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About Us

Mtandao creates, aggregates and disseminates information and resources to facilitate Social Work and Development on the African continent. We believe in African indigenous 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.

At our organisation, we are dedicated to transforming how knowledge drives social change across the continent. We actively challenge dominant discourses by dismantling paternalistic, Western-centric narratives that have historically framed Africa through a lens of deficit, replacing them with powerful counter-narratives centered on indigenous knowledge, local agency, and self-determination. Through the power of aggregation, we act as a critical champion of knowledge, intentionally curating an accessible archive that amplifies marginalised African voices and legitimises localised social work frameworks over imported methodologies. Finally, our commitment to democratic dissemination ensures that these vital resources are never locked behind institutional walls, but are instead placed directly into the hands of frontline practitioners, equipping them with the practical and linguistic tools necessary to advocate for lasting, systemic social development.

To join our network, send an email to asw@africasocialwork.net

Join us

To join our network, send an email to asw@africasocialwork.net

Join Mtandao as a Member

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 four journals each with its website, including the African Journal of Social Work which is AJOL and SCOPUS accredited, the Journal of Development Administration which is AJOL accredited, the Journal of Social Issues in Non-Communicable Conditions and Disability (SINCCD) and Journal of Ubuntu/Nyingi waUbuntu. 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/Director
Responsible for convening events, committees, and taskforces and directing the Network.		Communications Officers
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.

Members

The Network has over 150 registered members. Joining 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 Information

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

  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. Motivation statement or testimonial (what is it that attracts you to Mtandao/ASWDNet, what do you bring, how do you hope to contribute etc). Selected testimonials will be featured on our website.
  4. 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.
  • Create content:
  • 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

Creating Resources on Mtandao website

Please see instructions here. To create resources, you need to be subscribed to the website as a contributor or author. Please send us an email if you are ready to contribute. You can also contribute without logging in by emailing us your content.

Logos, Badges and Backgrounds for use by Members

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

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

I am a member of Mtandao – Africa Social Work Network

Backgrounds for online meetings

Select your preferred background and download it then insert into you meeting application, for example Zoom (Click Virtual Backgrounds), Teams (Click Background Effects), Google Meet (click Effects).

Use the menu below for further information.