The contribution of the intervention in social networks and community social work at the local level to social and human development

ABSTRACT

The primary task of community social work is building social networks by reinforcing people's resources and those of the different environmental and social contexts from three dimensions: personal development, social development and organisational development. The new information technologies today establish a relationship of communication with local communities and citizens that promotes proximity to social networks. Social intervention is supported by a set of methods from human geography that can be used as tools to create maps of the territory and the networks for planning, diagnosing and classifying the management of community network intervention. In this discussion we set out to analyse the contribution of the intervention in social networks as a means of achieving a new configuration of social networks at the local level. This information is obtained from semi-structured interviews with social workers and other professionals in the social sphere in municipalities with over 100,000 inhabitants in the Madrid region (Spain). The research results show that intervention in social networks locally multiplies the opportunities to enhance the quality of people's social relationships, thus expanding their social support by strengthening their bonds, their personal network and support systems; secondly, it increases empowerment to facilitate a type of intervention to strengthen human potential and to gain autonomy and full citizenship.

RESUMEN

El Trabajo Social Comunitario tiene como tarea prioritaria en el trabajo con los diferentes actores la activación de estrategias de apoyo social y de construcción de las redes sociales, impulsando los recursos de las personas y de los diferentes contextos ambientales o sociales desde tres dimensiones: el desarrollo personal, el desarrollo social y el desarrollo organizacional. Las nuevas tecnologías de la información establecen hoy una relación de proximidad entre las comunidades locales y los ciudadanos, a través de las redes sociales. La intervención social se apoya en un conjunto de métodos que pueden ser utilizados como instrumentos para trabajar desde el territorio mediante la construcción de redes que permitan diagnosticar, planificar y organizar la gestión de todo lo relativo a la intervención en red comunitaria. A través del presente artículo pretendemos analizar la contribución de la intervención en redes sociales en lo relativo a la construcción de una nueva configuración de las relaciones sociales en el ámbito local, información obtenida a partir de una entrevista semiestructurada realizada a trabajadores sociales y otros profesionales del ámbito social de los municipios de más de cien mil habitantes de la Comunidad de Madrid (España). Los resultados muestran la importancia de la intervención en redes sociales para los procesos de crecimiento y cambio de las personas desde el incremento de los vínculos, la red personal y los sistemas de apoyo, y nos confirman una necesaria orientación hacia el empowerment, a nivel de fortalecimiento y de autonomía de los individuos, familias y comunidades que les permita ganar autonomía y ciudadanía plena.

KEYWORDS:

• Social networks
• community social work
• personal development
• social development
• public policies

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• Redes sociales
• trabajo social comunitario
• desarrollo personal
• desarrollo social
• politicas públicas

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Maria Dolores Rodríguez Álvarez Doctor in Social Work with a doctoral thesis entitled: Social Networks; a new methodological framework for intervention in community social work. Master in social work community, management and evaluation of social services. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2010. Professional experience: social worker in the municipality to Getafe (Madrid, Spain) from 1989 to present. Training of professional social work since 1999, having taught several courses including the ‘Intervention with families’, ‘Intervention Techniques in Social Work’ ‘Methodology of intervention in Community Social Work’ and “Methodology of intervention in social network in Community Social Work

Jorge M. L. Ferreira Doctor of Social Work in the specialty of Social Work, Social Policies and Society. Lecture. Professor at ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon. Director of Doctoral program in Social Work. Deputy director of the Department of Political Science and Public Policy. Research Center: CIES – IUL (Research Center Sociology Studies – University Institute of Lisbon). Areas of Research: Theoretical Investigation (Epistemology, theory of social work and two interdisciplinary knowledge) and Applied Research (Social Work Practice in Context Institutional, Community and Family under the Child, Family, Adults in vulnerable social protection system social and social policies).

ORCID

Jorge Ferreira http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4835-242X

Notes

1 The act states in its article 2 that

the purpose of social services is to promote people's well-being, prevent situations of risk, and compensate for deficits in social support, with a particular focus on the factors of vulnerability or dependence which may occur at any stage of life due to natural causes or contingency, and eventually evolve into personal problems. As indicated in point 3, social needs are understood as deriving from a person's right to become fulfilled as a higher social being in the coexistential, interpersonal and family sphere, and in terms of the relationships between individuals and their social environment.