建构式增能:社会工作第三方赋权评估的实践研究

Empowerment through Construction:A Practice Research on Social Work Third-Party Empowerment Evaluation

社会工作第三方评估是保障社会工作服务质量的核心要素。现有研究多聚焦于第三方评估过程中管理效能的发挥,忽略了第三方评估在促进社会工作专业化发展过程中的作用。L市A机构的赋权评估实践尝试打破“评估与被评估”的对立逻辑,为利益相关方创造对话的空间,重点聚焦实践过程中的问题,与利益相关方动态调整与共建社会服务的目标与任务。进而以评估帮助社会工作者在服务中建立主体性,搭建社会工作者与服务环境进行对话和反思的网络,重新审视既有服务设计的恰适性,最终增强社会工作者的服务能力和社会服务的效果。在赋权评估实践下,社会工作第三方评估有助于实现社会工作者理论知识与实践工作能力的双向促进,突破评估向政府单向负责的局限,实现“以评促建”的评估目标。

In China,social work has been tasked with contributing to social governance,particularly following the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.As social work professionalization grows,third-party evaluations have become essential for evaluating social service effectiveness and professionalism.These evaluations are also key to adjusting government-society relations,enhancing social governance capabilities.Traditionally,third-party evaluations have been critiqued for their limitations,particularly in focusing more on management efficiency and government oversight than on fostering the professional growth of social workers.Empowerment evaluation,as developed by Fetterman,centers on enabling participants to take control of their projects while enhancing both project effectiveness and participant self-determination.This method encourages collaboration among stakeholders,promoting a dynamic adjustment of service goals and tasks during the evaluation process.In this way,it fosters reflective practice among social workers,allowing them to critically assess and adapt their services based on real-world challenges.This research addresses the gap between governance and professional effectiveness by focusing on an empowerment evaluation framework.Our study adopts an practice research methodology,using the social governance evaluation project of agency A in L City as a case study.The study unfolds in four phases:initial investigation and needs assessment,evaluation plan design,practical implementation of the evaluation,and final evaluation with stakeholder interviews.Researchers acted as both evaluators and participants,shifting between various roles to ensure a holistic understanding of the empowerment evaluation process.Data was gathered through in-depth interviews with 32 stakeholders,including government officials,social organization leaders,and frontline social workers.Ethical considerations were maintained,with anonymization of all participant identities and informed consent being obtained.Via practice research and in-depth interviews our study found that the empowerment evaluation process was implemented by creating a dialogue space between evaluators and the evaluated social workers.It involved stakeholder meetings,observation of service environments,and systematic feedback loops.The evaluators focused on improving social worker autonomy,helping them critically reflect on their practices and adjust services based on community needs.Also,empowerment evaluation helps bridge the gap between social work theory and practice.By shifting the focus of evaluation from government oversight to professional development,social workers became more engaged in reflective practices,improving their service delivery.The empowerment approach also allowed for a more nuanced understanding of the social environments in which the social workers operated.For example,in one community where residents were resistant to paying property management fees,the empowerment evaluation process helped social workers mediate conflicts by fostering dialogue between residents and property management.Several key mechanisms were identified as instrumental in professionalizing social work through practical process of empowerment evaluation:(1)Breaking the evaluator-evaluatee Divide:The evaluation process actively disrupted traditional hierarchies,where evaluators are seen as experts and social workers as mere subjects.Instead,social workers were treated as equal partners in the evaluation,enabling them to take ownership of the assessment and outcomes.(2)Fostering Environmental Integration:By emphasizing on-the-ground engagement,social workers deepened their understanding of the communities they served,allowing them to respond more effectively to local needs.(3)Process and effectiveness Oriented:The evaluators guide social workers to reflect on contentious issues,align service goals with community needs,and collaboratively design more integrated,reflective service frameworks for effective community governance.(4)Task-Driven Learning:The actionoriented nature of the evaluation provided social workers with concrete learning opportunities,directly connecting theoretical knowledge with practical applications.Despite its strengths,the research faces limitations.The practice research methodology,while immersive,may limit the generalizability of the findings beyond the specific case of L City's social governance projects.Additionally,the empowerment evaluation process requires significant time and resource investments,which may be challenging to replicate in less resource-rich settings.Another limitation is the heavy reliance on qualitative data,which,while offering deep insights,may lack the objectivity and generalizability of quantitative metrics.In conclusion,this study demonstrates that empowerment evaluation can significantly contribute to the professionalization of social work by fostering a reflective,participatory process that enhances both service quality and social worker development.The evaluation shifts the focus from a top-down,government-driven model to a collaborative,bottom-up approach,creating space for social workers to engage critically with their work.However,the approach's scalability and broader applicability remain areas for future research.In summary,this study presents empowerment evaluation as a promising method for enhancing the professional capacity of social workers while improving the overall effectiveness of social services.