Hope is an underpinning concept in social work that draws many people into the profession.

The theme of this year’s World Social Work Day is ‘co-building hope and harmony: a Harambee call to unite a divided society’.

Harambee is a concept that comes from Kenya and means ‘all pull together’ in Kiswahili. It’s a political movement and is much more than a motto – in Kenya it was a rallying call for unification and brought people together to mobilise against the effects of colonialism and white supremacy.

For me, as a western white woman, hope can be intangible and an individualised concept. Harambee however draws upon the power of collective hope. As a unifying cry it emphasises the need to bring people together across divides looking towards an imagined future. Writing this blog has been a personal grappling with: how as a white woman do I write about a concept that was born in the face of colonialism and white supremacy? Grappling these questions does bring up feelings of discomfort; to challenge the structures of racism around us we need to challenge the way we think.

Hope calls us to look towards a more positive imagined future and Harambee, both it’s story and it’s meaning, reminds us that this isn’t possible without doing this together. This requires deeply listening to what more equitable future would look like for those who have been discriminated against and marginalised, without co-opting a concept that isn’t part of my story. So I am learning as I am writing, drawing on my experiences of hope in social work but also exploring how Harambee can challenge and open up my thinking.

When I was a practicing social worker, hope was a concept that easily dissipated into the ether. Particularly when balancing too many demands or when anxious about people’s wellbeing. And yet, I particularly remember a time when I proactively tried to hold on to hope. Before getting out of the car for a home visit, or making phone call I would think about what a specific hopeful outcome of the meeting or discussion ahead would be. It helped me go in with a more positive mindset.

As Harambee shows us, hope isn’t just individual. Our context can make it harder or easier to hold on to hope, and it can be particularly hard in a context where risks are prioritised, where there is a blame culture, and where there is a high turnover of staff.

Research in Practice resources help embed hope more practically. For example, hope is one of the seven principles of strengths-based practice outlined in our Frontline Briefing. When we or other people have become focused on negatives and challenges, strengths-based practice can pull out different, more positive narratives, such as that of survival. The briefing talks about the power of phrasing questions differently. For example, rather than asking ‘what seems to be the problem’ this can be rephrased to ‘what would a positive outcome of our conversation today be for you?’

The power of questions is also explored in systemic thinking – Karl Tomm uses questions as an intervention in themselves. Hear Lydia Guthrie explain different forms of questions and how they can draw out different and new perspectives in this video. There is a particular group of questions called ‘future oriented questions. When challenges seem overwhelming, we can become so preoccupied in the present we can lose hope that futures can be different. The concept of Harambee helps us to re-orient towards the future. Future oriented questions help people imagine or even start to set goals for a future for themselves. An example of a future-oriented question may be: ‘Imagine that in six months time the situation was completely resolved, what would have needed to have happened to achieve this?’

Imagining a different future isn’t just important in individual practice. In 2023 Research in Practice published an Evidence Review that started from the idea that adult social care has been under-imagined. The open access resource explores the questions: what would adult social care would look like if it truly began from the Care Act 2014’s wellbeing principle, which makes it clear that a local authority has to ensure that individual wellbeing must be at the centre of all it does? What does wellbeing mean when it’s interpreted by those with lived experience of social care?

Building inclusive practice

Working across divisions is again something that may seem tangential to day-to-day practice, but if we stop and take a look so much of what social work does is working across social divides. Social workers bring skills to understand differences of opinion, the impact of differences in identities and life experiences and to value curiosity and open-minded thinking. Curiosity is an immensely powerful concept – we regularly need to channel our inner two-year-old and ask ‘but why?’ Asking why opens new narratives and possibilities for change. The topic has been explored in a Research in Practice briefing and podcast.

Many Research in Practice resources support practitioners to centre equity, strengthen their capacity to recognise and counter discrimination, and work across the social divisions faced by many marginalised and oppressed communities. For example, this Frontline Briefing helps practitioners explore what culturally appropriate and sensitive care looks like. Additionally, a new podcast explores what recent research tells us about what care means for unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

Holding hope while working across divides needs support. It can be emotionally exhausting to maintain a stance of curiosity, or holding on to hope when you yourself feel very anxious about a situation. Effective reflective supervision is crucial to support practitioners to be able to do this. The Reflective Supervision: Learning hub materials emphasise that building a culture of supportive, reflective thinking enhances critical thinking, emotional resilience and ethical decision-making. It fosters safe spaces for dialogue and understanding - which is critical in supporting practitioners work across divides. When practitioners reflect together on challenges, assumptions and values, this promotes unity, empathy and shared learning.

Hope can be taking small steps to a world where weights no longer dictate people’s chances – to show allyship or solidarity in a situation which others are ignoring, to notice and name experiences of microaggression. Tricia Pereira in her blog for World Social Work Day has talked about the importance of stealth activism:

Dr Clenton Farquharson, who co-authored our Equity Change Project resources, reminds us that: