Social Work in Military Humanitarian Operations: Strengthening Psychosocial Support and Community Recovery

Abstract

Military humanitarian operations are increasingly deployed in environments affected by armed conflict, terrorism, forced displacement, natural disasters, epidemics and other complex emergencies where civilian systems may be overwhelmed or access to affected populations severely constrained. Although military institutions possess important capabilities in logistics, transportation, medical assistance, engineering, evacuation, communications and emergency access, the social and psychosocial consequences of humanitarian crises require professional interventions that extend beyond material relief and physical protection. This article examines the role of social work in military humanitarian operations, with particular attention to psychosocial support and community recovery. Using a qualitative documentary research design, the study analyses humanitarian guidelines, social-work scholarship, mental health and psychosocial support frameworks, civil-military coordination guidance and contemporary evidence on disaster and conflict recovery. Human Security Theory and Ecological Systems Theory provide the theoretical foundations. The study finds that social workers can strengthen military humanitarian operations through psychosocial assessment, psychological first-line support, family and community intervention, protection, referral, social-service coordination and recovery planning. It further finds that effective integration requires clear professional boundaries because social workers should not become instruments of military intelligence, influence or population control. The article argues that military capabilities should provide operational access and emergency capacity while social workers connect such capabilities to the social realities of affected populations. It recommends institutionalising social work within humanitarian contingency planning, integrating psychosocial assessment into military humanitarian operations, establishing professional safeguards and linking emergency assistance to longer-term community recovery.