A Practical Study On Building The Professional Service Capacity Of Social Workers In Gansu Township Social Work Stations

In 2021,Gansu Province launched the construction of township(street)social work service stations(hereinafter referred to as social work stations),adhering to the people-centred development concept,focusing on grassroots service governance and reform and innovation,and focusing on the important role of driving the bottom line and protecting people’s livelihood.The integrated construction of a professional service platform,a resource integration platform,a multi-party linkage platform and a talent training platform has been realised,thereby giving full play to professional advantages,enhancing service capacity and promoting the steady development of social work.However,as the social work stations are at an early stage of construction,coupled with the diversity and complexity of urban and rural communities across Gansu Province,the development of social work stations in townships is relatively slow.Moreover,in the process of specific work,township social work stations are also constrained by a weak foundation,unclear relationship between the government and the community,shortage of professionals,insufficient service capacity and insufficient work innovation.Therefore,it is necessary to improve the professional service capacity of grassroots social workers in townships through various channels,so as to open up the work situation,improve the efficiency and give full play to the role of township social work stations as a bridgehead in grassroots governance.In this study,the staff of the township social work stations were used as the research subjects,and under the guidance of the empowerment theory,a combination of participant observation,semi-structured interviews and questionnaires was used to carry out the practical research.During the study,it was found that the social work stations in the townships were faced with specific problems at the early stage of development,such as complex social conditions of local services,lack of policy support and protection,limited resources for professional supervision and limited capacity of social workers to provide professional services.Afterwards,following the "Golden Seed" project of Gansu X Social Work Service Centre,a training programme was launched to enhance the service capacity of the key social workers of the social work stations in the townships.Through effective project-based training,the programme aims to enhance the sense of identity,strengthen their professional confidence,expand their theoretical reserves and practical skills,and expand their comprehensive professional quality,so as to ultimately achieve effective enhancement of professional service capacity and thus improve the professional service capacity of social workers.Through the study and analysis of the operation of the project,this study recommends that a four-level capacity enhancement support system should be built for social work stations in townships to enhance the professional service capacity of social workers.In other words,at the governmental level,policies should be guaranteed and the construction of talent teams should be accelerated;at the community level,a distinction should be made between the professional role of social workers and the administrative role at the grassroots level;at the level of social work agencies,the professionalism of supervision should be strengthened and the diversity of training methods should be improved;at the level of township social work stations,various platforms conducive to the professional development of social workers should be built.With high-quality social workers driving the development of high-quality township social work stations,it will become an important grasp of grassroots social governance,promote the innovation of the national governance system and help the development of rural revitalization.