The Routledge International Handbook of Social Development, Social Work and the Social Development Goals

The Routledge International Handbook on Social Development, Social Work, and the Sustainable Development Goals answers the question: What is the contribution of social development and social work to the Sustainable Development Goals? The success of the SDGs requires implementation, and each of the 17 objectives for sustainable social progress have a social dimension. The SDGs, like the MDGs before them, were born of a larger social development movement which over the last 25 years has become increasingly mainstream in the fields of international development, sustainability, and social work. These practitioners are essential to the implementation of the SDGs. This handbook examines how the SDGs are being implemented in diverse contexts.

No previous work has surveyed social development and social work's contribution to the SDGs nor represented voices from the Global South on the SDGs. This book broadens the current literature by focusing on key sites throughout the Global South and featuring underrepresented voices from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. These regions are vitally important to assessing the SDGs, as this is where innovative social development projects are occurring, and where social workers are playing a leading role in achieving the SDGs.

Divided into eight parts:

Context of Social Development, Social Work, and the SDGs

Perspectives on the SDGs

Case Studies on Engagement with the SDG Agenda

Case Studies on Ending Poverty

Case Studies on Health and Wellbeing

Case Studies on Gender Equality

Case Studies on Climate and Sustainability

Case Studies on Governance, Peace, and Justice

and comprised of 35 newly written chapters by 74 authors, it will be of interest to a broad interdisciplinary audience of scholars, educators, and students in the fields of social development, social welfare, social work, social policy, human rights, international relations, political science, international affairs, sustainability, community development, area studies, and development studies.