Abstract:Developmental social work practice in China can facilitate implementation of the strategy of rural revitalization and targeted poverty alleviation by directly intervening the clients’ livelihood improvement. In a livelihood improvement project, social workers helped villagers in organic agro-product sales and meanwhile embedded social goals into economic activities. However, impacted by social reproduction mechanisms, the project was encountered with structural challenges, including disadvantage in price and capital compared with other rivals in mainstream market and incomprehension of social significance of the project from consumers and business partners. In addition, difficulty in balancing the role of social workers and entrepreneurs became an operational barrier challenging the project. The social workers should carefully determine whether and how to involve in market linkage activities, and identify their positions according to the resources owned.