Social Work

The Profession of Social Work in Indonesia

By Tuti Alawiyah

Why is the profession of social work is important? This question leads me to think about the situation in Indonesia. As part of the third world, Indonesia faces many social problems such as unemployment, a poor education system and health service, mal-nutrition, high mother and child mortality rates, and infectious disease, among others. I always wonder why more children still cannot go to school even though the government has launched the free-education program? Why cannot many poor families see a doctor or go to hospital since the government has started a free-health service for poor people?

Essentially, people in every place have rights to get those things (education, health service, and job) because these basic needs are protected by the Constitution of Indonesia. In terms of fulfilling these rights, the social work profession is important because its goal is helping disenfranchised people enhance their ability for social functioning and create social circumstance that support people’s access to social services (NASW, 2007). There are two reasons why social work is important. First, poor people badly need help from others. Second, nowadays, fewer people who want to do this job.

First, poor people badly need someone who helps them improve their capacity for social functioning in order to access social services. There are some reasons why the poor cannot access services. First, poor people often come from uneducated families who do not know much about their rights and do not know how the social system works. Besides, they have limited access and opportunity to social and economic sources.

The second reason is that the social work profession is not recognized as a professional job and consequently becoming unpaid-work. Traditionally, people in Indonesia often work voluntarily to help people in need. They consider this work as a spiritual response based on their faith. In many areas, especially in villages, poor people support each other so that they get help from their community and neighborhood. However, because this work is seen as voluntary and more people are involved in more professional jobs, people who engage in this work are few. Due to these reasons, I see that initiating social work as a professional job is important in Indonesia.

In conclusion, the profession of social work in Indonesia is important because as the third world, this country is facing many social problems. Poor people who are often ignored by social system need social workers who can help them improve their capacity to access social services. Furthermore, social work as a profession should get more attention in order to increase the number of social workers. By making it a paid-job probably will increase the number of social workers and as a result increase the number of disenfranchised group that get a help.

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