The first edition of the Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk (SW/MW) journal was published in April 1965 by the Department of Social Work at Stellenbosch University. During the past decades, SW/MW consistently published four editions per year, with eight articles in each edition. These editions have been open access since 2014, hence freely available online to the public (see https://socialwork.journals.ac.za/pub ). The Journal is currently indexed by the Department of Higher Education and Training…
Despite the existence of a formal identification, documentation, tracing, rehabilitation and reintegration (IDTRR) framework for addressing child abuse cases, implementation in Zimbabwe remains fraught with systemic and structural barriers. This study explored the lived experiences of social workers engaged in IDTRR to understand the obstacles to implementing a gender-centred, child-centred and…
The first 1,000 days after birth are a critical period in a child’s development, as this phase establishes the foundation of the child’s physical, cognitive, emotional and social welfare. South Africa’s child support grant (CSG), which aims to provide financial assistance to primary caregivers of children in low-income households, therefore has a substantial impact on children’s growth and…
The Sexual Offences and Related Matters Amendment Act, 32 of 2007, stipulates in Section 54 that individuals with knowledge of sexual offences committed against children must report this information to authorities (Republic of South Africa [RSA], 2007). As a result of limited corroborative evidence in many cases of child sexual violence (CSV), forensic social workers often conduct investigations…
Protection of witnesses has gained prominence as a strategy to fight crime. While witness protection programmes have proven effective in helping individuals to testify without fear, many South Africans and social workers remain unaware of how such programmes work, whether they exist at all, or how to access them when their safety is at risk. The purpose of this article is to highlight the social…
This article explores how social grants can be repositioned as drivers of community economic development (CED) in rural South Africa. The study aimed to examine the role of grants in shaping local economic activity, assess patterns of economic leakage, and identify strategies to retain and leverage grant flows for sustainable livelihoods. The guiding research question was: How can social grants be…
The concept of resilience is increasingly gaining universal recognition among helping professionals and social scientists. It explains the complexities and responses of individuals, groups and communities to stressful, emotional, depressive, traumatic and challenging situations. Since social work is considered an emotionally demanding profession, resilience is a highly relevant concept that forms…
The editorial in this extended issue of Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk reflects on the ongoing transformation of social work education and practice in Africa towards more indigenised, Afrocentric and contextually relevant approaches. Particular attention is given to the role of the Association of Schools of Social Work in Africa (ASSWA) in promoting Afrocentric social work education through…
This article contributes to a collection of especially commissioned papers to mark the 60 th anniversary of Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk . Reflecting the author’s personal views on the past, present and likely future trajectory of social development, he contends that there has been significant progress, but also severe setbacks that have fostered the currently pessimistic views of the field.…
Thirty years after the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, the Second World Summit in Doha in 2025 offered an opportunity to reconsider how social development is understood and governed. This paper examines the shift from state-centred political commitment towards more distributed and multi-actor forms of governance. Drawing on a governmentality perspective, it explores how social…
Considering increasing policy and scholarly claims that social work operates at the frontline of climate change, disaster response and environmental justice, this paper critically examines whether such claims are supported by empirical evidence. It addresses the central question of whether social work demonstrates a transformative, evidence-based role in advancing environmental outcomes. Drawing…
