Social Work and Social Development Challenges to the COVID-19 Pandemic

This chapter provides an overview of social development strategies and social work responses to mitigate the human costs of the COVID-19 pandemic. Three responses were reviewed: social protection policies, humanitarian relief and mutual aid, social solidarity – including civil society responses – the impact of the pandemic on social workers and service delivery. The findings show an exponential expansion of social protection policies in all countries. While government provision was expansive, other non-state social arrangements were crucial to the response, although gaps in coverage remain. Building on these successes and progressively expanding coverage for all citizens while meeting the needs of the most disadvantaged remains a challenge. The pandemic has also accelerated the use of technology in service provision. The expansion of social protection in developing countries before the pandemic provided the foundation for country-level responses. While social work services are better integrated with social protection in some countries, there needs to be a better articulation between social assistance, labour market strategies, and social work services to address multi-dimensional human needs and improve social outcomes. The social development approach provides a sound platform for post-COVID recovery to build societal resilience and responsiveness to future pandemics of environmental and economic crises.