Social work and social protection in Ghana

Social protection is the collective name given to Ghana’s premier poverty-alleviation policies. For the most part, social workers are engaged in social protection through remedial welfare provision. Most social workers are employed in the Department of Social Welfare, which is statutorily mandated to oversee the administration of juvenile justice and child protection. Historically, in Ghana, as in most parts of Africa, the extended family system has been the primary source of firstline care providing a social safety net to meet people’s basic needs. However, there are problems with this system (see Chapter 21). Though Ghana has taken bold steps to provide formal social protection to complement this overstretched traditional system, these programs are beset with challenges, including the ill-defined role of those charged with administering them. The chapter explores some of these challenges and social work’s role in addressing the needs of vulnerable groups in Ghanaian society.