This article aims to analyze the role of social work in the processes of reconfiguring the gender order at the Universidad del Valle. The gender order, as a social and symbolic structure that organizes the particular way in which higher education institutions operate, is based on social relations and power relations that traverse the bodies, sexualities, and identities of the subjects who inhabit these settings. The article is part of doctoral research that studied the case of this public higher education institution and the configuration and reconfiguration of its gender order between 1980 and 2020. The research was guided by feminist ethnography and historical sociology approaches and built knowledge through document review and interviews with women from the University with academic and activist backgrounds. In doing so, it identified significant moments in each of the four decades observed that have an impact on the continuous movement of the gender order, allowing us to glimpse the active and persistent presence of the profession and discipline of social work, through its teaching staff, in processes that confront and fracture the androcentric order of the Universidad del Valle. It is a disciplinary space akin to alternative epistemologies, problematizing power structures motivated by the capacity for agency and academic and intellectual influence of female professors who imbue each space with disciplinary meaning.

Social work is a profession and a scientific area that acts on the contradictions between capital and labor and on the expressions and refractions of the social question. This article elaborates a critical reflection on the trajectory of Social Work in Brazil and Portugal in the first quarter of the 21st century. The approach consists of a critical and historical analysis of the development of social work, adopting a methodology based on literature review of the legal frameworks associated with this development, in order to understand and critically expose the contemporary challenges of the profession over the last 25 years. It appears that, in both countries, although marked by different specificities and multidimensional contexts, social work has sought to reaffirm and strengthen its identity, defending especially in Brazil an ethical-political project committed to the working class that guides action (e.g., the promotion of human rights), which has been weakened by the predominance of a neoliberal model generating greater social inequalities, amplifying the expressions of the so-called social question. The current situation, which is highly complex and marked by multiple crises, poses significant challenges to the mission and principles of action of social work. It is therefore necessary for the professional to commit himself to a transformative and emancipating project capable of generating and overcoming states of deprivation through equitable social justice.

For the Social Work Program at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB), professional practice is consolidated as a fundamental process through which future professionals not only materialize the epistemological, theoretical, and methodological elements acquired in their training, they also develop and acquire new skills inherent in the occupational profile, which contributes to their comprehensive development. This article is the result of a qualitative research, with historical-hermeneutic methodological approach, from a documentary strategy, and with information collected through a questionnaire. The objective is to reveal the importance, challenges, and learning of UPB Social Work students in their professional practices between 2018 and 2023. The findings highlight the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that spurred innovation, mainly technological mediation and questioning of traditional paradigms. The direct contributions of the practices to Social Work fields, institutions, and communities are highlighted; the challenges are related to administrative, training-curricular, and research-intervention challenges; learning is identified within the framework of being, knowing, doing, and know-how. In addition, the professional practices contribute directly to the curricular management, nourish the disciplinary reflection by connecting the academy with social reality, and strengthen the professional and human skills of future Social Workers, preparing them to face complex challenges with flexibility, recursively and a deep commitment to justice and social transformation.

This study aimed to analyze the participation of women in the construction sector in Colombia, comparing the experiences of professionals experienced in the guild with the perceptions of students of management of civil works and construction management programs. Methodologically, a qualitative approach was used with cross-sectional design not experimental, from two generational perspectives. The sample was determined with 20 experienced professional women and 20 young female students for a total of 40. The data was collected using an online form and then a content analysis was carried out by iterative coding. The codes were created from semantic and conceptual similarities. From a comprehensive examination of these codes, subsequently grouped by thematic affinities, three central categories emerged: Male tradition, wage and labour equity and female strengths. This process took place in two distinct phases: first with the sample of experienced professional women and then with the young student population. Then a systematic contrast was made to identify and describe similar perceptions and identify the main differences between the two groups.

This paper is part of the research project: Family training for social workers in programs in the Western Pacific region affiliated with CONETS, 2023. It aims to understand the concept of family in training process for Social Work, which will strengthen teaching, research, and practice processes, resignifying knowledge to improve the training of students in this discipline. To this end, relevant data related to training were analyzed from two lines of reflection: the first, places of knowledge in the family (individual and family, theories and intervention processes, transversality); and the second, tensions between theoretical and theoretical-practical modalities in training. The general conclusion is that family training must take into account the social reality of the context, validate its diversity through interdisciplinary curricula, unravel power mechanisms in family representations, and construct discourses from the relational democratization with ethical and political commitment in professional education training.

Health Social Work was considered as an essential profesional space in the context of COVID-19 to ensure the well-being of people. This research investigates the perception that interdisciplinary health professionals have about the Social Work professionals of the Costa del Sol Health Agency of the city of Málaga. (Spain). A quantitative methodology was used; it was developed through a descriptive design, using a structured questionnaire administered online during the second half of 2022 (n=246). The results obtained show revealed that the professional practice of Social workers working in the health field responds to a task of support, help, and collaboration that solves problems through empathy and coordination. Among the main conclusions, the relevance of this profession’s response in the hospital environment, that requires greater recognition in the healthcare field is highlighted.

With the rise of digital platform work, there is a challenge to understand the work process of app delivery workers. Given this, this research aims to analyze the reorganization of labor among delivery workers in Arapiraca, Brazil. This is a qualitative research study in which six interviews were conducted. The analysis considered the following dimensions: the work process, forms of control, and collectivity. The study found the formation of groups of delivery workers as an alternative to large delivery apps. In these groups, an administrator is present. There are strategies for collective organization, facilitated by digital social media. However, the presence of the administrator implies the coexistence of elements of vertical organization, with delivery workers being subordinate. These workers have a daily working day longer than 8 hours and earn between one thousand five hundred and two thousand reais (R$) per month. The work of delivery drivers, even with the use of new technologies, remains precarious. This reflects the conservative modernization typical of the periphery of capitalism, blending some technological innovations with old relationships.

This study analyses the impact of an intervention based on traditional games on the social inclusion and cultural cohesion of migrant minors living in a reception center. The objective was to assess to what extent the guided practice of traditional games promotes interaction, sense of belonging and cultural awareness in contexts of diversity. The methodology used was a quasi-experimental design with pre and post measurements without a control group, developed in a center managed by the Red Cross in Tudela with the participation of 13 migrant children between 6 and 17 years old. The data collection tools included standardized questionnaires, participant observation and a structured checklist aimed at recording collaborative, communication and compliance behaviours. The results showed a significant improvement in the quality of social relations and group cohesion, especially among children with low initial interaction. There was also an increase in knowledge of Spanish traditions and games and a more active participation in outdoor activities. However, family participation was limited, which is an area for future improvement. Despite the small sample, the results suggest that these interventions are effective and applicable in other cross-cultural contexts. Therefore, it is recommended to integrate traditional games as an educational resource to promote inclusion and improve coexistence in diverse environments.

Community Water Management in Rural Areas has been strengthened through the recognition and the spaces that rural women are gaining. These women have waged struggles in their territories for water for their communities. Through activities inherent to rural life and intercultural exchange, they have secured spaces for political, economic, social, and environmental participation, making their voices visible through positions, arguments, actions, and discourses that bring to light the real needs of their territories, within processes of resistance rooted in their own actions. The qualitative approach methodology analyzed realities within their contexts, interpreting the meanings and roles each woman plays in water management processes, their perspectives on social, cultural, and political issues, and their standpoints for both mitigating and raising their voices in the face of this reality. Information was collected through visits during different stages of the process, gatherings were held, and stories and lived experiences were gathered from the diversity of their roles. The findings reveal the situation of rural women in their contexts, the challenges they face daily, the stereotypes with which they have been labeled, their resistance and leadership in decision-making, and the ways they define, from their own thinking, categories that identify them. The conclusions highlight and acknowledge situations such as the absence of the State in the management of rural aqueducts, the different systems of oppression, discrimination, and types of violence that seek to overshadow the role they play in their communities and in society.

This article analyzes and characterizes the papers on socio-ecological issues delivered at the Joint World Conference on Social Work (April 2024, Panama). The conference is a space of planetary encounter that allows to approach exchanges of knowledge, visibilization of problems and establishment of interesting emerging issues for a disciplinary exploration. Out of a total of 899 papers available, 68 were on socio-ecological themes which were analyzed according to prevailing topics, geographical origin of the papers and declared roles. We find disciplinary narratives centered on the environmental crisis, with particular emphasis on climate change, socio-natural disasters, community action, and the Sustainable Development Goals as the main guiding framework. We conclude that Social Work narratives possess ethical and contextual opportunities articulated in a great professional versatility. However, they also confront hegemonic narratives that hyper climatize the debate and align it with the dominant environmental agenda invisibilizing the violence and conflictive of extractives colonialism. In response, Social Work must strengthen its ethical-political positioning by drawing on its theoretical and methodological capacities to advance toward an ecocentrism turn.