Sozialarbeit des Südens

The main objective of the book is the description and discussion of the rela-tionship between Social Work and Social and Human Development in the South but also in some approaches in the North. The book aims to deliver a broad overview of specific concepts of Social and Human Development in the field of Social Work and social politics in the countries of the South. But it will also focus a critical view on Sustainable Development and Economy. There-fore it reflects concepts of development in a critical, postcolonial and in-digenized perspective. Development is a human process, in the sense that human beings, not materi-al factors, drive development. Their efficiency, productivity, creativity, and or-ganizational capacities determine the level of people’s accomplishment and enjoyment. Development is the outer realization of latent inner potentials. The level of people's education, skills and information, the intensity of their aspira-tion and energies, the quality of their attitudes and values, all of that affects the extent and pace of development. Development must always be seen as an integration of Human and Social De-velopment. The issue of Social Development attempts to explain qualitative changes in the structure and framework of societies that help to better realize their aims and objectives. Social Development is an empowering, primary community-based process that results in the transformation of social structures in order to improve the capacity of a society to fulfil its objectives. It aims spe-cifically at developing power to elevate the expansion of human activity. Social Development is the base to realize human development, to defeat poverty and to give equal chances to all people to develop their own capacities. Human Development must be the essential focus of social and economic development to open possibilities for human creativity and productivity. Therefore it has to be the base for global, national and local politics. But it also must to be sus-tainable and it needs to have a critical perspective.