The Handbook of Social Work and Social Development in Africa

Description

All recent books on international social work mention Africa only briefly and few engage with the broader field of development studies. This book focuses solely on the unique African context engaging with issues relating to social work and development more broadly thus enabling a deeper examination and more complex and nuanced picture to emerge. Unlike most academic works, this book highlights multiple practitioner voices, with authors or co-authors that have recently been or are currently practising social workers. As an edited book, it draws from both academic research as well as lived practice experience, supported by strong theoretical positioning and guidance in introductory chapters, drawing on African literature, wherever possible. Looking at case-studies from Lesotho, Botswana, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Namibia, Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, Zambia and Tanzania and covering established areas of practice such as child protection; working with older people; working with people with disabilities; mental health; and mainstream services targeting women as well as emerging areas of developmental social work practice, such as humanitarian assistance in post-conflict situations; work with immigrants and refugees; and the training of community-based workers, this book takes a future-oriented perspective that aims to move beyond well-worn critiques to envision constructive and sustainable futures for social work and social development in Africa from a critical perspective. Cover Title Copyright Dedication Contents Lists of figures List of tables List of contributors Foreword Acknowledgements Acronyms and abbreviations Introduction Part 1 Setting the scene 1 Discourses shaping development, foreign aid, and poverty reduction policies in Africa: implications for social work 2 Has social work come of age? Revisiting the authentisation debate 25 years on Part 2 Established areas of practice 3 Social work practice in Lesotho’s Ministry of Social Development 4 Social work and social protection in Ghana 5 Social protection and social work practice in Zambia 6 Social work practice with children in Botswana: issues, challenges, and future prospects 7 Social work practice in child and family welfare in Ghana 8 The role of social work in the protection of vulnerable children: lessons from Zimbabwe 9 Decolonising childcare practice in rural Zimbabwe: embracing local cultures 10 Social work practice with older people: perspectives from East Africa 11 Social work engagement in the community-based care of older people in Namibia 12 Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) in Uganda: a role for social work? 13 The role of social workers in the social management of epilepsy in Africa 14 Improving mental healthcare in Ghana: the role of social work practice 15 Social work practice in Ethiopian civil society organisations for people living with HIV and AIDS 16 Providing a Lifeline for female survivors of human trafficking in Ghana 17 Social justice and the moral question: foregrounding the paradox of teenage motherhood and education in Uganda 18 Same-sex relationships among women in Botswana: developmental challenges for society and social work Part 3 Developmental social work in emerging areas of practice 19 Poverty alleviation, development, and social work practice in West Africa: a focus on Senegal 20 Social protection and social work in Uganda 21 Decolonising social work practice in Nigeria: moving beyond indigenisation to development 22 Violence against children in Malawi and social work 23 Vyama in Kenya: an Afrocentric strengths-based approach to community development 24 Community development in South Africa: collective action for social change 25 Social work practice in Rwanda: the challenge of adapting Western models to fit local contexts 26 Post-conflict humanitarian assistance in northern Uganda: the social work role 27 Social work practice with war-related humanitarian refugees through the Refugee Law Project in Uganda 28 Strengthening Tanzania’s social welfare workforce to provide ongoing paraprofessional support services to vulnerable children and families 29 Social work practice in the NGO sector in Uganda and Kenya: opportunities and challenges 30 Addressing gender inequality among girls and women: role of social work in the Girl Power Programme in Zambia Glossary Index