Session: Sustainable Development Goals: Social Work Research Insights (Society for Social Work and Research 28th Annual Conference - Recentering & Democratizing Knowledge: The Next 30 Years of Social Work Science)

Background and Purpose: Globally, 3.6 billion people are energy poor, 657 million live in extreme poverty, one in three women experiences intimate partner violence, and 3.7 million refugee children of school age are not in school. To address these and other global challenges, the United Nations launched 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be attained by 2030, also called the "2030 Agenda." The 2030 Agenda offers social work researchers a unique opportunity to address poverty, inequality, and discrimination and leave no one behind. The Agenda also aligns with the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development. In this symposium, five scholar teams will present their studies informing four interrelated SDGs: end poverty (SDG1), ensure quality education for all (SDG4), achieve gender equality, including eliminate violence against women (SDG5), and provide energy for all (SDG7). Study1 evaluates the world's largest financial inclusion program providing bank accounts to unbanked, low-income individuals in India to reduce poverty and gender inequality in accessing financial institutions. The authors examine if the use of accounts increases and gender disparities in the use of accounts decline over time. Study2 explores whether India's solar energy programs empower women and reduce energy poverty. Study3 evaluates low-income women's entrepreneurial experience in South Africa. In study4, the authors review barriers that prevent survivors of domestic violence from seeking help in Kyrgyzstan. Study5 examines if parental engagement has positive social outcomes on children with disabilities in a refugee camp in Kenya. To guide their studies and explain results, the authors rely on social learning, ecological systems, diffusion of innovations, and sustainable social development theories.

Methods: The analysis methods vary depending on the nature of the study. Study1 uses data from India's banks; they regress account engagement on various factors, including gender. Study2 analyzes primary data from women in India using multiple regressions to explore how access to solar energy programs empowers them. Study3 conducts a thematic analysis of primary, qualitative data from South Africa's low-income women engaged in entrepreneurship. Study4 analyzes qualitative, focus group data from professionals working to mitigate domestic violence in Kyrgyzstan. Study5 uses two waves of data from children with disabilities in a refugee camp in Kenya. The authors use stepwise linear regressions to unravel the association between parental engagement and child outcomes.

Results: Findings highlight these studies' collective contribution to the 2030 Agenda. Study1 documents that account use among low-income individuals, especially rural women's digital banking, increased in India between 2016 and 2019 (supporting SDGs1&5). Study2 found that India's solar energy projects increased access to clean energy and empowered women (SDGs5&7). Study3 shows how South Africa's low-income women could improve their income through entrepreneurial activities (SDG1). Study4 addresses sociocultural, structural, and legal barriers to supporting victims of domestic violence in Kyrgyzstan (SDG5). Study5 found that parental engagement improved the wellbeing of refugee children with disabilities in Kenya (SDG4).

Conclusions and Implications: These five studies highlight social work researchers' contribution to the empirical evaluation of SDG programs to create a just and inclusive world.