"Social Work is a profession that deals with the study of human life and human relationships and effective prevention, solutions and management of social problems to promote optimum well-being and social harmony".

However, the definition of Social Work developed by the two International bodies International Federation of Social Work (IFSW) and International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) runs as follows:

The Social Work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work.

Currently, IFSW and IASSW have a committee working towards amendment of this definition.