Social development, as one of the foundational pillars of development plans, is realized when economic objectives align with the promotion of welfare, social justice, and equal opportunities, and when social policies transcend the level of limited and residual support. Within this framework, social work—as a specialized profession emphasizing human dignity, social justice, and the empowerment of groups and communities—can play a pivotal role in the design and implementation of developmental policies. Nevertheless, the standing of social work in the policymaking process of the social sector within Iran's development plans is evaluated as weak and subdued, and in many instances, the roles and responsibilities of this profession are not explicitly defined in developmental documents. Concurrently, the persistence of structural issues such as poverty, inequality, and social harms indicates that social policymaking without the presence of intervening and community-oriented professions will lack the necessary efficacy. Strengthening social development requires public participation in decision-making, institutional capacity-building, an emphasis on collective voices, and the defense of human rights, none of which can be achieved without planned social interventions. Accordingly, proposed strategies include the permanent presence of social workers at high levels of decision-making, defining the professional standing of social work in welfare and support policies of development plans, ratifying and establishing the country's national social work system, strengthening preventive approaches at the macro level, and avoiding generality in development documents by precisely defining roles and responsibilities.