Between Majority and Minority: A Model for Understanding and Promoting Culturally Competent Policy Practice in Multicultural Societies

The engagement of social workers in policy-shaping processes reflects the commitment of the social work profession to promoting equality and social justice. Whilst in many countries engagement is a professional requirement, one cannot ignore the fact that it is essentially a political activity inextricably linked to the socio-political context in which it occurs. Cultural competence for engagement in shaping policy processes is necessary to promote effective engagement of social workers in policy practice in cross-cultural political situations. Notwithstanding the focus of the literature on cultural competence in the past decade, it centres mainly on the intercultural encounter between social workers and clients and on the therapeutic context, with emphasis on the practitioner belonging to the dominant Western culture whilst the client belongs to the less dominant 'other' in society. This article attempts to fill the gap by developing a theoretical culturally competent policy practice model to examine different dimensions of cultural competence required for the engagement of social workers from different ethnic groups in the policy arena. In addition, the article presents the significant implications of the model for policy, practice and research.