Voices of the University of Botswana Social Work graduates in Community Development

Abstract

Community development (CD) is one of the integral methods of Social Work practice. Its goal is to empower individuals, groups, organizations and communities to improve the economic and general social welfare of people in communities. The purpose of this paper is to report on the views of the University of Botswana Social Work graduates regarding their perceptions on the roles they play in Community Development. The paper comes out of a tracer project whose object was, among other things,to document the performance of Social Work graduates (1998-2008)employed in social and Community Development agencies and Ministry of Local Government in Botswana. The study was, in part, motivated by the perceptions that UB Social Work graduates lacked adequate training in understanding of Social Work in general, and Community Development in particular. The results of the tracer study further reveal, among other things, that UB graduates are adequately trained with requisite knowledge and skills for CD, but are constrained by lack of resources. It is therefore recommended that the Department of Social Work at the University of Botswana initiate a dialogue with stakeholders at various levels in order to examine issues affecting Community Development strategies in Botswana.