ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on social work and social welfare's essential contribution to the goals of the ASEAN community which comprise three pillars: ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC), ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC). It discusses the core significant social problems which challenge the ASEAN community, including rural and urban poverty, health and ageing issues, migrant worker and human trafficking, drug problems, disasters, gender and inequality, and domestic violence. ASEAN was founded with the initial objective to create peace in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia is a region of diverse ethnic groups and religions. The countries with mostly Muslim populations are Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Poverty remains a major problem challenging ASEAN countries. According to the World Bank, the national income per capita found that the ASEAN countries are mainly in lower middle income groups consisting of Indonesia, Philippines, Laos, Vietnam and Timor-Leste. The ASEAN Political-Security Community Blueprint was established to prevent and combat corruption in the region.
