Asian Social Work Journal (ASWJ), Volume 6, Issue 2, (page 20 - 30), 2021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.47405/aswj.v6i2.159 20 www.msocialwork.com Understanding the Efficacy of Bhutan’s First Ever Certificate Course in Social Work Ramesh Kumar Chhetri 1 , Sangay Wangchuk 1 1 Samtse College of Education, Bhutan Correspondence: Ramesh Kumar Chhetri (rchhetri505@gmail.com) Abstract ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ With the transition of political, economic and social scenario in Bhutan, the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have been expanding over the years. Bhutan has more than forty registered CSOs and the numbers are still growing. However, paucity of trained social workers in Bhutan has compelled the CSOs to recruit employees with varying degrees. To mitigate this, Samtse College of Education (SCE) of the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) launched Bhutan’s first ever certificate course in social work. So far, two cohorts of participants have been trained. This study was designed to understand the efficacy of Bhutan’s first ever certificate course in social work from the vantage point of the participants. It adopted a convergent parallel mixed method design, primarily employing questionnaires and semi-structured individual interviews. The study found the certificate course to be highly effective in enhancing the professional competence of the social workers in Bhutan. It is believed to have been an “eye-opening experience” for most social workers who ventured into this profession, without relevant training. The study recommends SCE and RUB to provide similar certificate courses to the thousands to untrained social workers in Bhutan. Keywords: social workers, civil society organisation, certificate course ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Introduction Social work is often defined as a profession aimed at alleviating the conditions of those people in a community suffering from social deprivation and helping them to meet basic and complex needs. According to United States’ National Association of Social Workers [NASW] (2016), the role of the social workers is to assist other individuals, families, and groups to restore or enhance their capacity for social functioning, and work to create societal conditions that support communities in need. The social work as a profession in United States was established in the late 19 th century to ensure that immigrants and other vulnerable people gained tools and skills to escape economic and social poverty. Since the first social work class that was offered in the summer of 1898 at Columbia University, social workers in United States continue to address the needs of society and bring their nation’s social problems to the public’s attention. Similarly, the social work profession in our neighbouring country, India made a humble beginning in 1936 with the establishment of Sir Dorabji Tata Graduate School of Social Work in Bombay. Since then there has been a continuous trend in the development of the social work profession, professional training is being increasingly recognised by Government and private organisations. Asian Social Work Journal (ASWJ) Volume 6, Issue 2, April 2021 e-ISSN : 0128-1577 Journal home page: www.msocialwork.com brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by Asian Social Work Journal