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Title: | The Challenge of Social Work in Africa: Starting the Indigenisation Process |
Author: | Osei-Hwedie, Kwaku |
Year: | 1993 |
Periodical: | Journal of Social Development in Africa (ISSN 1012-1080) |
Volume: | 8 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 19-30 |
Language: | English |
Notes: | biblio. refs. |
Geographic term: | Africa |
Subjects: | social policy social welfare Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Health and Nutrition Labor and Employment sociology social work Employees |
Abstract: | This paper puts a case for the indigenization of social work in Africa. The need for indigenization is based upon the realization that social work in Africa has failed to respond appropriately to the major social problems confronting the region. The social work profession is heavily influenced by Western theory and no meaningful attempts have been made to ensure that the profession fits into the social, economic and practical environment in which it operates. The article therefore emphasizes the need for the social work profession to redefine itself and assume a new character. It demonstrates the need for a flexible and creative service delivery system which is more than a reorganized Western model. In order to achieve this, however, the profession must endeavour to develop its own major assumptions about personality and social life; locate the basis of the profession and its rationale; develop a process which enables refined knowledge and skills to emerge out of practice; define social work and its mission in a way that captures the African world view; clarify the domain and expertise of social work; and identify the knowledge, philosophy and value bases of the profession. Bibliogr., sum. |