Service delivery

Abstract

Service delivery is a major feature of the social sector which “includes entities and initiatives devoted to advancing human dignity and social justice. Social sector organizations (SSOs) are formed to primarily improve the human condition and effect social change at local, national, and global levels” (Aqeel Tirmizi & Vogelsang, 2017, p. 2). Students preparing to enter the social sector usually have service delivery as one of their main targets, many of them wanting to make a change in the world. It is, therefore, appropriate that most of these students would be following a course within the Faculty for Social Wellbeing since the Faculty’s description, to be found on its webpage (Faculty for Social Wellbeing, n.d.) explains that each of its departments “contributes towards the welfare of society…” and that they “are animated by the same utilitarian spirit and led by the same values of solidarity, empathy, social justice, empowerment, inclusion, rehabilitation, prevention and positive intervention”. The unifying strength and purpose which this description emits positions the Faculty as one of the major stakeholders of social service delivery in the country, with all the responsibility that this entails, and creates a dual role for it. On the one hand, the Faculty is the institution which contributes to efficient and effective service delivery by preparing competent professionals to work in the field. On the other hand, it is one of the main institutions involved in the generation of research around social issues. Both these roles are essential to service delivery in different ways.