Social Work and Social Welfare Preparations for ASEAN Economic Community Integration in 2016

Abstract

This paper aims to focus on social work and social welfare’s essential contribution to the goals of the ASEAN community which is comprised of three pillars: 1) ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC) 2) ASEAN Economic Community (AFC) 3) ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Social welfare investment and its relationship to economic development especially from Thailand’s perspective, is emphasized. The paper presents: a), situations and differences in each member state that create both obstacles and opportunities in terms of population, human development, religion, local culture, language and history; b) politics and government, as well as conflict among member countries are noted; c) the core significant social problems which challenge the ASEAN community are discussed, including rural and urban poverty, health and aging issues, migrant worker and human trafficking, drug problems, disasters, gender and inequality, domestic violence. The author concludes that social work, social welfare and social protection require academic collaboration among the ten member countries. This process should play a crucial role for ASEAN Economic community integration in 2016.