Social work for community governance in the face of socio-labor vulnerability: job fairs

Abstract

Social work in Cuba considers work as a fundamental tool for social transformation and the prevention of situations of vulnerability generated by exclusion and disaffiliation from the labor market. Hence, governance, as "the way of exercising power interactively with different actors" (Collective of Authors, 2024, p. 7), in the context of Social Work, involves resource management and decision-making in social institutions, with a focus on shared responsibility, the common good, and progressive and possible social emancipation. This includes participatory risk diagnosis and prevention, social integration, intersectionality, and multi-stakeholder negotiation, contributing to the prevention of distortions in decision-making in structuring social policies and the adaptation of social services to address socio-labor vulnerabilities. Job fairs have constituted an experience in community governance; however, they have limitations assessed based on the experience in Villa Clara. Critically overcoming this state of affairs requires revisiting the concept and methodology that underpin it and recognizing the social worker as an intervening actor in community governance, in the formulation of work policies, and as critical and proactive implementers of the instruments of those policies.