Social Work Students’ Assessment of Rural Women’s Needs: Applying Group Work Strategies for Social Justice

Abstract After taking a course on the Rapid Rural Participatory Research Methodology (RPRM), three groups of social work students were assigned to three African villages to practice the methodology. Each research team aimed to complete a series of activities, including focus groups to collect data on the needs of adult and adolescent residents of both genders. In this article, the author describes the group work processes, techniques, and tools students used to collect, analyze, and report their findings in pyramidal figures, from the most urgent needs at the base, to the less acute at the top. The analysis of the findings reveals that the most acute and critical needs include funding sources, a dispensary, transportation, electricity, and job training centers. Additionally, childcare centers, public lights, and mills are needed. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Tuckman’s stages of group development help shape the discussion section revolving around the significance of the group work process that led to unveiling these needs. Students’ findings are key to public and private organizations’ work when they design and implement programs aimed specifically at establishing social justice through poverty alleviation, or eradication activities in rural areas. Implications for social work with groups’ practice that promote sustainable development are also discussed.