Hope is built on concrete solutions, effective networks, professional commitment, and public policies that do not abandon the most vulnerable.

Every year, World Social Work Day invites us to reflect on a new theme and pressing social challenges. More than just a symbolic date, it serves as a wake-up call regarding how we care for one another—or fail to do so—as a society.

In a time marked by war, hate speech, and intolerance toward difference, this reflection also compels us to look at our Portugal of contrasts: a country where inequalities persist and where too many people continue to live on the margins of social life.

The social work profession is built on real lives. It is through this contact with human vulnerability that an essential truth becomes clear: social suffering is not a distant reality. It can affect any citizen in so many different contexts.

Just consider the deprivation that affects some children from the very first days of life, when they lack such basic necessities as diapers and milk. The same is true of domestic violence, so often silenced, and of addictive behaviors, which require a less moralistic and more attentive view of the suffering associated with them.

Energy poverty and precarious housing conditions also continue to shape the lives of many people who live without thermal comfort or in homes that lack basic amenities. And unemployment, even among skilled workers, clearly shows that the promise of higher education as a social ladder is far from being fulfilled.

Racism also remains present, even in settings where care should prevail, such as nursing homes. When a professional is rejected for being a migrant, for having a different nationality, or a different skin color, we are facing discrimination. And this reality becomes even more serious when a simple fact is ignored: it is often these workers who ensure that institutions function. They are the ones who, in many cases, accept demanding and undervalued roles, without which the daily care of so many elderly people would be compromised.

Added to all this are families facing serious illnesses, accidents, dementia, and sudden upheavals. Human vulnerability is multifaceted and is not limited to the poorest.

That is why it is deeply reductive to say that social workers “work with the poor.” Social workers address human vulnerability and intervene in diverse contexts, working with individuals and families in crisis or in need of support.

This year’s theme, “Building hope and harmony together: a Harambee call to unite a divided society,” reminds us that no one can navigate the complexities of social life alone. The word “Harambee,” which originates from Kenya, refers to unity and collective effort. This is the central idea of the motto: acting as a community, with solidarity and shared responsibility.

In Social Work, this logic translates into a daily practice of coordination among professionals, institutions, and communities. Hope is built through concrete responses, effective networks, professional commitment, and public policies that do not abandon the most vulnerable.

Building hope together is, therefore, a call for collective action. Because if we do not seriously address these social wounds, the outcome will be predictable: a society that abandons its own and, in the end, blames them for having fallen.


Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Portuguese Catholic University