Making Social Work Visible in Social Development in Nigeria: challenges and interconnections

Social work is a global profession focused on social justice and social change, achieved through enhancing and promoting well-being, diversity, and empowerment. Structural factors underpin the main areas of social work practice in Africa focused around tackling widespread poverty; gender inequality; migration; and conflict. This work aligns with development agendas, making the boundary between social work and social development fluid. Both are achieving impact through addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In essence, social work and social development are working to ameliorate social and economic problems yet, social work remains peripheral within social development discourses. This chapter, with a focus on Nigeria, introduces social work, highlights interconnections between social work and social development and some of the challenges facing the profession of social work in Africa. The chapter closes with recommendations for integrating social work into social development narratives to achieve greater visibility in development work.