Celebrating with my peeps

Rilla Murray with Dr. Mira Antonyan, AASW President

Social workers in Armenia enjoyed national recognition this week as the Association of Armenian Social Workers held their annual conference in Yerevan. Over 250 people attended the two-day meeting titled "Social Work Theory, Education and Practice in the Context of Current Social Reforms." Government ministers, leaders in the National Assembly, and university officials joined practitioners to address the nature and impact of their work and future needs.

As a social worker visiting Armenia, I readily accepted an invitation to attend and to participate as a speaker.

As a bonus I got to present a Proclamation to AASW on behalf of the National Association of Social Workers and to arrange for  Memorandum of Understanding between the two organizations.

Social work in Armenia today looks in some ways like social work in the U.S. before the Council of Social Work Education was established and long before NASW was formed. As in the U.S. at that time, some government policies and programs for children and other vulnerable people operate with uneven effectiveness, staffed largely by untrained workers. In addition NGOs (non-government organizations--privately- or international aid-funded) offer direct services and consultations regarding new models of service, some of which challenge long-standing patterns (e.g., moving toward foster care while de-institutionalizing orphanages and integrating social services at the village level). Trained social workers are gravitating toward NGOs both for higher salaries and for greater professional flexibility. Some who apply for government jobs end up with NGOs because they refuse to pay the bribes demanded to get the government job.

Always pleased to quote Jane Addams

Background note: The minimum monthly salary in Armenia just rose, by act of the National; Assembly, to 35,000 AMD or about $86 ($1034/year). Social workers in government programs start at levels about 40,000 AMD to 60,000 AMD. High level administrators may make 100,000 to 150,000 AMD ($246 to $369). Salaries in the NGOs are higher, perhaps as high as 200,000 AMD ($492) for the same level of responsibility. No one is getting rich doing social work and some no doubt struggle to support their families.

Creative and political tensions pervade discussions about professionalizing the culture of social work. American social workers may remember the introduction of the Academy of Certified Social Workers (ACSW), or the first licensing programs in states, when the current workforce was "grandfathered" in and newcomers had to meet new requirements. If you do, you also remember it in the context of a large professional association that led by providing the framework and establishing standards independent of government. So imagine Armenia at that point but without that strong professional organization.

In general, SW is a profession of young people in Armenia.

Where to start? With widespread corruption in every sector the presumed way of life, it seemed only appropriate to form a membership organization and to adopt a Code of Ethics. And that's what this year's conference accomplished. With the headlines now in place, we await the story that will be written.


A new generation of social workers, fighting to build a just society, will be the ones to write it.