Afrocentric Mentoring Project (AfroMEP)

Full title: Enhancing the Capacity of Early Career Researchers (ECR’s) to Contribute to Afrocentric and Decolonial Social Work Knowledge Production

Afrocentric and decolonial scholarship is lacking in mainstream social work. This collaborative project between universities from South Africa, Kenya, the United Kingdom and Australia seek to enhance African and decolonial knowledge production in social work by building the capacity of 15 early-career researchers (ECR) mainly from low-income countries in Africa.

Drawing on harambee which means pulling together for the improvement of society, we will promote contextually grounded knowledge production through collaborative multi-generational mentoring. Existing networks [Association of Schools of Social Work in Africa (ASSWA), the Africa Social Work and Development Network (ASWDNet)] in Africa and globally (IASSW, IFSW and ICSD) will be harnessed to establish multi-generational mentoring teams. After the teams are established, a four-day research and writing clinic will be done in June, tentatively in Nairobi, Kenya to enhance publication skills of selected mentees. The post-workshop stage will include input from journal editors to enhance publication success. The outputs will be intensive publication training of ECR’s and journal articles ready for publication.

This project is supported by the British Academy’s International Writing Workshops 2026 Programme, supported under the UK Government’s International Science Partnerships Fund, Grant Number IWW25100673.