Social work intervention at the macro level takes place on a much larger scale, emphasising advocacy, public policy, research and development. Consequently, social workers can simultaneously impact the community and its residents.

For example, social workers may design community programmes that incorporate individual support services. In practical settings, local practitioners often combine the micro and mezzo aspects of social work to enhance the effectiveness of their initiatives. They also organise remedial and therapeutic groups to provide support for specific types of loss, illnesses and life adjustments and connect clients with common interests/shared experiences. At the intermediate scale, social workers work with community-based agencies, clubs, schools, NGOs and philanthropic organisations to implement welfare programs targeted at non-familial groups. Mezzo social work is a valuable tool to drive social advancement at the grassroots. This aspect of practice involves the development and implementation of social service initiatives at the local level. Mezzo-level practice is concerned with small to medium-sized groups including communities, neighbourhoods, local organisations, cause-driven groups and similar client systems. However, direct service without the clinical component is the more popular variant of micro social work in Nigeria. While clinical social work generally concerns individualised work with clients in a therapeutic, inpatient or outpatient setting, non-clinical social involve individual and family counselling, child protective services, facilitating access to housing, health care, and social welfare. This practice area comprises both clinical and non-clinical aspects. Therefore, micro-level social workers are first responders to the immediate needs of clients. Essentially, interaction with clients is on a one-on-one basis. It is focused on the provision of direct services tailored to suit the needs of individuals or families.

Micro social work is the most popular form of social work practice in Nigeria (and is often how most people imagine social workers providing services). Whether at the micro, mezzo, or macro levels of intervention, social workers strive to ensure the wellbeing of individuals, communities and the entire system. While most social workers specialise in one aspect of the micro-to-macro scale, others work across all three levels. One of the many benefits of a social work degree is being able to work at any level of practice. Although these practice areas are interrelated, the major difference lies in the scope of work and the level of interaction with the service users. There are three tiers of social work practice namely: micro, mezzo and macro.

Levels of social work practice