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Eden Social Welfare Foundation
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2019-12-05

New thinking and mindset on social work methods! Eden Social Welfare Foundation held a conference to bring innovative concept to social problems


  In recent years, due to the changes in population structure and employment condition, the community functions and social integration also need to be adjusted accordingly.  Facing new social needs and more complex society backgrounds, the Eden Foundation and the Department of Social Work of Taiwan University jointly held the "2019 International Conference on Developmental Social Work: Dialogue with Social Innovation" at Tsai Lecture Hall at College of Law, National Taiwan University on November 28 & 29.  Built upon four different dimensions of topics, which were "Community Participation and Independent Living", "Community Industry", "Employment and Poverty Reduction", and "Social Enterprise", the conference was meant to bridge the conversation between developmental social work and social innovation.

 join together

  A total of 26 experts and scholars from 5 different countries and regions, join forces with nearly 200 representatives from industry, government, academia, and research circles covering from social welfare work at home and abroad were invited to exchange the experiences and look forward to working with all walks of life to explore better working methods and cooperation models to deal with today's social problems.
 
  Cheng Liang, the President of Eden, pointed out during the speech that from past service experience, Eden found that individuals, families or communities who are in a more socio-economic disadvantage status are often the most underprivileged and affected group in facing the rapid social changes.  Therefore, since 2013 Eden has pioneered to echo the concerned topics related to investment and developmental social work, and accordingly implemented such concept regarding the solutions on Eden's diversified social welfare service units all over Taiwan.  Furthermore, Eden also held several workshops and courses for social workers, employment / psychological counselors and many other relevant industries, not only to collect the ideas but create the platform for more dialogues.

 Mr_Cheng_Liang

  Taking the employment service of the economically disadvantaged families in the En-Wang Human Resource Service Center for Persons with Disabilities as an example, because the economically disadvantaged families are very diverse in their background, these group of people, most of the time, are unable to find a job smoothly due to various complex factors.  Therefore, in addition to the basic work ability training, it is more important to deeply rethink how to assist them in overcoming the employment obstacles and give them more supports according to their needs.  Ms. Pei Chun Wang, the director of the En-Wang Development Center, also pointed out that in the case of an underprivileged family with only one breadwinner, how to balance the care of his/her family and the working hour is an important factor in his/her job selection. Therefore, finding resources and time planning for these underprivileged families have become the most important part of their employment matchmaking.  In addition to the employment services such as vocational training courses, simulated interviews, and job matching services, financial planning courses are also provided for them to allow them to know how to use limited resources and money to improve their living standards.  And this is precisely implementing the concept of "developmental social work".  Through the assistance of the organization, it greatly helps and increases the capabilities of service receivers, enhance their advantages and resources, and thereby improve their living standards. In the long run, it is a good way to solve social problems.
 

  Hoping to continuously provide professional and innovative support in domestic social work services and beyond, Eden also looked forward to implementing this kind of concept into its resources and channels abroad.  Emma Lee, the Acting Director General, also shared that starting from three years ago, Eden has been cooperating with pastor SAELEE Archang and his wife SAE THIAN Naruemon of Grace's Home in north Thailand to extend the care for orphans and underprivileged children, such as nutritious meals provision and after-school education, to further ensure their wholesome mental and physical development.  In July 2018, Eden brought along three volunteers of social work department students from Chang Jung Christian University to Grace's Home.  Three of them were in charge of different agenda and courses for those children, such as sex / gender education, emotional management, dental care, art, games, and music.  From the service, it had not only enriched those volunteer students' cross-cultural experiences but also cultivated those children's life.  In the future, accompanied by the volunteer students, Eden plans to pilot run with merging early intervention therapy and concept into the related services.

visit Grace's Home
pastor interviewed
in class sharing

  President Cheng Liang said that this conference has made its third significant appearance, and Eden looks forward to going from the field of application to more innovation brainstorming of services, hoping to build up an international exchange platform and promote cross-disciplinary concepts among communities, governments, private enterprises, and academia.  In the end, the ultimate goals of social innovation is to help social workers gain more energy and ignite deeper social impact.