The Development of Casework, Group Work and Community Organization
In the 1920s, efforts to utilize the casework method in the Philippines were started in the Associated
Charities and in government child welfare services. Many of the first social work-trained practitioners in
the country studied in the United States and came back to introduce casework concepts and principles
in the field and in the few schools established in the early 1950s. It is against this background that we
can understand why casework was, for decades, the method of social work that prevailed in the country,
not only in the field of practice but in social work education as well. While the courses in schools with
social work offerings included social casework, social group work and community organization, social
casework appeared to receive the greater emphasis. In addition to the course on casework, there were
courses on the historical development of social work and interviewing which portrayed the one-to-one
helping method. The different fields of social work where social work students had their practicum (such
as hospitals, courts and public assistance agencies) used mainly the casework method. As a result, many
of these agencies came to be called "casework agencies." This situa- tion continued until the late 1960's
when a series of national workshops were held to assess the objectives and content of social work
education and practice in the, country, including the matter of social work methods.
About the same period that casework was starting to be introduced in social welfare agencies in the
country during the 1920s, socio-civic organizations like the Young Men's Chris- tian Association (YMCA)
and the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) were already starting leisure-time acti- vities for
personality development and character-building purposes. These agencies were introduced during the
period of colonial rule in the Philippines, and their purposes relate to what was termed in the United
States as the "socialization function" of group-serving agencies. They were the first group-serving
agencies in the country and the first teachers of group work were mostly recruited from these agencies.
Unfortunately, the perception in the country of group work as leisure-time pursuit which requires
mainly skills in recrea- tional activities made it quite unattractive to social work graduates, compared to
the scenarios conjured by casework practice which in the 50s and 60s was being practiced in mental
health and other therapeutic settings. The historical development of group work will be discussed
further in the next chapter
Community organization as practiced in our country today is a far cry from the way it was done in the
late 1950s. It started as "community chest work, which originated from the United States. The
community chest is a voluntary organization which raises the necessary funds for the ope rations of its
affiliates or member agencies byway of a united fund campaign. The idea is to exercise economy and
avoid competition in fund-raising efforts and to bring about coo peration and coordination among
member agencies so as to avoid duplication of services. The need for a community chest was felt
because of the proliferation of private social welfare organizations after World War 118 The Community
Chest of Greater Manila (CCGM) was organized on De- cember 20, 1949, with 19 private agencies as its
first affiliates. The formation of other community chests in different parts of the country followed and
led to the establishment of an organization called Community Chest and Council of the Philippines
(CCCP) in 1970. Its objectives have expanded to now include planning and development of innovative
and relevant programs and services.
The concept of a community chest is in line with one of the objectives of the community organization
method as defined by Dunham, that is, "the meeting of broad needs and bringing about and maintaining
adjustments between needs and resources in a community and other areas. "10 Many changes in "CO
practice" have since taken place, including the introduction of different models and approaches in doing
community organization. While the Martial Law period in the 1970s discouraged organizing efforts, in
many instances it had the reverse effect as many social work students and practitioners were all the
more challenged to engage in the kind of organizing activities which Cox, et al, refer to as the "social
action model" of community organization 12 Today, community organization is a very popular method,
particu- larly in social development settings which utilize it as the main helping approach for community
problem-solving.
These three methods called the traditional methods of social work practice are still widely taught and
practiced as separate methods, not just in our country but, in many parts of the world.
