Social Work and Development Student Conference (SWDSC)

Date and Time

Friday, 16 June | 08AM-12PM WAT | 09AM-1PM CAT/SAT | 10AM-2PM EAT

16 June is Day of the African Child (DAC).

Registration

Details

The conference is organised by students on 16 June which is the Day of the African Child (DAC) and also South African Youth Day. All students are invited to take part – Diploma, Associate or Bachelor degree, Master Degree and Doctoral Degree. Students will select a theme, design materials, make a call for presenters, invite speakers, review abstracts, create the schedule, moderate, chair and report.

The conference is an important opportunity to prepare students for future leadership, academic and research roles to advance social work and development, not only in Africa but globally.

Themes

• Children in social work and development.
• The Rights of the Child in the Digital Environment which is the DAC 2023 theme.
• Learning to be a social or development worker.
• Social work and development approaches focusing on those most suitable to Africa.

The conference will include but will not be limited to:

• Presentations on The Rights of the Child in the Digital Environment which is the DAC 2023 theme.
• Presentations on learning to be a social or development worker
• Presentations of thesis or dissertations
• Presentations of fieldwork
• Presentation of essays and reflections
• Mentoring-focused sessions
• Community-engaged sessions
• Technology-focused sessions
• Employer-focused sessions
• Publishing-focused sessions
• Scholarship-focused sessions
• Social media focused sessions

Types of Presentations

• An exemplary essay
• An exemplary thesis or dissertation
• A exemplary research report
• Research paper being prepared for a journal or already published
• Book chapter or draft manuscript of a book chapter
• An exemplary fieldwork report
• Poster
• Blog post
• Practice reflection
• Your personal, family and community experience relevant to conference themes.
• A case study.
• A project proposal
• A community development plan
• A policy review
• A needs analysis report
• An project evaluation report (use the Made in Africa Evaluation approach)

Abstract

For you to get a chance to present, you will need to submit an abstract of 50 words. An abstract is a statement that introduces a topic, provides the main ideas and a conclusion. For statements about research, you add the methods used. Do not put references in the abstract. If you abstract is longer than 50 words (should not exceed 200 words), you can email it to asw@africasocialwork.net.

Organising Committee

Final Program

The conference will be done in four hours. The table below will be updated as in formation becomes available.

Please note changes may happen to the program.

Session & Time	Presenters	Titles and Abstracts
1ST HOUR	CHAIR & MODERATOR SESSION 1	Atuhairwe Collins, Student, Master of Social Work, Makerere University, Uganda and Dr Kingsley U. Chigbu, University of St Thomas, School of Social Work
	OPENING REMARKS	Danzel Rademan, Student, Bachelor of Social Work, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein Campus, South Africa Tatenda Sukulao, Bachelor of Social Work, Midlands State University, Zimbabwe
1	Danzel Rademan (University of the Free State, South Africa)	Personal Experiences of a Fourth-Year Social Work Student: Insights into South African Social Work Education and Professional Development: This presentation offers insights into the personal experiences of a fourth-year social work student at the University of the Free State (UFS), Bloemfontein, South Africa. The student reflects on how the Bachelor of Social Work Curriculum at the UFS prepared him for practice, drawing upon the three primary methods of social work – casework, group work, and community work. Furthermore, the presenter discusses core social work skills and competencies required to render services to diverse clients within the South African context. Finally, this presentation highlights the student’s personal and professional development throughout his studies and how he  integrates social work ethics in practice to be a champion for social justice. Key words: Personal experiences, casework, group work, community work, social work skills
2	Kingsley U. Chigbu, Ph.D., LICSW, Assistant Professor & Doctoral Program Assessment Coordinator, University of St Thomas, Morrison Family College of Health, School of Social Work	“Social Work as a Driving Tool for Africa’s Development”: This presentation will look at a conceptual model of social work engagement in Africa, as well as ways to implement the strategy, focusing on the Wicked Problems that are currently challenging Africa’s development and existence.   Participants will: 1. Define the wicked problems underlying Africa’s developmental challenges 2. Review ways to apply education as a tool for addressing the Wicked Problems facing Africa3. Discuss  ways to activate Positive Distress as a means for engaging Africa’s Wicked Problems.
3	Nkqubela Aphiwe Ntloko (Nelson Mandela University, South Africa)	Social workers’ historical and contemporary understanding of the social development approach: Colonialism and apartheid influenced South African social welfare policies. After South Africa gained political freedom in 1994, democratic social welfare laws like the White Paper for Social Welfare were implemented (1997). Despite democratic social development initiatives, poverty, unemployment, and inequality marginalise most South Africans. Eurocentrism dominates social work practice and education with significant proposals for higher education decolonisation and indigenisation. Participatory action learning action research conceptualised this study (PALAR). PALAR uses critical, transformational, and democratic research methods to build a social work practice approach for African social systems in South Africa. Afrocentric social work practice was co-constructed for South Africa by black social workers who were purposefully and conveniently selected. The objective was to understand social workers’ historical and present conceptualisations of the social development approach. Preliminary findings imply that social development does not address structural inequalities in South Africa, such as race and the land question. For example, after a decade of its adoption, the approach has not significantly addressed large-scale poverty and unemployment.  Social development in practice is welfarist, disempowering, not community-based, and insensitive to African culture. Social development services are not adequately integrated. South African social work needs to be reimagined. Keywords: social work, social development, colonialism, social welfare, social work practice, African.
4	Patrick Ecima (Uganda Christian University)	Learning to be a Social and Development Worker. Who Social and Development Worker is, what are the roles played by Social Worker in Development
5	Nqobile Masimula, (Rajagiri College of Social Science, India)	Learning to be a social and development worker: Key words: Social work practice
2ND HOUR	CHAIR & MODERATOR SESSION 2	Takudzwa Banda, Student, Bachelor of Social Work, University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe  and Danzel Rademan, Student, Bachelor of Social Work, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein Campus, South Africa
6	Elizabeth Chanyau (Midlands State University, Zimbabwe)	Use of strength-based perspective to empower children in communities: Strengths-based practice is a collaborative process between the person supported by services and those supporting them, allowing them to work together to determine an outcome that draws on the person’s strengths and assets. This paper seeks to show how strength based perspective can be applied to child protection and children’s rights. Working in a collaborative way promotes the opportunity for children to be co-producers of services and support rather than solely consumers of those services. In child protection context, strengths based practice is solution focused and views the safety of the child or young person as paramount. It uses the strengths of individuals and families to develop strategies to achieve safety and change. It appreciates that the valuable skills and experiences children have is key to getting alongside them and co-producing. Principles of the strengths based approach include, social workers best save the clients by collaborating with them, every environment is full of resources and children have the capacity to determine what’s best for them. However, weaknesses of this approach in child protection include the fact that, children can be manipulated by money leading to emotional and sexual abuse in private sectors and the approach also ignores people’s problems can be heavy to such an extent they will not share or disclose to anyone.
7	Nwatu Juliet (Nigeria)	Exploring the roles of social workers in creating a safe and empowering digital space for children in Nigeria. Key words: Digital space, Children, social workers, Nigeria
8	Emordi, Promise Jude and Egbuchulam, Prisca Chibuzor (University of Nigeria, Nsukka)	Internal insecurity in Nigeria and the conundrum of out-of-school children: Governments worldwide are responsible for ensuring the safety and security of their citizens and providing uninterrupted access to quality education. Unfortunately, the Nigerian government has faced challenges in fulfilling these responsibilities, resulting in a rise in out-of-school children. This study investigates the impact of internal insecurity, including incidents of student kidnapping and attacks on schools by bandits and terrorists, primarily in northern Nigeria, on the educational system. Relying on system theory, documentary data collection, and interpretative data analysis methods, the study explores how these security challenges have contributed to the growing rate of out-of-school children. The findings reveal that student kidnapping and incessant attacks on schools, coupled with the antecedent school closures, have hindered the accessibility and affordability of basic education, leading to an increase in the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria. Based on the results, the study recommends government prioritisation and increased funding for education, as well as providing scholarship support and the deployment of armed education marshals to vulnerable students and schools from security-challenged states. Keywords: Education, security, internal insecurity, school closure, out-of-school children, Nigeria.
9	Dr Rugare Mugumbate, ASWNET; University of Wollongong; University of Johannesburg	Kuumba/Mentoring future leaders in social work and development: a conversation with conference organisers. The Africa Social Work Network (ASWNet) creates, aggregates and disseminates information and resources to facilitate Social Work and Development on the African continent. It was formed in 2020. The pan-African focus that the Network adopted 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. The ASWNet has developed ways of moulding and mentoring young people, for, they are the future of social work and development. These are the Kuumba | Mentoring Group (K|MG) and the Social Work and Development Student Conference (SWDSC) held annually during Day of the African Child, beginning 2023. This presentation will provide information about these two programs and how they contribute to the future of social work and development in Africa.Key words: kuumba, mentoring, leadership, social work, development, Africa.
10	James Dominic Shalom Sithole, Masters of Social Work student, University of Zimbabwe	TBC
3RD HOUR	CHAIR & MODERATOR SESSION 3	Dr Rugare Mugumbate, ASWNET; University of Wollongong; University of Johannesburg and Norman T. Manyika, Student, Bachelor of Social Work, University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
11	Edwin A Snorton Jr Edwin A. Snorton, Jr is my name, a Bachelor of Social Work student from the African Methodist Episcopal University in Monrovia, Liberia.	Using aquaponics to fight against hunger: The joint effort to address malnutrition amongst school children in Liberia through Aquaponics particularly at the More Than Me Academy by the social work students at the AME University and  the Extra curriculum Lead at Hilltop Schools came about when the nurse at the Academy started her regular malnutrition and deworming assessment where  she discovered  that 20% of the students in the elementary section were malnourished. Students of Social Work department doing Internship at the MTMA came together and brainstormed on ways of addressing this health deficiency crisis. The interns finalized that in other to address the malnutrition issues among the students, they will provide nutritious meal highlighted from the food pyramid. This effort aligns with goal two of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) which envision a zero hunger world, we later discussed about a more sustainable methods of ensuring that all the kids including the ones with malnutrition at the Academy continue having a healthy diet during their days in schools. From this discussion, we as students decided to embark on a garden project which will serve as the main source of nutrients that will matched that of the pyramid.Key words: Service, SDG Goal 2 (zero hunger), Community development, Social development, Collaboration, Commitment
12	Cornelius Dudzai, (BSW and MSW, University of Zimbabwe), PhD Student, University of Wollongong, School of Health and Society	Environmental empowerment: A new approach to poverty eradication in Africa: Most of the rural population in Africa is affected by poverty. High levels of poverty are witnessed through food shortages, low life expectancy and environmental degradation. Arguably, poverty in general and in Africa specifically is partly caused by a poor environment. An environment that is poor impoverishes its population. There are two types of poor environments in Africa; an environment that is inherently poor and another which is made poor by human beings. To deal with poverty and underdevelopment in Africa, social workers must empower the natural environment. An empowered environment capacitates community development. As it stands, social work in Africa focuses on empowering the poor who reside within an impoverished environment and to that effect, social work empowerment programmes are ineffective.
13	Brilliant Asamoah University of Cape Coast, Ghana; First Class Honours in Agricultural Extension and Community Development; Research collaborator at African Health and Ageing Research Centre, Winneba, Central Region, Ghana.	How food insecurity experience among older adults can provide evidence for an innovative and system-led social work practice interventions in a communal Ghana: As people grow older and  lose capacity to maintain activity in securing food for themselves either because of functional disability or financial incapacity, there should be a meso and or macro support services to ensure food security amongst them. In Ghana, evidence show that most older people report food insecurity, necessitating a need for a reflection on how social work professional (with its core mandate) can innovatively and culturally promote food security for older adults in Ghanaian context. Deploying descriptive qualitative analysis, this study presents the qualitative findings of older adults’ experiences of food insecurity across three regions of Ghana. Overarchingly, the analysis identified three major themes related to food insecurity experience recurrent to all or most of the participants. The themes include 1) sources of food items for older adults; 2) perspective on accessibility to food; 3) finances determining older adults’ food accessibility. Results are discussed in relation to existing literature and social work implications. Social work profession in Ghana can adopt innovative and culturally sound approaches, including ‘nnoboa’ in ensuring food security for older adults. The findings contribute to the evidence base for social work, elaborating the in-depth understanding of the experiences of food insecurity in old age.
14	Angelina Nkrumah(Rajagiri College of Social Science, India)	Awareness and involvement of teachers in the implementation of (school feeding program) for adolescents in the Ashanti region of Ghana: Health promotion promotes wellness. Ghana seeks SDGS targets 2 and 3—zero hunger and universal health—by 2030. Ghana favors teens. Secondary data examined teachers’ involvement in the Nutritional Health Policy and school feeding program participation. Key words: Awareness, adolescent, involvement, program
15	Tanatswa Silvanus Chineka (LPSW, MSW, HSW)	The growing demand for social work training in Zimbabwe and the implications for a social development approach in training
4TH HOUR	CHAIR & MODERATOR SESSION 4	Never Winnie James Sebit, South Sudan; Student, Bachelor in Social Work, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, India and Tatenda Sukulao, Student, Bachelor of Social Work, Midlands State University, Zimbabwe
16	Eric Mamukeyani (University of Limpopo, South Africa)University of Limpopo, Department of Public Health, School of health care sciences, South AfricaCurrent degree: PhD in Public Health	Literature review on the Ubuntu African approach to guide the development of disability programmes in rural communities in South Africa: Disability is a very solemn issue, as many people in rural communities struggle to accept and cope with it; this leads to the escalation of neglect and abuse cases of people with disability in rural communities requiring social workers’ intervention. This paper outlines this problem using a scoping literature method whereby already published literature on Ubuntu and disability was perused which resulted in the development of two themes: the plight of people with disability and the gap that exists in intervention. This paper indicates that there is a lack of structured programmes to address disability in rural communities. Therefore, the Ubuntu approach is ideal for guiding the development of disability programmes which will empower individuals, families and communities to cope with disability as well as strengthen intervention by social workers. Keywords: Disability, Programme, Intervention, Social worker, Ubunt
17	Tessy Ozobialu	TBC
18	PARTNERS DISCUSSION PANEL	Students as future leaders: opportunities, strategies and challenges.   PARTNERS Midlands State University, ZimbabweMakerere University, UgandaUniversity of ZimbabweRajagiri College of Social Sciences, IndiaNational Ass of Social Workers, ZimbabweAfrican Health & AgeingResearch Centre, GhanaPeople Centred- Journal of Development Administration (JDA)
	CLOSING REMARKS	Never Winnie James Sebit, South Sudan; Student, Bachelor in Social Work, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, India and Atuhairwe Collins, Student, Master of Social Work, Makerere University, Uganda

Download Program (pdf)

Partners

• Midlands State University, Zimbabwe
• Makerere University, Uganda
• University of Zimbabwe
• Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, India
• National Ass of Social Workers, Zimbabwe
• African Health & Ageing
• Research Centre, Ghana
• People Centred- Journal of Development Administration (JDA)

How to Become a Conference Partner

To become a partner, send an email to asw@africasocialwork.net

As partner, we expect that you will achieve at least 4 of the following:

• Share your logo for use in conference documents and promotional material.
• Select a student to join the organising committee.
• Select 2-5 students to present.
• Select an academic to present or chair at the conference.
• Arrange for students’ attendance of the conference.
• Link at least one assessment to the conference.
• Link the conference to research training for students.
• Link the conference to fieldwork for students.
• Fund the conference (Best Paper or Best Project; Awards/Rewards/Incentives for Organisers).
• Promote the conference on social media, notice boards, website and in classrooms.

Resources

https://africasocialwork.net/motsi/2021/06/16/day-of-the-african-child-dac-16-june-2021/

https://africasocialwork.net/motsi/2022/02/11/twelve-12-tips-and-information-for-prospective-doctoral-students/