Local-body move into welfare

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33033, 28 September 1972, Page 16

Local-body move into welfare

Increasingly, New Zealand local bodies ar e becoming involved in promoting com-munity-development programmes. And this is part of a new world trend, says the national president of the Association of Social Workers (Mr J. R. L. Fry).

Mr Fry, who has just returned from conferences on social work and welfare in The Hague, Hong Kong, Amsterdam and Dundee, said in Christchurch yesterday that this seemed a development which New Zealand would be wise to’ follow. “The social worker financed by the local authority is in no way replacing voluntary organisations, but is stimulating the development of social services already in action,’’ he said. Already Auckland, Wellington, Hastings and Napier, had community social welfare workers employed by the local authorities. Lead to volunteers “In the United Kingdom and in the Netherlands a great deal of money is being made available by local authorities to keep voluntary agencies providing flexible and imaginative services and harnessing the tremendous amount of voluntary manpower available,” said Mr Fry. “It is the task of social workers employed in this way to train people in leadership skills. Such a worker can help people to organise a new, self-help project or service.” He saw an example of this

community social welfare in the Vauxhall area of Liverpool, where groups of teenagers—who had previously been unemployed — were working in community schemes such as entertaining the elderly, decorating community centres and old people’s homes and helping in pre-school playgrounds.