This study attempts to explore the perceptions of victims of terrorism, and staff of NGOs with relevant experience of terrorism, based on the premise that social problems have contributed to the growth of terrorism in Nigeria; which in turn has created more social problems. This study posits that International social work can be used to manage and proffer solutions to these social problems in Nigeria.  International social work refers to social work practice that applies international knowledge and practice and is not limited to one country. This study used qualitative methods - seven semi-structured interviews to collect data. The General systems theory served as the theoretical base for the analysis of the data. The findings indicated that social problems could be attributed to the rise in terrorism, and that there was an urgent need for International social workers and their competencies in combating the causes of terrorism and its disastrous effects.

This PhD by project outlines research conducted in 2007 on the Thai Burma border, introducing social work education to Burmese health and community workers. In addition to experiencing physical and social upheaval, workers have little access to general education or training in relation to their work with refugees and displaced people. A request from the director of a Refugee Health Clinic to provide social work education for local workers led to my research question: How do I develop and teach a culturally relevant, cross cultural, sustainable social work curriculum for Burmese health and community workers on the Thai Burma border? The project consists of a product: three manuals of curriculum developed on the border and written for use by future visitors or locally trained workers, and an exegesis: an exploration of the research, methodology and a detailed analysis of my product in the context of the literature. The exegesis is organised around three main themes. First is the intersection of social work education and international social work, with a critique of colonialist impositions of Western social work in developing Asian countries. This section considers what constitutes relevant social work and social work education in this context. The second theme examines the researcher's attempts to suspend her assumptions and create a learning exchange through culturally sensitive social relationships that acknowledge and scrutinize power relations within the Burma border context. The final theme raises questions of critical pedagogy. Key differences in beliefs about educational purpose and approaches can be identified between Asia and the Western world. The project employed adult learning principles and explored the challenges of teaching critical thinking. Based on a participatory action research model, the curriculum design process attempted to be collaborative, inclusive and recursive. As a corollary, the project created a community of practice that continues to meet and work together towards social justice for migrants on the border, concepts that were not known to the participants prior to the training program. The project aimed to connect international social work education to social work's core missions of emancipation, human rights and activism on the Thai Burma border. The themes are transferable to other sites of social work in the Asia-Pacific region where social development precedes the practice and teaching of social work.

Previous research on expatriation has focused principally on managers in multi-national corporations. However, there is an acknowledged need to disaggregate the expatriate population in order to recognise the different contexts in which expatriation takes place. This thesis focuses on expatriation within the context of international development, evaluating the process and outcome of sociocultural adjustment in individual development workers. Development workers are an important type of expatriate to study. Their ability to adjust effectively to host cultures is increasingly important as NGOs face growing competition for funds alongside greater calls for accountability and increased demand for their services. Moreover, development work is theoretically challenging as a result of close contact with host nationals, a greater degree of cultural distance between home and host cultures, and the witnessing of poverty and inequity. A mixed method approach was employed in this thesis. Semi-structured interviews were used to evaluate the sociocultural adjustment experiences of expatriate development workers together with reflections on the contribution of their sending organisations. A postal survey was subsequently used to examine recruitment, selection and cross-cultural training practices in a broader sample of UK-based NGOs. This thesis makes its contribution by evaluating sociocultural adjustment in an under-researched expatriation context that is argued to be especially challenging both for the sending organisations and the individual expatriates. The findings identify a number of specific challenges, and provide a rich insight into the way in which these combine to influence the sociocultural adjustment of expatriate development workers and the adjustment outcomes that they achieve. Despite being a challenging context, the development workers in this study had all reached positive adjustment outcomes. The role of sending organisations was also examined, which indicated that recruitment, selection and cross-cultural training practices were shaped by pragmatic considerations. This was evidenced by an emphasis on recruitment sources and selection criteria that sought to identify qualified and experienced individuals with minimal training needs. Cross-cultural training focused on the provision of project and organisational inductions, supporting this interpretation. The findings led to the proposal of a model of sociocultural adjustment in expatriate development workers. The model emphasises the need to balance the use of other expatriates as a support mechanism with the effect of this on the individual’s relationship with host nationals. The model also identifies several factors that can simultaneously create tensions between expatriates and host nationals whilst driving the expatriate to seek support from other expatriates.

In light of globalization, international social work from global North to global South is accelerating and the emphasis from Swedish universities on international experience among students has increased. Various scholars problematize the domination of the global North as theories and practice have historically been unquestionably transformed from so-called developed to developing countries. Since the Western knowledge can be seen as the norm worldwide, international social work practice can have a negative impact on the local people, culture and knowledge if not adapted to the local context. The aim of the study was to explore to what extent Swedish social work students are prepared for field training abroad. This by exploring Swedish social work student’s experiences of their field training in South Africa. Further, the study aim was to increase our understanding of how the background as a Swedish social work student influences the field training in South Africa. The idea of the study is also to explore how South African social welfare workers relate and conceive Swedish social work students at their social welfare organization. In order to explore this subject, the study was based on fifteen semi-structured interviews with both Swedish social work students doing field training in South Africa and South African social welfare workers supervising Swedish students. Our study reveals that Swedish students doing field training in South Africa are not prepared academically in order to conduct field training abroad. Furthermore, the students expressed that the social work education lacked in terms of support, supervision and preparations for international field training. Our result indicated that students are given a high status and are seen as professionals by South African social welfare workers. Further, this study shows an indistinct relation between who is educating and who is learning among Swedish students and South African supervisors. This as a result of the power of whiteness and the view of the student’s as professionals with valuable knowledge. Our analysis has revealed, according to postcolonial theory and the concept of white privilege, signs of a continuation of historical colonial power relations and a distinction between “we” and “them”. However, international social work is a complex phenomenon and additional research is needed to unpack this subject further.

This study measured the effectiveness of an international social work course in increasing MSW students’ understanding of global interconnectedness and cultural competence utilizing an exploratory quantitative research design. Data were collected from twelve participants from a social work school in the west coast who completed a survey prior to beginning the course and again after completing the course. The study found that participants had an increase in both cultural competency and global interconnectedness after the course. The results of this study correlate with the limited literature available on the topic of international social work and supports the expansion of study abroad experiences for social work students structured in the manner of the international social work course studied.

This article is a quantitative research analysis that aims to compare the career orientations of Swedish and Chinese undergraduates involved in an International Social Work Program as an effort to provide insight for social work educators.  Use of the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) was applied to analyze the data.  A mail questionnaire was issued to 51 students studying at the University of Gävle (Sweden). The results show that fifty percent of Swedish students and fifty percent Chinese students would prefer to work in the government and/or public sector.  Also,  the study participants  agree that they will be influenced by career development opportunities in future work, and that the most substantial difference between the nationalities is that Chinese students tend to be more influenced by the social expectations of immediate parents, relatives, and friends, than their Swedish counterparts.  Finally, this article lists a few recommendations geared towards helping social work educators provide more relevant links between the school’s curriculum and anticipated job requirements, and bridging more opportunities for student internship positions.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur de svenska humanitära organisationerna Tam-Tam, PMU, SoUG samt Barnfonden bedriver/vill bedriva socialt arbete för att främja barns rätt till utbildning och skolgång i Togo. Vidare ämnar studien ta reda på om faktorer som bemötande och förhållningssätt har någon betydelse i deras sociala arbete i landet. Utöver detta önskar studien granska om organisationerna använder sig av olika tillvägagångssätt gällande kön i det sociala arbetet. Studien har en kvalitativ ansats och bygger på semistrukturerade intervjuer med nämnda organisationer. I resultatet framkommer det att organisationernas sociala arbete med att främja barns rätt till skola och utbildning utformas på olika sätt. Viktiga faktorer i arbetet är att samarbeta med lokala aktörer för att stärka individerna i samhället på flera plan. Samtliga organisationers arbete har ett särskilt fokus på att bidra till att stärka flickors och kvinnors position i samhället. Via olika projekt syftar organisationerna till att göra utbildningen och skolgången mer jämställd mellan pojkar och flickor i landet. Ytterligare en viktig del i organisationernas utvecklingsarbete handlar om att informera och medvetandegöra barnens föräldrar om utbildningens betydelse. Många familjer är fattiga och ett stort antal vuxna i landet har aldrig själva utbildat sig, vilket minskar motivationen att satsa pengar på någonting de saknar kännedom om. Organisationernas arbete med att motverka den utbredda analfabetism som finns i Togo samt att förbättra föräldrars ekonomi bidrar till att familjer i större utsträckning skickar sina barn till skolan. Studien har analyserats utifrån teorierna empowerment och kritisk teori för att identifiera och granska hur dessa synsätt kan bidra till organisationernas sociala arbete gällande främjandet av barns skolgång i Togo. / The purpose of this study is to analyse how Swedish organizations, namely the PMU, Barnfonden, Swedish Social Workers without Borders and Tam-Tam are working to promote children’s right to education in Togo. Furthermore, the study intends to find out whether factors such as attitude and approach has any meaning in their social work in the country. In addition, the study wishes to examine whether organizations use different approaches concerning gender in social work. The study employs qualitative research methods and is based on semi-structured interviews with the organizations mentioned. Our findings suggest that the organizations’ social work with regard to promoting children’s right to education has been structured in several different ways. One important factor in this social work is the collaboration with local actors to strengthen individuals` status in society, which is conducted at several levels of society. All of the organizations have focussed in particular on strengthening the social status of girls and women. The organizations have initiated various projects in order to promote gender equality in education. Another important aspect of this work involves informing the children’s parents about the importance of education. Many families are poor and a large number of adults in the country lack any education of their own. These circumstances could lessen parents’ willingness to invest money into education, as they lack knowledge about its benefits. The organizations’ efforts to counteract Togo’s widespread illiteracy and to improve parents’ finances have resulted in more families sending their children to school. The analyses in this study are based on the empowerment theory and the critical theory, and we intend to identify and review the ways in which these theories can help organizations promote children’s education in Togo.

This research seeks to unravel the definition of sexual addiction amongst adolescents from the perspectives of professional social workers, working with these types of issues. This has been conducted through a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with social workers in various youth clinics in Stockholm. The results gathered from the interviews are presented and then analyzed through discourse analysis using the social constructionism as our theoretical framework. The primary results gathered, conclude that sexual addiction amongst adolescents is to be defined within the personal contact between the client and the social worker in order to build an individual case discourse. The results also depicts that shame and anxiety are the driving forces for the phenomenon. Furthermore, inconsistency was discovered regarding the terminology of the phenomenon amongst the social workers. It is important to note that the adolescent years are time of rapid change and, thus, the behavior resembling sexual addiction may not be permanent. The results are then discussed and compared to previous research.

In our global world, ideas in general and social work models in particular are spread and implemented in a variety of socioeconomic, political and cultural contexts, generating different outcomes. Many ideas and services launched in different countries by international organisations or governments in order to bring social justice to marginalised and oppressed groups, such as people with disabilities, have been criticised for not reaching or involving those such services aim to serve. Low impact of social programs on the welfare of people and communities has put the effectiveness of such programs into question and can leave people with disabilities dissatisfied with the social services available in their environment. The main purpose of this dissertation is to examine how an international idea for social work practice, as community based rehabilitation (CBR), is implemented in different structures and institutional contexts. To examine how an idea is implemented in different contexts, following research questions have guided the work: “How was the idea of CBR introduced to and implemented in Uganda and Sweden?”, “What contextual factors influenced the implementation of CBR in these countries?”, “What limitations and possibilities affected CBRs chances of continuity and institutionalisation in the two countries?” and finally“Can international ideas and models for social work be successfully used in different structural and institutional contexts?”. The study is based on a qualitative design with a comparative approach using qualitative content analysis for analysing data collected through official documents and interviews with parents to children with disabilities and professionals working in the children’s surrounding. The results show how difficult it is to monitor development through projects in both non-Western and Western countries. International ideas of social work, such as CBR, can make a difference in both Uganda and Sweden for the improvement of the living condition of those in need of services; at least, as long as there are funding for the projects and cooperation between authorities, NGOs and the parents of children with disabilities. The results show also that there are many differences in the process of the implementation of CBR in Uganda and Sweden. The colonial past of Uganda and its weak welfare state make CBR an important project for the improvement of the life conditions of children with disabilities. Meanwhile, the Swedish strong welfare state and legal protection of children with disabilities make CBR much more marginal in Sweden than in Uganda. However, CBRs successes to promote social justice for children with disabilities and their families makes it necessary to integrate the project to the existing organisation of the welfare state in the two countries. Changing existing welfare services requires engagement in political decision-makings, cooperation, and a critical examination of structural and institutional arrangements, in order to include successful projects in the daily functions and duties of the welfare state of every country. This will prevent an international idea for social work to not only be a temporary trend to follow, but also an established working method for helping people in need of proper services.

The aim of the study is to explore the experiences of international social work graduates when looking for employment in the field of social work in Sweden after graduation. Because the aim of the study is to study the experiences a graduate face when entering the labor market, we have deemed that a qualitative method with semi structured interviews to collect data would be best suited for our research. The selection will be chosen from international social work graduates who studied in Sweden. The intention is to focus on both graduates with 210 study points and graduates with 180 study points. 4 participants together. The empirical data was analyzed with the mind of using the theory of capital by Pierre Bourdieu. This theory; the theory of capital is seen as an empirically orientated concept, that has been one of the most widely used concepts in international sociology and on the intersection of sociology and educational studies. The authors have put the findings in three (3) categories: Background, labor market and further improvement. These themes were found to be a commonality with the graduates interviewed.  This study found that it can be hard to acquire employment nationally, with an international social work degree.