Environmental social work : accounting for women's tragedies in the face of climate change-induced disasters in Chimanimani District, Zimbabwe

This paper aimed to explore the repercussions of Cyclone Idai on women in Chimanimani District, Zimbabwe. There is a ubiquitous consensus in literature on gender and climate change that natural disasters have a different gender impact on men and women. In 2019, Zimbabwe was hit by torrential rains coupled with strong winds that triggered floods and mudslides, which resulted in loss of lives, displacements, destruction of infrastructure and disruption of livelihoods. This unprecedented disaster left some footprints of psychosocial distress, trauma, emotional malaise and health repercussions in the lives of its victims in Chimanimani where women were the hardest hit. The daunting impact of Cyclone Idai on women in Chimanimani falls within the context of the environmental social work practice where social workers foster healing and recovery, effective coping mechanisms and assessment of the aftermath of disasters to individuals and communities. This study was qualitative in nature, guided by the multi-case study design which operates within the traditional framework of exploratory research. A total number of twenty-five participants from Nyatanda and Pondo Rescue Camps comprising of women survivors of the disaster and social workers were purposively sampled to participate in the study. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were adopted as data collection methods. The findings were analysed through the thematic content analysis. This study established that the gendered impacts of Cyclone Idai on women received little attention in post-disaster assessment, recovery, evaluation and intervention. Nonetheless, this paper argues that in post-disaster analysis, women/girls should be identified as special populations at risk for disaster relief and recovery services and social workers have adequate expertise to execute such assignments.

Environmental social work

Purpose Environmental social work (ESW) is an approach and a perspective in social work focusing on ecological and environmental sustainability and justice within the context of sustainable development (SD). This study aims to analyse students’ reflective tasks on challenges for ESW education and practice from a critical theory perspective. The purpose of this study is to discuss the implications of the findings for accelerating the implementation of SD in social work curricula. Design/methodology/approach The research participants comprised 49 master level students from four different cohorts studying the course “Social Work and Sustainable Development” at the University of Gävle, Sweden. The sample comprised only those students who had completed at least one of the three non-mandatory reflective tasks that were set within the course. The reflective tasks of the research participants were gathered as data for this study. A qualitative methodological approach with the help of ATLAS-ti V8.4 was used to analyse the gathered data. Findings This study discusses three primary results, which are categorised as “Being Boxed”, “Safe and Saviour Sweden” and “Politics and Power”. Based on the results, this study argues for a transformative and emancipatory pedagogy (TEP) in the teaching and learning of ESW to accelerate the implementation of holistic SD within the social work curriculum. Research limitations/implications This study is mainly based on the analysis of “problematic” discourses of some of the students. The majority of the students and their respective discourses are not considered. Moreover, it would have been interesting, and probably enlightening to explore the background of the students (such as gender, ethnicity and religion) and any concomitant beliefs or prejudices (whether consciously held or otherwise) that would need to be addressed for an effective social work outcome. For ethical reasons, the background of the students was not recorded and analysed in this study. Practical implications Based on the results, this study argues for TEP in catalysing environmentalism within the social work curricula. Social implications Social workers have a political mandate from their professional ethics to work for the protection of the planet and for the well-being of all – including non-humans. This study therefore argues for ESW education within social work curricula in promoting SD through social work practice. Originality/value Within the context of SD, there is a global call for social work education to shift from an anthropocentric to an eco-centric paradigm. However, ESW education is still in its infancy stage and very few universities are focusing in this particular area. This study therefore brings an important and well-needed layer of empirical evidence in considering the implications for catalysing environmentalism within the social work curricula.

PROBLEMS OF FORMATION OF ECOLOGICAL SOCIAL WORK IN UKRAINE

Ecological social work is a new direction of social services and is based on increasing the level of environmental friendliness of the entire social sphere. Ecological social work has its history since the time of active discussion of the ecological model of social work. Active formation of ecological social work began in the XXI century. In Europe, the development of environmental social work was the result of the promotion of environmental movements and environmental NGOs, which were active in most Western European countries. The development of ecological social work began in the early 90s of the twentieth century with the creation of an appropriate base and was aimed at social services to citizens affected by the Chernobyl disaster. In the future, due to the permanent financial crisis, new directions of development of ecological social work in Ukraine were not mastered. Today, at the theoretical level, the possibilities of applying certain environmental techniques in the framework of social work with different groups of clients are actively discussed and explored. Ukrainian scientists have a special hope for the technology of ecological socialization of the individual at both the primary and secondary levels. A great achievement of modern ecological social work is the active use of ecological technologies of social work in the framework of social rehabilitation of children with disabilities. The most promising in this direction are animal therapy and its derivatives (hippotherapy, canistherapy, etc.) and garden therapy. The creation of infrastructure for the integrated implementation of environmental technologies of social work is a necessary component for the further development of environmental social work in Ukraine. Intensification of introduction of technologies of ecological social work is also caused by the international global initiatives. The precedents are set for the application of social technologies in various countries, and then international environmental organizations, together with the UN and the EU, disseminate successful examples of environmental social work in different countries around the world, considering them as a norm of sustainable development.

THESE ARE INDIGENOUS LANDS

The recent upsurge of interest regarding environmental social work is unfolding against a backdrop of centuries of continuous struggle on the part of Indigenous peoples to protect their lands and waters. In this article, we consider the ways in which environmental social work frameworks engage the realities and resistances of Indigenous peoples in the context of settler colonialism. We contend that to ethically engage with environmentalism, social workers living and working on Indigenous territories must understand and resist settler colonialism, our implication in upholding its structure and practices, and its contribution to ecological destruction. Drawing upon the work of Indigenous scholars, we briefly describe Indigenous peoples’ conception of their relationships to land and sovereignty and how settler colonialism as a structure is organized with the explicit aim of eliminating these relationships. We then review prominent texts addressing several competing environmental social work frameworks, considering how each takes up (or not) histories of colonialism and Indigenous dispossession and addresses Indigenous identities, relations to land, and assertions of sovereignty. We conclude by offering principles and practices that might foreground the disruption of settler colonialism and respect for Indigenous sovereignty as necessary frameworks for Canadian environmental social work.