Future of Social Work in Africa

The future of African social work is shaped by decolonisation and indigenisation. For several years, decolonisation and indigenisation have been talked about in theory but action has been slow. To accelerate action, we have created a protocol that provides a process, principles and template to decolonise and indigenise.

DECOLONISATION PROTOCOL (DP) AND INDIGENISATION PROTOCOL (IP)

A Decolonisation Protocol  (DP) is a plan to take action to remove colonial elements. Usually, this is done together with an Indigenisation Protocol (IP) – a plan that allows for maintenance and introduction of indigenous approaches, content or knowledge. The aim is to recognize and value local culture, histories and knowledge in our institution. The template is usable to decolonise:

• The Library
• The Syllabi/lecture
• Practice and Fieldwork
• Research and Publishing

PROCESS

Appoint a DPIP coordinator or committee. The coordinator can do most of the work alone but a committee is important to provide oversight. If a committee is not there, a current institutional committee can be used to provide oversight. The committee a 1-2 people knowledgeable about African social work, 1-2 family members who have experiences of African social issues, 1-2 who are community leaders, 1-2 people who are cultural leaders or activists and 1-2 people who are pan-Africanists and 1 person with knowledge of higher education.

Use the template below to create actions and when you plan to have them executed. Make sure actions and expected outcomes are clear. You can set a semester or annual plan. Review the plan at the end of each period.  

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

The coordinator and committees must be guided by these principles:

1. If found, any colonial material or practices must be removed immediately.
2. Indigenous material and practices must immediately replace it.
3. If the language is colonial, no matter how good a resource is, it should be removed.
4. A book written by an African can be colonial if it does not utilise African philosophy, theory, literature, methods and examples.
5. Valuing local languages and oral sources of knowledge.
6. Training and education must be based on local people’s aspirations, histories, knowledge, needs, laws, environment, culture and spirituality.

TEMPLATE

Details

Name of institution
Coordinator
Committee members
Date adopted
Date of review
Any other details

Action Plans

Focus area	Actions	Timeframe
Library	Library team orientation or training on decolonisation and indigenisation We will remove from shelves all content that was published before independence (almost all was colonial) Literature with colonial language will be removed Our online library will prioritise African resources, databases and publishers The library will give each student orientation or training about decolonisation of the library and literature and the role of students   Creating local sources of knowledge – making videos, documentaries, audios, songs, and inviting guest speakers for oral knowledge Order literature including laws from the African Union and African institutions Literature in local language Creating a publishing unit
Syllabi	Subject coordinators orientation or training Remove and replace all syllabi borrowed from western countries immediately Ensure subject aim and objectives respond to the aspirations of African people Document and teach the history of African social services and social work not the history of American of European social services and social work Change syllabus to be developmental, focusing on subjects that increase the productive capacity of families and communities and empower them to fight poverty and avoid donor or welfare dependency Remove colonial content and language from syllabus Use African philosophies, theories ethics, and literature including oral literature Our assignments will be revised to remove colonial content Lecturers will give each student orientation or training about decolonisation of syllabi, learning, teaching and literature and the role of students Value oral sources – guest speakers who are users of social work, community members, cultural leaders, spiritual leaders, pan-Africanists, activists, law makers Ensure subjects like psychology, sociology, history and anthropology that are heavily colonial are indigenised. These are often taught in other faculties.Using local language
Practice and Fieldwork	Orientation and training of alumni and practitioners in decolonisation as part of continuous professional development (CPD) and reskilling Remove laws or processes that are colonial Orientation and training of employers and agencies in decolonisation Orientation and training of fieldwork supervisors. Using local language
Research and Publishing	Orientation and training of researchers and research assistants in decolonisation Valuing African publishers, publishing in AfricaValuing oral literature Valuing African methods of data collection, data analysisValuing African ethics and ethics committees Including community members, African cultural and spiritual leaders in Ethics Committees Using local language Create local publishers, local data bases, local research centres etc
Others	Make graduation process indigenous Make graduation attire – hats/cap, hood and dress more suitable to local situation in terms of colours, meaning and symbols Make names of institutions or buildings more appropriate Value local people who contributed to the institution or to social services Use artwork, sculptures, artefacts and landscaping that is African Institutional leaders leading decolonisation and indigenisation by exampleInvite cultural and spiritual leaders to events and graduations Advocate and promote decolonisation of primary, secondary and high school education When making slides, posters and any content that needs pictures, use local pictures not pictures of white people found on the internet The African Union has a lot of indigenous content – policies, conventions, guidelines etc International partnerships, participation and funding must not assume Africa’s inferiority. Take note that Black American literature and views do not necessarily reflect decolonial ideas, their ideas are shaped by history of slavery, American ideals but also assimilation into white race and culture. They have changed the meaning of Black to include people who would otherwise not be included as Black in Africa. Migration out of Africa to practice social work derails decolonisation, the practice is in itself colonial and leaves Africa without the experts it needs after training them.

Suggested literature

In this article the author presents the Decolonise First Model.

Cite as: Tusasiirwe, S. (2022). Is it indigenisation or decolonisation of social work in Africa? A focus on Uganda. African Journal of Social Work,
12(1), 1-11.