From Social Welfare to Social Development

THE TRADITIONAL SOCIAL WELFARE SYSTEM, focused on providing modest income assistance to people who were unemployed or otherwise prevented from earning a living, worked well for its time.

But over the years the structure of the economy and of families has changed. In a dynamic economy and society more passive forms of assistance are no longer sufficient. The modern social development approach recognises that helping the individual means addressing problems such as lack of skills or loss of confidence. Further, it recognises that this is best done by working in partnership with the communities in which people live.

	TRADITIONAL WELFARE	SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
OBJECTIVES	Income assistance; little focus on lack of skills or other problems	Helping and supporting people while they lift their skills
FOCUS	The individual	The individual within their family and community (strengthening both)
DELIVERY	Centralised, impersonal	Local partnerships and individually tailored assistance
AIMS	Income support to alleviate poverty	Poverty alleviated while participation skills are developed
SUCCESS MEASURES	Fast and efficient delivery of income support	People into sustainable work; others supported to participate; fast, efficient and responsive delivery of income support

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