Social Justice Action and Accompaniment What Roles

¶ … Social Justice

Action and Accompaniment

What roles of social justice are likely to be practiced using Diaz's process of participatory planning (i.e. eight moments)? Who would be important participants in this process?

Diaz participatory process of planning entails of answering all the questions which arise in the course of decision making. There are several roles of social justice work which might be practiced in this process of decision making using Diaz's model:

Learner: Searching, learning, being curious is the very essence of trying to reach a suitable solution. Learning is a process which makes you absorb new bits of knowledge and perform analysis on the old ones. However, while performing this role, it is important that we show complete openness and modesty to the situation in hand and people involved in it and be genuinely curious.

Collaborator: As per Diaz's process, it is necessary to have group think while arriving a conclusive decision. Collaboration is the core of decision making as it ensures team involvement. While arriving any decision, it is necessary that it has been thoroughly worked on as a team project and the team members are willing to take complete responsibilities of the risks involved.

Facilitator: Facilitation is an important attribute required by a successful decision making process. Social Workers are required to play a role of good facilitator ensuring healthy participation by all group members, building trust and keeping the element of dominance in balance.

Animator / Activator: This is the one who brings life to the discussion. A social worker is required to ignite fire and motivation in group members during their discussion. This person is further required to come up with innovative ideas and keep the meetings spiced up to avoid dullness.

Advocate: These roles required the social worker to participate and represent those who have been excluded from the discussion but are directly affected by the agenda in hand. It is important to analyze the impacts of decisions on those who are not present there to defend their interest.

Negotiator: In every decision making process, the social worker will encounter arguments and conflicts. However, a good social worker has to have good negotiating skills and have a clear understanding of what type of decisions they support.

Researcher: The social worker is further required to exercise his research ability to critically evaluate the viability of the decision that has been taken, on constant basis.

Bricoleur: this role requires exercising bricolage. This skill requires making the most of resources in hand and coming up with out of box solutions for a situation in hand.

These roles are required to be exercised by a social justice work. Usually, during the process of Diaz's decision making process, the residents, local social organization, local government, non-governmental organizations and private sector, might be involved.

2. In your own words, describe how you would use the role of animator and methods of animation. What would be specific situation that called for the skills of animation?

Social animation means to put some life ("anima") into a social institution such as a community (Mizrahi, 2008).

During a change process, use of animation and activation is important for a social worker. It is method of work which assists the social group in seeking their own modes of expression. There are several functions performed by animation performed by a social worker:

it encourages autonomous group development promotion of critical conscience among group members stimulation of group effort in achieving towards control over those environmental forces

An animator is responsible for developing caring and healthy relationship within the group. He invokes meaning participation by the stake holders and those taking part in the discussion. Also, it invokes questions critical for decision making. Furthermore, it brings spark and life into the team and stimulates team to exercise the critical thinking and risk taking. It also forces the team members to build their skills and enhance their learning process.

An animator is the one who keeps the power in the group, balanced and teaches the team members the accomplishments that they have made during the decision making and gives them a reason to celebrate them.

Animation can be exercised through many ways however it is important for a social worker to know what suits his group best. Coming up with out-of-box ideas, initiating in taking risks and celebrating little achievements are just few ways of doing it. Furthermore, a social worker should also encourage those who take risk and acknowledge them in front of team members. A social worker playing a role of an animator should exhibit an attitude which not only makes his learning curve steep but also encourages the group to build his skills.

During jury meetings, a lot of jury members face boredom. A social worker in this scenario may come up with innovative ideas to make the sessions more lively and full of spark.

3. How would you define popular education? How would you apply the principles of popular education in your social work practice?

Popular Education is a form of educational practice that aims to work in collaboration with people and communities that are disadvantaged, exploited, oppressed in a way which contributes to their own process of identifying the causes of the problems they face and organizing collectively to address these issues.

"Though sharing many similarities with other forms of alternative education, popular education is a distinct form in its own right. In the words of Liam Kane: "What distinguishes popular education from 'adult,' 'non-formal,' 'distance,' or 'permanent education, for example, is that in the context of social injustice, education can never be politically neutral: if it does not side with the poorest and marginalized sectors- the 'oppressed' -- in an attempt to transform society, then it necessarily sides with the 'oppressors' in maintaining the existing structures of oppression, even if by default. (Kane, 2001)"

Popular educators work together with people to look at situations in new ways and together to create new knowledge and understandings that will be useful in finding solutions to problems, building alternatives and taking action. Community-led popular education can be a powerful tool for change if it is 'education for empowerment' Popular education has also been described as 'education for freedom'. Through popular education, social, political and economic conditions can be exposed and examined, with a view to taking action to change them. Popular education supports the struggle against injustice, oppression and exploitation, and for equality (Freire, 1972).

The basics of popular education can also be applied in social work. The social workers may involve individuals from exploited background and make them part of the decision making process by first making them realize the root cause of the problem, identifying alternatives to solve them and reach a viable solution. The participants will be more adaptive to new solution if they are made part of the decision making process.

4. How would you describe policy practice? What factors do you think have made it difficult for social workers to realize Figueira-McDonough's meaning of the policy practitioner?