Violence and Development Project Bulletin

The goal of the Violence and Development Project is to encourage the social work profession to investigate and integrate into its training and practice the issue of violence as a global affliction and sustainable human development as an antidote.

Violence operates at many levels. Its viciousness manifests not only in the individual acts of violence portrayed so constantly in the media, but also at the institutional, systemic, and international levels, where groups and targeted categories of people endure chronic harms, injustices, and hardships. Examples of systemic harm include economic exploitation and poverty, unequal treatment under the law, prevalent human rights violations, and repressive military actions. These more insidious, often socially accepted harms frequently lay the groundwork for outbursts of individual or group violence that erupt in seemingly disconnected circumstances worldwide.

Successful and sustainable human development allows communities to come together and address the problems they face at all levels to permanently improve their situations. Examples of development projects that meet and surpass their goals abound in the nations of the southern hemisphere, as well as in struggling communities in the United States. Successful initiatives can have far-reaching implications beyond the borders of the community or nation where they originate. Increasingly, community organizations and their allies are affecting international policy making.

In September 1996 the Violence and Development Project received an extension grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development to continue its work for another year. As part of our grant commitments, we have been focusing in several areas.

Cleveland Forum

In the fall the project presented a forum entitled A Global Perspective in Understanding Violence at the NASW annual conference in Cleveland. Five individuals spoke on the themes of violence, global connections, and community solutions: Dorothy Van Soest of the University of Texas at Austin and Shirley Bryant of Virginia Commonwealth University, who spoke on the redefinition of violence; Dorothy Gamble of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, whose speech centered on a global view of violence and development; and Katherine Butler of the East Village Council in Cleveland and Darlyne Bailey, dean of the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University, who discussed community development as a response to violence. Vivian Jackson, former director of the Office of Policy and Practice at NASW, moderated the session.

Community Voices on Video

Additional voices were heard in three separate short video segments shown between the presentations. The Violence and Development Project, with the assistance of media producer David Weiner of the Benton Foundation, brought together community workers and community residents with social work professors, students, and practitioners in Harlem, New York City, for several hours in October. While the 12 people discussed

violence, their community, and the influence of other nations and cultures on their lives and work, two expert videographers captured their conversation.

The fascinating exchange, when edited and presented in Cleveland, expanded the range of voices heard and captured the dynamic interaction among the diverse group in Harlem. The segments served as visual interludes in the Cleveland program, and the experiences and humor of the community residents, in particular, helped ground the forum in the fundamental purpose of social work.

Spring Special Events at 13 Social Work Programs

This spring the Violence and Development Project has sponsored special educational events at selected social work education programs (or consortia of programs) around the country. Sites were selected through an application process on the basis of their participation in the 1996 Teach-In and videoconferences, as well as their ongoing efforts to include the issues of the project in educational programs at their schools.

The 14 academic social work programs and the focus of their events are as follows:

California State University at Sacramento with the University of California at Berkeley focused on NAFTA, immigration, and other cross-border issues involving Mexico. Events were held March 17–19 and featured speakers Bertha Mary Rodriguez of the Escuela Nacional de Trabajo Social (National Social Work School) in Mexico City and Maria de Los Angeles Jimenez, director of the Immigration Law Enforcement Monitoring Program of the American Friends Service Committee, Houston.

New York University (NYU) with Fordham University focused on the connection between wars and gang violence in El Salvador and Los Angeles. The one-day event was held on March 24, and the speakers were Dorothy Van Soest of the University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work; Donna DeCesare, 1997 Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellow; and Gerald Landsburg of the NYU Institute on Violence.

Adelphi University held a symposium for field educators on April 9 focusing on violence. Speaking on the global dimensions of the problem was Marilynn Moch, coordinator of the Center on Violence, Development, and Poverty in New York City.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Asheville focused on confronting violence in the immigrant and migrant farm worker experience. Events were held on April 8 and 9 and featured four speakers: Wilfredo Rivera of the Farmworkers Project, Nelson Carrasquillo of the Comite de Apoyo de los Trabajadores Agricolas (Agricultural Workers’ Support Committee), Shirley Bryant of Virginia Commonwealth University, and Sally vander Straeten of the Violence and Development National Advisory Board.

University of Iowa at Des Moines and Iowa City focused on building a partnership in violence prevention and mutual learning with the island of St. Lucia, West Indies. Events were held April 21–23 and included speakers Janet Green of the Alliance for a Global Community in Washington, DC; John Norbert, the Minister of Social Services from St. Lucia; and Sister De Lourdes, who works in social services on St. Lucia.

University of Texas at Austin focused on training social workers in strengthening communities to abate violence. Events were held April 24 and 25. Marie Weil, director of the Community Social Work Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Jonathan Cloud, national community development consultant, were the speakers.

University of Minnesota at Minneapolis, the Colleges of St. Thomas and St. Catherine, and Augsburg College focused on challenges women face in fighting for their own progress around the world and on integrating the concepts of the Violence and Development Project into social work training. On May 30 Fauzia Ahmed of the Radcliffe Public Policy Institute spoke at the Minnesota NASW annual conference about challenges faced by women and changing gender roles in Bangladesh. A visit by Dorothy van Soest and Donna DeCesare is planned for June.

Curriculum Modules Available

The new curriculum and educational resource created by the Violence and Development Project, Challenges of Violence Worldwide, along with the edited versions of the original videoconferences are now available from NASW Press.

For more information about the Violence and Development Project, send an e-mail to bbustos@naswdc.org or please call 1-800-638-8799, ext. 273.