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About Us

The ASWDNet creates, aggregates and disseminates information and resources to facilitate Social Work and Development on the African continent. We believe in African knowledges (rifa), often termed indigenous (vene) knowledges and recognise their roles in building an African social and development work knowledge base that emancipates social work students, academics, practitioners, librarians, publishers, leaders, communities and researchers. At the centre of this facilitation is use of African languages and values such as those espoused in Ubuntu.

To join the Network, send an email to asw@africasocialwork.net with your names, qualification and country.

Use the Subscribe button below to receive regular updates about Social Work and Development in Africa

Key Values

We value:

  • A pan-African focus to our work
  • Least-cost activities and initiatives
  • Alignment with the work of the African Union (AU)
  • Using Ubuntu which is Africa’s philosophy
  • Decolonising
  • Collaboration

History and Motivations

The Network was formed in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, there was an heightened need to share resources online to facilitate learning about COVID-19 in particular but also to support students and lecturers with classroom and fieldwork resources. Another reason was to provide practitioners with continuous professional learning and development opportunities. The Network has achieved this through the activities stated in the next section.

When the Network started, it was primarily focused on social work but then realised that this excluded development. In 2022, we started to include development in our work and branding and in 2023 we included development in our name and logo to become Africa Social Work and Development Network (ASWDNet)

The pan-African focus that we have adopted in our work has its history in the work of the Association of Social Work Education in Africa (ASWEA) which was formed in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1965 and operated from 1973-1989. It was a non-profit organisation dedicated to social work education in Africa. Its members included schools of social work and individuals working in community, agricultural and rural development workers training. By 1978, ASWEA had African Unity (OAU) observer status, 50 social work and development training institutions and 100 individual academics from 50 countries. The objectives of ASWEA were to address issues related to social work education, including dominance of Western social work curricula and provide opportunities for  member  schools  to  meet  regularly  to  discuss  social  work’s  role  in  national  development  planning.

Major Activities

  • Main website rich in decolonised social work and development content – biographies, journals, library, policies, dictionary, index of journals, in-depth information about Ubuntu, theories, philosophy, methods of research, fieldwork forum, country specific information and many other resources.
  • E-newsletter emailed to members and an extended audience of close to 1000 subscribers.
  • Blog
  • Lectures and presentations on YouTube.
  • We host three journals each with its website, including the African Journal of Social Work which is AJOL and SCOPUS accredited and the Journal of Development Administration which is AJOL accredited. Our most recent journal started in 2022 fills an important gap in NCDs and disability and is growing – Journal of Social Issues in Non-Communicable Conditions and Disability (SINCCD). Each journal has an Board.
  • Africa Day Indaba – on or around Africa Day in May each year
  • Annual Ubuntu Lecture – November each year
  • Annual students conference during Day of the African Child – beginning 2023
  • Ubuntu Research Group (URG)
  • African Independent Ethics Committee (AIEC)
  • Kuumba | Mentoring Group (K|MG)
  • Annual Social Work and Development Awards
  • Online courses – starting 2023
  • Decolonisation Calculators (DECAs)

Main Innovations

We are proud to have conceptualized and introduced the following

  • Decolonisation Calculators (DECAs)
  • Ubuntu Lecture

Structure

The Network has a very simple but very effective structure to support work that is done remotely and online.

Convening Officer
Responsible for convening events, committees and taskforces		Communications Officer
Responsible for communication with members and committees
Members
Committees | Taskforces | Groups | Boards

Collaborations and Funding

We value collaboration in our work and constantly seek new partners. If you are interested in partnering with us, please contact us.

  • Association of Schools of Social Work in Africa (ASSWA)
  • Zivo Publishers
  • National Association of Social Workers (Zimbabwe)

The Network receives no funding for its work but welcomes financial support to expand its work. Currently, work is driven by volunteers, and we always use available cost-free opportunities.

Contacts

Email Contacts

Maaza, ASWDNet Communications

asw@africasocialwork.net

Rugare, ASWDNet Convenor

rugare@africasocialwork.net

Social Media Contacts

Do you want further information about what we do or the resources and opportunities that we provide? We are available on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. You can also visit the Question and Answer section at the end of this page.

Members

The Network has over 120 registered members. Registration is free.

Who can become a member

Members have a social work qualification or development or have proven experience in social developmental work. Membership is limited to people from an African country or the African diaspora. In some circumstances, membership can be offered to a non-African. Members are usually social workers, development workers, community workers, counsellors, psychologists, social welfare workers, social development workers, cultural service workers and social administrators.

Membership Application

To apply for membership, email the following information to asw@africasocialwork.net with the subject Application for Membership

  1. First name and family name. Include name of respect if available. Include preferred name if your first name is not your preference.
  2. Your social work or development qualification/s
  3. Referee (name and email) – Your referee should be (1) another social worker (2) a person working in welfare, development, social or human services

Benefits and Contributions of Members

  • As a member, you can cite your ASWDNet membership on your profile, email signature/footer, CV or other documents.
  • You can use or attach the logo of the ASWNet available below as evidence of your membership. The logos are available here.
  • Use services of the Africa Independent Ethics Committee (AIEC) free of charge.
  • Being interviewed (text, audio or video) on a selected social work and development topic or experience or writing a biography. You can view previous interviews and biographies here.
  • Contribute to the history of social services, welfare and social work of your country (book chapter or web content). Examples – Egypt Zimbabwe South Africa
  • Become a blogger (use this link to submit your first blog, we will then help you create your blog account on the ASWDNet website).
  • Write Expert Papers, Guidance Papers, Current Evidence Summaries, Expert Interviews, Novel Conclusions, Factual Pieces, Narratives, Opinion Piece or Experiential Pieces. More details about this publication available here.
  • Contribute to the African Journal of Social Work; Journal of Social Development or the Journal of Social Issues in Disability and Non-Communicable Conditions as an author or reviewer.
  • If you are looking for African COVID-19 publications, use this link.
  • Participate in Kuumba, our mentoring program.
  • Participant in events, please visit our events page. These events include the Africa Day Indaba in May, Annual Ubuntu Lecture in November and Students Conference in June.
  • Information about Social Work in Africa is found here.
  • Connect with us on social media: Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. 

Logos, Badges and Backgrounds for use by Members

Members can copy, download and resize this logo for use.

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ASWNet logo

Members can also copy the text below and insert or paste as a hyperlink. Remember to paste as a hyperlink.

I am a member of the Africa Social Work Network (ASWDNet)

Questions and Answers

Is there a fee for being a member? There is no fee, membership is free.

Who can be a member? African social workers and development workers, from all region of Africa including the Diaspora region.

What is the purpose of the Network? The ASWDNet creates, aggregates and disseminates information and resources to facilitate Social Work on the African continent.

When was the network formed? In 2020

Does the ASWDNet offer diploma and degree training in social work and development? No

What are the benefits of being a member? Please see the list here.

How do I access the ASWDNet web library? Please use this link?

How do I access ASWDNet journals? Use this link.

How about other African journals in social work and development? Use this link.

I am looking for African theories, where to I get this? Please use this link.

I want to learn more about African philosophy? Visit this page.

Where do I get more information about social work and development in Africa? Here.

What events are coming? Please visit this page.

I want to have ethics advice before I plan my research, how do I go about this/ Where do I get information? If you do not have easy access to an ethics committee, we suggest you email the Africa Independent Ethics Committee. More information is here.

I do fundraising, where do I learn about Ubuntu values and ethics in resource mobilisation? Here. And there is more about Ubuntu values and ethics here.

Use the menu below for further information.