Our Mission
The mission of BPSW is to increase the number of professional social workers in developing countries and to ensure that people who devote their careers to social work have the resources, training and support necessary to help people in their region.
Local Social Workers for local solutions to families and communities in need.
Social Workers: An Integral Part of our Communities
Many developing nations—where communities and families are coping with war, frequent natural disasters, and decades of political and economic uncertainty—lack the systems to provide face-to-face assistance by professional, local social workers.
BPSW works to facilitate the development of social work practice that is consistent with the definitions and needs of local communities. BPSW assists social workers in developing countries in adapting relevant social work practice theories to local conditions and in supporting local professional social work and social work education organizations.
Specifically, BPSW supports greater access to social work education through scholarships, access to social work literature, and dissemination of best social work practices to local programs that give communities access to social services.
International relief organizations provide important recovery and reconstruction programs in post-conflict and post-disaster regions. Unfortunately, when international organizations leave, the country and communities affected end up dealing alone with the long-term repercussions. Repairing a community's social fabric one family or one community at a time requires the on-going assistance of professionally educated and trained social workers sensitive to the nuances of family traditions, local cultures, ethnicities, and religions.
BPSW collaborates with NGOs, universities and government to develop
social welfare programs. The goal is to develop the educational
resources and technical assistance needed to address the
biopsychosocial-spiritual needs of individuals, families, and
communities in Indonesia.
The devastation caused by the 2004 tsunami in Aceh, continual earthquakes and natural disasters, and ongoing interethnic conflict underline the enormous need for social workers in Indonesia. BPSW recognized this need and took action.
BPSW has established the Social Work Practice Resource Center to further develop social work practice in Indonesia. Find out more about our current projects in Indonesia, Click here.
BPSW is a project of Building Bridges to the Future Foundation, and a partner of Jembatan Masa Depan (JMD). Visit www.buildingbridgestothefuture.org and jmd.or.id for more information.