor in Bangladesh. Similar to social work, NGOs in Bangladesh also passed some stages. The charity and welfare activities of the NGOs continued until 1973. The national NGOs then felt that, instead of making people dependent on aid, they had to decide certain strategies for taking up programs for sustainable development, so they went to involve themselves in sector programs such as agriculture, fisheries, livestock, health and family planning, etcetera. In every stage the concern of NGOs was the poor and their well-being.

From the history of social work, it had been seen that Jane Addams’ settlement movement provided a variety of services including educational, legal and health services which had a great effect in changing the social policy. NGO activities have great similarity with that movement because, like the settlement house movement, notable contributions have been made by NGOs in developing institutions of the poor. The process of institution building has been through the development of human resources with the help of a continuous process of education (concretization following the popular pedagogy). With a greater awareness of the socio-economic and political dynamics affecting their life, and with a collective force generated through their sense of belonging to their own institutions, the poor are able not only to mobilize and manage their own resources, but are also motivated to have their input in shaping policies and plans that affect their lives. Most development NGOs have applied this paradigm by initiative people’s organizations at the grassroot levels. Early social work ‘aimed to investigate the habits and circumstances of the poor, to suggest plans by which the poor could help themselves, and to encourage the poor to save and economize’ (Zastrow, 1989: 4).

Considering the activities of NGOs, it has been shown that ‘plans’, ‘savings’, ‘self help’, ‘economize’ – all these words are very common in the economic activities of NGOs in Bangladesh. One of the most significant contributions of NGOs lies in enhancing the income of the poor beneficiaries through providing credit support (micro credit program). Through provision of credit, NGOs have freed the poor beneficiaries from the clutches of money-lenders and have enabled them to generate income on their own through collective planned economic activities: implemented and managed by the poor themselves, and from the profit they make, they can make their savings. In addition to that, the economic development programs of NGOs like BRAC or the Grameen Bank work with and for the disadvantaged rural people of Bangladesh. The settlement house workers worked for the improvement of circumstances for the poor and ‘they sought to improve housing, health and living conditions; find jobs; teach English, hygiene, and occupational skills; and sought to change environmental surroundings through cooperative efforts’ (Zastrow, 1989: 6), and NGOs of Bangladesh are going in the same direction. In that journey, during job advertisement, some NGOs mention that applicants from social science or social work disciplines will be given priority. In the West, social work is a recognized profession. But in Bangladesh, social work never got established as an independent profession.

A new attractive field opened for the social work graduates when some NGOs adopted corporate culture under the influence of its foreign donors. But these employment opportunities were always limited in numbers. Even now, high profile jobs for social work graduates are very inadequate. There is no scope in Bangladesh for practicing social work as a private profession. As helping each other in the Bangladeshi society is a common tradition, as well as treated as a noble cause, the concept of professional social work is missing from the society. As a result, the trained social workers find it very difficult to establish roots in Bangladesh.

Social justice and equality

The history of social work has had a strong emphasis on social justice and equality. History supports that, in addition to charity, social justice was the main spring of all welfare activities, and tried to remove injustice. We do know that ‘the profession of social work first began as a social movement and a “cause”, to abolish the evils of poverty and injustice, to create a more equitable, integrated, and democratic society’ (Siporin, 1975: 9). The movements of NGOs in Bangladesh also belong to a similar view.

Bangladesh is a country which fought for independence for almost one year; it sacrificed a lot, had a deep intense desire to get rid of all oppression, injustice and political corruption, but had a very limited option to public justice for all. It is true that, in this country, the vast majority of the population are unable to get favors with the government and therefore remain vulnerable to abuse and discrimination, and they do not have a voice to seek protection from the constitutional rights, although section 27 of the constitutions of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh reads: ‘all citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law’. On the other hand section 28(1) reads: ‘the state shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth’ (Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 1972). But in reality, the poor and women hold a marginal position in the sharing of decision making at all levels. Although some initiatives are taken by the government to ensure political rights and increase awareness, participation and empowerment, the government is not so sincere or active and does not give proper attention to omitting the discriminations from society by fully implementing the initiatives. Also the government has failed to fulfill its constitutional duty to ensure its people has access to food, shelter, clothing, medical care, education, work and social security. As a result, NGOs are working to establish the equal rights and overall development of vulnerable and disadvantaged people. Their ability to concentrate their efforts solely on such issues has turned them into a powerful parallel government. In light of continuing government corruption and inefficiency, NGOs appear to occupy the same unique status, as they have a higher level of management capabilities to organize and manage development programs at the grassroot level.

To establish a just and equal society, the activities of NGOs can be compared with the initial functions of social work:

A historical and contextual view of social work and social welfare suggests three major functions: (1) relief of psychological distress and material need; (2) social control, and (3) social reform. The idea of Charity Organization Societies (COSs) and settlement houses that were imported from England to the United States emphasized these three functions to different degrees. (Gambrill, 2006: 5)

The activities and programs increase the capacity of the poor to meet their basic needs, which enhances psychological well-being and social productivity (Gambrill, 2006), and NGOs also cover these three functions, specifically the economic programs of the NGOs who have credit to utilize resources in their (the poor’s) favor. In order to empower the disadvantaged, the aim of these NGOs is to help them by developing a clearer understanding of the social, political and economic factors affecting their lives.

Bangladesh was governed by dictatorial regimes for a long time. On many occasions, NGOs participated in mass movements against such dictatorial regimes. For example, senior NGO leaders were members of the citizen’s committee, which took part in the 1981 presidential elections. In the 1990 mass movement against the ‘Ershad’ (an autocratic former president) regime, they took an active role. NGOs have participated in various programs which are geared towards democratization of the state: this includes voter education programs, election monitoring programs, participation in political movements, etcetera, as we do know that ‘active democratic social progress was so essential to Adams that she did not want to alienate any group of people from the conversation or potential participation’ (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2007), and ‘co-operation’ and ‘participation’ are the two vital pillars of the NGOs of Bangladesh.

Considering that the ‘settlement workers, who daily encountered environmental deprivation, emphasized reform, they also had a social control function’ (Gambrill, 2006: 6), which is common in NGOs in Bangladesh as we can see that, by their programs, NGOs make full contribution to social reform, social change and social control, such as the gender and social justice unit (GSJU) of BRAC which has worked to promote gender equity, fair ‘shalish’ (village arbitration) and activated village courts to facilitate the use of the government legal aid fund. The unit also monitors the human rights situation and acts as a pressure group (BRAC, 2003). For example, legal aid and social awareness programs of the NGOs at the grassroot level, and an increase in coverage of newspapers through development of local level journalists, have made it impossible for the fatwa (‘legal opinion’ by unauthorized person or persons) practitioners to evade the public eye. At last, the court has recommended that ‘giving a fatwa (religious edict) by unauthorized person or persons must be made a punishable offence by the parliament immediately, even if it is not executed’ (The Daily Star, 2001). This judgment was acclaimed by various sections of society. This is one of the examples of how NGOs are working to establish a just and equal society for all, as social development thinking and practice in the field of social welfare have offered significant avenues for addressing the economic and social injustices of society. These avenues focus on the ways in which the economic growth of society can be advanced while promoting the social well-being of everyone (Midgley, 1997).

Concern for women

Women had a great contribution to the origin of the social work profession. History states that, in Europe and North America, most of the pioneer leaders of the social work profession and social work education were women (Lyons, 1999), and:

to some extent this tradition has continued in the later development of social work elsewhere, for instance in some of the South American countries. Van Wormer (1997), in an account of the development of social work in the United States (US), singled out Mary Stewart (Britain), Jane Addams and Mary Richmond (the US), and Alice Salomon (Germany) as among those who shared ideas and laid the bases of social work provision and education in the late 19th century and early 20th century. (Lyons, 1999: 7)

All the social work women leaders were concerned about women, their position in society, and the root cause of discrimination and gender issues. Among women politicians in Bangladesh, the older group entered politics through social work, while some of the new generation have emerged from student politics. As social work is not an independent profession in Bangladesh, a large number of women have engaged themselves in various aspects of voluntary social welfare work besides their own professions. For example, Ain o Salish Kendro (ASK) is one of the reputed human rights and legal resource centers. The majority of members of ASK are women who provide free legal aid, mediation and counseling services, and who monitor, document and campaign for human rights and women’s rights issues, and also undertake public interest litigation. It has litigated a number of cases on women’s human rights, including challenges to the practice of ‘safe custody’. Though the name ‘Association of Social Workers (ASW) Bangladesh’ is included in the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) members list, this association is not so active and there is no National Social Work Organization in Bangladesh. But a few human rights organizations and some women’s organizations (such as Adunica, ASK, Dhaka American Women’s Club, Nari Pokhho, Center for Social Studies, Women for Women, Gonoshasthaya Kendra, Nijera Kori, and many more) are engaged in social work, and are concerned and active regarding women’s issues. Besides, NGOs of Bangladesh have been promoting a new culture in the development field with women in the forefront of all activities. Also there are a large number (81) of smaller female-headed NGOs providing microfinance to women throughout Bangladesh.

In reality, the constitution of Bangladesh grants equal rights to women and men in all spheres of public life (Article 28[1], 28[2], and 28[3]; Constitution of Bangladesh, 1972). But in a male-dominated society like Bangladesh, the world of the majority of women lies within the four walls of their homes. Their economic dependence makes them socially inferior to men. Moreover, women are often subjected to psychological, social, economic and sexual tortures. So NGOs in Bangladesh, through their persistent efforts, have tried to break the symbolic cage of women through education and concretization, and through helping them develop their own institutions. It has also been found that women brought under NGO interventions have fought against dowry and other forms of social injustice like divorce, rape, physical abuse, etcetera. Poor women need encouragement to take action when their rights are infringed, as Jane Addams also believed ‘women should make their voices heard in legislation and therefore should have the right to vote, but more comprehensively, she thought that women should generate aspirations and search out opportunities to realize them’ (Nobel Foundation, 2011). Early social workers focused on women’s empowerment which is ‘a process aimed at changing the nature and direction of systemic forces with marginalizing women and other disadvantaged sections in a given context and the outcome of empowerment of women is redistribution of power between genders’ (Goswami, 1998: 50) that remove discriminations. NGOs also put emphasis on the four dimensions of women’s empowerment such as resources, perceptions, relationship and power (Chen, 1992). NGOs are operating their gender-related activities to concern themselves with the process of transformation (empowerment) which enables a woman to identify her own strengths, skills to challenge and change her life situation and make her own choices and decisions, and have control over surroundings that affect her life. This will help to ensure social and gender equality, as we know that one of the most important purposes of social work is ‘to enhance human well-being and alleviate poverty, oppression, and other forms of social injustice’ (Schriver, 2004: 3).

Conclusion

From the earlier discussion we can see some similarities and differences between the origin of social work in the West as well as in Bangladesh. History supports that the origin of social work was private in nature and involved philanthropic programs and activities. In that sense, considering the history of NGOs, which are the main social service providing organizations of Bangladesh, have the same nature as in the West. The differences actually depend on the nature of the state, the state’s social policies, and existing laws of a particular country, as well as in a broad sense the international relationships and international position of the country. The situation of every country is not the same. Every country has its own problems and own way to solve them and, in that way, social work developed around the world. There are similarities as well as differences about how it works in different countries and it totally depends on the situation of the country. But the root objective is the same everywhere: to help, care and have concern for the people. As Kendall (1987: 995) points out about the similarities: ‘no matter how they are organized, they are informed by humanistic values and encompass knowledge of social ills and social provision, understanding the individuals and society in interaction, and methods of intervention into social and human problems’ (Watts et al., 1995: 3).