content and methods of curriculum building for this theme

[Shula]

Welcome to this discussion board on ethical dilemas in social work within the context of political conflict.
I am attaching the powerpoints from the three papers which were given at the EASSW conference (European Association of Schools of Social Work) and invite other members of the forum to comment, add from their experience, and what does this all mean for a curriculum on social work in the context of political conflict.
I have asked you before to let me know which area interests you in particular within this project - Joe said he is interested in the participation of users and social workers in the teaching, which means he is interested in teaching methods. Orit has said that she is interested in learning to work in a shared trauma reality and in the capacity buildingof affected groups, and I have mentioned my interest in ethical dilemmas.
We are waiting to hear from each of you, otherwise the project will not function and will not lead anywhere..

[NatiaPartskhaladze]

Greetings to all of you from Georgia!

Shula, contents of the attached Power Point Presentation is very relevant to Georgia as well. Though in our context, instead of the asylum seekers we are talking about the Internally Displaced Persons (over 150,000) and refugees (small numbers), but the issue of the ‘new others’ is similar.
This topic, though very relevant to our situation, is not yet reflected in Georgian Social Work education – neither at the graduate or undergraduate levels, nor in the continuing SW education and social workers are left alone with their ethical dilemmas.

As for the topics of interest, I am very much interested in social work education, especially continuing education.

[Shula]

ear Natia,
Its great to hear from you. You have had the internally displaced people for quite sometime before the last violent conflict with Russia - my sense is that for political purposes they have been left in a social and personal limbo, in the sense that they are Georgian citizens but are not entitled to the same rights as ordinary citizens just because they have been victims of political violence, which morally is really untenable. This is not special to Georgia, as you well know - its the same on a much bigger scale in Sri Lanka for example, but also near your home in Azerbiajan and Armenia, within Russia itself, Kenya - we could go on and on.
The issue for us in this project is to consider what we should be teaching to our social work students about this group, whether it should include skills of working with them anywhere or only in the countries in which they reside, and how to overcome the barrier of treating them as THE OTHER.
You can see that Joe Duffy in Queens University in Belfast is inviting users and carers who have been victims of political conflict to talk to the students - would you do it in your teaching of social work students?
Best,
Shula