The importance of social development for the internationalisation of social work

The core argument of this chapter is that social work globally can and should be significantly involved in the historically much neglected field of local level social development. Achieving this will require: 1) an understanding of social development, especially at the local level where appreciating its nature and need are paramount; 2) the internationalization of social work as a profession and contributor to social development' and 3) various changes to social work's global structures, scope and emphases of its practice arm, and education modes and content to enable it to fulfill the designated role. The authors put forward an integrated perspectives approach to international social work practice, representing the integrated perspectives appraoch to international social work practice, representing the integration of global, human rights, ecological and social development perspectives, which they believe will assist the profession in undertaking the change process being proposed.