_____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 eusebius, s., mengo, c. & brendon, o. rethinking poverty: the role of international organisations in grassroots development eusebius, smalla, mengo, ceciliab and brendon, oforic abstract resource inequity and disparity between nations and communities is a significant social problem. the consequences of such inequities are immense and are compounded by governments’ failure to find lasting solutions. international organizations have stepped in to fill the gap; however, their efficacy is fairly undocumented. using social choice and chaos frameworks, we explore through a literature review and field experiences the work of three ngos operating in six different countries highlighting the efficacy of community based participatory research (cbpr). practice recommendations are provided that underscore the relevancy of a skilled workforce, great management, as well as an objective environment independent of bureaucratic coercion. key terms: chaos theory, inequalities, poverty reduction, international organizations, social choice theory, grassroots development a assistant professor, university of texas at arlington school of social work, contacts: esmall@uta.edu, 211 s. cooper, bld. a., ste. 201, arlington, texas, tx 76019 b doctoral student, university of texas at arlington school of social work: contacts: 211 s. cooper street, suite swca-313, arlington, texas, tx 76013 cmsw student, university of texas at arlington school of social work. contacts: 211 s. cooper, bld. a., ste. 201, arlington, texas, tx 76019. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 1 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 eusebius, s., mengo, c. & brendon, o. introduction despite efforts by governments to narrow social inequity, major economic, social and political struggles still persist. today, half of the global population live on less than $2.50 a day (henderson & cooper, 2004; world bank, 2012). a majority of these 3 billion people reside in developing countries. given that the vast concentrations of wealth are in the hands of a few individuals, i.e. less than 1% of individuals own over a third of the world’s wealth, this gap is unsustainable (credit suisse research institute, 2010). the paper highlights the important work some governments and non-governmental organizations (ngos) have done to mitigate these social ills. background the social consequences resulting from economic disequilibrium are immense. yet still, very little public appetite from governments and corporations exist to undertake the macro progress necessary to address the needs of vulnerable and underserved populations. frequently, governments and private corporations do choose narrow economic paths in rewarding their stake holders and ignore the safe and secure economic path of property rights, honest public service and novelty. these forces hold economies back. although reducing social disparity is complex and may require the engagement of public and private partnerships; finding sound approaches to solving these perennial problems is important. urbanization has been a long african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 2 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 eusebius, s., mengo, c. & brendon, o. term drain on the economic vitality for most of the developing world, affecting rural communities as well as the urban. decades of poverty, inhumane living conditions, congestion, and social unrest have contributed to a distrusting society that finds their governments unresponsive to their needs. while some governments have made great progress, fewer have recognized the potent institutional social liabilities--illiteracy, poverty, misgovernment and cronyism that often extricate wealth and pull societies backwards. drawing from our extensive literature review on the work of ngos as well as our own field experience, we contend that collaborative partnerships between governments and ngos can make a difference in creating sustainable wealth. relevance of ngos ngos have played an important role in addressing the social needs of communities and have pushed for long lasting and sustainable development (international institute for sustainable development ([iisd] 2013). unlike governments and corporations that might be bounded by competing interests, ngos attempt to analyze social problems with neutrality, and cooperatively, together with the community, articulate necessary steps in addressing these needs. ngos nurture and capture the social resiliencies available in the community by galvanizing the naturally available capacity to finding needed solutions. through health literacy promotions, disease african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 3 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 eusebius, s., mengo, c. & brendon, o. eradication initiatives, innovation and economic empowerment, ngos significantly contribute to the social welfare (iisd, 2013). further, ngos understand the scope and social consequences of poverty and its potential to ignite social unrest. the invisible liabilities (e.g. lack of skills, mismanagement, illiteracy underutilization of resources etc.) can strangle development and cultivate a culture of dependency (kling & schulz, 2009). these liabilities pave the way for corruption, political gamesmanship and a sustained token economy (material reinforcers) that could cause social unrest. social unrest, defined as the general condition of a society where movement in a confused manner is both regular and widespread, emerge as a collective reaction to the perceived discontent over unjust social arrangement (social unrest, 2013). causes of social unrest political scientists have struggled to explain the causes of social unrest to encompass social, political, economic, and environmental causes (mcadam, 1983); food scarcity and food price increases, (dowe, haupt, langewiesche, sperber, 2001; stevenson & quinault, 1975); variations in international commodity, climate change (zhang et al., 2011; burke, miguel, satyanath, dykema, lobell, 2009) and demographic changes, (goldstone, 1993). it is theorized that social, economic, and political tensions accumulate gradually over time and spike into sudden outbursts of unrest, causing contagious turmoil (dowe et al., 2001; burke et al., 2009). when a citizen of an african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 4 _____________________________________________________________________ http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?ie=utf8&field-author=john+stevenson&search-alias=books&text=john+stevenson&sort=relevancerank http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_2?ie=utf8&field-author=roland+quinault&search-alias=books&text=roland+quinault&sort=relevancerank _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 eusebius, s., mengo, c. & brendon, o. underdeveloped nation, for example, faces a development gap in an already “flattened world” as thomas friedman would metaphorically define globalization and its impact, (2005), destabilization forces are potentially inevitable. for example, the average income in africa is less than $2,000 a year per person, compared to the united states which is more than $30,000 (kling & schulz, 2009). this gap holds societies back and encourages corruption by rewarding those who expropriate wealth than those who create wealth. this is a constant source of conflict. understanding the push factors to conflicts is helpful. because ngos in essence, operate in a non-political climate and are impartial; they help narrow the social knowledge gap by sharing and stimulating bottom-up innovative and community-based projects. empirical as well as experiential knowledge has shown that governments who have robust economic systems operate within a framework of working legal systems, rule of law, and a functioning social and economic protocol (tebaldi & mohan, 2010). poor social arrangements and political institutions are invisible liabilities that can stifle innovation (kling & schulz, 2009). for example, where there are weak property rights and unchecked government power such as in zimbabwe and north korea, prosperity can be elusive (kling & schulz, 2009). hong kong, singapore, and israel on the other hand, are exemplars of relative robust operating system of rules, customs and standards that even in the absence of natural resources, for example, can galvanize economic prosperity. the african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 5 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 eusebius, s., mengo, c. & brendon, o. social norms of a country, often related to culture, institutions, religion, national ethics and values, play a significant role in explaining social inequality (haferkamp & smelser, 1992). south korea, for example, is one of the richest countries in the world today; north korea, however, still grapples with enormous backwardness and abject poverty. although the culture between the south and north korea today is very different, the korean peninsula has a long period of common history dating back to before the korean war where the two countries had unprecedented homogeneity in language, ethnicity, and culture (acemoglu & robinson, 2012). what sets these two countries apart, for most part, are the political and economic pathways they have adopted. building on the strengths of international organizations, we document how grassroots mobilization and community engagement can play a role in social and economic development. conceptual framework in his writing on the social chaos theory, priesmeyer (1992) stressed the concept of future locale and how it is determined by its current position of competing burgeoning forces. chaos is described as a situation of sensitive interplay of events, dependent on the initial conditions where a small shift in one place can affect social and cultural stability (priesmeyer, 1992). historical epochs in precolonial, colonial and post-colonial period may have contributed to disequilibrium in the existing social, economic and political locale, creating the potential for instability (see figure 1). african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 6 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 eusebius, s., mengo, c. & brendon, o. figure 1: conceptual pathways of social-economic disequilibrium (source: priesmeyer, 1992) a functioning government needs solid institutions that are sustained by the rule of law. economic growth has been realized in most of the developed world, while in poor countries, we see stagnation, poverty and desolations (kling & schulz, 2009). international ngos work african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 7 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 eusebius, s., mengo, c. & brendon, o. in isolated communities to identify intangible community capital such as, valuable skills that supplement unskilled labor. in fact, in poor countries where ngos operate, namely, the democratic republic of congo, nigeria, etc., the united nations report consistent registration of negative wealth per person, defined as the average negative worker’s output (lewis, 2004). the lack of skilled workforce as is in these countries pulls economies backward, thus the negative wealth output. utilizing the perspective of the social choice theory, ngos understand that people afflicted by poverty would better their life by participating in activities of their choice to bring about the change they want. this can be done through building mutual community partnerships. ngos act as catalysts of change for community developmental goals. social choice theory proposes that societal well-being is measured in the ability to evaluate and assess the potential capacity available in the community and to harness the existing human potential for a genuine collective social action (atkinson, 1999). primarily, social choice may explain economic growth and how societies balance the tradeoffs between community needs and resource availability (see figure 2). choices are made to improve the social conditions in the country; conditions that could make or break the country. mokyr discusses this phenomenon of choice selection as a “brake analogy” where cultures may serve as parking brakes against innovation, growth, and progress (1992). conservative religious practices for example, and/or unequal african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 8 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 eusebius, s., mengo, c. & brendon, o. treatment of people under the law can stifle the human spirit for innovation (elster, 1990). ngos and community participation the work of ngos is to leverage efforts that can accelerate, not break, the expansion of the human capacity present in the community and jump-start communities’ economic participation. community based participatory research (cbpr) for example, is one way that has been utilized by some ngos to bring about sustainable development. it is a collaborative approach that engages “local stakeholders” in research as they are the most impacted and are “owners of the issue(s)” (o'toole, felix-aaron, chin, horowitz & tyson, 2003). initiatives have to be transformative, truly inclusive, participatory, and more than short term development projects (lederach & jenner, 2002). groots international is a good model that uses analytical and strategic approaches to community development (moser and sparr, 2007). save the children, uk, harnesses capacity building at the country level to link micro interventions with national policy work in countries where they operate (moser & sparr, 2007). figure 2: state of equilibrium in the lens of social choice theory (source: priesmeyer, 1992) african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 9 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 eusebius, s., mengo, c. & brendon, o. specific ngo roles we define an ngo as any independent, not-for-profit organization established voluntarily to address community specific concerns. ngos address social needs and act collectively with the community to meet those needs. because they are independent, they are selfmanaged through a board of trustees, entrusted in making decisions on behalf of the organization. being not-for-profit does not mean ngos cannot engage in profit-generating activities, but rather they use the profits or revenue generated to advance the organization’s causes. as voluntary organizations, ngos are not confined by the african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 10 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 eusebius, s., mengo, c. & brendon, o. politics of the countries’ they operate into but are guided by established statues governing all ngos in the country. ngos engage in diverse activities that are geared toward a cause to help the communities’ needs. while we highlight these activities of the ngos, we recognize that the success of their operations can overwhelmingly be met when there is a relatively functioning, stable political system, consisting of rules, customs, standards, and protocols. governments’ collaborative efforts are important because they provide a platform as willing partners in welcoming international ngos into the country and ensuring their safety as they operate in usually remote communities. successful ngos understand that a framework where knowledge is rooted in the belief that, the most impacted by the problem, should take the lead in framing the research questions, in designing study methods and in determining the outcomes they want. importance of local collaboration for ngos in their analysis of the different strategies utilized by ngos in poverty reduction, moser and sparr, (2007) have pointed out that project implementation and evaluation has often been devoid of maximum community participation due to structural challenges. a lack of community participation hinders economic development in a number of ways as outlined by goodman et al. (1998) and freudenberg, (2004). an encouraging practice is the partnership of ngos and other civil society organizations (csos) as well as african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 11 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 eusebius, s., mengo, c. & brendon, o. working with multiple united nations agencies in addressing common programmatic needs. in rwanda for example, csos and undp (the united nations development program) joined forces with uncdf (united nations capital development fund) to implement a decentralization program in the rulindo district. evidence-based participatory planning helped the local government build infrastructure that meets the needs of communities, such as bridges that connect farmers to their markets and children to schools. the netherland development organization (snv), a netherlands ngo and undp facilitated local communities in niger to work with mayors to design a new system for local revenue collection and to rehabilitate schools and health centers. in liberia, undp helped reactivate the national vacation job program. as a result, youth who had dropped out of school are now able to return to school quickly and can acquire useful job skills. in tanzania, undp and unilever, worked to develop a local value chain of allanblackia oil, a substitute to palm oil used in production of soap, margarine and spreads. by 2010, farmers participating in the project, of which 47 percent are women, collected 500 tons of allanblackia oil from the forest and planted trees, securing an additional source of income to pay for school fees for their children, food, health care, and agricultural inputs (undp, 2012). on a much smaller scale, the collective for orphan care and education, a small ngo was established to respond to continued social, economic and educational needs of youth in western kenya. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 12 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 eusebius, s., mengo, c. & brendon, o. its mission is to work together with the local community to improve the health, education and well-being of vulnerable youth. because one major problem identified by the community was a lack of educational opportunities for the youth, the collective for orphan care and education has been able to mobilize partners in enabling young boys and girls to receive educational scholarships for their educational needs. for example, the agency has been working with a local primary school, bukhulungu primary, whose majority of children have been orphaned by hiv to build classrooms for children to learn. the community has identified resources available within and has embarked on a volunteer program where recent graduates and retirees can come to the school and teach young boys and girls how to read to improve academic success. this also gives community members an opportunity to give back and invest in others. it has also embarked on a collaborative endeavor, working with the community and their international partner to build a community center that will house programs for children attending the school a food program, a teenage pregnancy prevention program, information and counselling about hiv/aids, and a library. these efforts are accomplished through partnering with the locals for the good of the community. that said, there is still more work to be done. common problems associated with ngos include, centralization of expertise which makes people not to feel a part of the help or change process. this can cause unresponsiveness from the people disallowing them to buy african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 13 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 eusebius, s., mengo, c. & brendon, o. into the fundamentals of the organization. competing interests between groups for resources can also prevent healthy collaborations. since change or development efforts usually require empowerment of people, absence of local support could cause development efforts to lack sustainability in the long run. a change or developmental process might also be considerably slower if immediate action cannot be mobilized through committed local participants. another problem is the lack of engagement of the local population. not employing locals in collaborative efforts could lead to a more expensive change process or service delivery. this could mean that cheaper local resources might not be employed despite their abundance. culture can play a big difference in the way needs are perceived by people. if local participation is not sought for programs/projects, cultural incompetence could lead to failure since the program might not be meeting the needs of its mission. new insights and ideas might also be overlooked if local participation is neglected. as a result, an effective partnership of international organizations partnering through community based participatory research should specifically show how research may be utilized in efforts to eradicate poverty and inequality. this kind of partnership will help to answer questions like: are there any policy makers that are ready to be committed to the issues that are being raised? are there democratic decision making processes among partners that african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 14 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 eusebius, s., mengo, c. & brendon, o. ensure that individual and collective choices have been factored in before any decision is reached? recommendations and implications for future research there are many factors that influence the strategies utilized by ngos in poverty eradication. in particular, cbpr is a strategy that has been widely utilized as a form of participatory or empowerment research by different entities and with different populations. however, one major problem still looms in regard to the level of involvement of key participants in all the phases. embedded rules, rituals, routines, and beliefs within the structure of ngos could lead to a bureaucratic red tape. nevertheless, cbpr remains the most utilized form of research that engages communities in identifying issues that affect their personal wellbeing. moreover, finding a testable model to combine concepts of social choice theory, social chaos theory and cbpr in addressing the sustainability of ngos will be significant. the emerging model can be utilized in strengthening the partnerships of ngos and people afflicted by poverty. conclusion ngos in partnership with grassroots organizations must create a platform and support for individuals and groups to empower them for self-sustenance and skill development. such organizations have to be formed and managed by the people themselves, not for them. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 15 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 eusebius, s., mengo, c. & brendon, o. for this to succeed, a community has to be foresighted, highly motivated and selflessly committed, and have an altruistic leadership. finally, the objective of the present paper was to analyze the contributions of ngos in engaging local community stakeholders to meeting the needs of the community. we argue that participatory research can be key in stimulating development. we have built this argument by considering “five faces” by which to assess the significance of ngos: (1) relevance of an ngo; (2) uncovering the causes of social unrest/problems; (3) utilizing appropriate theoretical framework; (4) community involvement; and (5) governance. we conclude that ngos, governments and communities can work together in knowledge exchange, skill development, communication, and education dispensation. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 16 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 eusebius, s., mengo, c. & brendon, o. references acemoglu, d., & robinson, j. a.; 2012. why nations fail: the origins of power, prosperity and poverty. new york: crown publishers. atkinson, a. b.; 1999. the contributions of amartya sen to welfare economics. scandinavian journal of economics, 101(2), 1-73. burke, m. b., miguel, e., satyanath, s., dykema, j. a., lobell, d. b.; 2009. warming increases the risk of civil war in africa. pnas 106, 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http://siteresources.worldbank.org/datastatistics/resources/wdi_ebook.pdf http://siteresources.worldbank.org/datastatistics/resources/wdi_ebook.pdf http://www.pnas.org/search?author1=david+d.+zhang&sortspec=date&submit=submit http://www.pnas.org/search?author1=harry+f.+lee&sortspec=date&submit=submit http://www.pnas.org/search?author1=cong+wang&sortspec=date&submit=submit http://www.pnas.org/search?author1=baosheng+li&sortspec=date&submit=submit http://www.pnas.org/search?author1=qing+pei&sortspec=date&submit=submit http://www.pnas.org/search?author1=jane+zhang&sortspec=date&submit=submit http://www.pnas.org/search?author1=yulun+an&sortspec=date&submit=submit _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. determinants of tuberculosis services acceptance among patients in ibadan, nigeria ojedokun isaiah mobolaji, phd. abstract the paper examined the effects of religion, educational status and stigmatization on acceptance of tuberculosis services in government hospitals in oyo state, nigeria. descriptive survey research design was adopted. the population consisted of three 300 tuberculosis patients attending a government chest hospital in jericho, ibadan. purposive sampling method was used to select the respondents for the study. a structured questionnaire duly scrutinized and validated by experts in the field of health and medical social work was used. a reliability value of r=0.71 was obtained. data collected were coded and analyzed with the use of frequency counts, percentages and pearson correlation statistical method. the result of the study showed that stigmatization did not have any significant relationship on acceptance of tuberculosis services (r=0.001, n=300, p>0.05). also, the finding revealed that there was a significant relationship between religion and acceptance of tuberculosis services (r=590, n=300, p<0.05) and there was a significant relationship between the level of education and acceptance of tuberculosis services (r=.253, n=300, p<0.05). it was recommended that tuberculosis education should form an essential part of social work, health education and health promotion curriculum. also, there is the need for stakeholders to participate fully in the campaign to eradicate tuberculosis. tuberculosis patients should be motivated to accept modern and free tuberculosis health services in nigeria. key terms: tuberculosis infection, acceptance of services, education, religion, stigmatization department of social work, faculty of education, university of ibadan, ibadan, nigeria. contacts: mobolajiojedokun@yahoo.com african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 81 _____________________________________________________________________ mailto:contacts:%20mobolajiojedokun@yahoo.com _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. introduction tuberculosis (tb) remains one of the worlds’ greatest public health challenges. it is a common lethal infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacterium usually called mycobacterium tuberculosis. it usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body such as the brain, bones and the spinal cord. the mode of spread or transmission is through the air when people who have active tb infection cough, sneeze or otherwise transmit their saliva through the air. konstantinos (2010) found out that, most infections in humans result in asymptomatic latent infection. about one in ten infections eventually progress to active disease which, if left untreated, kills more than fifty percent (50%) of its victims. this calls for a serious concern from the health social workers and health educators because the unprecedented spread of the disease remain a great challenge to the nation of nigeria and there is urgent need for adequate and prompt intervention. background prevalence of tuberculosis the portion of people who become sick with tuberculosis each year is stable or falling worldwide, but because of population growth, the absolute number of new cases is still increasing. newacheck and mcmanus (2009) found out that, an estimated 13.7 million chronic cases, 9.3 million new cases and 1.8 million deaths, mostly in developing countries like nigeria was reported in 2007. in addition, african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 82 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. more people in the developed world contract tuberculosis because their immune systems are more likely to be compromised due to higher exposure to immunosuppressive drugs, substance abuse and hiv and aids. in like manner, kumar, abbas, fausto and mitchell (2007) affirmed that, the distribution of tuberculosis is not uniform across the globe. about 80% of the population in many asian and african countries test positive to tuberculin tests while only 5-10% of the united states’ population test positive. who (2012) further reported that, nigeria has the world’s fourth largest tuberculosis (tb) burden with more than 460,000 estimated new cases in 2007. the report further said that, between 2002 and 2007, directly observed treatments (dot) – the internationally recommended strategy for tuberculosis controlcoverage had increased rapidly from 55% in 2002 to 91% in 2007. after declining for several years, the treatment success rate was established at 76%. in the same vein, both case detection and treatment rates in nigeria were among the lowest of high burden tb countries in africa. this sends a crucial signal that the public health burden posed by tb is becoming increasingly important as the country’s hiv and aids epidemic unfolds. in support of the aforesaid, rubel and garro (2002) found out that, more than a quarter of new tb patients are hiv positive. the report further said, as collaborative efforts are being scaled up, the number of tb patients tested for hiv and aids has increased from about 7,500 in 2006 to 27,850 in 200. premised on the above, the federal ministry of health declared tb a national african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 83 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. emergency in april 2006 and inaugurated the national tb/hiv/aids working group in june 2006. nigeria is ranked high among the tb burden countries in the world. because of the prevalence of tb, nigeria ranked 10th among the 22 high-burden tb countries in the world. according to who (2012), 210, 000 new cases of all forms of tb occurred in the country in 2010, an equivalence of 133/100,000 population. also, there were an estimated 320,000 prevalent cases of tb in 2010, an equivalence of 199/100,000 cases. further, there were 90.447 tb cases notified in 2010 with 41,416 (58%) cases as new smear positives, and a case detection rate of 40%. in the same vein, 83% of cases notified in 2009 were successfully treated while the death rates have declined from 11% in 2006 to 5% in 2010. it is expected that tb programme will have a comprehensive prevalence and death rates by the year 2015. current literature revealed that, lagos, kano and oyo state have the highest tb prevalence rate. other states however experienced a drop in cases notified, resulting in 4% overall decline in 2010. oyo state increased by 46.5% from 2008 to 2010. also, record has it that benue state has a high tb burden which is attributed to a high hiv prevalence. tuberculosis as a global burden neil (2012) postulated that, tuberculosis remains among the world’s great public health challenges, and the advances discussed hold promises for the development of better prevention and treatment of african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 84 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. the disease. robert koch identified micro bacterium tuberculosis about 123 years ago. since then, there have been great advances in our understanding of many of the crucial events in disease pathogenesis. it is however sad to note that, tuberculosis is nowhere near eradication or even control in many areas of the globe with adequate reference to the country nigeria. it is worth recalling the words of rene and jean dubos that “tuberculosis as it has been said, is a disease of incomplete civilization” meaning, it is a disease of the impoverished – the poor. neil further asserted that, vague as this statement appears at first, it underlines the fact that the anti tuberculosis movement cannot be properly understood if seen only in its medical perspective for the historical and social background loom large in picture. however desirable the goal is, the complete elimination of tubercle bacilli is rendered impossible by economic and social factors. tuberculosis control education is a vital tool of eradicating tb disease. the possibility that, educated people will seek orthodox means of treatment may be much higher than that of the illiterate or person with little or no education. education may also serve as means of enlightening the general public about the best treatment for tb patients. the health social worker should therefore be prepared to educate all tb suspects. premised on the above, the center for disease control and prevention (2000) proposed the under listed procedures for controlling tb: african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 85 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. collection of 3 sputum specimen for identification of tb bacilli in the laboratory. collection of good sputum specimen including the time to produce the sputum, how to open and close the specimen container. educate the patient on the need to produce the sputum. confirm that the patient is ready for treatment. t b and health education challenge the challenge on the health social workers and allied medical practitioners is greatly enormous. premised on this, the following health education guidelines and procedures were suggested by center for disease control and prevention (2000). the result of the sputum test and the type of disease diagnosed should be made known to the patient. explanation on the cause of the disease and how it is transmitted should be explicit. the disease is curable provided the correct drugs and dosages are taken for a stipulated 8 months without a break. explain the types of the drugs and the number of times they ought to be taken. there is the need to bring symptomatic contacts for screening. the patients’ family members should know the signs and symptoms of tb and should be willing to bring any suspect to the health care service providers. the family should also be ready to support the patients in order to be regular on the treatment. it should be stressed that the patient is no longer infectious as long as he/she complies with the treatment regularly. explanation on the duration and the nature of the treatment in the hospital and at home should be explicit. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 86 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. educate the patient on the side effects of drugs which may include: skin rash, joint pains, yellow coloration of the conjunctiva, poor vision, imbalance, and red coloration of urine. instruct patient to report any of these signs promptly. sputum examination should be repeated at the end of 2nd, 5th and 7th months to determine the effectiveness of the drugs taken. it should however be noted that, if the results still identify the tb organism, the treatment may change. the health social workers should obtain feedback by allowing patients to recall facts, identify possible problems and deal with them decisively at the end of each health talk session. t b and stigmatization modern american usage of the word ‘stigma’ and stigmatization refers to an invisible sign of disapproval which permits insiders to draw a line around the outsiders in order to determine the limits of inclusion in any group. smith, (1996) affirmed that, demarcation permits insiders to know who is in and who is out and allows the group to maintain its solidarity by demonstrating what happens to those who deviate from accepted norms of conduct, hence stigmatization is defined as an issue of disempowerment and social injustice. once people identify and label someone’s differences, others will assume that, it is just how things are and the person will remain stigmatized unless the stigmatizing attribute is undetected. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 87 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. tuberculosis patients just like hiv and aids patients are liable to be stigmatized. the reason is obvious. this is simply because of the fear of being infected, an average person tend to run away from, and call the infected by name there is also the tendency for people not to allow their loved ones to move near the suspected carrier of tuberculosis and people living with hiv and aids. premised on the aforesaid, shreatha, kuwahara, wice, deluca and taylor (2002) asserted that, patients’ denial or hesitation to disclose their tb status to the family or friends is due to the overwhelming fear of being socially ostracized. in the same vein, rubel and garro (2002) found out that, stigma among mexican immigrants in califonia significantly influenced patients’ perceptions of their illness and caused them to cease contact with family and friends. it was further reported that patients blamed the social consequences of stigmatization and ostracism for their long delays in seeking care and their poor adherence to treatment. tb and religion religion, according to emma (2011) is a cultural system that creates powerful and long lasting meaning, by establishing symbols that relate humanity to truths and values. many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to explain the origin of life or the universe. they tend to derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle from their ideas about the cosmos and human nature. emma further said, the development of religion has taken different forms in african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 88 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. different cultures. hundelson (2006) also affirmed that some religions place emphasis on belief, while others emphasize practice. in the same vein, carey, oxtoby, ngunyen, huynh, morgan and jeffery (2007) said, some other religions focus on the subjective experience of the religious individuals, while others consider the activities of the religious community to be most important. some religions claim to be binding on everyone, while others are intended to be practiced only by a closely defined or localized group. in many places including nigeria, religion has been associated with public institutions such as education, hospitals, the family, government and political hierarchies. in the same vein, enwereji (1999) earlier found out in a study of the igbo of nigeria that, tb patients who held rigidly to traditional views that tb can spread by eating beef and other high-protein foods reportedly delayed seeking treatment and often waited until they were malnourished. in malawi, brouwer, boeree, kager and varkevisser (2008) found out that, patients thought that tb resulted from bewitchment or breaking sexual taboos. they explained further that patients also believed that they could only be treated by traditional healers, while tb from other causes could be treated with western medicine. conversely too, cary, oxtoby, nguyen, huynh, morgan and jeffery (2007) found out that some groups of patients express strong preferences for treatment from bio-medically trained physicians with little and or no interest in traditional remedies. in malawi too, wandwalo and morkve (2000) found out that, traditional healers african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 89 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. advised tb patients to attend medical clinics when patient presented with certain signs and symptoms. they however found no connection between knowledge about tb and completion of treatment. in the same vein, menegoni (2006) found out that religious movements have increased the acceptance of germ theory and of western medicine, reducing the attribution of disease to witchcraft. in another interesting development, newachek and mcmanus (2000) found out that, educational attainment, stigmatization and religion influenced parents of uninsured latino children with chronic illness. however, it was said that higher educational attainment and religion was associated with significantly higher rates of being up to date for dpt immunization in mexican american children. statement of problem tuberculosis is fast becoming a worldwide problem. war, famine, homelessness and lack of medical care all contribute to the increasing incidence of tb among disadvantaged persons. since tb is easily transmissible between persons, then the increase in tuberculosis in any segment of the population represents a threat to all segment of that population. this means that, it is important to institute and maintain appropriate public health measures including screening, vaccination and treatment. it is important to note that, a laxity of public health measures will contribute to an increase in incidence of tb infections. failure of adequate treatment will also promote the development of resistant strains of tuberculosis. the african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 90 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. social workers therefore, should assist those affected by tb. in many social work settings, tb social workers are part of the interdisciplinary team that works together to increase patients’ treatment compliance. tb social workers face the challenge of working with staff doctors, nurses, medical assistants and language interpreters to help achieve this compliance. apart from the function to link patients with health care, the social workers also face the challenges such as advocating, intervening, locating tb patients and assisting them with permanent housing options. in the same vein, low levels of education, religious believe and stigmatization are said to have militated against acceptance of tuberculosis service in most parts of the world. premised on this, this paper therefore tried to find out the effects of religion, educational status and stigmatization on acceptance of tuberculosis services among tuberculosis patients in ibadan, oyo state, nigeria. hypotheses ho1: there is no significant relationship between religion and acceptance of tuberculosis services in ibadan. ho2: there is no significant relationship between educational status and acceptance of tuberculosis services in ibadan. ho3: there is no significant relationship between stigmatization and acceptance of tuberculosis services in ibadan methodology african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 91 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. the study examined the effects of religion, educational status and stigmatization on acceptance of tuberculosis services among patients in oyo state government chest hospital, ibadan, nigeria. descriptive research design method was used for the study. the population was 300 tuberculosis male and female patients receiving treatment at the oyo state government chest hospital, jericho, ibadan. the purposive sampling method was used to select both the hospital and respondents. this method was adopted because the chosen hospital is the referral tuberculosis centre for oyo state which enabled the use of 300 respondents for the study. convenient sampling method was also adopted to select new patients on clinic days. the instrument used for the study was an adapted and modified likert type questionnaire on effects of religion, educational status and stigmatization of tuberculosis patients (erestp) on acceptance of tuberculosis services in ibadan. the questionnaire was in two sections, a and b. section a elicited demographic characteristics while section b featured statements on the variables for the study. the inputs of experts from social work educators, health social workers, health educators and other health care providers were fully annexed. twenty (20) copies of the questionnaire were administered to tb patients attending tb clinic at iseyin primary health centre who were not part of the research population. this ensured the validity of the instrument and a reliability coefficient of r = 0.71 was obtained. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 92 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. the questionnaire was personally administered by the researcher with the help of six trained research assistants. the completed questionnaires were collected on the spot. these were coded and analyzed with the use of frequency counts, simple percentages for the demographic characteristics while pearson moment correlation was used for section b which elicited statements on effects of religion, education and stigmatization on acceptance of tuberculosis services. the two hypotheses generated for the study were tested using pearson moment correlation for data analysis at 0.05 alpha level. findings the findings of the study shows that, 82 (27.3%) of the respondents have no formal education, 29 (9.7%) of them have primary school education, 139 (46.3) have secondary school education while 50 (16.7) have tertiary education respectively. with this result, those who had secondary school education constituted the highest number of respondents used for this study. this might be responsible for the prompt responses from the participants. by implication, education and level of awareness play an important role in the acceptance of tuberculosis services. the hypotheses tested revealed the following results: religion and acceptance of tb services hypothesis i: there is no significant relationship between religion and acceptance of tuberculosis services among tuberculosis patients african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 93 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. in ibadan, oyo state, nigeria. the result obtained is presented in table 1. table 1: pearson correlation showing the significant relationship between religion and acceptance of tuberculosis services among tuberculosis patients in ibadan oyo state, nigeria. mean s.d n r p remark acceptance of tuberculosis 30.2567 5.8707 300 590** .000 sig religion 18.8533 3.2114 300 r = 590, n = 300, p < 0.05 table 1 shows that, there was a significant relationship between religion and acceptance of tuberculosis services (r = 590, n = 300, p < 0.05). this implies that increase in the level of religiosity of tuberculosis patients will lead to an increase in the level of acceptance of the tuberculosis services among the tuberculosis patients in ibadan. the null hypothesis is therefore rejected. educational attainment and acceptance of tb services hypothesis 2: there is no significant relationship between education attainment and acceptance of tuberculosis services among african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 94 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. tuberculosis patients in ibadan, oyo state, nigeria. the result obtained is presented in table 2. table 2: pearson correlation showing the significant relationship between level of education and acceptance of tuberculosis services among tuberculosis patients in ibadan, oyo state. mean s.d n r p remark acceptance of tuberculosis 30.2567 5.8707 300 .253** .000 sig education 14.8433 3.5610 300 r = .253, n = 300, p < 0.05 table 2 shows that, there was a significant relationship between education and acceptances of tuberculosis services (r = .253, n = 300, p < 0.05). this implies that increase in the level of educational attainment of tuberculosis patients will lead to an increase in the level of acceptance of the tuberculosis services among the tuberculosis patients in ibadan. the null hypothesis is therefore rejected. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 95 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. stigmatization and acceptance of tb services hypothesis 3: there is no significant relationship between stigmatization and acceptance of tuberculosis services among tuberculosis patients in ibadan, oyo state, nigeria. the result obtained is presented in table 3. table 3: pearson correlation showing the significant relationship between stigmatization and acceptance of tuberculosis services among tuberculosis patients in ibadan, oyo state, nigeria. mean s.d n r p remark acceptance of tuberculosis 30.2567 5.8707 300 .001 .992 ns stigmatization 13.8733 3.9669 300 r = -.001, n = 300, p > 0.05 table 3 shows that, there was no significant relationship between stigmatization and acceptance of tuberculosis services (r = -.001, n = 300, p > 0.05). this implies that increase in stigmatization against tuberculosis patients will not lead to an increase in the level of acceptance of the tuberculosis services among the tuberculosis patients in ibadan. the null hypothesis is therefore not rejected. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 96 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. discussion of findings this finding is in line with the findings of wilkinson, gcabashe, and lurie (1999) that tb patients visit spell casters, faith leaders, and those who use plant for healing among south african patients, despite patients’ recognition that tb could be cured. it is also in line with the finding of farmer, ramilus, & kim (2001) in rural haiti, that many patients accepted sorcery as a possible cause for tb. their etiological beliefs had no impact on compliance with biomedical regimens. similarly, rubel (2003) found high rates of adherence with biomedical treatment among migrant farm workers, regardless of whether they attributed their symptoms to biomedical causes or “folk” illnesses. the result also falls in line with emma (2011) who found out that, religion has been associated with public institutions such as education and hospitals. further, enwereji (1999) found out that igbo community of nigeria held rigidly to traditional views and therefore delay seeking treatment and often waited until they were malnourished. in the same vein, the result is in line with menegoni (2006) who found out that religious movements has increased the acceptance of germ theory and of western medicine thereby reducing the attribution of diseases to witchcraft. this implies that people’s orientation about tuberculosis must change. religion should not in any way deter acceptance of tb services. health social workers must be ready to educate tb patients, their family members and the community at large that, religious believes has nothing to do with this deadly disease. the counseling and advocacy function of the african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 97 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. social workers should be judiciously displayed to bring convincing information to tb clients and their family members. the result also negates the finding of wandwalo and morkve (2000) which found no connection between knowledge about tb and completion of treatment. meanwhile, the result support the finding of newacheck & mcmanus (2009) that higher education attainment and religion was associated with significantly higher rates of being up-to-date for dpt immunization in mexican-american children. it is imperative to note that, education is a vital tool to eradicating tb disease. in the same vein, there is the possibility that, the number of educated people that will seek orthodox means of treatment may be much higher than that of illiterate or person with little education. therefore, health social workers must bear in mind that, education may also serve as a means of enlightening the general public about the best treatment available for tb patients. in the same vein, the result negates the finding of rubel and garro (2002) which stated that, fear of stigma significantly influenced patients’ perceptions of their illness and caused them to cease contact with family and friends. similarly, the report further said that, patients blamed the social consequences of stigmatization and ostracism for their long delays in seeking cares and their poor adherence to treatment. meanwhile, the result is in line with the findings of shrestha, kuwahara, wice, deluca and taylor (2002) which found out that, there is strong association between stigmatization and tb. also, fear of family rejection and loss of african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 98 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. friends led some patients to report for treatment. stigma also results in loss of employment, or fear of such, thus delaying care seeking, diagnosis, and effective treatment. at this juncture, the heath social workers should remember that tb patients just like any hiv/aids patients are liable to be stigmatized. it is therefore an herculean task for the health social workers to function optimally by educating tb patients and their family members that the infected clients could be cured and should not be stigmatized. conclussion the finding of the study implies that religion does not in any way affect acceptance of tuberculosis services. it was concluded that the level of education have significant effects on acceptance of tuberculosis services. in the same vein, it was concluded that, fear of stigma and family rejection were responsible for acceptance of tuberculosis services. succinctly too, it could be affirmed that, the treatment of tuberculosis will be widely accepted if the entire population are properly educated on the causes and factors responsible for tb infection and the necessary line of treatment. in the same vein, it should be borne in mind that, reduced stigmatization and improved religiosity could also help in the eradication of tuberculosis. the implication of this finding is that, the government should be ready to face squarely the social responsibility of controlling and eradicating the disease. also, the expected roles of the health social workers could not be over emphasized; they have significant roles to play. such roles include african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 99 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. health education, counseling advocacy among others. the general populace and indeed, the affected clients should be well informed on the prevalence, mode of spread, control and consequences of tuberculosis disease. access to and acceptance of available tuberculosis services should be of utmost priority. diagnosed tuberculosis patients, irrespective of their religion or traditional background could benefit from tuberculosis services. furthermore, the health social workers should help to identify unidentified cases who should be assisted to seek treatment from the public health services available within the confines of their living environment. finally, other health care providers should collaborate efforts in other to ensure the eradication of tuberculosis from the society. recommendations 1. tuberculosis education should form an essential part of health education curriculum. 2. health social workers, health educators, parents, teachers and other health care providers should work collaboratively to ensure the adequate dissemination of information aimed at controlling and eradicating tuberculosis. 3. government at various levels should double their existing efforts on the eradication of tuberculosis through effective personnel, financial and material management african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 100 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. references brown, j. a., boeree, m. j., kager, p., varkevisser, c. m. & harris, a. d., 2008. traditional healers and pulmonary tuberculosis in malawi. international journal of tuberculosis and lung diseases. 2.3.231-234. cary, j. w., oxtoby, m. j.,nguyen, l. p., huyen, v., morgan, m. & jeffery, m,. 2007. tuberculosis beliefs among recent vienamese refugees in new york state. public health reports. 112. 1. 66-72. center for disease control and prevention, 2000. core curriculum on tuberculosis: what the clinician should know. document. emma, a., 2011. tuberculosis and its scourge on nigeria’s population. available: www.nasarawa.org/newsday. (accessed 10 may 2013). enwereji, e., 1999. views on tuberculosis among the igbo of nigeria. indigenous knowledge and development monitor. 7. 2. 3-5. farmer, p., robin, s., ramilus, s. l., & kim, j. y., 2001. tuberculosis, poverty and compliance. lesson from rural haiti. seminars in respiratory infections. 6. 4.254-260. hudelson, p., 2006. gender differentials intuberculosis: the role of socio-economic and cultural factors. tubercle and lung disease. 4. 3. 171-178. konstantinos, a. 2010. testing for tuberculosis. australian prescriber. 33. 1. 12-18. kumar, v., abbas, a. k., fausto, n. & michell, r. n., 2007. rbbins basic pathology. (8th ed) sanders elservier. 516-522. menegoni, l., 2006. conception of tuberculosis and therapeutic choices in highland chiapas, mexico. medical anthropology quarterly. 10. 3. 381-401. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 101 _____________________________________________________________________ http://www.nasarawa.org/newsday _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 ojedokun, i. m. neil, w.s 2005. the pathogenesis of tuberculosis. american journal of respiratory cell and molecular biology.32.4.251-256. newacheki, p. & mcmanus, m. a., 2009. health insurance status of adolescents in united states. pediatrics. 84. 699-708. rubel, a. j. & garro, l. c., 2000. social and cultural factors in the successful control of tuberculosis. public health reports. 107. 6. 626-636. shrenstha, k. r., wilce, m., deluca, n. & taylor, z., 2002. factors associated with identifying tuberculosis contacts. queens quarterly. 103.2. 403-413. smith, g., 1996. contagious subversion: cultural constructions of diseases. queens quarterly 103.2. 128-137. wandwalo, e. r. & morkve, o., 2000. knowledge of disease and treatment among tuberculosis patients in mwanza, tanzania. international journal of tuberculosis and lung diseases. 4.11. 10411046. wilkinson, d., gcabashe, l. & lurie, m., 2009. traditional healers as tuberculosis treatment supervisors: precedence and potential. international journal of tuberculosis and lung diseases 3. 9. 838842. who, 2012. tuberculosis diagnostic: automated dna test. available: www.who.int/tb/featuresachieve/newrapidtest. (accessed 27 september 2012). african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 102 _____________________________________________________________________ http://www.who.int/tb/ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 41 _____________________________________________________________________ the price of professional silence: social work and human rights in zimbabwe mtetwa, edmos a and muchacha, munyaradzi b abstract the place of the social work profession on the human rights arena is beyond doubt. to this end, social work strives to eliminate distress, improve the social functioning of individuals, groups and communities as well as promoting social justice. zimbabwe has been confronted by a plethora of human rights challenges mainly towards and during elections. various professional bodies have taken it upon themselves to safeguard the rights of citizens. the social work profession has emerged as the odd one out in this quest for visibility in the face of social distress resulting from political and governance problems. this paper is a product of a thorough review of literature regarding the social, political and human rights situation in zimbabwe, as from the year 2000 – 2008. the review of such documentary evidence has shown a professional void that social workers need to fill in a bid to protect and safeguard the rights of the vulnerable members of the society. to this end the paper recommends the social workers take an interest in the political situation of the communities in which they work. their involvement in political activities through advocacy will go a long way in safeguarding the rights of the most vulnerable members of society. key terms: social work profession, activism, human rights, zimbabwe, governance, politics a school of social work, university zimbabwe, zimbabwe. contacts: mthetwanm@yahoo.com, p. bag 66022 kopje, harare. b student, school of social work, university of zimbabwe. mailto:mthetwanm@yahoo.com _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 42 _____________________________________________________________________ introduction according to sheafor and horejsi (1998), social work is a profession characterized by diversity. in this light, at the very fundamental level, social work is a profession devoted to helping people function as well as they can within their social environment and to changing their environments to make that possible. paradoxically the social work profession in zimbabwe does not seem to embrace the major purpose of social work which is that of helping people meet social needs or eliminate difficulties so that they might make maximum use of their abilities to lead full and satisfying lives. it is here observed that contrary to the social work ethos, social workers in zimbabwe have elected to take a back seat amidst social and political disturbances (sowers & dulmus 2008). this paper posits that the failure of the social work profession to deal with pressing issues affecting the society amounts to a negation of professional values (mmatli, 2008; briskman, 2008). it is the contention of this paper that the issue of human rights promotion is central to national development and poverty alleviation. it is from such a paradigmatic persuasion that in line with the african social work agenda; the profession should indigenize and position itself to confront the main challenges that haunt africa (mupedziswa, 1992, ankrah, 1987, kaseke, 1991). notwithstanding the indivisibility of rights, this paper proffers the argument that the political challenges zimbabwe has been going _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 43 _____________________________________________________________________ through since the past decade has had a negative impact on the realization of the economic, social and cultural rights. it is further contended that such rights constitute the domain of social work practice. statement of the problem social work is concerned with interactions between people and their social environment which affects the ability of people to accomplish their life tasks, alleviate distress and realize their aspirations and values (becket, 2006) to accomplish such a task, principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work (government of zimbabwe, 2001). contrary to such a fundamental thrust, zimbabwean social workers seem to be passive if not invisible at a time where their called upon to stand firm in defence of the vulnerable and less privileged members of society. unlike other professions such as lawyers, medical practitioners, journalists and teachers, social workers have elected to take a back seat in the middle of zimbabwe’s political, governance and human rights challenges. as a result, the poverty, ill-health, shrinkage in basic social services such as education and social protection has left many wondering about the role of social workers in society. this paper therefore seeks to kindle a discussion around the place of social work in the protection and promotion of human rights in zimbabwe. methodology _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 44 _____________________________________________________________________ this paper is a product of a thorough review of literature on the general role of social work in society. in addition, literature on social work and human rights from developed countries was also interrogated with a view to drawing lessons regarding how such a thrust can take root in zimbabwe. in the same light, a few cases of human rights breaches were selected from reports and academic papers to contextualize the discussion. such a random selection of issues has been necessitated by the fact that there is just too much literature and case examples of human rights breaches that far exceed the scope of this paper. conceptualising human rights we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. . . . that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness (langlois, undated: 13). _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 45 _____________________________________________________________________ this famous statement from the american constitutional architects constitutes a pillar upon which the modern human rights ideals are predicated. in their modern form, human rights are here contextualized within various international, regional and national instruments whose scrutiny is beyond the scope of this paper. central to these instruments is the universal declaration of human rights (1948), the african charter on human and people’s rights as well as the bill of rights contained in the constitution of zimbabwe. such instruments act as points of reference in any discussion of human rights. as such, they stand as guiding pillars upon which the social work profession is practiced. writing about social work and human rights in the middle east, al gharaibeh (2011) makes an observation that: developing human rights is the struggle for meeting the need for freedom and equality everywhere in the world. human rights are not purchased, gained or inherited; they are simply the ownership of the people that are human beings. they are inherent in every individual, regardless of race, sex, religion, political opinion (or any other opinion), national or social origin; they are indivisible (al gharaibeh, 2011: 231). _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 46 _____________________________________________________________________ the civil and political rights terrain in zimbabwe has been unstable (ploch, 2010, crisis in zimbabwe coalition, 2011; murisa, 2010; zimbabwe ngo human rights forum, 2005). the principle of interdependence of human rights recognizes the difficulty and, in many cases, the impossibility of realizing any one human right in isolation (united nations, 1992). the realization and enjoyment of social and economic rights in the context of economic stability and development is dependent upon the realization of civil and political rights that result in a stable political environment (crisis in zimbabwe coalition, 2011). according to ife (2001), the popular perception of the meaning of the term ‘human rights’ has been largely confined to civil and political rights, sometimes referred to as the ‘first generation’ of human rights: the right to vote, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, the right not to be imprisoned without fair trial, the right of access to the law, the right to be protected from torture, the right to join a trade union, the right to minimum labour standards, and so on. this paper, though paying due cognisance to the principle of indivisibility of rights is mainly concerned about the second generation of rights. the so-called ‘second generation’ of human rights incorporates economic, social and cultural rights: the right to work, the right to adequate health services, the right to housing, the right to education, the right to economic security, the right to freedom of cultural expression, and so on (chikwanha, 2010). such rights do not usually occupy a _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 47 _____________________________________________________________________ permanent space within the human rights discourse. for example, a country with inadequate health services or a poor educational system would not be described as a country with a ‘poor human rights record’. yet such human rights are just as important as the first generation of civil and political rights, and indeed they go together (beetham 1999) quoted in al gharaibeh (2011). another set of rights is the so-called third generation rights. al garaibeh (2011) refers to these as collective rights. these include the right to economic development, political stability and the right to clean air or clean environment. as ife (2001: 3) puts it “there is not much point in having good education or health services, and adequate legal protection for the right of free speech, if people are dying because they cannot drink clean water, or breathe polluted air, and if people are unable to participate in the benefits of economic development”. in view of these sets of rights, this paper has elected to focus mainly on economic, social and cultural rights. such a choice is in no way meant to confine or circumscribe the social work profession towards a certain group of rights but just to ensure that the argument is put into perspective. it is here contended that in keeping with the professional values of safeguarding human rights and promoting social justice, social workers have been surpassed by other professionals such as lawyers, journalists, teachers and medical practitioners. in the middle of a social and political crisis, social workers folded their hands yet other concerned citizens took a bold step in their various formations such as the poets for human rights _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 48 _____________________________________________________________________ zimbabwe, progressive teachers union of zimbabwe, and zimbabwe lawyers for human rights, zimbabwe doctors for human rights and the media institute of southern africa. the nexus between human rights and social work practise the underpinning values of social work clearly align with human rights framework, particularly in relation to upholding the importance of individual worth and dignity, liberty, affirming freedom and spear heading social justice (healy, 2008). in fact the basic principals underlying human rights present little that is new to the social work profession (reichert, 2006). the fact that the social work profession advocates for human dignity and worth means that social workers uphold the inherent dignity and worth of every person and respect the human rights expressed in the united nations universal declaration of human rights (united nations centre for human rights, 1948). in this regard social work can be considered a human-rights-based profession, as indicated by the commitment to international human rights declarations and conventions (ife, 2001). the closing statement enshrined in the international definition of social work postulates that principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work (international federation of social workers, 2000). this affirms the centrality of social justice and human rights to the social work profession. social workers are _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 49 _____________________________________________________________________ sanctioned to prevent and eliminate domination of, exploitation of, and deprivation of freedom and liberties against any person or group on any basis (international federation of social workers, 2012). the place of social work in the human rights arena is further cemented by the manual on human rights and social work, which states that: more than many professions, social work educators and practitioners are conscious that their concerns are closely linked to respect for human rights. they accept the premise that human rights and fundamental freedoms are indivisible, and that the full realization of civil and political rights is impossible without enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. (united nations center for human rights, 1994: 5). the above discussion has squarely placed social work practice within the human rights framework. pursuant to this nexus between social work and human rights, the current paper contends that in zimbabwe, the social work profession has tended to deal with peripheral social issues such as poverty, and the provision of psychosocial support as well as material resources to the less privileged members of society. arguably the relationship between poverty and human rights point to the fact that the two are closely linked, with failure to realize social, economic and political rights usually resulting in poverty and social deprivation. _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 50 _____________________________________________________________________ key milestones on zimbabwe’s human rights record using ife’s argument, social work and human rights are indispensable. just as ife (2001) would maintain, human rights and social welfare are intimately connected. social welfare is, at heart, a matter of human rights, and those concerned with social welfare are, in a real sense, human rights workers (ife 2001). although social work intervention is required within all aspects of society, this paper has elected to select a few areas within zimbabwe’s various social and political milestones. the paper has conveniently selected the fast track land reform programme, operation restore order as well as the legal restrictions to freedom of association among other cases as the key benchmarks upon which the very existence of social workers was called into question. the fast track land reform programme the general propensity amongst politicians, agrarians and the academia is that land reform is necessary and noble to address the stark inequalities in land distribution and wealth that emanated from the colonial past. although the idea of land distribution is shared by almost all zimbabweans, the method employed has created a rift within the political and social spheres. of critical concern is the _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 51 _____________________________________________________________________ violent nature of land seizures, the plight of farm labourers as well as the impact of the exercise on food security. in an effort to promote sustainable development and eradicate the dependency syndrome, social work has a role to play in zimbabwe’s fast track land reform programme. “social work and sustainable development constitute the core of human rights because social work aims at community development and addresses the problems that are beyond the ability of individuals who suffer from them and cause hardship for them” (al gharaibeh, 2011: 235). further, social work selects the most appropriate means or effective means in society for the elimination or mitigation of the impact of these problems. it does this by searching for the forces and various factors that prevent growth and social progress, such as deprivation, unemployment, disease and poor living conditions. in keeping with the social work ethos, the need to distribute land to the landless and impoverished members of society remains a sound intervention strategy. at the same time, this paper maintains that such a process instead of pulling people out of poverty has instead jeopardized the livelihood of many vulnerable social groups . these groups include farm workers, who were rendered jobless and homeless due to farm seizures, their children who in turn found themselves without schooling due to displacement orchestrated by the unplanned and sometimes chaotic grabbing of farms. whilst social workers have conveniently decided to maintain their silence in the face of this radicalized land debacle, the implications of such a state of affairs to national development _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 52 _____________________________________________________________________ should force social workers to speak out. according to marongwe, (2010) disruptions and distortions associated with the fast track land reform programme has seen food aid emerging as a strong intervention aimed at fighting poverty. according to magaramombe (2001) the fast track land reform programme has social and economic implications on the livelihoods of commercial farm workers. farm workers in these situations are one of the most vulnerable groups experiencing displacement, destitution and loss of employment, which cause further hardships. the displacement of farm workers and the subsequent loss of their livelihood resulted in many clients joining the list of those on public assistance. once again, social workers as advocates of the poor and downtrodden members of society remained silent. having as its basic tenet the intrinsic value of every human being and as one of its main aims the promotion of equitable social structures, which can offer people security and development while upholding their dignity, the deafening silence of social workers during such human rights abuses remains a matter of concern. operation restore order another of the key areas where the roles and actions of the social work profession was called into question is the operation code named operation murambatsvina. in 2005, the government embarked on operation murambatsvina (local language) for “clear the filth”, but translated by the government of zimbabwe as “restore _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 53 _____________________________________________________________________ order”, a programme of mass forced eviction (tibaijuka, 2005). this operation left some 700,000 people without a home, livelihood or both (ploch, 2010; tibaijuka, 2005). the violent destruction by the police and local authority personnel resulted in mass evictions of urban dwellers from their homes and the closure of informal sector businesses throughout the country (human rights watch, 2007). such actions on the part of government compromised the social functioning of the urban poor. becket (2006) defines social functioning as the social wellbeing, especially with regard to the ability of an individual to meet the role expectations associated with a particular social status or role. . the wanton destruction of informal sector infrastructure by government in the middle of the highest level of unemployment in modern history literally compromised people’s ability to accomplish activities necessary for daily living. in the light of the foregoing, it is here contended that zimbabwean social workers failed to bear in mind the fact that human rights are about social welfare; they are about making sure that the welfare of all human beings is adequately safeguarded and adequately realised. evidence from the united nations report points to the fact that the said operation infringed on several key civil and political human rights, including the right to life, liberty, property, freedom, liberty of movement and freedom to choose residence and freedom from arbitrary arrest as enshrined in the international covenant on civil _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 54 _____________________________________________________________________ and political rights (iccpr) (1966) (tibaijuka, 2005). to demonstrate the level of misery and suffering of vulnerable groups affected by the said programme, the united nations report compiled by tibajuka in 2005 refers to this operation as “a disastrous venture”. in september 2005, a consortium of various professional groupings under the banner of the zimbabwe human rights ngo forum, reiterated the united nations position that the operation was carried out in “an indiscriminate and unjustified manner, with indifference to human suffering and, in repeated cases, with disregard to several provisions of national and international legal frameworks” (page 5). according to pincus and minahan, (1973), social workers must provide understanding, support and encouragement for people who are in a crisis. this paper contends that the deafening silence of the social work profession in the middle of human suffering only serves to portray it as an ancillary endeavour. to further strengthen the abusive nature of the operation on the vulnerable groups in zimbabwean society, the united nations special envoy to zimbabwe described the situation as a catastrophic injustice (tibaijuka, 2005). according to the zimbabwe human rights ngo forum (2005), there are reports that three, or possibly four, people died at the porta farm as a result of the forced evictions. a pregnant woman allegedly died when she fell from a truck on which she was being taken away, a five-year-old boy was allegedly run over by a truck, and a terminally ill woman allegedly died when being bundled _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 55 _____________________________________________________________________ into a moving truck. due to the nature of the operation anctdoctal evidence shows that several hiv positive people taking anti retroviral drugs lost contact with their suppliers during and after operation murambatsvina. this resulted in the loss of lives for such people. in view of such man-made calamities, various professions dug deep into their professional ethos to salvage the situation. lawyers, led by the zimbabwe lawyers for human rights worked hard to try and halt the programme. on the other hand, teachers, through the progressive teachers union of zimbabwe stepped up their advocacy to try and bring to the fore the plight of children who lost out on their schooling on account of displacement. in the same vein, social workers as custodians and champions of child protection were expected to take action, even of an advocacy nature to promote social justice and safeguard human rights. it is worth emphasizing that by the nature of their profession, social workers are sanctioned by society to provide specific services targeted primarily at helping vulnerable populations (becket, 2006). the right to freedom of assembly and association although this paper is mainly interested in championing the economic, social and cultural rights, due cognisance is given to the fact that freedom of association is central to the realization of these rights. for instance, it has become difficult for development partners to gather people for development projects. pincus and minahan _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 56 _____________________________________________________________________ (1973) observe, the responsibilities of social workers to become involved in public issues that have an impact on the private troubles of people and to influence people within the social system to make them more responsive to present and potential consumers is crucial. in this light, social workers contribute to the development and modification of social policies promulgated by legislative bodies, elected heads of government, public administrative agencies and even private agencies. assembling and conducting peaceful demonstrations in zimbabwe is restricted due to the repressive laws and the heavy handed nature of the police (ploch, 2010). individuals, members of the civil society, labor unions have repeatedly been arrested while assembling and taking part in peaceful activities (amnesty international, 2007). the rights to freedom of association and assembly are guaranteed under articles 10 and 11 of the african charter on human and peoples’ rights and in the iccpr to which zimbabwe is a state party (amnesty international, 2007) the rights to freedom of association and assembly are also guaranteed under section 21 of the constitution of zimbabwe. this paper contends that rights to freedom are regularly obstructed in order to prevent members of the public, labour groups, human rights activists, civil society organizations and political opposition parties from peacefully voicing criticism of the government and its policies. becket (2006) posits that social workers must endeavour to pursue policies, services, resources and programmes through _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 57 _____________________________________________________________________ organizational and administrative advocacy and social and political action so as to empower groups at risk and promote social and economic justice. in the middle of such social challenges, social workers should be seen joining other progressive forces in speaking out against repressive legislation. the right to health and education it is worth noting that social workers would conveniently want to confine their operations to the protection of economic, social and cultural rights. in this regard, this paper laments the deafening silence of zimbabwean social workers when the very rights they claim to protect are being trembled upon. according to tsunga, (2004) at least forty eight schools were closed in 2002 due to political disturbances. implicit in such a scenario is that the right to education of many children was infringed upon. given the quest to protect children as the core mandate of zimbabwe’s social workers, their inaction, let alone silence in the middle of such a state of affairs is a pointer to the deficiencies of the role of social workers in fighting for the cause of the most vulnerable in society. echoing the same sentiment, the international federation of social workers (2000) comments that: more than many professions, social work practitioners are conscious that their concerns are closely linked to respect for human rights. they accept the premise that human rights and fundamental freedoms are indivisible, and that _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 58 _____________________________________________________________________ the full realization of civil and political rights is impossible without enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. (international federation of social workers 2012: 3). in keeping with such a professional position, the role of social workers in protecting the economic, social and cultural rights is beyond doubt. during the past decade, the child health status indicators have worsened; infant mortality and under-five mortality rose from 53 percent to 77 per 1 000 live births in 1994 to 67 and 94 per 1 000 live births respectively in 2009 (parliamentary portfolio committee on health 2010) quoted in murisa 2010: 6). anecdotal evidence has it that as a result of the serious shortage and disruption of transport and telecommunications, several programmes including patient transfers, malaria indoor residual spraying, drug distribution and supervision of districts and rural health centres has been compromised. corruption according to mmatli, (2008) corruption eats the social fabric of society, leading to increased lawlessness and undermining of social and political stability. according to massier, (2009), some scholars have argued for recognition of a right to live in a corruptionfree world. they do so on the grounds that endemic corruption destroys the fundamental values of human dignity and political equality, making it impossible to guarantee the rights to life, personal dignity and equality, and many other rights. this paper observes that _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 59 _____________________________________________________________________ extensive corruption and nepotism have contributed to the decline in public and investor confidence in zimbabwe's economy. zimbabwe was ranked 107 out of 159 countries surveyed in transparency international's 2005 corruption perceptions index (freedom house, 2006). the role of zimbabwe’s social workers in speaking out against corruption is not debatable. as massier (2009:7) observes, corruption that diverts public resources from essential services or anti-poverty programmes will particularly harm the welfare of women and their dependents. conclusion the social work profession in zimbabwe is confronted by a plethora of milestones in its quest to safeguard and promote social equality, economic and social development, political and cultural rights. as currently practiced in zimbabwe, the social work profession lays much emphasis on a needs based as opposed to a human rights framework as encouraged by the international definition of social work (healy, 2008). the social work practitioners have not yet internalized the unambiguous role of social work in defending the rights of the under privileged in society. recommendations the nature of the social work practice terrain in zimbabwe must, in both principle and practice entail confronting the prevailing political order through lobbying. this is particularly urgent given that some of the challenges that the profession has to shoulder have _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 60 _____________________________________________________________________ their grounding in the underlying structural circumstances requiring nothing short of political activism (mmatli, 2008). pursuant to this, active participation in political undertakings is an imminent option if the social work profession is to remain relevant in zimbabwe. such political activism, should take the form of the creation of vibrant organizations and programmes calculated at forcing political leaders to remain accountable to the citizenry at all levels. in the same light, it is further recommended that efforts should be made to strengthen the two main social work groupings namely: the national association of social workers (zimbabwe) as well as the council of social workers. this will go a long way in consolidating the various efforts of social workers to tailor-make their interventions to the dictates of zimbabwe’s current social order. _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 61 _____________________________________________________________________ references al gharaibeh, f.; 2011 human security, terrorism and human rights in middle east: implications for social work practice. european journal of social sciences, 20 (2), 228-239. amnesty international; 2007. zimbabwe: human rights in crisis, violations of the rights to freedom of association and assembly. shadow report to the african commission on human and people′s rights. available from: www.redress.org/downloads/.../zimbabwe shadowreportmay07.pdf . (accessed 16 july 2012). ankrah, m.; 1987. radicalizing roles for africa’s development. journal of social development 2, 3-12. becket, c.; 2006 ethics and values in social work 3 rd edition. basingstoke: palgrave macmillan. briskman, l.; 2008. recasting social work: human rights and political activism. available from: http://info.humanrights.curtin. edu.au/local/docs/recasting_social_work.pdf (accessed 23 august 2012). chikwanha, b, a.; 2010. human rights and governance in zimbabwe formulae for engaging the diaspora residents. a discussion paper for the dfz conference on engaging zimbabweans in the diaspora’, elephant hills. available from www.dfzim.com (accessed 5 july 2011). crisis in zimbabwe coalition; 2011. zimbabwe briefing a crisis in zimbabwe. regional office weekly report 1ssue 47. 12 -18 october healy, l.; 2008. exploring the history of social work as a human rights profession. international social work, 51(6), 735-748. . human rights watch; 2007. zimbabwe: human rights in crisis. shadow report to the african commission on human and peoples’ rights, human rights violations under the land reform programme http://www.redress.org/downloads/.../zimbabwe%20shadowreportmay07.pdf http://www.redress.org/downloads/.../zimbabwe%20shadowreportmay07.pdf http://www.dfzim.com/ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 62 _____________________________________________________________________ and operation murambatsvina. available from www.redress.org/downloads/.../zimbabweshadowreportmay07.pdf (accessed 22 july 2012). international federation of social workers; 2012. human rights policy. available from www.ifsw.org/policies/human-rights-policy/ (accessed on 04 december 2012). international federation of social workers and international association of schools of social work; 2000. ‘global definition of social work’. available from www.ifsw.org (accessed 04 december 2012). government of zimbabwe; 2001. social workers act chapter 27: 21. harare: print floor. ife, j.; 2001. human rights and social work: towards rights-based practice. cambridge: university press. kaseke, e.; 1991. social work practice in zimbabwe. journal of social development in africa, 6, 33-45. langlois a. j.; undated. normative and theoretical foundations of human rights. available from .www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/ 9780199540846/googhart (accessed on 13 february 2012.). magaramombe, g.; 2001 rural poverty: commercial farm workers and land reform in zimbabwe. paper presented sarpn conference on land reform and poverty alleviation in southern africa pretoria. available from http://www.mokoro.co.uk/ file/lria/ rural.povertycommercialfarmworkerszimbabwe.pdf . 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(undated). social justice and human rights. available from: http;//www.psicj.appstate.edu/socialjustice/what is social justice .html (accessed 09 december 2012). sheafor; b. w. and horejsi, c. j.; 2007 technique and guidelines. london: allyn and bacon. sowers, k. m. and dulmus, c. n.; 2008. comprehensive handbook of social work and social welfare. hoboken, n.j: john wiley & sons. tibaijuka, a, k.; 2005. un special envoy on human settlements report of the fact-finding mission to zimbabwe to assess the scope http://www.dfzim.com/ http://www.fas.org/sgd/crs/row/rl32723.pdf http://www.un.org/news/dh/infocus/zimbabwe/zimbabwe_rpt.pdf _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 mtetwa, e. & muchacha, m. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 64 _____________________________________________________________________ and impact of operation murambatsvina . available from: www.queenssu.ca/../hrw_zim_dec2005.pdf (accessed 06 decemebr 2012). tsunga, a.; 2004. an overview of human rights situation in zimbabwe with specific reference to repressive legislation, impunity, the state of the administration of justice and selective application of the law. a paper presented in dublin on 20 february 2004 at a workshop organized by troicare. united nations; 1992. vienna declaration and programme of action. a/conf. 157/24 (part 1), chap. iii. june 1993. geneva. united nations; 1987. human rights; questions and answers. new york: united nations. united nations; 1966 international covenant on civil and political rights. available from www2.ohchr.org/english/law /ccpr.htm.(accessed 16 july 2012). united nations centre for human rights; 1994. human rights and social work. a manual for schools of social work and the social work profession. geneva, united nations. united nations; 1948. universal declaration of human rights. available from: http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/ 2007/hrphotos/declaration%20_eng.pdf (accessed 16 july 2012). zimbabwe human rights ngo forum; 2005. the aftermath of a disastrous venture. a follow up report on operation murambatsvina. document. http://www.queenssu.ca/hrw_zim_dec2005.pdf http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/%202007/hrphotos/declaration%20_eng.pdf http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/%202007/hrphotos/declaration%20_eng.pdf ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 1 2016 mthethwa, e. african journal of social work, 6(1), june 2016 42 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ publisher african journal of social work afri. j. soc. work © national association of social workers-zimbabwe/author(s) issn print 1563-3934 issn online 2409-5605 licensed under a creative commons attribution-non-commercial 4.0 international license implementation of appropriate minimum body of knowledge in training and practice of social work in zimbabwe edmos mthethwa, phd abstract a plethora of challenges confronts social work training. such challenges include social change, the changing face of poverty, human misery as well as social inequality. all the more, modernity has seen the emergence of new and intric1ate disease regime of communicable and non-communicable diseases that include hiv and aids, cancer, diabetes, hypertension among others. these diseases require interventions previously unfamiliar to the field of social work as we know it today. society is responding to these challenges in varied and often complex ways, employing both spiritual and medical techniques. with regards the human rights and governance issues, focus has shifted from a purely welfaristic and/or philanthropist approach to a more liberal and rightsbased approach and to service provision. all this demands a versatile and innovative social worker whose relevance to present day socio-economic and political circumstances stands scrutiny. therefore, social work educators, researchers and practitioners should move with the times and ensure the continued relevance of the profession. it is in the light of these stuck realities that this paper seeks to advocate a more proactive curriculum. in response to these shifts in the challenges facing social work, the council of social workers (zimbabwe) produced a minimum body of knowledge designed to act as a yardstick against which all schools of social work benchmark their programmes. this paper benefited significantly from the scholarly debates on the need to continuously update the knowledge base of social work. use was also made of the global minimum standards for the education and training of the social work profession (2004). the paper endeavours to utilize a three tier framework of knowledge bases based on theory, fact and practice. key terms: social work, knowledge base, theory, practice, education author details: lecturer, university of zimbabwe, school of social work, p bag 66022, kopje, harare, zimbabwe, email: emthethwanm@gmail.com ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 1 2016 mthethwa, e. african journal of social work, 6(1), june 2016 43 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ introduction the prime goal of the social work profession is to promote social development, social change, social justice, empowerment and liberation. to this end, social work adopts a human rights perspective which reinforces the social work profession’s belief in the worth and dignity of all human beings and their inherent capacity for purposeful change. social work is alert to the fact that social, cultural, economic, political and environmental conditions can negatively impact human well-being. this paper interrogates social work education in zimbabwe by scrutinizing the social work knowledge base with reference to the social, economic, and political demands of the contemporary society. in order to examine the social work knowledge base, the paper adopts a simple framework put forward by trevithick (2008). this framework looks at social work knowledge base from three fronts namely; theoretical knowledge, factual knowledge as well as practice knowledge. it is however important to note that this framework is not watertight in the sense that theoretical knowledge informs factual knowledge which at the same time informs practice knowledge. this framework therefore is interwoven but provides a convenient way of discussing knowledge in social work. (see trevithick, 2008 for a comprehensive discussion of the knowledge base in social work). theoretical knowledge base turner (1990) argues that social work needs a diverse set of theoretical accounts to capture the complex and ever-changing nature of persons, the settings in which they are embedded, and the realities of practice. by the same token, this paper contends that the roots of any profession is its theoretical base. precisely, a sound theoretical base forms the rallying point upon which any profession depends as a locus of reference once it encounters novel and intricate situations likely to pose a serious threat to its credibility and existence. it is on the basis of such an understanding that this paper contends a thorough appreciation of social theory is instrumental in understanding social challenges and crafting the most suitable, reputable and relevant intervention strategies. theoretical knowledge base includes a comprehensive appreciation of relevant theories required to explain and manage social problems. this first section categorizes theoretical knowledge, or theory into three overlapping areas: i. theories that illuminate our understanding of people, situations and events; ii. theories that analyse the role, task and purpose of social work; and iii. theories that relate to direct practice, such as practice approaches and perspectives. theories that illuminate our understanding of people, situations and events as has been alluded to above, the theoretical base of social work, just like that of cognate disciplines from which it heavily borrows is so much interwoven that the current framework is just but a working typology with no set boundaries. this section therefore like others to follow from it shall mainly deal with political as well as development theories. it is imperative that social work educators and trainers in zimbabwe take a paradigm shift from a remedial or welfaristic orientation that is primarily dominated by casework towards a more pragmatic economic and political orientation that would enable their graduates to occupy a space in the geo-political and economic space where development has become more of a right than a privilege. in line with the above intellectual orientation, the following set of theories is proposed: • conservatism • the liberal democratic paradigm • deliberative democracy • liberalism, freedom, and culture • participatory democracy • globalization • theories of social justice and human rights. • religion and social structure. it is important for social workers to make a judicious application of these and other theories that help understand people, life situations as well as the institutions that foster social change, social justice and social welfare. globalization and social work are closely and intricately interrelated. social work educators and practitioners should therefore strive towards a concise understanding of the dynamics nature of social problems brought forth by globalization. to put globalization into perspective, the paper takes a leaf from held’s conception of globalization as ‘stretching and deepening of social relations’ such that ‘day-to-day activities are increasingly influenced by events happening on the other side of the globe’ where ‘the practices and decisions of local groups or communities can have significant global reverberations’ (held, 1999: 92). ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 1 2016 mthethwa, e. african journal of social work, 6(1), june 2016 44 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the importance of globalization in social work practice is indispensable. this led kaseke (1995) to conclude that globalization is an important determinant of social policy. considering the situation in africa, the influence of globalization is vividly seen in the bulk of social policies and programmes. these include the case management and other diverse child rights and child protection programmes couched in liberal or social democratic values of human rights, citizenship, freedom and equality of opportunity. the workings of national political and human rights systems, the international economic and development trajectory as well as the impact of these on the psychosocial and environmental wellbeing of people is of paramount importance to social workers. in addition, the need to understand theories of globalization, liberal democracy and other human rights issues is deeply engrained in the urgent need for the social workers to intervene in emergency situations. the intricacies of social problems such as the wars in the middle east and other parts of africa including the prevailing wave of xenophobic attacks of foreigners by south african nationals surely call for unique and diverse portfolio of theoretical orientation not ordinarily resident within the current social work curriculum. following on from the above theoretical demands is the call for social justice that has become an anthem within the social work parlance. once more, the call for social justice has meant a dramatic shift towards a political and grassroots approach to community mobilizing to fighting oppression and inequality. the current social work education and practice wisdom however is divided over whether social workers should be politically active or not (weiss, gal and katan, 2006). these opinions are divided along two main schools of thought. one school believes that social workers should not be engaged in politics (weiss et al, 2006). this school of thought claims that political involvement diverts attention from direct practice, is incongruent with professional values such as emotional neutrality and a non-judgmental approach to clients, and prevents social work from serving a wide spectrum of clients (bardill, 1993 quoted in weiss et al, 2006). another school of thought – which strongly resonates with this paper – is that politics remains the root of most social and economic problems that social workers end up dealing with. this school of thought treats the political engagement by social workers as a necessary precursor to social justice. therefore, it is here contended that africa’s social problems now demand a dramatic shift from the traditional residual and welfaristic approach to problem solving towards a human rights or citizen of the world approach. therefore, the profession’s call for social justice is a call on the schools of social work to have a fresh look at their curriculum and determine whether they are delivering as expected. the pursuit of social and economic justice is central to social work’s purpose. social justice refers to the creation of social institutions that support the welfare of individuals and groups. in addition to social justice, it is here contended that social workers have to start bothering themselves with economic justice if ever their ploy to fight poverty is to register any degree of success. by economic justice is meant those aspects of social justice that relate to economic well-being, such as a livable wage, pay equity, job discrimination, and social security. by advancing such theories as conservatism, liberalism and human rights theories as part of a social work set of theories necessary within africa’s social work curriculum, this paper is cognisant of the dramatic shift from a highly philanthropic, remedial and charitable approach to social work practice towards a more rights based political and economic orientation. closely linked to social justice is participatory democracy wherein modern societies are built or founded upon the belief that citizens need to have a stake in matters that concern them. in social work nomenclature, this has translated to participatory development, grassroots participation, the bottom up approach to community development as well as empowerment. the concept of empowerment in social work theory and practice has been largely popularized by such scholars as payne (1997). the empowerment concept has since been applied to a variety of social work interventions in line with the democratic and emancipatory ideals which have come to punctuate modern social work theory and practice, especially in resource poor countries. in the case of africa, empowerment and participatory development entails giving power over decision making to the clients rather than patronizing and directing them all the time. theories that analyse the role, task and purpose of social work at a theoretical level, social work is beset by a plethora of challenges brought forth by globalization (see the above discussion). during the past two decades, practice theory has emerged as a potent challenger to prevalent ways of thinking about human life, which have until now focused either on individual minds and actions or social structures, systems and discourses. such theories are meant to sharpen the skills of intervention of the social worker as a professional. in the case of zimbabwe, the following theories are essential: • psychodynamic theory • behavioral theories • systems theories and • critical social work. • psychosocial theory • cognitive development theory • person-centered theory ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 1 2016 mthethwa, e. african journal of social work, 6(1), june 2016 45 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ • ecological systems theory • moral development theory • small group theory • family systems theory • organizational theory • attachment theory • empowerment theory • social justice theory these theories essentially help social workers understand the basis of human life. such an understanding remains critical in developing psycho-social and therapeutic interventions (thyer, sowers and dulmus, 2008). with regards to africa’s social work practice terrain, the advent of a highly complex disease regime and attendant psycho-social problems demands that social workers be versatile when it comes to their role in casework and clinical practice. such a theoretical deficit is highly evident in the preparedness of most of the graduates. for example, in all fairness, recent graduates of social workers have failed to impress and distinguish themselves from other professionals in the fields of community health, clinical social work, psycho-therapy and palliative care as well as generic counseling. subsequently, some employers and the general public could not help but doubt the relevance and responsiveness of the social work profession to the pressing needs plaguing contemporary society. social workers are therefore called upon to demonstrate an adept appreciation of theoretical issues at various levels in order to utilize the above theoretical knowledge. these skills include: • the ability to build and sustain helping relationships. • ability to select appropriate mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating social work interventions. • awareness of the need to collaborate with other professions and disciplines and being able to function in multi-disciplinary teams. • awareness of the potential limitations of western theories in dealing with local realities. these and other professional skills place a somewhat insurmountable theoretical demand upon african social workers who must no longer be complacent with their good command of casework towards a versatile and intricate multi-disciplinary domain. in effect, although this has not received adequate emphasis within the generality of african social work curriculum, such skills are not new to the field of social work. emphasis on person in environment is simply a call on social workers to treat a person as a person living or embedded in social, cultural, economic and political context (see tolson, reid and garvin, 2003). a person and environment construct suggests that social workers always examine individual behavior in its context, reflecting on how that behavior is both a response to and, in turn, influences the individual’s environment. a typical example of such theoretical expectations is family and child welfare as well as counseling demands required within an array of a complex regime of social and psychological problems. in effect, working with a child or adolescent requires knowledge of developmental factors and communication skills that are unique to young people, and at the other end of the age spectrum, older people also have unique needs that a social worker should recognize. additionally, the emphasis placed on psycho-social support due mainly to a precipitous social problems caused by a wave of communicable and non-communicable diseases such as hiv and aids, cancer, diabetes, malaria, and, in some countries cholera now calls for more versatile theoretical grounding than previously known to the profession. such problems as orphan care, palliative and terminal care, bereavement counseling, as well as other psychological, clinical/medical and community-based interventions are now proving too complex given the present social work curriculum. furthermore, society has devised complex and sometimes novel ways of coping with such challenges. these coping strategies have often taken the form of spiritual and religious practices not emphasized in most of african schools of social work. evidently, in most countries, social work was borne out of the work of missionaries whose prime motive was mainly to extend their evangelical teachings with more coordinated works of charity. to that effect, little attention was paid to religious tolerance and human diversity, which values now constitute the core element of social work ethos. contrary to prevailing social practices, it is here contended that schools of social work in africa have not invested the expected energy and skills in the area of spiritual social work and social diversity. there are many theories that relate to direct practice, including practice approaches and perspectives. the iassw and ifsw (2004) identify the following as the core purposes of social work: • promoting social inclusion; • dealing with inequalities and social injustices; • promoting human well-being and enhancing capacity to solve problems; • facilitating access to services and resources; ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 1 2016 mthethwa, e. african journal of social work, 6(1), june 2016 46 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ • influencing and developing social policies that serve to meet human needs; • engaging in advocacy; and • protecting disadvantaged and powerless members of society. these expectations require that social workers be versatile with a plethora of theories that help shape their practice. this paper advances the following theories specifically for practice within the zimbabwean context: • social development and the developmental approach to social welfare • therapeutic, protective and preventive approaches in social welfare • the human rights perspective in social work • development as social transformation • structural marxism • dependency theory • world systems theory • intellectual dependency theory • feminist epistemology • women in development • women and development • gender and development, • women, environment, and development • postmodernism and development • critical disability theory the above theories stand in response to the clarion call for a departure from a remedial, welfaristic approach to practice towards a more developmental and proactive orientation. this paper therefore adds to the already existing call for the immediate implementation of a developmental social work. by development is meant an improvement in a complex of linked natural, economic, social, cultural, and political conditions. on the same note, developmentalism is the belief in the viability and desirability of this kind of economic progress. the above set of theories enables social workers to perfect their practice skills towards poverty alleviation. this entails an informed interpretation of the causes and effects of poverty and social deprivation. social workers directly addressed many of the factors associated with poverty at the individual, household, and community levels. as a profession, social work has always focused attention on poverty and the difficulties faced by persons who do not have enough resources to obtain the basics of life, such as food, shelter, and medical and dental care. poverty has devastating effects on individuals, families, and communities. it remains the preeminent factor contributing towards many other social problems, such as the breakup of families, violence, crime, substance abuse, suicide, and a multitude of health as well as other psycho-social and related problems bedeviling contemporary african societies. poverty is especially injurious to children because they are most vulnerable to the effects of poor nutrition, disease, family insecurity, and social instability. the causes of poverty are always complex and will vary somewhat, depending on whether one is examining poverty in a first-world, modern country or in a third world context. in the literature, three perspectives to the definition of poverty exist: these are the income perspective, the basic needs perspective, and the capability perspective. the income perspective posits that a person is poor if, and only her/his income level is below the defined poverty line e.g. us$1 a day/us$2 a day. the basic needs perspective on the other hand defines poverty as a deprivation of material requirements for minimally acceptable fulfillment of human needs, including food. on the other hand, the capability perspective explains that poverty represents the absence of capability to function. thus, poverty is considered as state of insufficient purchasing power to meet minimum consumption needs; it is accompanied by inadequate access to health services and related public goods. these two insufficiencies lead to the poor having shorter life expectancy, as well as being more prone to disease and disability than the average person in the society where they live. in other words, poverty should be conceptualized as a multidimensional web of deprivation resulting in living conditions that lie below some minimum standard. such a theoretical requirement calls upon social workers to have a thorough appreciation of the basic theories of economics. contrary to the usual traditional scenario wherein social workers concerned themselves primarily with development economics, the changing face of poverty and social deprivation requires that social workers possess astute knowledge of fiscal policy and management, understanding of competition law and economics, the causes and effects of economic mal-performance, price determination, and a thorough knowledge of statistics and other mathematical models that help interpret the modern forms and manifestations of poverty. this squarely places social work practice face to face with the novelties of the causes and effects of poverty and inequality resident in a mis-match between economic growth and general human welfare. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 1 2016 mthethwa, e. african journal of social work, 6(1), june 2016 47 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ economic growth means achieving a massive economy—producing more goods and services on the one side of the national account (gross domestic product—gdp)—and a larger total income on the other (gross national income—gni). but economic growth can occur without touching problems like inequality or poverty when all the increase goes to a few people. indeed, growth has occurred in most western countries over the past 30 years at the same time that income inequality has widened. in this case, economic growth functions, in the most basic sense, to channel money and power to the already rich and famous. this paper believes that an adept knowledge of the multifaceted nature of poverty and deprivation and attendant political and economic theories help social workers in their advocacy for better policies. coupled with the in-depth understanding of poverty and its root causes is the issue of gender inequities. this paper recognizes that the current curriculum does not fully equip social workers with the sufficient knowledge both theoretically and practically to direct their interventions towards the amelioration of the negative effects of gender inequalities. the above theories, if taken aboard, are specifically aimed at achieving this goal. it goes without saying that gender structures favour of men, making it difficult for most women to perform their life tasks. despite having assumed new roles, women continue to face both discriminations in the labor market and gender inequity in the home. they confront oppressive social norms in both state and civil society institutions in which they live and work, and many have internalized stereotypes that deny their worth as women (narayan, patel and schafft, 1999). gender inequality within households seems remarkably intractable; economic empowerment does not necessarily lead to social empowerment or gender equity within households nonetheless, in some places there were glimmers of equitable power relations within the household (narayan et al, 1999:7-8). it is therefore imperative that the social work curriculum pays due attention to gender issues as these shape and influence the manner in which resources are distributed in society. more so, gender relations are at the epicenter of social work interventions especially in rural areas where patriarchy dictates that women need to ask for permission from their husbands or male significant others to undertake various crucial decisions such as purchasing property including land and livestock, attending a workshop, soliciting for social work services as well as even responding to a questionnaire. in the absence of a thorough and comprehensive appreciation of gender theories, the role of social workers in equalizing opportunities between men and women is likely to be compromised. another issue of central importance to the social work profession is that of food security and rural development. a majority of africa’s population lives in rural areas where agriculture is the main source of both income and livelihood. as a result, it is no wonder that the bulk of social workers are employed in relief agencies where they work in various capacities. sustainable democracy is not built on empty stomachs and rampant poverty. in other words, food and nutrition security has had a far-reaching impact on democratization processes. it has been a sound road map to rural development and political stability. therefore, the issue of assuring food and nutrition security for all in africa is a critical concern not only for african governments, but also for the international community (international food policy research institute, 2004). given the poor rainfall patterns in many african countries, social workers need to be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to crafting sustainable interventions in the area of food security, especially in the rural areas where most people eke a living from agriculture. this paper therefore cements the centrality of rural development as a social work intervention strategy. factual knowledge factual knowledge is knowledge acquired through research. social workers use scientific evidence as a basis for social work practice. they use evidence as a foundation for decision making. the complexity of present-day social problems requires that the social worker be equipped with effective research skills. when working in the practice environment, all social workers are hired with the expectation that they have good problem identification, and case planning skills and factual knowledge in social work helps in sharpening their skills in interpreting the causes of poverty and the attendant interventions. advocacy becomes a farfetched dream in a situation where social workers speak of poverty from the basis of little technical and empirical economic information. factual knowledge lays emphasis on the need to measure the extent and effects of poverty. this paper therefore contends that poverty is measured and analysed for four main purposes namely; i. cognitive (to know what the situation is) ii. analytical (to understand the factors determining this situation) iii. policy making (to design interventions best adapted to the issues) and iv. monitoring and evaluation (to assess whether current policies are effective, and whether the situation is changing). the place of factual knowledge in social work cannot be overstated. this paper however observes that there is a dearth of knowledge and skills in various areas such as poverty analysis and social policy (weiss et al, 2006). ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 1 2016 mthethwa, e. african journal of social work, 6(1), june 2016 48 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ poverty analysis moves from describing poverty to understanding its causes. types of analysis vary from econometric analyses of the microeconomic determinants of poverty. groups of people have been marginalized and disadvantaged for reasons that are historical, cultural and political, among others. these reasons are deep rooted and intricately intertwined with power structures, knowledge levels, belief systems, attitudes and values of societies. they have been barriers to equitable social development. development programmes and projects have tended to draw on insufficient understanding of these issues. consequently, development results have often benefited the most advantaged while only percolating in drops to those who are deprived, thereby perpetuating the inequities. the following skills are essential if the social workers are to achieve the required expectations: • ability to use qualitative and quantitative research methods. • understanding ethical issues in social work research. • ability to utilize research to influence social policy and social work practice. • ability to disseminate research results to stakeholders. • a thorough appreciation of principles and analytical tools of economics. • an in-depth understanding of statistics and other mathematical models necessary for programme and project planning and evaluation. • knowledge of and skills in assessment; • social welfare policies and laws at national, regional and international levels. given the above expectations, it becomes all the more necessary that social work educators and practitioners equip students with the skills described above, if they are to remain relevant to the present demands. otherwise, the quest to fight poverty, advocating for human and child rights and other social work related activities will never stand firm in the absence of such skills. factual knowledge therefore is central to modern social work practice. the need to analyse and influence social policy on behalf of the less fortunate and powerless members of society calls for social workers to prove their case to the powers that be utilizing concrete and in objectionable facts. practice wisdom all professions have value preferences that give purpose and direction to their practitioners. indeed, the purpose and objectives of social work and other professions come from their respective value systems. professional values, however, are not separate from societal values (fook, 2002). rather, professions espouse selected societal values. society, in turn, sanctions the activities of professions through supportive legislation, funding, delegation of responsibility for certain societal functions, and mechanisms for ensuring that those functions are adequately discharged (hepworth and larsen, 2008). because a profession is linked to certain societal values, it tends to serve as society’s conscience with respect to those particular values. in this context, values tend to represent strongly held beliefs about how the world should be, about how people should normally behave, and about what the preferred conditions of life (. what constitutes an appropriate value base for social work practice shifts and evolves to meet the changing nature of the service environment (watson and west, 2006). practice knowledge includes the knowledge acquired through practice. this area of knowledge is also described in a number of ways—as process knowledge (sheppard et al., 2001), professional knowledge and action knowledge (osmond, 2005). practice knowledge therefore includes the following skills and attributes: • demonstrate understanding of social work values and principles. • ability to apply social work values and principles in all interventions. • recognizing the inherent capacities of human beings to find solutions to their problems. • the ability to plan strategic programmes that identify a social problem and clarify existing policies, formulate intervention goals and objectives, undertake surveys of social needs and formulate policy. • the ability to employ tactics such as negotiation, persuasion, lobbying and advocacy, to form task groups and build coalitions, to organize letter writing or telephone campaigns, and to make use of the media to further their policy goals. • the ability to give evidence before legislative committees, to make efficient use of research resources in order to better understand existing policies and problems and to draw up alternatives that can serve as the basis for position papers (hepworth and larsen, 2008). • an in-depth appreciation of national policies and legislation. • knowledge of and skills in assessment. • helping processes and how to build relationships; • application of social work knowledge and skills. • knowledge of human behavior. • critical understanding of the impact of structural factors on human social functioning. • knowledge of how culture, beliefs, traditions and religion influence human functioning. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 1 2016 mthethwa, e. african journal of social work, 6(1), june 2016 49 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ • critical understanding of the origins and purposes of social work and country specific developments. • international and regional conventions, treaties and declarations and policy frameworks such as the universal declaration of human rights, international covenant on economic, social and cultural rights, united nations convention on the rights of the child, ilo social security (minimum standards) convention 102, african charter on the rights and welfare of the child, charter on fundamental rights in the sadc, african union social policy frameworks. • national structures for the delivery of social welfare services. • social policy as an instrument for meeting human needs. • management and supervision in social work. • fields of social work practice such as mental health, child welfare and probation services, gerontology, disability, medical social work, residential social work, correctional services and occupational social work. • ability to intervene at micro and macro levels to achieve a range of outcomes, notably therapeutic, protective, developmental/ transformative and preventive. • understanding how social policies are developed. • ability to analyze national budgets with a view to influencing allocation of resources. • awareness of national structures for the delivery of social welfare services in addition to the above, another practice issue associated with the maintenance of the dignity and worthy of every human being is the aspect of poverty alleviation. as the discussion above has revealed, poverty is the worst of all evils, and a focus of many professions. social workers are in no way strangers to the war on poverty. the very emergence of the profession is located in the fight against urban poverty that became manifest in europe and the united states of america mainly due to industrial revolution that greeted those societies in the eighteenth century. in view of this social work ethos, the question that remains is whether or not social workers are equipped to understand and interpret poverty and social deprivation. in other words, are the present day social workers able to interpret economic data in a way that would enable them to detect malpractices and injustices in the distribution of national resources? last but not least, the importance of recording in social work practice should in no way be ignored. inadequate record keeping often results from professionals not being properly trained in documentation. this lack of training can make it difficult for social workers to meet record-keeping requirements for a growing number of clients. furthermore, kagle (2002) believes that many social workers simply do not recognize the importance of keeping sound records. when a trial-and-error approach is used to document case plan services, the worker may be uncertain about the nature, duration, and outcomes of the therapeutic encounter. conclusion to conclude, the need to continuously update the knowledge base of social work is an indispensable part of social work practice. this therefore calls for a constant interaction between social work educators and practitioners with a view to sharing current knowledge and latest practice developments. on the other hand, social work educators should continue their quest for the latest theoretical knowledge that would enable their graduates to function in a variety of settings both at national and international levels. this therefore calls for the adoption of the appropriate minimum body of knowledge in the training and practice of social work in africa. references fook, j. 2002. social work, critical theory and practice. london: sage. hepworth, d. h., rooney, r. h. & larsen, j. a.; (2002). direct social work practice: theory and skills, 6th edition. california: brooks/cole publishing. international food policy research institute; (2004). sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty. assuring food and nutrition security in africa by 2020: prioritizing actions, strengthening actors, and facilitating partnerships. proceedings of an all-africa conference, kampala, uganda, april 1–3, 2004. narayan, d., patel r. k., schafft r. a., & koch-schulte s.; (1999). voices of the poor, can anyone hear us? voices from 47 countries. volume i, world bank. osmond, j.; (2005). ‘the knowledge spectrum: a framework for teaching knowledge and its use in social work practice’, british journal of social work, 35, 881–900. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 1 2016 mthethwa, e. african journal of social work, 6(1), june 2016 50 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ payne, m. (1997). modern social work theory: a critical introduction. london: palgrave macmillan. sheppard, m., newstead, s., dicaccavo, a. and ryan, k.; (2001). ‘comparative hypothesis assessment and quasi triangulation as process knowledge: assessment strategies in social work practice’, british journal of social work, 31, 863–85. thyer, b. a. sowers k. m. and dulmus c.n.; (2008). comprehensive handbook of social work and social welfare: human behavior in the social environment. new york: john wiley & sons. tolson, e. r.; reid w. a. & garvin, c.d.; (2003). a generalist practice in social work: task-centered approach. new york: columbia university press. trevithick, p.; (2008). revisiting the knowledge base of social work: a framework for practice british journal of social work, (2008) 38, 1212–1237 watson, d. & west j.; (2006). social work process and practice: approaches, knowledge and skills. new york: palgrave macmillan. weiss, i.; gal, j. & katan, j.; (2006). social policy for social work: a teaching agenda. british journal of social work, 36, 789–806 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 7 number 2 2017 rugoho, t. african journal of social work, 7(2), december 2017 9 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ publisher african journal of social work afri. j. soc. work © national association of social workers-zimbabwe/author(s) issn print 1563-3934 issn online 2409-5605 licensed under a creative commons attribution-non-commercial 4.0 international license city pollution: the case study of vendors and beggars with disabilities in harare rugoho, tafadzwa abstract urban areas in zimbabwe such as harare are facing pollution challenges mainly in the form of littering. one of the groups which is responsible for littering of streets in zimbabwe are vendors and beggars with disabilities. the economic hardship that are being experienced by zimbabwe has resulted in persons with disabilities swarming the streets of harare in an effort to earn a living through selling a number of wares. the street space has also become a source of conflict as different groups compete for its use. the aim of the study was to find the perception of vendors and beggars with disabilities on the littering challenges that was being experienced by the city of harare. another objective was to find out if the local authority consults them or raise pollution awareness activities with them. the study adopted a qualitative research design so as to arrive at an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon under study. focus group discussions were used to gather data. the findings showed little understanding on issues of pollution by vendors and beggars with disabilities. it further showed that the city authorities do not consult vendors and beggars with disability on the city pollution issues. the research recommended that the city authorities should involve beggars and vendors with disabilities on pollution initiatives and activities. key terms: beggars, vendors, pollution, disabilities, harare key dates received: 15 may 2017 revised: 18 august 2017 accepted: 5 december 2017 published: 15 december 2017 funding: none conflict of interest: none permission granted: yes ethics clearance: not indicated author orcids: not provided or not available article type: original author details: phd student, university of kwa zulu natal, department of sociology. new arts block, room 337, pietermaritzburg campus. postal 5222, budiriro 3 harare, zimbabwe. email: zvirevo12@gmail.com mailto:zvirevo12@gmail.com ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 7 number 2 2017 rugoho, t. african journal of social work, 7(2), december 2017 10 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ introduction one of the strategic objectives of the city of harare authority is to achieve a world standard city by 2025 (city of harare, 2012). as spelt out in the strategic plan, the key to achieve this status is having a clean environment with less pollution within the city and its surroundings. this objective entails having clean streets and well zoned city activities. public transport will be allocated sites in the outskirts of the central business district. vendors will be moved out of the city to their allocated places outside of the central business district. the city of harare engaged different stakeholders in an effort to sensitise them about their strategic plan. for them, having a clean city will attract investors and tourists. partnership with industry, private and the general populace is envisaged in the implementation of the strategic plan document. industry would play the role of manufacturing products which are environmentally friendly and disposing their affluent in a way that would not cause pollution. industry would also take the opportunity to educate their clients about environmental issues. the city appealed to government to help in the implementation of the strategies by lobbying the government to implement laws and legislature to stop manufacturing of products which contribute towards pollution. government made it compulsory for manufacturers of plastic bottles and kaylites to recycle their products which were identified as the major cause of pollution. however, the strategy is under threat because of the widespread mushrooming of vendors and beggars whose activities have become expensive and difficult for the local authority to manage. vendors and beggars with disabilities are a delicate group which has been difficulty to deal with due to the sensitivity associated with disability issues. due to the collapse of the zimbabwean economy a large chunk of the population of persons with disabilities have joined the vending and begging business in an effort to gain income. literature review beggars and vendors are found on the streets of towns and cities worldwide. their presents in the street has been documented for decades. begging and vending have been regarded as a social problem (konstantinos, 2016; rugoho & siziba, 2014). it’s a phenomenon which cuts across all cultures and historical periods as noted by wardhaugh, (2009). begging and vending phenomena is not only a developing country problem but a problem for developed countries as well (mhizha & muromo, 2013, timalsina, 2011). the motives behind begging and vending are so diverse. however, researchers agree that the main drivers of street begging and vending are unemployment and poverty (lozanski, 2013, nakisani, chichomatenge, & ongori, 2013). in developing countries, urban centres are characterised by high unemployment levels. in gaborone, nakisani, chicho-matenge, & ongori (2013) concluded that high poverty and unemployment levels were the major causes of vending and begging. similar findings were also found in zimbabwe by rugoho & siziba (2014), who observed that the sudden increases of population in zimabwe’s capital city harare was not complimented with industry development. on the contrary, as the zimabbwean economy slowed down, many companies closed down in harare leaving its inhabitants with no option but to venture into begging and vending. substantial research has been done on begging and vending in many parts of the world (delap, 2009). researchers have focused on many different actors within the begging and vending business. these actors include children, women and people with disabilities. other researchers were interested in different categories of beggars and vendors. for example, in his work in tanzania, namwata, mgabo & dimiso (2012), identified a number of categories for beggars. the first group was categorised as beggars on the street. these have got permanent homes and they have ties with their families and relatives. in most cases they sleep at home after a day’s work. the second group they called it beggars of the street. this group almost regards the street as its permanent residence. they are not in touch with their family members or they seldom visit their families. the third category was the beggars in the street, and this group has abandoned family and moved permanently to street life. everything of them now rotates in the streets. another group is called the beggars of street families. this group is composed of individuals born and raised in the street. for this group, the entire family is engaged in street begging. another group of beggars also constitutes those who move around with letters or placards stating the problems that they face. in their study on street kids, mhizha and muromo (2013) also noted similar trends of some street kids being born out of parents who are also street beggars. they further noted the presence of street fathers and mothers. in studies carried out in thailand (bangkok) and india (bombay) amongst children beggars and international tourists, brito (2013) observed a number of forms of begging. he noted that some beg holding a cup or plate in their hands whilst some are involved in what he call irritating begging. irritating begging is whereby the tourist is followed for a long distance while asking for donations. rugoho & siziba (2014), also noted similar grouping in street begging. they concluded that the category one belongs also influences the spending pattern. for those in first category who go home after a day’s work, proceeds from begging are used to buy food and pay fees for the children whilst those who are permanently holed in the streets spend their proceeds on food and drugs. baljit ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 7 number 2 2017 rugoho, t. african journal of social work, 7(2), december 2017 11 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (2015), also notes that even vendors can be categorised using the wares they sale. in india, he notes that street vendors sell different wares ranging from fruits, food stuffs, airtime and many others. just like begging there is some sort of specialisation with vendors. begging and vending have become associated with livelihoods mostly in developing countries. timalsina (2011), described begging as a profession that had been able to stand the test of time. begging and vending are thriving livelihoods options in botswana as noted by joseph (2011). namwata, mgabo, & dimiso (2012), noted that beggars spend a good percentage of their earnings on food. beggars are able to buy food for the whole family. this finding is also similar to that of rugoho & siziba (2014) who also found out that money obtained from begging is usually used to support families by buying food. begging and vending are usually done by those people who would have failed to enter the formal employment sector as noted by mengistu & jibat (2015). persons with disabilities are found in these businesses because they find it easy to enter it as it does not have many barriers in comparison to the formal sector timalsina (2011). the sector does not require huge capital as noted by malik & roy (2012). individuals can get start up loans from personal savings or from family savings. begging on the other hand does not require any capital. vendors and beggars are concentrated in busy areas of the city as this offers a large volume of potential customers. rugoho & siziba (2014), notes that they are frequently found in street pavements and road intersections. their presence on the street pavements have caused despondence with the shop owners who often accuse vendors and beggars of disturbing the peaceful movement of their clients. most governments prohibit begging and vending in africa and the world over. countries like india, mexico and uganda and many others have enacted laws that outlawed street begging and vending (devlin, 2011; wongsamuth, 2015). beggars and vendors have been accused of causing a number of conflicts in streets spaces potrache (2016). the more pronounced conflict is between them and the city authority or police quentin & bonnet, (2015). beggars and vendors are seen as deviant by the local authorities. in zimbabwe, vendors frequently have their wares confiscated by the police because they will be selling on undesignated sites. literature has stories of vendors and beggars being rounded up and driven off the city. in ethiopia, mengistu & jibat (2015) observed that vendors and beggars are always under threat of being arrested by police. those who would have been arrested would be asked for bribes by the police. in botswana joseph (2011), police arrest vendors and beggars in the streets. rodrigo (2013), also observed that vendors and beggars in mexico are often accused by the local police of committing various crimes in the city hence police pounce on them. (olang’o, olima & onyango, 2012, yasmeen & nirathron, 2014) notes that the result of this arrest is because vendors and beggars settle to do their business on unsanctioned and illegal areas. human rights watch (2011) noted in rwanda beggars and vendors are detained for weeks and months. during the time they are under detentions they are made to survive under draconian and harsh conditions. quentin & bonnet (2015) noted that if beggars and vendors are not controlled, they will occupy public spaces in town thereby hindering the smooth movement of people and traffic as well. in mexican cities, toleration of vendors and beggars resulted in pedestrian congestion, litter accumulation, noise, and other problems in the mid1990s rodrigo (2013). within the context of tourism, beggars and vendors are seen as driving away tourists because of their nauseating behaviour, lozanski (2013). this view is also shared by adriaenssens & hendrickx (2011) who noted that tourists often complain about the behaviour of beggars and vendors in the streets. begging and vending had been understood within the context of informal sector timalsina (2011). this is also further supported by joseph (2011) who argues that it has been able to create jobs for those that have not been employed. olang’o, olima & onyango, (2012), treat vending and begging as a sub-sector of informal businesses that operate in urban areas. it is a sector that is providing employment to the population who could not be absorbed by the formal sector. in the 1970s the sector was recognised as having the potential to expand and employ more people, olang’o, olima & onyango (2012). in zimbabwe the ministry of small and medium enterprises has advocated for the protection of small businesses because the sector employs many young people. various organisations of disabled people have also acknowledged that begging has offered an income to families of disabled people who are being neglected by the government of zimbabwe. shelter of the beggars and vendors is usually on the street pavements. most beggars and vendors sleep on streets pavements. in zimbabwe a substantial number of beggars and vendors with disabilities have taken advantage of the collapse of the economy to remain permanent dwellers of streets rugoho & siziba (2014). they do not have access to toilets and other sanitation facilities. these beggars and vendors in the street pavements also offer their problem such as urinating and defecation on the street pavements (tanwne, rana, mitu, rupa & khadeza, 2016; nurudeen, lawal & ajayi, 2014) problem statement the zimbabwean economy has been on a decline over the past decades. it has witnessed the sudden closure of companies. at the international level disability management also changed from institutionalization to community based grills, varghese, hughes, jolly, & kumar, (2016). the world financial recession also impacted on the ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 7 number 2 2017 rugoho, t. african journal of social work, 7(2), december 2017 12 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ assistance of persons with disabilities by the civil society and the donor community eva-maria (2010). the bulk of the initiatives which support people with disabilities in zimbabwe are donor funded. donors withdrew their financial support. all these factors affected the disabled community more. in an effort to earn a living some have invaded the streets of harare as beggars and vendors. as noted by rugoho & siziba (2014) the vendors and beggars in harare are in two categories. there are those who stay permanently in the street and those who go home after a day’s work. these beggars and vendors with disability have also contributed towards the littering of the street. some sell different wares at undesignated places. it is against this background that this study was conducted in harare. objective of the study the main objective of the research was to find out the perceptions of vendors and beggars on street littering and pollution. a second objective was to know if they were consulted by the city of harare authorities on pollution issues. the research was guided by the following questions  what is the perception of beggars and vendors to street littering and pollution?  what facilities do they have access to at night?  are they consulted by city authorities on pollution issues? methodology the research was carried out in harare, which is the biggest and capital city of zimbabwe. as noted by world bank (2003), harare has slightly fifty percent of the entire population in all urban centres in zimbabwe. a qualitative research design was adopted for this research because of its potential to generate rich and detailed data from the participant’s perspective anderson (2010). another advantage of qualitative research is its ability to allow the researcher to gain the experience of the participants from their perspective and life experiences yin (2015). the fgds were used following an observation by (yin, 2015) that it allows the researcher to obtain insight into the setting, context, environment and experiences of participants. individual participants for the focus group discussions (fgds) were selected through the snowballing technique. eight focus group discussions were held with each group consisting of 12 participants each. the groups were constituted based on age and sex. these groups were composed of those in the 16–25-year age group, group 2 of 26–35-year olds, group 3 of 36–45-year olds, and group 4 of over 46s. permission was sought from the harare city council before the research commenced. authorities were informed about the objectives and methodology of the study. shona language which is the local language was adopted because all participants who were recruited were very fluent in it. the researcher allowed for multiple breaks to accommodate participants. a tape recorder was used to record all the fgds. thematic analysis was used to analyse data. braun & clarke (2014) and hannah & lalita (2016) argued that thematic analysis is used more in qualitative research because it follows familiarisation with the data, systematic reading, coding, searching, categorisation and generating of definitions, and interpretation. the research adhered to ethical issues as propounded by yip, han & sng (2016), that is, research should be able to protect the life, dignity, privacy, health, integrity and right to self-determination. above all it should guarantee confidentiality of the research participants. at the beginning of the research, participants were informed that participation was entirely voluntary. it was within their right to exit the research discussion without giving notice and reasons. informed consent was also provided and participants signed a consent agreement with the researcher encouraged by schroter, plowman, hutchings & gonzal (2006) findings and discussion perception on street littering and pollution the research found out that street vendors and beggars were aware that their activities contributed towards street littering. however, they did not think that they should shoulder the responsibility of taking care of their litter. for them the responsibility of cleaning lies sorely with the city authorities. similar trend of behaviour was also found in nigeria by nurudeen, lawal & ajayi (2014) amongst food vendors who did not want to take care of the rubbish besides acknowledging that it pauses a danger to the environment. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 7 number 2 2017 rugoho, t. african journal of social work, 7(2), december 2017 13 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ paul, a male participant said: we have other pressing needs than thinking about the cleanliness of the city. we don’t get our money to support our families from clean streets. let those who are paid by the government to clean the city do so. i will never carry a bin with me. tecla, another female participant supported by saying: honestly you can’t expect a disabled person like me to clean the litter that is caused by my clients. neither do you expect me to provide a bin to my clients. the government should see what it can do to keep this street clean. it’s not my worry whether it’s clean or not. i do not see the benefits of the street being clean accruing to me. tapiwa, a young male vendor said: even if we do not litter the streets, they will always be litter. there are major culprits than us. the city authorities do not clean the street and they do not provide bins. all street uses are littering the streets. another female participant, monalisa said: we are not entirely to blame for this city street littering. it’s also the able bodied. let the able bodied take the initiative of not littering the city first and we will also follow suit. timalsina, (2011), has also argued that this negative attitude towards littering by beggars and vendors has made it hard for developing countries to maintain clean and modern city standards. olang’o, olima, & onyango (2012), also found similar perception amongst vendors with disabilities who think that the duty of keeping the city streets clean entirely lies with the government not citizens. street defecations and urination the participants highlighted that the city has privatised toilets thereby making them inaccessible to the majority of beggars and vendors with disabilities. many of them have now resorted to street defections. this is mainly done at night when there is very few movement of people. dark spaces within the street provided a convenient space for defecations. the major problem associated with those who sleep in the streets is hygiene with regards to defecation. the majority of toilets in towns are now privatised. one has to pay money to access the toilets. this has caused major challenges. the majority of street dwellers now defecate and urinate in the streets. as noted by tanwne, rana, mitu, rupa & khadeza (2016) in bangladesh, beggars and vendors urinate and defecate in the street and this has become a big challenge to keep the street clean and health. joseph (2011) found out that in botswana streets urinating and defecation has also exposed street dwellers to a number of health hazards. chipo another said: we don’t have money to pay for the toilets. we relieve ourselves on the street pavements. we have to do it during midnight when the streets are empty. we have nowhere else to go and relief ourselves. sometimes we relieve ourselves in sacks and plastics. we dump these plastics on streets or bins. after relieving ourselves, we have no place to wash our hands. we are used to this. even during the day when we are ‘pressed’, we urinate in the street. another middle-aged beggar, simba said: it’s hard, we use the streets as our toilets and bathrooms. human rights watch (2011), further notes that street dwellers have higher risk of contracting water borne diseases. rodrigo (2013) further notes in rwanda that this poor hygiene does not only put city inhabitants at health risk but also other people who get buy wares from the streets vendors especially food staffs like fruits. streets sleeping christopher another participants narrates we sleep on street pavements. we use papers and boxes to make our makeshift beds on the street. we do this on a daily basis. in the morning we simply leave these boxes and papers in the street because we have nowhere to take them. another young female beggar, angela added: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 7 number 2 2017 rugoho, t. african journal of social work, 7(2), december 2017 14 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ since we sleep on street pavements, we empty bins in search of boxes, plastics and papers to make our beds. you cannot just sleep on the floor, you need some stuff to make it comfortable. we do not take care of the litter that we empty from the bins in search of plastic and boxes, no. beggars and vendors also sleep in the streets. some vendors and beggars with disabilities do not go home on a daily basis hence they sleep on street pavements. as noted by rugoho & siziba (2014), sleeping on street pavements has also added a new dimension in street littering as these streets inhabitants live a lot of objects and litter where they would be sleeping. involving vendors and beggars with disabilities in pollution and environmental hazards clever, a vendor said: the city does not consult us on anything, they do their things and we do our business. we only have interface with the local authority police when they are looking for bribes. shami, another beggar added the city does not know our challenges as vendors and beggars with disabilities. and we also do not know the challenges they have save what we see with our eyes like busting sewages, water and the litter in the streets. city authorities were not involving vendors and beggars with disabilities in pollution and environmental issues. there was no involvement of persons with disabilities in environmental issues that are that are undertaken by the city of harare. conclusion and recommendations research findings demonstrate that the activities of beggars and vendors with disabilities contribute substantially towards littering of the streets. selling of different wares without having disposable bins is a major challenge. another challenge is street urinating and defecation. those who sleep in the street also live their plastics and papers which they use for bedding on the pavements. the city authority also do not consult with beggars and vendors with disabilities when coming up with environmental policies. the research recommends:  provision of portable bins and having accessible toilets at night to allow access to beggars and vendors with disabilities who sleep on street pavements.  provision of environmental awareness to beggars and vendors with disabilities.  engaging beggars and vendors with disabilities when coming up with policies on city environment. references olang’o, j. o., olima, w. l., & onyango, l.; (2012). dynamics of street vending phenomenon in the kisumu municipality, kenya. international journal of arts and commerce, 1(4), 107-120. adriaenssens, s., & hendrickx, j. (2011). street-level informal economic activities: estimating the yield of begging in brussels. urban studies, 48(1) 23-40. anderson, c.; (2010). presenting and evaluating qualitative research. american journal of pharmaceutical education, 1-7. baljit, k.; (2015). urban informal sector and street vendors. international journal of english language literature and humanities, 74 (8), 23-37. braun, v., & clarke, v. (2014). what can thematic analysis offer health and wellbeing researchers? international journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 9(10), 33-47. brito, o.; (2013). definitional paradox and legal heterogeneity: towards a comprehensive and operational definition of begging. asian social work and policy review, 7(3), 228-241. delap, e.; (2009). begging for change: research findings and recommendations on forced child begging in albania/greece, india and senegal. london: anti-slavery international. devlin, r. t.; (2011). an area that governs itself‘: informality, uncertainty and the management of street vending in new york city, planning theory 10(1): 53–65. eva-maria, h. (2010). impact of the global economic crises on civil society organizations. new york, united nations, department of economic and social affairs. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 7 number 2 2017 rugoho, t. african journal of social work, 7(2), december 2017 15 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ grills, n.,; varghese, j., hughes, n., jolly, t., & kumar, r. (2016). the success of the uttarakhand cluster: a case study of organisational change towards disability inclusive development. bmc health services research, 16(2), 338.-345 hannah, f.; & lalita, s. (2016). blogging about sexual assault: a thematic analysis. the journal of forensic practice, 18(1), 39-51. human rights watch. (2011). an urban informal economy: livelihood opportunity to poor or challenges for urban governance. global journal of human social science, 12(2), 11-23. joseph, m. c.; (2011). the struggle to belong; dealing with diversity in 21st century urban. international rc21 conference (pp. 21-35). johannesburg: university of johannesburg. konstantinos, a.; (2016). beggars-tourists' interactions: an unobtrusive typological approach. tourism management, 52(1), 64-73. lozanski, k.; (2013). encountering beggars: disorienting travelers? annals of tourism research, 42(1), 46-64. malik, s., & roy, s.; (2012). a study on begging: a social stigma. journal of human values, 18, (2), 187–199. mengistu, t., & jibat, n. (2015). street vending as the safety-net for the disadvantaged people: the case of jimma town. international journal of sociology and anthropology, 7(5), 123 137. mhizha, s., & muromo, t.; (2013). an exploratory study on the school related challenges. zimbabwe journal o f educational research, 25(3), 350-367. nakisani, c., chichomatenge, & ongori, h.; (2013). an assessment of challenges faced by microenterprises in botswana: a case of street food vendors in gaborone. international journal of learning and development, 3(5), 56-76. namwata, b. m., mgabo, m., & dimiso p.; (2012). feelings of beggars on begging life and their survival livelihoods in urban areas of central tanzania. international journal of physical and social sciences, 2(7), 306-322. nurudeen, a. a., lawal, a. o., & ajayi, s. a. (2014). a survey of hygiene and sanitary practices of street food vendors in the central state of northern nigeria. journal of public health epidemiology, 6(5), 174-181. potrache, i. (2016). romanian street beggars in stockholm. a conflict between global city aspirations and informal livelihoods. stockholm university – department of human geography, 1-99. quentin, b., & bonnet, f.; (2015). managed informality. regulating street vendors in bangkok. city & community, 15 (1), 29-43. rodrigo, m. r.; (2013). crime, street vendors and the historical downtown in post-giuliani mexico city. international journal of criminology and sociology, 2(1), 186-198. rugoho, t., & siziba, b.; (2014). rejected people: beggars with disabilities in the city of harare: zimbabwe. developing country studies, 4(26), 51-56. sarker, t., rana, r., mitu, c.; rupa, s., & khadeza, y. (2016). education and health status of child beggars in sylhet city, bangladesh. american journal of social sciences, 7(4), 58-66. schroter, s., plowman, r., hutchings, a.; & gonzal, a. (2006). reporting ethics committee approval and patient consent by study design in five general medical journals. journal of medical ethics, 32(12), 718–723. tanwne, s., rana, r., mitu, c., rupa, s.; & khadeza, y. (2016). education and health status of child beggars in sylhet city, bangladesh. american journal of social sciences, 14(3), 58-66. wardhaugh, j.; (2009). regulating social space: begging in two south asian cities. crime media culture, 5(3), 333–341. wongsamuth, n.; (2015). do we really want to be like singapore? bangkok: bangkok post. yasmeen, g., & nirathron, n. (2014). vending in public space: the case of bangkok. brief (urban policies), 33-49. yin, r. k.; (2015). qualitative research from start to finish. 2nd edition. new york: guilford. yip, c., han, n. r., & sng, b. l.; (2016). legal and ethical issues in research. indian journal of anaesthetics, 60(9), 684-8. _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. interrogating the ‘irrationality of the rational’ & child sexual abuse in zimbabwe: the call for education for hunhu / ubuntu makuvaza, ngoni abstract this paper bemoans the current scourge of childsexual abuse as well as the recent disturbing phenomenon of female rapists bedevilling the nation. it is particularly disconcerting when it is reported that there are over 2000 child rape cases reported each year in zimbabwe. the author considers this as a serious problem which needs urgent attention. however, the author claims that, this scourge is concomitant with man’s broad search for ‘happiness’. thus, this insatiable search for happiness has regrettably created a dilemma or paradox for 21st century man in zimbabwe. this paradox hinges on man’s incessant and insatiable thirst for rational goods (happiness) through irrational means. essentially, this has culminated in what this study refers to as the ‘paradox of the rational’ or the paradox of the ‘irrationality of the rational’. to interrogate this problematic malady, the author posits the following theses: (a) zimbabwe is systematically sliding towards the ‘irrationality of the rational’, (c) consequently, there is need to revisit and ‘renegotiate’ the dominant perception regarding the rationality of man, and lastly; (c) it is not jails and stiffer penalties (not even ‘fencing’) on the offenders that can contain this scourge but probably a ‘cultural rationality’ emanating from chivanhu and hunhu. to this end, the author posits education for hunhu / ubuntu as having the potential to address this problem. in this paper, ‘man’ shall refer collectively, to both male and female. key terms: irrationality, cultural rationality, education for hunhu, chivanhu department of educational foundations, university of zimbabwe. contacts: makuvazangoni32@gmail.com, p. bag mp.167 african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 20 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. introduction and background crime and its possible causes and explanations can be interrogated from various perspectives notably; economic, religious, political and psycho social. however, notwithstanding these causes and explanations of crime, we argue; the bottom line is that; crime can be interrogated from the premise of man’s search for happiness, either in the short term or in the long term. accordingly it is posited that; the search and quest for happiness by the twenty first century man in general and in zimbabwe, in particular, has constituted a dilemma or a paradox for man. the paradox centres on man’s incessant search for rational goods, thus happiness, through irrational means. this has resulted in what this paper is referring to as the ‘paradox of the rational’ or the ‘irrationality of the rational’. in zimbabwe, this paradox is evident, among other crimes, in the increasing despicable and horrible incidents of ‘crimes of passion’ or ‘ invasions of childrens’ innocences’ perpetrated by the so – called rational, not only on human beings but even on non – human beings. this paper is therefore, premised on interrogating and articulating this paradox. to that end, the paper examines, the concepts; rationality, platonic education and education for hunhu and lastly; cultural rationality. the author examines the concept ‘rationality’ because it is considered critical in firstly; distinguishing non human – beings from human – beings, in other words, persons and people from animals. secondly, such an examination is considered as the basis african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 21 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. for evaluating the type of judgments and decisions man makes in his pursuit of happiness. the paper also examines platonic education and education for hunhu. the paper examines platonic education, because we think that his argument that education should produce a ‘good man’ is vital to this paper. however, the author concedes that; if the good man is to have relevance, then his relevance should speak to a specific context. in that regard, the author considers education for hunhu, as having the potential to produce a good man with hunhu who can be considered appropriate and acceptable within the zimbabwe. in light of the problem under discussion, the author puts it that; on the basis of such an education anchored on hunhu, such a person is capable of making culturally rational judgments and decisions in his in pursuit of his happiness, which are culturally rational. thus, this paper posits cultural rationality anchored on education for hunhu, as an intervention strategy in addressing the current scourge of the ‘irrationality of the rational’ in zimbabwe. to that end the paper posits the following theses, that: (a) there is need to probably revisit and ‘renegotiate’ the dominant perception regarding rationality as the distinctive quality separating human beings from other non – human beings, (b) while it is maintained that rationality is a ‘given’ to all ‘human – beings, not all of them necessarily act rationally, thus; while all people can think, not all of them can think rationally, (c) while all human – beings are people(vanhu), not all people are persons (vanhu kwavo) (d) zimbabwe is systematically sliding towards the ‘irrationality of the rational’ and lastly (e) it is not jails and stiffer penalties ( not even ‘ african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 22 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. fencing’) on the offenders that can contain the scourge of the ‘irrationality of the irrational’ but probably ‘cultural rationality’ anchored on education for hunhu. research methodology in interrogating and articulating the problems associated with the ‘irrationality of the rational’ specifically child sexual abuse in zimbabwe, the paper adopts the qualitative methodology. in particular, it adopts discourse as well as documentary analyses to interrogate our problem. documentary analysis is suitable for this problem: as it involves the study of documents either to understand their substantive content or to illuminate deeper meanings which may be revealed by their style and coverage (ritchie & lewis, 2003, p. 35). discourse analysis, on the other hand, is also considered suitable for this discussion as: it examines the construction of texts and verbal accounts to explore systems of social meaning. it examines ways in which ‘versions of the world, of society, events and inner psychological worlds are african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 23 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. produced in discourse’ (richie & lewis, 2003, p. 35). in light of the scarcity of relevant documented literature on the problem, this discussion shall depend on a few related texts and newspapers. the problem cases of ‘child-predators’, ‘child-sodomizers’, ‘child-molesters’, ‘child-rapists’, ‘child innocence invaders’ and paedophiliacs the world-over and in zimbabwe in particular have reached alarming and unacceptable proportions. hardly does one read a daily without a story about a child who has been abused in one way or another. the most horrifying of all the reported and unreported cases of abuse to children are sexual ones. the following are just but a tip of the ice-berg; herald (friday, 19 january, 2007) “unknown man rapes girl (3)”; the herald (tuesday, 7, november, 2007) “businessman rapes daughter (15) at gunpoint”; the herald (tuesday, 31 october, 2007) “man accused of bestiality given a community service sentence”; the sunday mail (october 28-november 4 2007)“man sodomizes boy in broad daylight”; the herald (monday, 22 january, 2007) “rape trial date set for a african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 24 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. chitungwiza man who rapes his half-brother’s 11 month old baby” ; the herald ( thursday, 9, august 2007) “a fortyseven year old chinhoi man has been arrested for allegedly raping three six – year – old girls playing near their homestead on inyape farm”; h – metro, tuesday, 12 october, 2010 -“brother impregnates sister”; the daily news, thursday 2, 2012 – “chinese men involved in sex scandal involving minors in zambia” ; daily news, saturday 2, november, 2013 – “child rape horror: over 2000 child rape cases reported each year” and “woman commits suicide after hubby rapes sister(13) – the herald, monday 11, november, 2013. indeed, the above cases are only a tip of an ice – berg. these cases point to a serious problem in our society. particularly that, there are over 2000 cases of child – sexual abuse a year in zimbabwe daily news, saturday 2, november, 2013 – “child rape horror: over 2000 child rape cases reported each year”, only demonstrates the enormity of the problem. consequently, people cannot wish this problem away but must confront it head on. the gravity of the problem was also fittingly captured by the president of zimbabwe, cde. mugabe, in his address to the chiefs conference at victoria falls primary school where he bemoaned moral decadence in the country. he expressed further deep concern african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 25 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. regarding the problem of child sexual abuse in the country when he said, ubuntu bethu is violated when the father of a little girl ravishes that little girl, rapes that little girl. what would have happened? it’s my concern, …(the chronicle, 2007). indeed, what would have happened is and should be the concern not only of this paper but also of all ‘normal’ or rational people. it should be everyone’s concern especially given the fact that there is an average of about six (6) rape cases being reported everyday in the country (zimbabwe), notwithstanding those which go unreported (daily news, 2013). what we must bear in mind is that these are the ‘reported cases’, what of others which go unreported. if we are to consider the unreported cases in the above statistics, then it means we have way above 2000 cases of child rape cases annually in zimbabwe. what these statistics translate to is that, about six innocent children are molested on a daily basis in zimbabwe. we argue, even one child molested, is one too many to be cause for great concern to society. the issue is not so much with numbers whether too small or too much, but rather with the crime. if these statistics is anything to go by, then indeed, we have a serious problem, which demands urgent attention. similarly, in zambia for instance, policemen at the zambia police service’s victim support unit trust, said the rape of minors has increased from 1676 cases in 2009 to 2028 in 2010 (the daily news, 2012). african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 26 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. however, interestingly and equally inopportunely, it needs to be cautioned that it is no longer a problem about or from men exclusively. this is premised on the recent revelations that; women, probably feeling rather ‘left out’ in the irrationality of the rational ‘madness’, have recently become ‘rapists’ of men as well, a development which can probably be construed as ‘revenge’ against men (newsday, 2011). in other words, women or females have taken it upon themselves to be included, like men, in the ‘irrationality of the rational’ ‘madness’, by also ‘raping’ men. what makes this scourge particularly horrendous and disturbing is that it is being committed by adult human beings on other human beings, but more importantly, it is being committed by the so-called rational human beings on other beings who are also considered rational. however, in other similar cases, these so-called rational human beings have even gone a step further to commit their deplorable crimes on non-human beings or animals ( the so-called irrational beings) (“man accused of bestiality given a communityservice sentence”, sunday mail, 2007). what is also this problem more interesting is that; there are no reported cases of the so – called irrational animals forcing themselves on rational human beings or even on fellow irrational beings of a different species? additionally, even under extreme circumstances, there are no reported cases of adult animals forcing themselves on their young ones even of the same species. thus, essentially there are no reported cases, of the irrational sexually african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 27 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. abusing the rational, let alone the irrational sexually abusing the irrational. we therefore think; this constitutes a real problem for zimbabwe, which calls for urgent attention. what is also further disconcerting about the above problem in zimbabwe and elsewhere, is type of rational beings perpetrating theses heinous crimes. thus, we hereby note that; the ‘once’ rational custodians of our tradition, culture and values, notably, the elders of our society (both men and women), teachers (both males and females), law enforcement agents and ministers of religion (newsday, 2011; herald, 2013), seem to have either taken a back seat or are at the forefront in promoting this menace. in zambia, for instance, perpetrators include zambian teachers, farmers, traditional medicine men and even policemen themselves (the daily news, 2012). indeed and regrettably so, these custodians of law and traditions, seem to be at the forefront, engaging in the most contemptible, ‘unthinkable’ and irrational, as some of them ‘see lovely women not only in girl-children, or girl-infants but even in animals. further, some men see lovely ‘women’ in fellow men and vice – versa. ironically, there seems to be no known or reported cases of animals or non-human beings manifesting any of these despicable behaviours of sexually forcing themselves on human beings, or on other animals of a different species or let alone on immature animals even of the same species, even under extreme conditions. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 28 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. the preceding cases are only a tip of the ice-berg. what is critical about these and similar crimes are that all seem premised on man’s search for happiness of one form or another. however, they seem to corroborate the thesis of the paper pertaining to the irrationality of the rational, as these heinous and irrational acts are perpetrated by none other than the so-called rational beings in their search for happiness. in view of this, what then can be said regarding the rationality thesis and the corresponding ‘rationality of the irrational’ argument and vice-versa. further, of the two species, which one then should have the claim to rationality, human beings and non – human beings? consequently, it is this basis that the popular rationality thesis is being put to serious test. additionally and of great importance to this discussion, how can this phenomenon be explained and possibly be contained? the element of rationality alluded to above, is critical to our interrogation of sexual abuse in particular, and general criminality in the zimbabwe and elsewhere. rationality or irrationality is crucial to this discussion because, it is considered as the defining feature which makes human – beings, stand in clear contra-distinction to the socalled non – human beings or animals (sachs, 2002). the general perception being that, man (humanity) is rational while non – human beings on the other hand, are irrational. thus, in light of the above incidences of child sexual abuse, what is being put to question is the rationality / irrationality perceptions which distinguish human beings from non –human beings. questions which beg answers in view of african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 29 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. the preceding observations are; (a) do such actions by the so-called rational beings demonstrate rationality? (b) of the two species, which one is rational and which one is irrational? human nature, rationality, and the quest for happiness –a reconsideration this paper is premised on the conventional and popular views that, firstly; humanity is rational by nature (sachs, 2002). secondly, humanity’s survival in general, is characterized consciously or unconsciously, by the insatiable quest and search for the ‘universal good’ or eudaimonia or happiness (sachs, 2002 ; plato, 1965). this view was also aptly corroborated by thinley (1998), in his keynote speech delivered to undp regional millennium meeting for asia and the pacific who asserted that; happiness is the ultimate desire of every human being. all else is a means to this end. it should logically follow then that all individual and collective efforts should be devoted to this common goal. the preceding submission was also further substantiated by aristotle who also argued that the highest good to which man may aspire is happiness. in other words, happiness can be considered to be the ultimate goal of all human endeavours, collectively and individually. however, what distinguishes human beings as rational beings from african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 30 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. other non – human beings is especially, in the manner of searching for the universal good or happiness. whilst non – human beings’ search for happiness can be viewed as being largely ‘determined’; human – beings’ search is not as such, as they are believed to have a free will (finnis, 1998). thus, human beings’ search for the same is said to be determined by rationality. it can also be suggested that human – beings have the capability through rationality or reasoning of not only living according to nature, but more so and very importantly, controlling nature. thus, in their hunt for the universal good, it is assumed, human beings will adopt rational means or rationality to achieve happiness precisely because it is / should be in their nature to do so. by rationality according to the shorter oxford english dictionary is meant, “…the quality of possessing reason or the power of being able to exercise one’s reason”. collins english dictionary also defines rationality, as “using reason in thinking out a problem or the possession or utilization of logic or reason”. further, chamber’s twentieth century dictionary defines rationality as “the quality of being rational; the possession of or exercise of reason”. from the above definitions, it is evident that reason or ‘ratiocination’ should be at the centre of rationality, whereby rationality, in this paper refers to the use of reason or the process of ratiocination to achieve certain ends. thus, rationality shall refer to the recognition and acceptance of reason as one’s only source of knowledge, one’s only judge of values and one’s only guide to action. it means one’s total african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 31 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. commitment through reasoning or ratiocination, to a state of full, conscious awareness, to the maintenance of a full mental focus in all issues, in all choices, in all of one’s waking hours. it can be deduced from the preceding that reasoning or ratiocination is a defining feature of rationality. the shorter oxford english dictionary adds an important dimension to the preceding examination of rationality by defining reason as “that intellectual power or faculty, usually characteristic of mankind, which ordinarily is employed to adopt thought and action”. this definition is particularly significant as it speaks well to the distinction between mankind and non – mankind or non – human beings. reason is a term that refers to the capacity human beings have to make sense of things, to establish and verify facts, and to change or justify practices, institutions and beliefs. the concept of reason is sometimes referred to as rationality and sometimes as discursive reason, in opposition to intuitive reason. reason, "reasoning" or ratiocination is associated with conscious thinking, cognition, and intellect. reason, is thus the means by which rational beings understand themselves to think about cause and effect, truth and falsehood, and what is good or bad. thus, while all other non – human beings are for instance, intuitively and unconditionally driven by the impulse to preserve their own lives in search of happiness and by the impulse of proliferation, human beings on the other hand, have the power to master or control even these impulses. human beings can control both their african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 32 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. sexual desires and their will to live. as has been mentioned above it is these characteristics amongst others which seem to categorically set human beings in contra – distinction from other mammals or non – human beings. frankfurt (1986) expands further on this distinction when he notes that; there are three possible sorts of beings: (1) animal-like or automaton-like creatures that have only first-order desires; (2) wanton creatures that may have second-order desires but no second order-volitions; and (3) persons who have second order-volition which attribute to them a will. frankfurt’s categorization of beings is interesting as he seems to be speaking to this paper. if we relate his observations to our discussion it means there are three types of human beings, notably; animal – like or automaton like, wantons and lastly persons who have second – order volitions. however, what distinguishes other beings from persons is their inability to make ‘second – order volitions which attribute to them a will’. the phrase ‘second order-volition which attribute to them a will’, in this categorization is significant. what this means is that; while(1) and (2) above have desires, they lack the will to control their desires on the basis that they do not think about what they desire, but they simply desire it and then go on to desire it. persons, on the other hand have desires, but before they act on their desires, they think about what they desire, before they decide to desire it. in other words, they do not simply desire and act african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 33 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. on their desire, rather and very crucially, they reflect or rationalise or reason about their particular desires. in this process of thinking about the desires, they are seeking the rationality, reasonableness or justification of their desire. thus, the ability to critically think and reason about desires or to have second – order desires or the ability to reason about their desires is characteristic of or is reserved for human beings. however, we think this capability is reserved not for human beings per se, but persons. this observation is critical as it speaks to two important distinctions between human beings and persons notably that; while all human beings can think not all human beings can think well, reason or rationalise well. secondly, while all persons can reason, not all of them can reason well or appropriately. lastly, while all human beings are people, not all people are persons. thus, the ability to reason well is reserved for real persons, who in this paper are referred to as vanhu chaivo. in this paper, we consider people as human – beings who have second – order desires and thus can think, rationalise and reason about their desires. on this basis, these are merely people. persons, on the other hand are considered as operating at a higher plane than mere people. persons like people think critically about, or reason and rationalize their desires. however unlike mere people, persons consider the appropriateness of what they desire within a broader framework, which is not entirely individualist. in other words, persons (vanhu chaivo) make decisions pertaining to their happiness african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 34 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. which are rational but, essentially culturally appropriate. if the above analysis is cogent we therefore posit that; indeed zimbabwe has many people (vanhu) but not all them are persons (vanhu kwavo). in view of the problem under discussion, we further put it that; zimbabwe, has both ‘animal – like human beings’ and ‘wanton like human beings’ (mhuka dzavanhu) as well as persons (vanhu kwavo) who can reason or have capacity to make second – order desires. thus, what characterises mhuka dzevanhu, within the present discussion, are people who are incapable of making culturally appropriate and rational decisions and judgments in pursuit of their happiness. vanhu kwavo (persons), on the other hand, are those among the majority of people who are capable of making culturally rational and appropriate decisions in search of their happiness. however, what seems interesting and at the same time disturbing, in view of the problem under discussion, is the observation that; zimbabweans seem to be moving towards becoming mhuka dzevanhu, yet mhuka chaidzo are ironically ‘behaving’ like vanhu chaivo. this is notwithstanding the fact that; animals are considered irrational. by irrational pertaining to animals refers to their supposed inability to think (kusafunga). similarly, by irrationality as it relates to mere human beings, is taken to refer to their inability to think or reason well. however, what we are therefore arguing is that; is it not better not to think than to think wrongly or inappropriately. if one’s ability to think leads one to the ‘invasion of children’s’ ‘innocences’, we hazard to say; it is proper not to think at all. essentially we are african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 35 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. suggesting that; if man’s rationality is leading him to do the irrational, then we argue; is not proper and desirable that man becomes irrational. by irrationality in this paper, as it relates to animals, is meant their inability to think and reason or the fact that they operate on instinct. this is premised on the submission that; no cases of rape between animal themselves or of people having been raped by animals have been reported. against, this backdrop, one naturally asks; of the two species; human beings and animals, which one is rational? this therefore is the basis of the irrationality of the rational thesis of this paper. on the basis of this thesis, the author posits that; human beings are systematically becoming irrational; hence the urgent need to contain this slide into irrationality, not by jails but by an appropriate education. the author thinks this appropriate education, which is hereby referred to as education for hunhu, will develop proper human beings or persons(vanhu kwavo), who are capable of making culturally rational and appropriate decisions and judgments in their pursuit of happiness. it needs however, to be further mentioned that discourse on the rationality or what this paper refers to, ‘thinking well, or reasoning well’ especially in the context of man’s search for happiness, is controversial and problematical. it is highly contentious because the term is subjective. thus, it is very difficult to judge one’s actions as either rational or irrational, precisely because everyone can rationalize one’s actions or everyone has his / her own rationalization. it is along the same logic, why human actions can african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 36 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. justifiably be conceived as either rational or irrational but the same cannot be said of said of actions or behaviours of animals, precisely because the latter have the potential to rationalize or ratiocinate while the latter cannot. additionally, it is precisely because every human being can rationalize and every situation has its unique rationalization, which makes discourse on the rationality or irrationality of human highly problematic. however, in spite of the observations, within the context of the present discussion, the rationality or irrationality of human – beings should be conceptualized within the context of the people’s culture, worldview and philosophy of life. within the present writing therefore, one’s rationality or otherwise is to be evaluated within the context of ‘chivanhu’ and ‘hunhu’ as the proposed guiding philosophy of life informing the shona peoples’s search for the ultimate good or happiness. in other words, it is being argued that one’s search for happiness must be conducted, understood and appreciated within the context of chivanhu’ and ‘hunhu’, if that search is to be viewed as rational. in other words, this paper is positing cultural rationality as opposed to rationality per se. the author concedes cultural rationality, to be a type of rationality or reasoning which is anchored on and defined by a particular people’s philosophy of life (luthuli,1982). thus, in this regard, what would constitute as a rational action is an action which resonates with the particular people’s philosophy of life. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 37 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. the paradox of the rational and the irrationality of the rational – contextualizing man’s search for happiness in further interrogating the place of happiness in the lives of man, the author draws insights from the symbosium. the author examines happiness from the perspective of two paradoxes, namely; plato’s paradox of the rational and secondly, what this paper has considered as the paradox of the irrationality of the rational. in the symbosium, plato was trying to advance a theory of motivation for human action and he explains how human beings try to achieve the chief good which is happiness. man’s search for the chief good or happiness has resulted in what plato referred to as the paradox of the rational or the paradox of irrationality (vlastos, 1971). the central phenomenon of the paradox being that, ‘human beings look irrational while they rationally pursue the good’. the paradox arises from the fact that it is impossible to pursue and attain happiness directly. happiness is of the nature that it cannot be attained or conceptualized in its totality. in striving for happiness, people seem to strive for other things which they regard as good. what is recognized as good in the kinds of pursuits that plato has in mind include; art, political reform, science and the raising of children. nowadays, it must be admitted, the list of the kinds of pursuits which are regarded as good and thus bringing about happiness is inexhaustible. however, chief among these seem to be money, precisely because money has been viewed as the ‘mother’ of or the key to all happiness. once such a pursuit becomes central to african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 38 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. one’s life, and is embraced as good, one responds rationally to this goodness by hanging on to it. when one embraces something as good, plato suggests, one in a certain sense loses sight of one’s own happiness. for instance, when we are committed to the good of our children or the search for money, this pursuit literally ‘takes over’ our lives and starts to dictate and direct them. it is not assessed in the light of whether it really makes us happy; we do not back off when we realize that we are constantly exhausted and worried; we hold on to it as something good. that is, the fact that one cannot pursue happiness directly means that one shall be ‘sold’ to the pursuit of other things. thus, the pursuit of happiness actually consists in the pursuit of other things. it is in this context, that man’s search for happiness is indeed paradoxical precisely because of its elusive and rather baffling nature. it is so because in searching for happiness one has to search for other things even to the extent of enduring suffering, pain and sacrifice to attain them, in the short term and then happiness in the long term. it needs also to be further reiterated that, the search for happiness culminating in the paradox of the rational is premised on the fact that man is rational. thus, even though the search for happiness seems irrational, people in their search are ideally supposed to use rational means to attain happiness. plato’s paradox of rationality, fits quite well into what this paper terms, the paradox of the irrationality of the rational. whilst in the symposium, human – beings’ search for happiness is paradoxical in african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 39 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. that, in searching for happiness people have to rationally search for other things, the paradox of the 21st century man is even worse and more saddening. it is worsened by the fact that, in people’s search for happiness, people are not only searching for other things, but are doing so, through irrational means. thus, the issue which is of concern to the present paper is not the irrationality of the search for happiness per se, because that can be appreciated as being intrinsic to the search for happiness. rather, what is of great concern to us is the irrational manner, today’s people adopt in their search for happiness. thus, the above cases above which are only a tip of the ice – berg, typify and are symptomatic of the irrational means which today’s people especially in zimbabwe, have resorted to in order attain happiness. specifically; we posit the invasion of children ‘innocences’ as exemplifying the irrationality of the rational. accordingly, in light of this, man’s view of happiness and more importantly his rationality is being called into question. it is being called into question precisely because the manner in which today’s man is searching for happiness seems to be compromising as well as undermining the dominant and traditional perception of man as a rational being. the manner in which 21st century man is sold out to attaining happiness regrettably corroborates the paradox of the rational or the irrationality of the rational. specifically, the manner in which today’s man searches for money in the hope of getting happiness is indeed and should be great cause of concern. in view of this, this paper is therefore calling for an urgent need firstly; of a redefinition of man’s humanity as well as happiness and, secondly; african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 40 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. for intervention strategies to contain the possible and inevitable degeneration of society into the ‘irrationality of the rational’. chivanhu, hunhu as the basis of shona cultural rationality hunhu / ubuntu has of late become a topical issue in most academic discourses both within and beyond our borders. unhu/hunhu which ordinarily means good manners and behaviour in both shona and the ndebele languages (gelfand, 1973), is the equivalent of ubuntu in ndebele. however, in this paper, the term hunhu shall be used throughout the discussion. it is also significant to point out that; the positions arrived in this paper have significance even for the ndebele as well. we think most discourses on hunhu have made a serious academic error in conceptualization by consciously or otherwise, ignoring the fundamental connection between chivanhu and hunhu. this can be attributed to a fine line which obtains between the two. as a result, the two terms have unfortunately and oftentimes, been considered as identical, in both conception and usage. in spite of this we think the two are distinguishable. accordingly, we argue; one cannot meaningfully interrogate, conceptualise and appreciate hunhu outside the context of chivanhu. we consider chivanhu to be the womb from which hunhu germinates, sprouts and is nurtured. chivanhu is the root while hunhu are either the trunk or branches of the tree. the notions of chivanhu and hunhu define us the shona as black africans of zimbabwe into what and who there are. we take chivanhu, to define african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 41 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. and influence the manner we interrogate and interpret reality and phenomena in and around us. hunhu though considered as identical with chivanhu, is actually anchored on chivanhu. we take chivanhu to refer to a worldview of the black africans of zimbabwe. it can also be considered as the philosophy of life of the black africans of zimbabwe. hunhu becomes the unique and peculiar manner, black zimbabweans interrogate their reality. most discourses on hunhu have tended to confine it to being strictly, a moral sensibility. hunhu can be considered beyond the moral domain, as it like chivanhu permeates every aspect and domain of black peoples’ lives. hunhu therefore refers to the people’s sensibilities of and about their world, be they; moral, economic, religious, political, social and otherwise. essentially, we take hunhu to refer to tsika dazakanaka nemagariro evanhu vatema. tsika dazakanaka entails a lot beyond the scope of this paper. this is because tsika dzakanaka, apart from being numerous, differ from one ethnic group to the other, and even within the same ethnic group or community, variations are also possible. against this admission, it is a futile exercise to consider providing an exhaustive list of tsika dzakanaka. however, for our purposes it is vital to point out that; tsika dzakanaka and thus hunhu was premised on on “respect for the norms and traditions of the family, community and society”. broodryk (2002: 56) expands on the ‘norms and traditions of the family and community by conceding that ubuntu was: african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 42 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. based on the primary values of intense humanness, caring, sharing, respect, compassion and associated values, ensuring a happy and qualitative human community life in the spirit of family. the author considers mugumbate & nyanguru (2013) views on hunhu/ubuntu as relevant to this discussion. they conceded that: various words have been used to describe the presence of ubuntu. some of these are sympathy, compassion, benevolence, solidarity, hospitality, generosity, sharing, openness, affirming, available, kindness, caring, harmony, interdependence, obedience, collectivity and consensus. ubuntu is opposite to vengeance, opposite to confrontation, opposite to retribution and that ubuntu values life, dignity, compassion, humaneness harmony and reconciliation (mugumbate & nyanguru, 2013: 84) the above views are critical in our articulation of hunhu. they should be considered as the values and sensibilities which were firstly anchored on and secondly; projected and promoted hunhu among the people. we think it is proper to admit that the main premise of hunhu was the promotion of humaneness and life of both the individual and the family and the community. the south african african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 43 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. nobel laureate archbishop desmond tutu captures this view aptly when admits that: hunhu/ubuntu is the essence of being human. it speaks of the fact that my humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound up in yours. i am because i belong. it speaks about wholeness, it speaks about compassion. in this paper, hunhu shall refer to the mental and physical dispositions of an individual characterized by humility, kindness, courtesy, warmth, empathy, understanding, love, humaneness, respectfulness, responsibleness, friendliness and consideration which manifests itself in the manner one talks, walks, behaves, dresses, interacts with relatives and non-relatives alike (makuvaza, 2013, 1996a & b; chigwedere, 1995). turning to the discussion, the above as constitutes both mental and physical competencies and sensibilities which are predominantly a result of thinking and reasoning well. hunhu has potential to influences how and why we think what we think. thus, we are saying; hunhu should be the basis of people’s search for happiness, if that search is to be considered culturally rational and acceptable. in other words, people’s search for happiness in zimbabwe, should be evaluated against the above competencies and values. essentially, we are arguing that; hunhu should be considered as the benchmark, against which any search for happiness in should be evaluated african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 44 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. against. thus, one wonders, whether or not, molesting innocent children or even adults for that matter, in one’s quest for happiness, can constitute a rational act by a rational human being? the fundamental rhetorical question which should inform any rational act by a so – called rational being in zimbabwe should be: zvandiri kuita zvine hunhu here (is what i am doing justifiable?) or vandiri kuitira zvinhu zvakadai vanoti zvine hunhu here? (will those affected by actions consider them as just?). if the answer is in the affirmative, then one can proceed, if negative; then a culturally rational being would stop. man’s search for happiness in zimbabwe should be anchored on chivanhu and hunhu if that search is to be considered as culturally justifiable and rational. towards containing the irrationality of the rational –not more jails but more education several measures have been taken by society to contain the irrationality of the rational in their search for happiness. for instance, in showing society’s disdain of this menace, offenders have been jailed and stiffer penalties instituted. however, in light of the persistence of this scourge in our society, we think these measures have been to no avail. thus, some members of zimbabwean society, in an attempt to protect their daughters against possible molestation and ‘invasion’ have resorted to traditional means of ‘fencing’ off’ their daughters (h – metro, tuesday, 12 october, 2010). ‘fencing off’ in this context refers to traditional practices and measures taken african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 45 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. by certain individual members of society to protect their ‘properties’ in general against thieves. for instance, in the present context some parents would use rukwa to protect their innocent daughters against being victims of sexual abuse especially by men. ‘rukwa’ in shona culture is a form of ‘mushonga’, ‘muti’ or medicine. thus, in the event that a man abuses or rapes a girl who has been ‘fenced off’ or treated with this ‘rukwa’, the rapist may befall various forms of serious sicknesses which in most cases result in death if he does own up. it needs to be submitted that even this practice of ‘fencing’ has not been very effective as a deterrent as still cases of child and women sexual abuse continue to be reported. because jailing offenders or ‘fencing off’ have not yielded the intended results, probably it is worthwhile considering other interventions. whilst the irrationality of the search for happiness can be conceptualized as a given per se, it becomes an issue, as in the zimbabwean context, when it takes on irrational means of attaining it. accordingly, in an attempt to contribute towards national efforts at curbing the irrationality of the rational in its search for happiness, this paper is arguing for a type of education notably, education for hunhu. it is surmised that; this particular type of education has the potential to ‘awaken’ us, the zimbabweans (so-called rational beings), from this degeneration into irrationality, and hopefully back into rationality. we are arguing for this type of education, because we think this type of search for happiness is not only irrational, but is also not consistent with tsika dzechivanhu and tsika dzine hunhu. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 46 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. by education for hunhu is meant an education which has as its point of departure the world – view of the shona people of zimbabwe which is characterized by chivanhu as described above, and which seeks to articulate and promote hunhu kwaho (good behaviour). it is in search for other possible measures to address this paradox, that this paper locates education for hunhu at the centre of the intervention process. education for hunhu is being considered as a possible intervening strategy because it is being contented that it has the potential of possibly attaining long – term results in this regard. it is being suggested that the current strategies are being viewed as short – term measures yet what is required are long – term solutions to this menace. current strategies are being considered as short – term, because imprisoning the offenders does not quite instil the required rationality in the offenders but simply fear of imprisonment. as a consequence, either offender will continue committing the offence while finding other means of avoiding being caught or alternatively, they will simply become daring as seems to be the case. in fact, there is debate as to whether or not imprisonment is the best method of possibly developing a crime – free society. others argue that incarceration has only the short – term effect of temporarily removing criminals from society and also deterring would – be offenders by instilling in them a fear for possible imprisonment. thus, imprisonment provides a minimal solution to the problem as it only creates fear of imprisonment. what is required in people is not african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 47 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. so much fear of imprisonment but rather people should see the reason or rationality of not committing crime. in other words, people should not commit crime for fear of imprisonment for regrettably some have become so daring as not to be scared by imprisonment, but rather and very importantly because it is irrational to do so. in other words, people should, in the long – term, be in a position to see reason or rationality and not prison before they commit crime. fearing imprisonment and not reason regrettably reduces people to the irrational. what societies in general and zimbabwean society in particular need are not citizens who fear imprisonment but rather citizens with a culture or propensity of not committing crime especially child sexually related ones or any other sexually related crimes or even any crime for that matter. it is in this regard that it is being suggested that education is strategically positioned to potentially make people see reason in their actions and behaviours. in other words, education has a long – term potential of creating a society that is rational, a crucial ingredient in possibly containing the rampage of the irrationality of the rational in society. it needs however, to be submitted that it should not be any education for indeed there is some education going on, but it should be a particular type of education namely education for hunhu. the point of departure in elaborating this position shall be on plato’s educational philosophy and education for hunhu and chivanhu. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 48 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. plato, education for hunhu and the irrationality of the rational – a call for cultural rationality this section is informed by the thesis that; any education deemed relevant and meaningful to any society must firstly, be informed by the people’s philosophy of life (luthuli, 1982; makuvaza, 1996a). secondly, and equally important, such an education must seek to articulate and address the particular people’s historical and concrete existential circumstances and conditions. simply put, education should try to identify and address people’s existential problems and aspirations. zimbabwe in particular and many other nations seem to have a problem of the extreme irrationality of the rational. accordingly, it is being argued that education in zimbabwe, alongside other interventions should be at the forefront in trying to address the problem of the irrationality of the rational. thus, education in zimbabwe should enable and empower, particularly learners, to realize that whilst the search for happiness is irrational per se, its ultimate search should not involve irrational means. it is in this regard that views on education from socratic philosophers like plato and aristotle need consideration. for instance, plato argued that; the aim of education should be the development of reason (scolnicov, 1988; schofield, 1983). aristotle a student of plato goes further to add that; the aim of education should be the production of a good man. a good man is viewed as african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 49 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. one who can use reason to achieve his ends. if these views are considered together it can thus be argued that education should aim at producing a good and reasonable person. it needs to be pointed out that, the concepts of goodness and reasonableness are not only contentious but are also relative. thus, within zimbabwe, one would extend the preceding by adding that, education should in addition to producing a good and reasonable person, should produce a person who has hunhu / ubuntu (makuvaza, 1996a). it is being surmised that given the present problem under discussion, such a person should be one anoteta (one who is scared of) irrational means of attaining happiness. it should be noted that; he does so not so much because he / she is afraid of imprisonment if caught, but rather and very importantly, because anoona kuti izvi hazvina hunhu (it is not acceptable in our culture). this is precisely because, we believe; pachivanhu (shona culture) bestiality (makunakuna), incest, homosexuality and child molestation, zvisionekwi, zvinonyadzisa (its unheard of, its taboo) and zvinhu zvisina hunhu. such a person can thus be best realizable through the introduction of an education rooted in and informed by chivanhu as a philosophy informing the education. it is therefore being contented that, education for hunhu should be viewed as central in efforts to contain the extreme cases of the irrationality of the rational because it is being suggested that, it has the potential of appealing not so much to reason and rationality per se, but more importantly to the soul or conscience of the people. in african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 50 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. other words, it appeals to the humaneness of the individual. thus, precisely because the irrationality of the rational is in most cases currently being perpetrated by the so – called most ‘sophisticated’ and most rational members of our society, what is being argued for, is that rationality alone seems to be inadequate to contain the said problem. rather, rationality should be complemented with hunhu. thus, this paper is arguing for ratiocination or rationalization which is grounded in chivanhu and informed by hunhu. additionally, man’s search for happiness should be defined within the parameters of chivanhu and hunhu if such a search is not going to lead into the irrationality of the rational. it is in this regard that this paper is arguing for situating education informed by hunhu at the centre of efforts to contain the irrationality of the rational in zimbabwe. conclusion the preceding discussion has serious implications for humanity in general and zimbabwean humaneness in particular. it calls for a reconsideration of rationality as the distinctive feature between humans and non – humans precisely because the distinction between the rational and the irrational seems to be systematically becoming too academic and technical. it has been argued that while all people are human beings, not all of them are rational human beings per se. thus, while ‘human-beingness’ can be a given, the same seems currently not to be the case for rationality. it has been further contented that, in order to check the inevitable and systematic african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 51 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. degeneration of the rational into irrationality, it is being suggested that deliberate consideration should be placed on revisiting our culture and values from a reconstructionalist perspective rooted in and informed by chivanhu. accordingly, education informed by the same, and not more jails and stiffer penalties, should be considered to play a pivotal role in efforts to contain the degeneration of the rational into irrationality in their quest for happiness. additionally and very importantly, people’s ratiocinations and rationalizations about happiness and the subsequent search for happiness requires revisiting and further, should be informed by chivanhu and hunhu if their search is not to lead them into the current irrationality of the rational. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 52 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. references alasdair, m.; 2002. dependent rational animals: why human beings need the virtues. illinois: peru publishers. aquinas,t.; 1988. on law, morality and politics. indianapolis: hackett publishing. broodryk, j.; 2002. ubuntu: life lessons from africa. tshwane: ubuntu school of philosophy. finnis, j.; 1998. aquinas: moral, political, and legal theory. oxford: oxford university press. jürgen, h.; 1990. the philosophical discourse of modernity. cambridge: mit press, schofield, k. r.; 1983. the presocratic philosophers (second ed.). cambridge: cambridge university press. luthuli, p.c.; 1982 an introduction to black-oriented in south africa. durban: butterworths. makuvaza, n.; (1996b) educatedness in the african context: the case for education for hunhuism in zimbabwe. zimbabwe bulletin of teacher education. 4 (3) 89-100. makuvaza, n.; (1996a) ‘education in zimbabwe, today and tomorrow: the case for unhuist/ubuntuist in institutions of education in zimbabwe’. zimbabwe journal educational research, 8 (3) 255266. mittelstrass, j.; 1988. 'on socratic dialogue', platonic writings / platonic readings, ed. c.l. griswold. new york and london: routledge. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 53 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 makuvaza, n. mugumbate, j. & nyanguru, a.; 2013. exploring african philosophy: the value of ubuntu in social work, in african journal of social work, 3 (1) 83-100. plato, 1965.; the republic. penguin books: london. sachs, j. 2002.; (trans.) nicomachean ethics. pullins press. scolnicov, s.; 1988. plato's metaphysics of education. london: routledge. vlastos, g.; 1971. 'the paradox of socrates', in the philosophy of socrates. new jersey: anchor books. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 54 _____________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 1 2016 runesu, e. african journal of social work, 6(1), june 2016 14 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ publisher african journal of social work afri. j. soc. work © national association of social workers-zimbabwe/author(s) issn print 1563-3934 issn online 2409-5605 licensed under a creative commons attribution-non-commercial 4.0 international license an overview of military social work: the case of zimbabwe elimon runesu abstract military social work is a branch of the social work profession which provides services to soldiers and their spouses and dependents during peace time, war time and national crises. soldiers face a myriad health and social challenges stemming from war stressors and the challenges of re-integration to civilian life. many war veterans suffer serious mental health disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorders (ptsd) which in most cases may lead to substance abuse, domestic violence, murder and suicide. it therefore follows that, no defence force, whether armed to the teeth with the most modern and sophisticated weaponry would be effective at war if it undermines, or attaches low priority, to the social and welfare needs of its soldiers. it is folly and indeed a sure path to its demise should any armed force chose to ignore the fact that for a soldier to effectively execute combat duties, he needs assurance that his commanders are concerned with his welfare. military social work cannot, therefore, be overemphasized. military social work is a unique profession because of its extraordinary challenges and dilemmas that arise due to military practices and policies. military social work is a largely distinct field of social work. both students of social work and social work practitioners need to be aware of this fact. as a result, the military social workers’ unique experiences and educational needs should be part of the discourse of social work practice in national social work for a. this will influence social work educators to work on curriculum adjustment since military social work practice should balance the needs of individual clients and the needs of military organisations. key terms: military social work, post-traumatic stress disorder, detention barracks, re-integration author details: social services officer/army officer, directorate of army social services (dass, zimbabwe national army. email: elimon.runesu@gmail.com ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 1 2016 runesu, e. african journal of social work, 6(1), june 2016 15 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ introduction the world is increasingly becoming aware of the fact that the human factor remains a key determinant of any outcome, be it in industrial production, fighting wars and the programming, arming, and operation of the most sophisticated weapon systems. it is therefore folly and indeed a sure path to its demise should any armed force chooses to ignore the following: for the soldier to be effective in combat duties, he needs to be assured that his welfare and that of his family are of concern to his commanders. as general sherman of the us army once put it: “…man has two supreme loyalties, to his country and to his family… so long as their families are safe, they will defend their country, believing that by their sacrifice they are safeguarding their families also.” (fellman, 1995) it therefore follows that no defence force would be effective if it undermines, overlooks or attaches low priority to the social and welfare needs of its soldiers. however, due to the ever demanding operational, training and other commitments, those in command of soldiers have often invested little or no time to provide close attention to the various social and welfare needs of these soldiers and their families. cognisant of the need for the provision of this essential service, it is pertinent to fully study and reflect on the practice of military social work. military social work is the field of practice concerned with spearheading and implementing a wide range of programmes and projects which promote and preserve the welfare and wellbeing of soldiers and their dependants. the aim of this paper is to provide an overview of military social work. it offers an insight into the practice and functions of military social workers so as to advance our thinking about military social work practice. military social work practice military social work provides welfare programmes that respond to the needs of soldiers to enable them to effectively conduct their duties. it does this through spearheading and implementing a wide range of programmes, operations and activities which promote and/or preserve the welfare and wellbeing of soldiers and their dependents. service members and veterans often face a myriad physical and mental health problems. as well, these military members experience social challenges that stem from the combat and operational stressors experienced during deployment and the challenges of reintegration into civilian life. for one to effectively intervene in this population the social worker ought to have some working knowledge of these issues and the cultural context within which they occur. this means that military social work practice knowledge should be part of social work training at the university. the current position is that all zimbabwean institutions of social work training are doing very little, if anything at all, in teaching military social work practice. this situation cannot continue. military social workers assist the military community by developing, coordinating and delivering services which help promote self-reliance, resilience and stability during war and even during peace time as shall be explained in military social worker’s functions later in this paper. social workers in the military also conduct training activities that are designed to equip soldiers and families with the skills, knowledge and support needed to face the challenges of military life. the rationale for training military social work in institutions of higher learning cannot be overemphasized. military social work focuses on the military as an organisation so as to create a conducive work milieu. here, the social worker is interested in establishing standard practices, structures, processes and policies that will benefit the functioning of the organisation and also the employee. good social policies should not jeopardise organisation’s productivity as well as social justice for individual workers. this is augmented by the notion of the ‘organisation as client’ advanced by googins & davidson (1993). therefore, military social work practice has to be recognised as a specialised area so that practitioners are trained to provide a full range of human services to the nation’s military, veterans and their families, helping them cope with the stresses of military life. above all, besides ethical dilemmas that are part of social work, the policies and practices in the military pose even more challenges to practitioners, for instance, the hierarchical structure governed by military law, dual clients (the organisation and the individual client) and geographic and professional isolation. social workers also have to adhere to the professional values and ethics while providing a service to an institution that has its own unique culture, standards, and values. this paper therefore seeks to develop distinctive ways of thinking about military social work as influenced by various contextual factors so that the practice can evolve with its own distinctive flavour. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 1 2016 runesu, e. african journal of social work, 6(1), june 2016 16 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ methodology this paper is largely based on the author’s experiences in his practice in the zimbabwe national army social services department. it also draws on past journal articles and reports. the author benefited immensely from published literature from south african defence forces social work model propounded by retired lieutenant colonel van breda of south african defence forces (sandf) who also published articles in journals on military social work. he is now an associate professor at the department of social work at the university of johannesburg, south africa. prof van breda was an active duty military social worker, in uniform, from 1991 to 2007, leaving the sandf with the rank of lieutenant colonel. the zimbabwean military social work approach (zmswa) zmswa endeavours to advance new social work interventions to the varied problems faced by zimbabwean military organisations. it uses the term ‘position’, which was coined by melanie klein (the post-freudian child analyst). klein, cited in (hinshelwood, 1991) used the term position to avoid a sense of prescriptive progression through freud’s psychosexual stages of development, as well as to describe the positions from which a human child or adult may view the external world whilst experiencing the internal world. military social work practice in this context does not follow stages-hierarchy of importance in accomplishment of tasks, but places the practitioner at a position of advantage so that he or she intervenes at an appropriate time to provide specific intervention as dictated by situation on the ground. in line with this view, the zmswa’s preference for the term ‘position’ is not mere semantics. it allows for a greater fluidity of movement between positions that are less valueladen, so that one position is not necessarily better or more important than the other. a practice model comprising positions is more organic and holistic than one comprising stages/phases. it avoids the pitfalls of linear thinking by ensuring circularity. the zmswa, therefore, comprises five practice positions from which a military social worker may intervene from as shown on (figure 1). each position describes a different way of perceiving a problem. the five positions as described below in detail. position one: restorative interventions (rehabilitation) restorative interventions to individuals involve social rehabilitation which is offered to retiring soldiers, and to the physically and mentally challenged members of the force so as to socially reintegrate them into civilian life. it is considered that these clients missed out on opportunities to acquire vital vocational skills like carpentry, welding, crop and animal production whilst they concentrated on weaponry. worth noting is the fact that military duties are inherently dangerous to life and limb. tours of duty, that is, getting involved in war-related tasks such as flying aircraft, driving military hardware or firing certain sophisticated weapons, may result in physical and psychological injuries which require social work intervention. in essence, social rehabilitation involves restoration of lost social capabilities in order to return these soldiers to former or near former social functioning condition. the intervention is crucial to those soldiers who become disabled during the course of duty so as to enhance their social functioning. this is in line with the international labour organisation’s view of social rehabilitation. this approach involves the provision of those services such as vocational guidance, training and selective placement, designed to enable a disabled person to secure and retain a sustainable existence (ghebali, 1989). the work done by military social workers with disabled soldiers in zimbabwe follows five stages namely, vocational assessment, vocational guidance, vocational training, selective placement and follow up. a. vocational assessment: it is work done to evaluate whether the nature and extent of a member’s disability or age could allow him/her to do a skills course of his/her choice. b. vocational guidance: rehabilitees are assisted to choose a skills training that suits their nature and extent of disability or age through giving them advice for them to make informed decisions. c. vocational training: successful rehabilitees are then send to national rehabilitation centres currently beatrice and ruwa or to any other institution which can accommodate the nature, extend and the degree of disability. d. selective placement: some rehabilitees who complete their training are assisted with reassignment in fields within the military which require less physical fitness in line with their new vocational skills acquired or they are reintegrated in civilian life if they are to be medically discharged in line with defence service disability legislation. e. follow up: there is need to follow up on reassigned or resettled rehabilitees in order to check how they are copying with their new placements or re-integration in civilian life. position two: promotive interventions (provisioning) provisioning entails work which is done by the military social worker in mobilising and developing resources essential in providing solutions to the various social problems experienced by serving members and their families or dependants and also facilitation of their use. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 1 2016 runesu, e. african journal of social work, 6(1), june 2016 17 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ position three: supportive/work-person interventions (counselling) counselling involves attending to individual serving members, their families and their dependants on a oneon-one basis, to restore social functioning. solutions include making appropriate referrals, that is, linking the clients with other resource systems. this is casework as it is famously known. position four: reactive/workplace interventions (social policy advocacy and social change) workplace intervention is done in order to keep commanders of soldiers at all levels well-informed about the nature and extent of social problems affecting the soldiers under their command and make relevant social policy recommendations in order to influence social change as well as ensuring implementation of the social policies. position five: proactive interventions (research) social work research is done in order to identify sources of social problems and advise the relevant authorities on the need for social policy and social change. military social workers ought to come up with research topics which are of interest to the army concerning problem areas that need to be addressed. carrying out surveys also improve the living conditions of the serving members and their families. some examples of major research activities already under taken in the past by zimbabwe national army social workers, include troop morale surveys, disability survey, orphanage feasibility study, health delivery system in the air force of zimbabwe, wills and inheritance laws project, suicide cases and lately fraternisation and sexual abuse surveys. figure 1. zimbabwe military social work approach functions of military social workers to achieve the said interventions, it is pertinent to remind ourselves that military social work is multifaceted. hence social workers have a mandate to, among other things, carry out the following functions in peace and during wartime. peacetime functions casework provides counselling on a one to one basis. interviews are conducted with individual soldiers and/or their families experiencing social problems such as financial distress, marital conflicts, child welfare, adult welfare and many other social problems. when work is done with the member and his family it becomes family therapy and work professionally done with husband and wife only is termed couple therapy. group work sometimes a group of people may experience common social problems. military social workers are mandated to provide group work services to such service users. this usually involves support groups of members experiencing similar problems such as hiv&aids, drug abuse, alcoholism, disability and post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of combat. community work military social work also involves planning and implementing community projects aimed at improving the standard of living for its members and their dependents. this includes widows and orphans of deceased members military social worker proactive intervention (research) reactive intervention (social policy & social change) supportive intervention (counselling) promotive intervention (provisioning) restorative intervention (rehabilitation) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 1 2016 runesu, e. african journal of social work, 6(1), june 2016 18 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ currently involved in projects at kushingirira army widows association poultry project at magunje growth point as well as chigovanyika widows firewood project in harare. in addition, community work includes various military hospital improvements in terms of cooking facilities, entertainment and refrigeration. zimbabwean military social work also provides technical expertise and material resources for members’ wives through zimbabwe national army wives and widows association (zawwa) to start income generating projects nationwide. this is in line with thomas (1984)’s assertion that, community work utilises inter-group processes to help communities understand problems that exist and utilise the available resources to bring about solutions that strengthen the total community and enrich the lives of its members. housing services housing services involve military social workers’ role to negotiate with different city councils and local authorities for houses or stands to provide personal family accommodation for serving members. in the majority of cases the stands are secured through zimbabwe defence forces benefit fund and developed to core houses before being handed over to beneficiaries. examples of such projects already completed have been reported in various zimbabwean newspapers. liaison military social workers liaise with other government and non-governmental organizations for the provision of needed welfare services that cannot be provided from within the organization, for example the department of social welfare, ruwa rehabilitation centre, beatrice rehabilitation centre, childline, master of high court, civil courts, musasa project, and st giles rehabilitation centre only to mention a few. facilitation/administrative social work a military social worker plays the role of a facilitator, assisting clients with access to financial and nonfinancial benefits. prevalent in the military is social worker’s assistance to widows and widowers, guardians and surviving children to process documents necessary for accessing terminal benefits andpension. this is done through the completion of pension document form (pd2), confirmation of customary marriages (annexure c) and issuing letters of guardianship. the best interest of the child is also a primary consideration thus social workers ensure child protection and care taking into account the rights and duties of his or her parents, through facilitating court orders for the maintenance of neglected children. psychosocial support psychosocial support is the perception that one is cared for, has assistance available from other people, and that one is part of a supportive social network. these supportive resources can be emotional e.g., nurturance, tangible e.g., financial assistance, informational e.g., advice, or companionship e.g., sense of belonging. social support is the actual assistance or can be measured as either the perception that one has assistance available, or the degree to which a person is integrated in a social network. support can come from many sources, such as family, friends, organisations, co-workers, etc. military social workers conduct home and hospital visits for the sick in a bid of meeting a person's emotional, social, mental and spiritual needs. all of these are essential elements of positive human healing through purchasing and distributing “get well soon” cards, fruit hampers and sometimes toiletries. social workers also ensure that hospitalised clients understand the nature of their illness and encouraged them to take prescribed medication as well as assessing their wellbeing in the hospital and intervene appropriately. correctional services military social workers provide rehabilitation to soldiers in detention barracks because military offences are inherent since the army is a disciplined force. as such proper management of offenders is essential. hence the social worker’s role is important in the process. besides being punitive, the army detention barracks has to address the psychological aspect of members under sentence. educational social work this includes provision of pre-school and school social services that promote child welfare and child development. social worker’s task is to ensure that children’s’ rights as enshrined in the children’s protection and adoption act (chapter 5:06) are observed. wartime functions whilst military social work continues with all the above stated functions in peace time, they also assume other roles that are peculiar to times of armed conflict. these include: a. pre-deployment counselling. b. family counselling. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 1 2016 runesu, e. african journal of social work, 6(1), june 2016 19 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ c. combat stress management. d. work with refugees. e. work with displaced persons. f. human rights advisory role. g. post deployment counselling. below is the examination of each in detail: pre-deployment counselling as a preventive measure especially of stress and administrative shortcomings that adversely affect soldiers and their families, military social workers conduct welfare parades with troops about to be deployed. welfare parades are also conducted with spouses, in an effort to conscientise them of services available to them while members are away. family counselling apart from military duties, soldiers have other social roles to play in society. when they are deployed on operation, a vacuum is created back home. the role of military social workers is to assist the family to solve any problems that may surface as a result of deployment. combat stress management a war situation is a stress-provoking event. therefore, during war, some members experience a lot of shock or combat stress. this is normally characterised by depression, non-specific fears or anxiety, maladaptive behaviours and stress induced paralysis. the role of social workers in this scenario will be to attend to those problems and make the individual serving member fit for battle. work with refugees during his tour of duty, a commander may be confronted with refugee problems. a welfare officer in collaboration with existing international organizations, will (1) build up morale and alleviate stress in refugees’ camp. (2) attend to special needs of refugees, women and children. (3) facilitate family reunion and (4) assist in the preparation for resettlement and voluntary repatriation in conjunction with un agencies. work with displaced persons displaced persons are individuals or families forced to leave their normal homes due to internal disasters or acts of war within their country borders. social workers’ role as with refugees, is to deal with anxiety of being displaced and loss of property and assist in linking families with aid. human rights advisory role a social services officer is an advisor to the commander on human rights issues and humanitarian law during an armed conflict as enshrined by international humanitarian law. madden and wayne (2003) observe that the geneva conventions and their additional protocols are important international laws consistent with social work values that seek to ameliorate the suffering of the vulnerable and protect human dignity during times of armed conflict. post-deployment counselling post-deployment counselling is usually aimed at dealing with effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd). ptsd is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or potential. traumatic events that may trigger ptsd include violent personal assaults, natural or human-caused disasters, accidents, or military combat. in short ptsd is the psychological reaction as a result of harrowing experiences such as life-threatening experiences which can occur to soldiers in the conduct of everyday tasks. large explosive devices that detonate near them can produce traumatic brain injury, as well as loss of limbs. fellman (ibid) laments that world war ii combat veteran paul fussell wrote that: “the culture of war . . . is not like the culture of ordinary peace-time life. it is a culture dominated by fear, blood, and sadism, by irrational actions and preposterous . . . results. it has more relation to science fiction or to absurdist theatre than to actual life” at the same time, improved medical care will lead to increased survivorship, albeit survivorship with long-term subsequent physical and emotional stress formilitary personnel and veterans as well as their loved ones. in recent years, the mental health profession has refined its understanding of the diagnosis and treatment of ptsd as an extreme reaction to traumatic events that occur in military combat or in domestic violence and child abuse (logan, 1987). ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 1 2016 runesu, e. african journal of social work, 6(1), june 2016 20 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ clients served in military social work practice the relationship among the clientele groups served by military social workers is interdependent and intertwined. in as far as clients related to soldiers for example their dependents are served by military social workers, clients with grievances against the same soldiers like those owed money or services also receive equal attention from army social services. the organisation an organisation such as the zimbabwe national army is a service user hence it established a social work department to meet the welfare needs of its troops. military social workers eliminate all social and welfare problems that may adversely influence operational performance and efficiency of soldiers so that they may effectively carry out their military duties. this perspective is emphasized by the ecosystems theory (gitterman & germain, 2008). central to ecosystems theory /approach is the notion of what gordon hamilton termed ‘theperson-in-situation’ which highlights the “threefold configuration consisting of the person, the situation, and the interaction between them” (hollis & woods, 1981, p. 27, emphasis added). however, social workers frequently struggle to think with both the person and the environment (organisation) in one context in mind. instead, they have a tendency to focus on either the person or the environment (i.e. the soldier or the military system), rather than an integrated person-in-environment. the soldier the individual soldiers form the most famous clientele group served by military social workers. the urgency of military duties demands that a soldier be in the correct mindset, appropriate psychological disposition and motivational levels for him to be effective in war (applewhite et al., 1995). military social workers therefore, ensure that the psychological and social needs of soldiers are adequately catered for during peace and wartime. families/dependents of serving members for a soldier to be effective in combat and peacetime duties, he or she needs to be assured that his/her welfare and that of his family are of concern to his/her commanders. according to general sherman in fellman (ibid), ‘man has two supreme loyalties; to country and to family’. for as long as their families are safe they will defend their countries and even the bonds of patriotism, discipline and comradeship are loosened when the family itself is threatened. thus military social workers cater for the wellbeing of soldiers’ families. for instance, zimbabwean army social workers assisted families to access resources such as two-thirds of spouses’ salaries when zimbabwean soldiers were at war during the democratic republic og congo campaign. widows and orphans surviving spouses and children of deceased members often face various social and welfare problems following the death of a soldier who in most cases was their family bread winner, especially during these days when zimbabwean economy is struggling. pension benefits take long to be availed because of cash flow challenges so military social workers therefore, are mandated to administer a charitable fund that caters for the welfare needs of widows and widowers and orphans during the period between the death of a member and the disbursement of his or her terminal benefits and pensions. such clients may be assisted with rentals, basic groceries and other essentials including school fees assistance through the zna widows and orphans benevolent fund (znawobf) in the case of zimbabwe national army social work interventions. the ordinary citizens in cases where civilians (nonmilitary citizens) encounter problems as a result of military deployments or militants themselves, it is the social worker who is the bridge between that population and the military authorities. certain problems need military commanders’ intervention either by addressing their soldiers or by taking stern corrective disciplinary actions against the soldiers who offend the ordinary citizens. predominant are cases are of misunderstandings during interactions with the civilian population in social and recreational arenas. conclusions metaphorically speaking, expecting high productive, motivation and discipline from a person who is inundated with social problems is comparable to squeezing water out of a stone. military social worker’s role therefore is to promote and preserve welfare through information, education, resources provision and advocating for improved soldiers’ conditions of service because it is a soldier who is free from social problems who is likely to have high morale, high motivation, high productivity and high level of discipline. the development and provision of adequate social services can go a long way in guaranteeing these virtues. it is hoped that the social work approach adopted by the military in zimbabwe maybe expanded so that it guides practice and curriculum development. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 1 2016 runesu, e. african journal of social work, 6(1), june 2016 21 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ references applewhite, l. w., hamlin, e. r., brintzenhofeszoc, k., & timberlake, e. m.; (1995). clinical social work practice in the u.s. army: an update. military medicine, 160(6), 283-288. fellman, m.; (1995). citizen sherman: a life of william tecumseh sherman. lawrence: university of kansas press. ghebali, v.; (1989). "the international labour organisation: a case study on the evolution of u.n. specialised agencies". dordrecht: martinus nijhoff publishers. gitterman, a., & germain, c. b.; (2008). the life model of social work practice: advances in theory and practice (3rd ed.). new york: columbia university press. googins, b., & davidson, b. n.; (1993). the organization as client: broadening the concept of employee assistance programs. social work, 38(4), 477-484. hollis, f., & woods, m. e.; (1981). casework: a psychosocial therapy (3rd ed.). new york: random house. 947-951. logan, k. v.; (1987). the emotional cycle of deployment. proceedings, 113(2), 43-47. madden, r. g., & wayne, r. h.; (2003). social work and the law: a therapeutic jurisprudence perspective. social work, 48(3) 338-347. van breda, a. d.; (2001). resilience theory: a literature review. pretoria, south africa: south african military health service. van breda, a. d., & du plessis, a. w.; (2009). a model of occupational social work practice: a developmental social welfare critique. social work practitioner researcher, 21(3), 316-333. _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 5, number 1, 2015 editorial note african journal of social work, 5(1), june 2015 ii _____________________________________________________________________ editorial note i am glad to bring to you volume 5 number 1 of the african journal of social work (ajsw). in my previous editorial, i indicated that the ajsw was seeking indexing at regional and international level. our first application was with the african journals online (ajol). the application is still pending but we are hopeful we will meet their requirements. in this issue, the first article came from ajelerea ajewumi and lydia yemisi in nigeria. their study examined the adoption and utilization of programme communication variables in community development projects. they argued that low participation in community development has been attributed to the ineffective dissemination of specific community development information to community members. descriptive survey research design was adopted and multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 300 respondents. selfstructured questionnaire and focus group discussion (fgd) was used to collect data for the study. data from demographic were analysed using percentages while pearson product correlation moment were used to analyse the hypotheses. the findings revealed that there was a positive significant relationship between adoption of communication and usage of programme communication. the result also established that there was a positive significant relationship between adoption of programme communication and citizen participation in community development projects. the study concluded that social and community mobilisation is a potent factor in ensuring citizen participation in the life cycle of community development programmes. the study recommended that change agents should pay attention to these communication variables at every stage of a project’s life cycle in mobilizing and disseminating development information. http://www.ajol.info/ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 5, number 1, 2015 editorial note african journal of social work, 5(1), june 2015 iii _____________________________________________________________________ african societies have been known for their strong family support systems that view children as society’s future and as an important fabric if humanity is to be perpetuating itself, argue francis maushe and myself in the third paper. the family system in zimbabwe has undergone some changes owing to devastating effects of hiv and aids and the economic meltdown that beset the country from 2000 through to 2015. in a normal zimbabwean set up, children were supposed to be catered for by adult members of their immediate family first and foremost. the extended family and to some extend the community were expected to be alternate carers. now there is a new family set up: the child headed household (chh). this research employed qualitative methods to establish the daily experiences of 10 chh. the research established that chh faced immense difficulty in providing for their daily needs including food, education and clothing. they also lack psychosocial support such as guidance, love, belonging and protection. they note that while they were still loosely integrated in the extended family system, they were mostly on their own when it came to fending for the family. one participant noted “...our father’s relatives could have taken us in, but i guess they are also heavily constrained. we take each day as it comes. we are on our own but we have not allowed our situation to extinguish the desire of success in us. we do not blame them. we have to move on our own”. ruth ololade akinwumi and jacob kehinde mojoyinola researched on social work and music therapy. they argued that music therapy helps in a wide range of pain conditions, primarily by its ability to improve mood, encourage relaxation and increase threshold. therefore the study examined how effective music therapy was in the psychosocial management of patients with spinal cord injury. the study was carried out among 120 registered members of the spinal cord injury association of nigeria rehabilitation center located in amuwo-odofin in lagos. the participants were purposively selected. pre-test/post-test quasi experimental research design was adopted for the study. the participants received music therapy sessions in groups twice in a week for eight consecutive weeks. goals included reducing pain, increasing mood and spiritual well_____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 5, number 1, 2015 editorial note african journal of social work, 5(1), june 2015 iv _____________________________________________________________________ being, as well as improving their overall quality of life. pain, physical well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being, mental well-being and spiritual well-being were assessed at the end of the 8th week. five hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance, using one way analysis of variance (anova). findings from the study established that music therapy significantly reduced the pain experienced by spinal cord injury patients. it was also established that music therapy significantly enhanced physical, social, and spiritual well-beings of the spinal cord injury patients. however, music therapy did not significantly enhance the psychological wellbeing of the spinal cord injury patients; though the result was positive. the study recommended that medical social workers should incorporate music therapy into array of social services rendered to patients and relatives. also, administrators of hospitals, hospices and rehabilitation homes should establish music units for the benefits of patients and relatives. majekodunmi ajala provided the fourth paper on organisational justice. majekodunmi contents that economic institutionalisation of work with its attended problematic side effects like ineffectiveness, straitjacketing of workers and reduced innovation makes management look for the corollary points of sense of duty (organisational justice) as operation parameters in the workplace for greater benefits of trust and commitment of staffers. it is against this background that this study investigated the influence of organisational justice on organisational commitment in manufacturing firms in ibadan, oyo state, nigeria. the descriptive survey research design of ex-post facto type was used for the study. two hundred and fifty (250) employees were randomly selected from five manufacturing firms from industrial estates in ibadan, oyo states. the respondents span across the four major job levels from senior management, middle management, supervisory and junior staff. the main instrument used for the study was a questionnaire tagged “organisational justice and organisational commitment _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 5, number 1, 2015 editorial note african journal of social work, 5(1), june 2015 v _____________________________________________________________________ questionnaire ojocq” with five sub-sections. frequency counts and percentages were used to analyse the demographic characteristics of the respondents while pearson product moment correlation and multiple regression analysis were used to analyse the research questions and hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. findings from the study showed that the joint contribution of the independent variables to the dependent variable was significant (f = 163.165). it was found that there was significant and positive relationship between distributive justice and organisational commitment. (r = .697) furthermore, there was significant positive relationship between procedural justice and organisational commitment (r = .739) and that there was significant positive relationship between interactional justice and organisational commitment (r = .715). it was recommended that industrial social workers should advocate on behalf of employees and ensure that management of organisations give room for fair and just procedures (procedural justice and distributive justice) coupled with proper interaction (interactional justice) so that employees will be able to give better response to the organisation in terms of commitment, positive behaviour and increased productivity. this issue has a brief communication from liberia. march 2015 marked liberia’s social work month which was celebrated under the global theme: “promoting the dignity and worth of all peoples. in celebrating this month, sam togba slewion wrote this brief communication to give recognition to an effort which has manifested into giving a unified voice to older people in liberia. lastly, i want to inform you that ajsw has initiated the process of finding a substantive editor. it is expected that the editor will start this role in 2016 and will serve for two years. _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 5, number 1, 2015 editorial note african journal of social work, 5(1), june 2015 vi _____________________________________________________________________ enjoy reading papers in this issue as well as our previous issues available on the website. looking ahead to receiving more papers from all corners of africa and of course, the africa diaspora. jacob mugumbate acting editor email: editor@ida.co.zw _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 1 _____________________________________________________________________ social protection for the elderly in zimbabwe: issues, challenges and prospects dhemba, jotham abstract this article was mainly based on a review of secondary sources of data and assesses the efficacy of existing social protection measures in averting the syndrome of poverty in old age. this is inspired by the view that the elderly have an inalienable right to social protection. the paper argues that existing anti-poverty measures, namely public assistance; the pension and other benefits scheme and other social welfare programmes are compromised by low coverage of the elderly among other vulnerable groups and the failure to provide adequate benefits. the use of the means-test in the implementation of the older persons act (chapter 17:11) of 2012 restricts the number of beneficiaries. in order to guarantee income and good health in old age, there is need to transform existing social protection measures in order to increase their coverage and to review the older persons act so that it provides public assistance universally to the elderly. in addition the government should provide financial support to families caring for elderly relatives and to stimulate and achieve sustainable economic growth in order to create a basis for funding social protection measures. key terms: ageing, elderly, poverty, social protection, public assistance. department of sociology, anthropology and social work, national university of lesotho. contacts: jotham_dhemba@yahoo.com p.o. roma 180 maseru 100, lesotho. mailto:jotham_dhemba@yahoo.com _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 2 _____________________________________________________________________ introduction while longevity should be celebrated as one of humanity’s achievements, it is paradoxical that ageing is a major risk factor as the elderly in many african countries inclusive of zimbabwe are experiencing the syndromes of poverty, ill-health, neglect, abandonment and abuse (ferreira, 1999 and bello, et al 2008). survival at older age can be attributed to advances in medicine which contributes to improved health and a higher life expectancy. however, according to sen (1994), though population ageing is a feature in all countries, its consequences are more devastating in poor countries where it is occurring at a very fast pace. it is also paradoxical that ageing is not a priority issue in most developing countries leading kalache in sen (1994: ix) to lament that “the most neglected of all developmental issuesand the surest in its progressionis population ageing”. there is therefore need to align social protection measures in developing countries in general and zimbabwe in particular to 21 st century demographics. according to the asian development bank (2007:1) social protection is a strategy “consisting of policies and programmes to reduce poverty and vulnerability by promoting efficient labour markets, diminishing people’s exposure to risks, enhancing their capacity to protect themselves against hazards and interruption/loss of income”. in essence social protection includes social insurance, public assistance and welfare programmes. _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 3 _____________________________________________________________________ though the definition of the elderly, also referred to as older persons, is contested terrain; this article adopts the united nations position agreed upon at the world assembly on ageing at vienna in 1982, which incorporates all persons aged 60 years and over. according to the united nations (2009) 6% of zimbabwe’s population of 12,523 million people comprises of the elderly, and that this is projected to rise to 12% by 2050. as will be shown later, the elderly in zimbabwe are languishing in poverty mainly due to the absence of comprehensive policies focusing specifically on the elderly. the underdeveloped economic environment is also to blame for the plight of the elderly. furthermore, while it has always been thought that the strength of tradition and family solidarity would avert social and economic insecurity in old age, kaseke and dhemba (2007) contend that new values of individualism emerging in african countries expose vulnerable populations to insecurity. an analysis of the poverty assessment study survey findings by madzingira (1997) confirms that poverty in zimbabwe is very high. she highlights that 78, 5% of the elderly in zimbabwe were classified as poor or very poor. they experienced shortage of food, clothing, lack of or poor accommodation, ill health and lack of draught power for those residing in rural areas. on the same note hutton (2008) observes that the elderly in developing countries experience disproportionately high levels of poverty as about 80% of them have no regular income. _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 4 _____________________________________________________________________ of concern is that united nations member states, inclusive of zimbabwe adopted the principles for older persons, resolution 46/91 by the general assembly in 1991 and the madrid international plan on ageing in 2002 by the world assembly on ageing all of which require member states to provide social protection to the elderly. article 22 of the united nations declaration of human rights of 10 december, 1948 also attests to the right of all citizens, inclusive of the elderly to social protection. furthermore, zimbabwe is a signatory to the millennium declaration (united nations millennium development goals of september 2000) whereby it committed itself, among other united nations member states, to achieve set development goals including the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. the specific targets for this goal (which is goal number 1of the mdgs) are: to halve the proportion of people whose income is less than us$1.25 a day and to halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. with only about two years remaining, as the year 2015 draws closer, there is need to assess whether zimbabwe is on track to reduce the problem of poverty and hunger among the elderly in the country. the aim of this article is therefore to examine the extent to which social protection measures in zimbabwe are meeting the financial and health needs of the elderly in the country given that in terms of the universal declaration of human rights, among other international conventions the elderly also have a right to social security. similarly, if one considers that the year 2015 which is the _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 5 _____________________________________________________________________ target for having eradicated extreme poverty and hunger among other goals is fast approaching, it is necessary to assess the situation of the elderly in zimbabwe. objectives the specific objectives of this article are to assess the efficacy of social protection measures in zimbabwe in meeting the financial and health needs of the elderly and to suggest ways of ensuring that the financial and health needs of the elderly in zimbabwe are met. social protection for the elderly social protection for the elderly in zimbabwe is a shared responsibility of the family, local and international ngo’s and the state. the state operates two mainstream social protection measures namely public assistance and the pensions and other benefits scheme. the public assistance programme which is administered by the department of social services caters for the elderly inclusive of other vulnerable groups in the population. the state also operates a social insurance scheme, the pensions and other benefits scheme under the auspices of the national social security authority of zimbabwe. this scheme provides for retirement pensions in old age to formally employed workers only. the state also provides social welfare services such as free health care for vulnerable groups in the population including the elderly. in addition the department of _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 6 _____________________________________________________________________ social services is also implementing the national action plan for orphans and vulnerable children (ovc) pilot project which inter alia caters for cash transfers to destitute elderly. this programme is funded mainly by donors including unicef. ngos such as helpage zimbabwe also provide support to destitute elderly including institutional care. the older persons act of 2012 which provides for public assistance, among other services to the elderly aged 65 years and above was also enacted recently but it is yet to be implemented these measures are examined below. public assistance the public assistance scheme in zimbabwe provides for meanstested non-contributory maintenance allowances to the poor, inclusive of the elderly. according to mupedziswa (1995) the problem with this scheme is that it is operated in accordance with the residual approach which holds that an individual’s needs should be met by the family or market system and that the state should only assist when these systems breakdown. a means-test is therefore applied to determine eligibility for assistance and as can be expected many of the elderly are denied assistance because of the erroneous assumption that the extended family system is still functional. however, the reality on the ground is that the traditional social support systems of the family and community have been rendered ineffective as a result of the destabilising effects of modernisation, industrialisation and urbanisation and more recently globalisation. on the same note, dhemba (1990) in a study carried out in _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 7 _____________________________________________________________________ zimbabwe found that only 7, 5% of retirees covered in the study were getting adequate support from their families. furthermore, the public assistance allowance is only us$20 a month (as at 10 november 2012) which is far below the united nations “official” poverty line of us$1.25 per day (department of social services official 2012). according to kaseke, et al (1998) potential beneficiaries are also discouraged from applying as they have to contend with transport costs given that social welfare offices are not always within easy rich. this problem is also compounded by the fact that even for the lucky few who manage to access assistance; its disbursement is erratic owing to perennial underfunding of the department of social services (kaseke, 1998). as an example, in the period january to september 2012 beneficiaries only got allowances for one month (department of social services official 2012). furthermore, kaseke, et al (1998) maintains that there is a lack of awareness of the existence of the public assistance scheme and as a result many potential beneficiaries do not apply for assistance. social insurance the national social security authority in zimbabwe operates a contributory and compulsory pensions and other benefits scheme, which provides for retirement pension in old age among other services. this scheme was introduced in 1994 and because of its contributory nature it only caters for employees in the formal sector. _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 8 _____________________________________________________________________ furthermore, retirement pension is only us$40 a month for most retirees; leading labour unions in the country describe it as “peanuts”. dhemba (2012) also observes that most of the elderly are unlikely to be covered under this scheme given the high levels of unemployment in the country. unofficial estimates put the level of unemployment in zimbabwe at more than 70%. institutional care the public assistance programme in zimbabwe provides for alternative care for destitute elderly, but only as a last resort. kaseke, dhemba, gumbo and kasere (1998:60) point out that “there are about 71 old people’s homes in zimbabwe”, which is indicative of the breakdown of the extended family support system and high levels of poverty among the elderly. according to tran (2012) ideally the elderly want to “age in place” that is within their families and communities, but this is only possible with a guaranteed income, family and community care. free health though the elderly in zimbabwe are entitled to free health services, kasere (1992: 59) argues that “there is almost a total absence of a health care delivery system specifically for the health needs of the elderly. the elderly have to make do with an existing general care system which is not only inadequate for their specific needs but is also not easily accessible to them.” furthermore, kaseke, et al (1998) maintain that the elderly are not benefitting from free health _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 9 _____________________________________________________________________ services as the hospitals and clinics are always congested and there is also a shortage of drugs and medical personnel. it is also government policy that children get priority in accessing medical care ahead of adults inclusive of the elderly. older persons act recognising old age as a distinct vulnerability, the government of zimbabwe enacted the older persons act of 2012 which provides for means-tested but non-contributory public assistance allowances among other services for the elderly. however, it is important to restate that the older persons act is yet to be implemented and the level of public assistance allowances is also still to be determined. it should also be noted that the continued procrastination to implement provisions of the act is indicative of the lack of political will to provide protection for the elderly. this also has potential to lead to speculation that the scheme is unlikely to receive adequate funding. zimbabwe’s older persons act does not guarantee social and economic security in old age as applicants are means-tested. it also excludes those aged 60 to 64 years as the minimum qualifying age threshold for the public assistance is 65 years and above and yet the onset of old age as defined by the united nations is 60 years. national action plan (nap) for ovc phase 11 the donor funded national action plan for ovc which is now in its second phase and is being piloted in 10 of the poorest districts in _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 10 _____________________________________________________________________ each of the country’s ten provinces also provides social protection for the elderly among other vulnerable populations. it provides cash transfer of us$25 per household and us$10 per person living alone (department of social services 2012). however, because the cash transfer scheme is means-tested the elderly with adult children are likely to be excluded from coverage. the department of social services official also indicated that “it focuses on labour constrained households”. the cash transfer amount is evidently inadequate as it much less than the united nations poverty line of us$1.25 per day. this amount can therefore not be expected to meet the needs of beneficiaries for food, shelter and other basic necessities. the official from the department also expressed reservations on the sustainability of this programme considering that it is donor driven. discussion though zimbabwe should be lauded for continuing to develop social protection measures for its people, existing schemes do not address the needs of the elderly in a comprehensive manner. what is also disappointing is that even the recently enacted older persons act which was expected to address the shortcomings of the public assistance scheme and the pensions and other benefits scheme also fails to address the problem of poverty among the elderly. the public assistance scheme which is one of the major social security schemes in the country is not a viable social safety net. firstly, the scheme is compromised by the application of a means_____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 11 _____________________________________________________________________ test, which effectively restricts the number of beneficiaries as some fail to meet the eligibility criteria. as pointed out elsewhere some potential beneficiaries find the transport costs to the nearest social welfare office where they are required to launch their application for assistance prohibitive and are therefore excluded from accessing the scheme. furthermore, as kaseke et al (1998) observe some potential beneficiaries are also not aware of the existence of the scheme and they therefore do not avail themselves for assistance. second and perhaps quite worrisome is that the public assistance allowance provided for under this scheme (us$20) is far below the united nations minimum of us$1.25 a day which is not enough to meet the needs of the elderly. also compounding this problem is the erratic disbursement of the public assistance. as indicated elsewhere, recipients of public assistance only got allowances for one month during the period january to september 2012 (department of social services official, 2012). therefore even the few who manage to qualify for public assistance do not always get the allowances owing to inadequate funding of the programme. this state of affairs is consistent with the ilo (2000: 81) observation that in many countries “social assistance usually takes a relatively low priority among other social services such as health, education and employment”. on the basis of the above it can safely be argued that the public assistance programme is not on track in meeting the millennium _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 12 _____________________________________________________________________ development goal of alleviating poverty among the general population of zimbabwe inclusive of the elderly by the year 2015. on the other hand, the pensions and other benefits scheme, a social insurance scheme providing for retirement pension in old age among other benefits is supposed to complement the public assistance programme. however, because of its exclusive focus on formally employed workers it is also compromised by the low coverage of the scheme. it excludes the unemployed, informal sector workers, domestic workers and rural peasant farmers from coverage mainly because the scheme is funded from the monthly contributions of employers and their employees. on this basis the unemployed and self-employed are assumed to lack the capacity to finance the dual contributions required. however, as dhemba, et al (2002:114) observe “a number of countries in the developing world, including jamaica, egypt, the philippines and barbados, have extended limited protection to some sectors of the self-employed population”. in this regard schultz (1992) notes that the social insurance scheme in the philippines extended coverage to farmers and fisherman which goes to show that it is possible to assimilate those operating outside the formal sector in national social insurance schemes. the high levels of unemployment in the country also mean that only a minority of the population is covered under this scheme. as kaseke (1997) observes, the proportion of those in employment in eastern and southern africa does not constitute more than 25% of the total labour force. resultantly the low coverage of the pensions _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 13 _____________________________________________________________________ and other benefits scheme undermines its potential to avert and reduce poverty in old age. therefore, in its current form, the pensions and other benefits scheme cannot be relied upon for protection in old age. similarly, as presently constituted, the older persons act of zimbabwe cannot be expected to reduce poverty among the elderly. this is because, first, the means-test that is applied inevitably leads to low coverage of the elderly and yet the development and subsequent enactment of the older persons act in september 2012 was the most opportune time to close the coverage gap of existing social protection arrangements. the selective provision of social welfare services in an environment of mass poverty only serves to worsen the plight of the elderly. second, the means-testing to determine eligibility for public assistance and other services is a clear indication that this scheme is unlikely to receive adequate funding as government can always argue that they have other priorities. a case in point is the public assistance programme which has ceased to be a viable social safety net owing to poor funding and erratic disbursement of benefits. on this basis it can also be argued that, though the level of public assistance allowances is still to be determined, not much can be expected from this scheme. indications are that the public assistance is unlikely to be pegged above the current level of the public assistance programme which is us$20 (department of social welfare 2012). _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 14 _____________________________________________________________________ though there is now legislation specific to the elderly in zimbabwe, namely the older persons act which provides for public assistance allowances among other services the fact that it is yet to be implemented and that applicants shall be means-tested demonstrates failure in the design and implementation of social policies aimed at reducing the problem of poverty in old age. zimbabwe needs to take a leaf from other countries in southern africa which have introduced old age pensions serving the same purpose as public assistance under the older persons act. it is argued that the public assistance to be provided under the older persons act should be universal, that is covering all the elderly in zimbabwe. this argument is based on the evidence showing that social grants are the sine qua non for poverty reduction in developing countries. in the case of lesotho, where they provide universal pension, nyanguru (2007) contends that it leads to intergenerational solidarity and recipients feeling satisfied with their lives. this is corroborated by croome and mapetla (2007) who assert that pensioners in lesotho use the money to buy more food and that they even afford buying protein rich foods such as beans, meat, eggs and other household needs. similarly, even though the public assistance in south africa which is in the form of old age pension is means-tested, legido-quigley (2003) contends that it has turned into a poverty alleviation programme within the household as it targets the elderly but it also benefits the younger generations. as kaseke (2010) points out, _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 15 _____________________________________________________________________ social grants for the elderly in south africa amount to sar1.010 which is equivalent to about us$100 (as of november, 2012). therefore, notwithstanding the selective nature of the south african old age pension, the payout for those adjudged to be deserving of assistance, is about three times above the united nations poverty line of us$1.25 a day. this is significant in that the amount enables the beneficiaries to bounce out of poverty. helpage international (2004) also points out that evidence from developing countries operating social grants for the elderly indicates that they have a positive impact on individual poverty and the household economy. furthermore, contrary to the widespread belief that universal social grants are not sustainable in developing countries, lloyd – sherlock (2008) observes that even relatively poor countries such as bolivia are able to pay an annual flat payment of around us$200 to the elderly aged 65 years and over. in the case of zimbabwe, the central statistical office (1994) quoted in kaseke, et al (1998:1) reveals that the country “has abundant natural resources and its economy is diversified with relatively developed commercial, industrial, mining and agricultural sectors”. therefore, notwithstanding that the country experienced an economic meltdown from the year 2000 to 2009 due to unresolved political problems and international isolation the economy is showing signs of recovery and is therefore in a position to implement and finance universal public assistance allowances for the elderly. however, it is also necessary for the government to promote economic growth and development to _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 16 _____________________________________________________________________ enable the country to sustain the public assistance allowances for the elderly. in this regard weaver (2000) asserts that the commitment to assisting disenfranchised people has always distinguished the social work profession from other helping professions. it is on this basis that it is imperative for social workers to ensure that the plight of the elderly in zimbabwe is addressed. this is also in line with the contention by reyneke (2010) that social workers have an ethical responsibility to advocate for the provision of sufficient resources to the poor and marginalised. on the same note dhemba (2012) maintains that it is necessary that social workers undertake a variety of roles, including advocacy and policy formulation in order to effectively serve those who experience social exclusion. the provision of a universal public assistance is also critical in enabling social workers to effectively respond to the needs of the elderly as they also need to draw on social work services through legislative and policy interventions. conclusion and recommendations though it is laudable that zimbabwe has made commendable progress in endeavours to provide social protection to the elderly, among other population groups through the public assistance programme, the pensions and other benefits scheme, initiatives by ngos and communities, and the recently enacted older persons act, the country is off-track in meeting the mdg number 1 target of _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 17 _____________________________________________________________________ halving poverty and hunger by 2015. a number of gaps and unmet needs of the elderly remain. the main weaknesses of existing social protection measures are that they do not provide adequate benefits and their coverage of the elderly is not inclusive. the public assistance allowance (us$20) provided under the public assistance scheme and the cash transfer of us$25 provided under the national action plan for ovc fall below the official united nations poverty line of us$1.25 a day. therefore, considering that these are potentially the main sources of support for the elderly, it means that even the lucky few who are able to get assistance still remain in poverty. furthermore, the public assistance programme not only excludes the majority of the elderly in zimbabwe but it cannot be relied upon as payment of allowances is not always guaranteed. it is therefore imperative for the government to increase its budgetary allocation to the department of social services to enable it to provide public assistance to the elderly on a regular basis. there is also need for innovativeness to ensure broad based coverage of the pensions and other benefits scheme. furthermore, while it was hoped that the enactment of the long awaited older persons act in september 2012 would bring some relief to the elderly, this is unlikely to be the case as the scheme has maintained the legacy of means-testing, which inevitably leads to the exclusion of the majority of the elderly. given these limitations, transformation of the existing social protection measures is necessary if comprehensive protection is to be _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 18 _____________________________________________________________________ afforded to the elderly, among other vulnerable groups. there is an urgent need for the review of the old age pensions act so that it provides for universal public assistance for the elderly. it is also critical to ensure that the public assistance allowances are above the united nations poverty line of us$1.25 a day to enable the elderly to meet their basic needs for food, health and shelter to name but a few. in addition the scheme needs to be implemented as a matter of urgency as further procrastination condemns the elderly to perpetual suffering. it is also on the basis of the aforementioned that social workers, inclusive of those employed in the department of social services should push for the review of the older persons act. the act should provide for inclusive coverage of all the elderly in zimbabwe, irrespective of their circumstances. in this regard, the need for zimbabwe to stimulate and achieve sustainable economic growth which creates the basis for universal public assistance for the elderly cannot be overemphasised. references asian development bank; 2007. social protection. available from http://www.adb.org/social protection/default.asp (accessed 30 march 2010). http://www.adb.org/social%20protection/default.asp _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 19 _____________________________________________________________________ croome, d. and mapetla, m.; 2008. the impact of old age pension in lesotho: pilot survey results of manonyane community council area, roma. nulroma: institute of southern africa studies. department of social services official; 2012. social safety nets for the elderly in zimbabwe. [telephone conversation] (personal communication, 25 october 2012). dhemba, j.; 1990. retirement in zimbabwe: an evaluation of social security provisions in meeting the needs of african retirees. bsw dissertation: university of zimbabwe. dhemba, j.; 2012. overcoming poverty in old age: social security provision in lesotho, south africa and zimbabwe revisited. international social work journal, doi:10.1177/0020872812446529. dhemba, j., gumbo, p. and nyamusara, j.; 2002. social security systems in zimbabwe. journal of social development in africa: special issue. 17 (2) 111-156. ferreira, m.; 2005. advancing income security in old age in developing countries: focus on africa. global ageing 2 (3) 32-36. helpage international; 2004. caring for the future: coping strategies and poverty responses for older people caring for ovc in africa. london: helpage. hutton, d.; 2008. older people in emergencies: considerations for action and policy development. available from: available%20from:%20http:/www.who.int/ageing/publications/hutton-report-pdf%20(accessed%2030%20march%202010 _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 20 _____________________________________________________________________ http://www.who.int/ageing/publications/hutton-report-pdf (accessed 30 march 2010). kaseke, e.; 2010. role of social security in south africa. international social work, 53 (2) 159-168. kaseke, e.; 1997. social security in eastern and southern africa: organisation, issues and concepts in modern and traditional arrangements. journal of social development in africa, 12 (2): 3947. kaseke, e.; 1998. introduction. in: e. kaseke, ed: social security systems in rural zimbabwe. harare: fredrich ebert stiftung. kaseke, e. and dhemba, j.; 2007. community mobilisation, volunteerism & the fight against hiv/aids in zimbabwe. the social work practitionerresearcher & the journal of social developmenta special issue, 85-99. kaseke, e. dhemba, j. and gumbo, p.; 1998.transferring resources to poor households: the case of poor households in zimbabwe. harare: school of social work. kaseke, e. dhemba, j., gumbo, p. and kasere, c.; 1998. the state and dynamics of social policy research and practice in zimbabwe. harare: school of social work. kasere, c.; 1992. problems faced by the elderly in zimbabwe. in: e. kaseke and v. zimunya eds: care of the elderly in zimbabwe. _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 21 _____________________________________________________________________ edited proceedings of a workshop held in harare, zimbabwe. 18-21 november. legido-quigley, h.; 2003.the south african old age pension: exploring the role on poverty alleviation in households affected by hiv/aids. london: idm & helpage international. lloyd-sherlock, p.; 2008. doing a bit more for the poor? social assistance in latin america. journal of social policy, 37 (4) 621639. madzingira, n.; 1997. poverty and ageing in zimbabwe. journal of social development in africa. 12 (2) 5-19. mupedziswa, r.; 1995. social welfare. in: h. hall & r. mupedziswa, eds: social policy & administration in zimbabwe. harare. school of social work, journal of social development, 81106. nyanguru, a. c.; 2007. the economic and social impacts of the old age pension on the protection of the basotho elderly and their households. available from: www.pensionreforms.com (accessed 29 march 2010). reyneke, r.; 2010. social work values and ethics. in: l. nicholas, j. rautenbach, & m. mainstry, eds: introduction to social work. juta and co. ltd. 230-246. http://www.pensionreforms.com/ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 dhemba, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 22 _____________________________________________________________________ schultz, j.; 1992. economic support in old age: the role of social insurance in developing countries. international social security review 2, 135-148. sen, k.; 1994. ageing: debates on demographic transition and social policy. london: zed books ltd. tran, m.; 2012. un report calls for action to fulfil potential of ageing global population. available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/ global-development/2012/oct/01/unreport-action-need-ageing-population (accessed 02 october 2012). united nations department of economic and social affairs population division; 2009. population ageing and development. available from: www.unpoplation.org (accessed 25 april 2011). weaver, h. n.; 2006. social work through an indigenous lens: reflections on the state of our profession. in: n. hall, ed: social work making a difference, social work around the world iv in the year of ifsw 50 th jubilee benne: ifsw and fafo pp 37-51. http://www.guardian.co.uk/%20global-development/2012/oct/01/un-report-action-need-ageing-population http://www.guardian.co.uk/%20global-development/2012/oct/01/un-report-action-need-ageing-population http://www.unpoplation.org/ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 editorial note african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 ii _____________________________________________________________________ editorial note it gives me great pleasure to announce the publication of the first issue of the third volume of ajsw. the ajsw journey has not been a wonderful one. readers may recall that the first two volumes were published in 1999 and 2000 respectively under the tutelage of nigel hall, who is now a senior lecturer, school of social work, faculty of health & social care sciences, kingston university, uk. since then, no other publication was available due to funding and human resource constraints. it took quite some effort, from a number of people, to have this third volume. i would like to take this opportunity to thank the editorial board and reviewers for their support. i would want to single out professor karen lyons (phd, cqsw, emeritus professor, international social work, faculty of social sciences and humanities, london metropolitan university, uk) for immense contribution during the process of re-introducing this journal. thanks also to noel muridzo, president of the nasw for direction and guidance. i wish also to thank the solicitor of articles jacob mugumbate for working tirelessly to have this journal running again. he did not only propose the idea to nasw, but consulted and addressed all technical requirements. last but not least, i wish to thank the ida publishers for the work well done and for agreeing to freely host the online edition of ajsw until a dedicated website is available. the first paper was provided by dhemba from the university of lesotho. he looked at social security issues, challenges and prospects of the elderly in zimbabwe with a focus on the older persons act (chapter 17:11) of 2012. he concludes that in order to guarantee income and good health in old age, there is need to transform existing social protection measures in order to increase their coverage and to review the older persons act so that it provides public assistance universally to the elderly. the second paper came from biri and mutambwa from the university of zimbabwe. they explored socio-cultural dynamics and education for development in zimbabwe and concluded that in order to realise sustainable development, attention should be paid to socioreligious ethics that ‘disempower’ women but are often ignored by _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 editorial note african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 iii _____________________________________________________________________ scholars, politicians and other stakeholders. the third paper explores human rights in zimbabwe and it came from mtetwa and muchacha who are based at the university of zimbabwe. the paper recommends that social workers should take an interest in the political situation of the communities in which they work through advocacy as a way to safeguard the rights of the most vulnerable members of society. the fourth paper takes an interesting dimension: spirituality and social work. it was provided by mabvurira from bindura university and nyanguru from university of zimbabwe. the paper argues that social work clients in zimbabwe might be losing out due to an academic amnesia that is around spirituality. social workers in zimbabwe are, therefore, encouraged to research on spirituality and social work. similarly, academics are encouraged to incorporate topics on spirituality in the social work curriculum. the last paper came from mugumbate and nyanguru. mugumbate is based at the bindura university. their paper looked at the concept of ubuntu, how it has been applied in different fields and lessons that can be drawn for the social work profession. mugumbate and nyanguru conclude that successful utilisation of the ubuntu concept in other disciplines makes it suitable for application in social work especially to enhance practice ethics, community work and conduct in research. the last one is a brief communication on the work of father ted rogers in zimbabwe. he played a commendable role in introducing social work education in zimbabwe. he also was involved in improving education in zimbabwe and enhancing the lives of disadvantaged people through formation of various non-profit making organisations. i wish ted well and hope to read his memoirs soon. the next issue of this journal is expected towards the end of the year. with all the experience gained in this issue, it is hoped the next issue is going to come timorously and will be quite improved. lastly, may i appeal for support towards the running of our dear journal. support is mainly needed to fund the print edition and to initiate a dedicated website. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 toang, n. & naami, a. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 7 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ publisher african journal of social work afri. j. soc. work © national association of social workers-zimbabwe/author(s) issn print 1563-3934 issn online 2409-5605 licensed under a creative commons attribution-non-commercial 4.0 international license gender-based violence: comparing the experiences of sudanese women in iowa before and after migration to the united states of america toang, nyayang, msw & augustina naami, ph.d. abstract sexism against women has been a global issue for many decades. although, women have made incredible progress over the years, the problem persists. sexism affects women regardless of their race, age, culture and socioeconomic status. this research sought to understand the experiences of sudanese women regarding gender-based violence before and after migration to the united states of america, specifically, the state of iowa. the study demonstrates the practice of stereotypical gender roles, although there were changes in the role the women played in the united states. evidence from the study indicates the presence of gender-based violence before and after migrating to the united states. sensitivity to the sudanese culture as well as community outreach and empowerment programs could help reduce gender-based violence against sudanese women while they reside in the united states. key terms: sudan, sexism, gender-based violence, state of iowa. a nyayang toang, graduate student, university of northern iowa, cedar falls, iowa, united states, telephone: +1-515-943-8803; email: toangn@uni.edu b dr. augustina naami (corresponding author), lecturer, department of social work, post 419, university of ghana, legon-accra, ghana; telephone: +233-0200-424-527; email: anaami@ug.edu.gh mailto:toangn@uni.edu mailto:anaami@ug.edu.gh ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 toang, n. & naami, a. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 8 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ introduction sexism against women has been a global issue for many decades. this includes domestic violence, gender discrimination, gender inequality in all spheres of life, and stereotyping women (blanchfield, et al., 2011). although, women have made incredible progress during the last century, the problem (sexism) persists as pointed out by faye (2010). many women throughout the world are still deprived of their basic human rights on the basis of their gender. sexism affects women’s employment, education, income and results in gender-based violence regardless of their race, age, culture and socioeconomic status (blanchfield, blyther, & wyler, 2011; faye, 2010; mingot, 2013). the situation could be worse in both sudan and south sudan since these countries are classified as developing, engulfed with ethnic and religious conflicts and are patriarchal institutionalized. sudan was the largest country within the african continent until its separation into two countries (sudan and south sudan) in 2011. both sudan and south sudan are known to have cultural orientation that is mainly patriarchal (elnour, 2012; & faya, 2010). men predominantly dominate all sectors of the economy, creating and maintaining power in ways that marginalize women in all spheres of life. the sudanese society follows very strict gender roles where men and boys are seen as decision makers while women and girls must strictly abide by the rules and regulations made by the men (elnour, 2012, mingot, 2013). sudanese culture orientation, similar to the chinese, holds firmly the belief that women’s role should not change whether they live in their country of origin or elsewhere in the world (chen, fiske, & lee, 2009; hatoss, 2010; elnour, 2012; gervais & hoffman, 2013). the situation and the role of women in both sudan and south sudan have been influenced by the history of conflict and political changes (elnour, 2012; mingot, 2013). the past and ongoing civil wars between south and north sudan as well as political changes have huge impact on sudanese women (jack, 2010). several authors reported that conflict has deepened prejudice, discrimination, gender inequality and gender-based violence against women (elnour, 2012; faye, 2010; hatoss, 2010). the practices discussed earlier result in several challenges for sudanese women both within and outside of their countries. evidence from a study by nilson at kakuma refugee camp in kenya indicated that sundanese women were forced into marriages, assaulted, experienced gender-based violence, stripping off their freedom and independency (nilson; 2013). gender-based violence is highly acceptable by both sundanese men and women in their countries of origin (hebbani, 2010; scott et al, 2013) and host countries (hebbani, 2010). women and girls who refuse to follow the prescribed gender roles become targets of gender-based violence. studies indicate that women could even be abused by family members and close friends due to the belief that cultural rules should not be disobeyed (arabi, 2011; mingot, 2013; elnour, 2012). an investigation ( between 2009-2013, 7 sites with 680 respondents) on gender-based violence in south sudan by scott et al (2013) found that about 82% of females and 81% of males agreed to the statement that ‘a woman should tolerate violence in order to keep her family together.” the majority of respondents (68% females and 63% males) also agreed to the statement that “there are times when a woman deserves to be beaten” while more women (47%) than men (37%) were more likely to agree that “it is okay for a man to hit his wife if she won’t have sex with him.” one of the biggest challenge sudanese women encounters in their host countries is the pressure to maintain their cultural traditions (e.g., maintaining their traditional gender roles) as well as embracing the new culture which presents them with opportunities of furthering their education, working and becoming financially independent. baird & boyle (2012), who investigated sudanese refugee women in kansas city, reported that the women had ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 toang, n. & naami, a. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 9 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ challenges raising their children in american while trying to maintain traditional sudanese culture since they did not have a choice between the two cultures. sudanese culture also creates gender inequality for men and women. research shows that the sudanese government has paid little attention towards women’s education due to their culture (dulflo, 2012; faye, 2010; mingot, 2013). even those women who braced the odds and attained higher education are less likely to secure jobs due to gender based discrimination (mingott, 2013). sudanese women’s right to own land and other properties is also inhibited by their culture (duflo, 2012). immigrants residing in the united states of america have been estimated to be about 38.5 million (hatoss, 2010). within the last decade, a significant majority of african women have migrated to the united states of america either voluntarily or involuntarily (hatoss, 2010). the vast majority of africans immigrants are from east african countries such as somalia, congo, sudan and south sudan, burundi, eritrea, and ethiopia (haffejee & east, 2015). literature shows that the majority of african immigrants is less educated, and faces significant challenges during their resettlement period due to language difference (baird & boyle, 2012; elnour, 2012; haffejee & east, 2015; hatoss, 2010; hebbani, 2010). furthermore, african immigrants bring with them their cultural values and traditions which tend to disadvantage women (mccabe, 2011; haffejee & east, 2015). given the patriarchal sudanese culture which oppresses women both host and countries of origin, and the fact that many african immigrants (the majority of whom migrated from eastern africa which including sudan and south sudan) have little education and language problems, it is imperative to investigate the daily experiences of sudanese women regarding gender-based violence. some work has been done on gender-based violence against sudanese women before and after migration into the western world; in australia (hatoss, 2010; hebbani, 2010) and some parts of the united states, specifically, baltimore, maryland, kansas city, missouri, and arizona (baird & boyle, 2012; jack, 2012; scot, et al., 2013). the studies in maryland and missouri examined gender-based violence, gender inequitable norms, health issues and other challenges/barriers that the sudanese women experienced (baird & boyle, 2012; jack, 2012; scot, averbach, modest, hacker, cornish, spencer, murphy, & parmar, 2013). evidence from these studies indicates that migrating into the united states undoubtedly changes the traditional gender roles of the sudanese women (gladden, 2013). however, the women continue to experience, within the sudanese communities, gender-based violence, gender inequality and stereotypical gender roles while in the united states (jack, 2012). little is known about how sudanese women experience gender-based violence before and after migrating to the state of iowa, specifically, des moins, the capital. this study seeks to fill this gap in literature for social work and gender studies. it is a well-known fact that gender-based violence is under reported. but a more disturbing phenomenon is the inadequate response to the identification and treatment of victims of gender-based violence by medical personnel (clark, 2000). the role of social workers in creating awareness about gender-based violence in communities, available resources for victims as well as empowering victims cannot be overemphasised. this study could result in policy and practice decisions that would reduce gender-based violence and discrimination against sudanese women who migrate to the state of iowa. methodology non-probability sampling procedures (purposive and snowball sampling) were used to select study participants. purposive because flyers about the study were posted at vantage points (including libraries, local african churches, local grocery stores, and at local sudanese organizations) where sudanese women frequented. those who were interested in the study contacted the researchers by phone. the researchers then asked the few (4) that contacted ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 toang, n. & naami, a. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 10 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ them to help recruit other participants they knew who fit the inclusion criteria: sudanese women who migrated into the united states voluntarily or involuntarily, ages 18-years or older, either employed or enrolled in school, were former refugees or non-refugees living in des moines, iowa. a total of nine of the women were interviewed (n=9). the ages of study participants ranged from 25-46 years and they all disclosed that they migrated into the state of iowa as refugees. more than half (6) of the participants identified as southern sudanese, while 3 were from sudan. in regards to their marital status, 5 reported married, divorced 2, separated 1 and one 1 single/never married. further, study outcome indicated that, with the exception of one, all study participants had children ranging from 1-7 with an average of 3 children. it is noteworthy that all the study participants had some form of education. except one who dropped out of school at third grade, 3 of the study participants had associate degrees while another 2 were in the process of completing their associate degrees and 1 had technical education. furthermore, one of the women reported having a b.sc. degree in nursing and another had a master’s degree. it is also important to note that all of the study participants (8) except one, said they were employed. face-to-face in-depth individual interviews were used to collect data for the study. study participants were informed that their participation in the study was completely voluntarily and that they could refuse to answer any questions or withdraw from the study anytime they chose to. the interview was not structure. this allowed room for participants to freely share information about their experiences without any judgment from the interviewers. an interview guide which comprised mostly of open ended questions was used to solicit information about participants’ experiences of gender-based violence before and after migration into the united states of america. the interviews lasted approximately 45 minutes each. with the participant’s permission, the interviews were audio recorded. it is noteworthy that all the names presented in this report are pseudonyms. the data were analyzed manually. to analyze the data, the audio-tapes were reviewed several times before transcription and were transcribed verbatim. the scripts were read several times before the analysis, to allow immersion of self into the data. line by line analysis was used to develop codes to determine themes and categories to draw conclusions about the research topic. findings several themes emerged from the study. these themes have been grouped under sudan and united states of america experiences as well as common experiences in the three countries (sudan and south sudan and the united states of america). sudan and south sudan experiences include: (1) patriarchy, education, and employment; (2) communal living and abuse; (3) gender roles, expectations and violence; and (4) intersection of gender and christianity. participants’ experiences in the united states of america falls under the following themes: (1) cultural beliefs, expectations abuse and divorce and (2) new identities and opportunities. the experience common to the women in all three countries was staying in abusive relationship. a detailed discussion of the results is given below. sudan (s) and south sudan (ss) experiences patriarchy, education and employment the women reported that due to patriarch dogma, which marginalizes women, they were not given the opportunity to attend school as reported by nima and lorlor. nima (ss): i did not go to school because my family believed that a girl should not go to school because she will be a bad person. many people did not allow their children ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 toang, n. & naami, a. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 11 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ to go to school to learn because they think that girls will be bad girls and will lose their manner and no man will want them. lorlor (s): the society viewed women as property because they (girls) get married, her husband pay dowry to the girls family. that is why it was hard for some people to do what they want to do, such as going to school. some of the participants stated that they were forced into marriages instead of going to school; receva (ss) “sudanese people belief that women and girls should not be in school because they would know better, so they forced their daughters to get married early so that the family could profit from it.” on the other hand, parents of participants who were educated enrolled their children in schools as indicated by lorlor (s) “…but i went to school only because my dad was educated and wanted me to be educated as well so that i could be a better person.” however, the participants noted that since they were very few among the men, they were stereotyped and treated differently as mary noted, “i went to school but people were always mean to me because i am a girl and that i don’t belong in the class rooms with boys.” the educated women also lamented that they had difficulties finding jobs after school. tibessa (s) noted; “i completed my bachelor’s degree but no one would give me a job because i am a woman and everyone don’t like an educated woman because they think that she will abuse the men.” communal living and abuse participants reported mixed feelings about communal living in sudan. some reported good aspects of communal living-respect for the elderly and mutual support: nima (ss) reported that, “i grew up knowing that respecting your elder is the key component and under no circumstance should you disrespect your elder because they will curse you if you do something wrong,” and tibesa (s) said “i like the respect in sudanese culture because it’s like we are following the bible that younger kids have to respect their elders no matter what. we also had a very close family; we relied on each other for everything whether you are poor or rich because there was no other source you could turn to.” on the other hand, some of the women reported abuse by members of the community, especially family members. see narratives of mary and sarah. mary (s): i was not allowed to make mistake by my aunt because my parent would be gone all the time, so my aunt took care of me and my siblings including beating us up but it was never looked as abuse. sarah (ss): my uncle, who was my dad’s brother was sleeping with my mother… when i talk to him that i don’t like that, he slapped me and said my opinion will never matter in that house. intersection of gender and christianity the effects of the intersection of gender and christianity were reported. an example is given below: tibessa (ns): another thing is that if you are christian it feels like you are not a human being. you have no rights because you are just a woman, just a good wife to cook for people and a good mother…when i completed my ministry training in khartoum, i went for a job interview, but did not get the job, for once i am a female and that i’m not a muslim. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 toang, n. & naami, a. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 12 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ gender roles, expectations and violence the women noted that in their culture their job is to maintain traditional gender such as cooking, cleaning, marrying and bearing children. the participants recounted several abuses they experienced in sudan, which seem to emanate basically from gender role assignment. the following subthemes emerged: physical abuse, verbal and emotional abuse, sexual abuse and anti-reproductive rights. physical abuse many of the participants either personally experienced physical abuse while growing up in the then sudan and/or witnessed abuse of other relatives by their family members. the women reported either having been slapped and/or beaten by their fathers for not completing ordered responsibilities or witnessed their mothers being physically assaulted by the fathers. the narratives of mary and wani demonstrate these situations: mary (s): i would see my dad beat up my mother every time she back talks to him or said something rude. when i got married, everything that happened to my mother, i was now going through them. wani (ss): i see that if my mother did not cook that day, my dad would questioned her why there was no food at home, “what were you doing all day” he will ask. so he would get mad and slap my mother and she could not do anything. when i tried to tell my dad to stop, he would verbally say mean things to me or he would slap me and tell me to collect some wood. for that reason, i had to respect my dad and never questioned what he said or did otherwise i would get slapped again and no one was going to help me or my mom. unfortunately, some of the physical abuses resulted in the loss of lives, but even so, the men continued abusing the women as commented by rebecca (ss): i was the only person who cooked, walked long distance to bring water, and got beaten up if i didn’t make food for a day, even if i was tired. i got beaten up. while i was pregnant, one time i lost the baby because my husband beat me up. he also forced me to cook even though it was so hard to cook and i didn’t really feel like cooking. verbal and emotional abuse the women spent considerable amount of time expressing they feeling about the way they were treated in their home countries. most of them detailed verbal abuse by husbands or relatives. some of the sudanese women stated that they endured verbal criticisms, overpowering control and/or manipulation as expressed in the narratives below: receva (ss): my in-laws wanted me to make food all the time. they wanted kids from me, i had to walk long distance to get water or food, and every time i tried to express my tiredness, i would get criticized by my in-laws that i’m a lazy woman... i can’t cook the food right, i can’t bear children, and i don’t know how to talk to people.” lorlor (s): i was married to my husband for about 5 month before coming to iowa. the way i was being treated by him and his family was not good. i cried every night because i was in pain and no one asked me if i was okay or not. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 toang, n. & naami, a. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 13 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ sexual abuse the participants described how the patriarchal sudanese culture permitted men as sole decision makers regardless of who the decision impacted. this practice resulted in sexual abuse as indicated in the following narratives: nima (s): according to the sudanese culture, men are the decision makers where they did everything without telling their wives and their wives would not say anything because it’s accepted. back home your husband would beat you up if you refuse to have sexual intercourse with him and no one will say anything about it. koach (s): growing up in the sudanese culture was rough; i was raped by my uncle at the age of 8 and raped again by my uncle’s friend at the age of 10. it is a cultural belief that if something like this happens to a child, people would believe an older person than the child. sadly, the women lamented the lack of measures to protect them from abuse. they said that law enforcement agencies, like the police did not address their reports. sarah (ss): what i don’t like about my culture is that there is no strong government that protects women. if the woman tried and went to the police to complaint, they would tell her it is none of their business and if you begged them to help you, some of them will turn on you to do other things to you. anti-reproductive rights the women report that the sundanese culture was unfriendly to reproductive rights because of the belief that it will depopulate their members as well as because men are the sole decision makers. tibessa (s): whenever i tried to teach my cousin about birth control, i would get in trouble with my uncles because they think that i will break their family apart. the women would not want to have baby with their husbands anymore. united states of america experience study participants’ experiences in their host country are grouped under the following two themes: (1) cultural beliefs, expectations, abuse and divorce and (2) new identities and opportunities. culture beliefs, expectations, abuse and divorce as these women settled in iowa, they realized that the patriarchal sudanese cultural roles and expectations conflicted with the american culture. however, they narrated that they had no choice but to succumb to their oppressive culture and its unpleasant consequences. an instance is given in the following narrative: nima (ss): even here in america, where women have freedom to do the things they want to do, sudanese women still have that gap and limitation because women have to work, take care of their children and do the domestic work without any help from their husbands. women are overworked. but women sometimes get beaten by their husbands because they voice their opinion. most people that i know experience emotional abuse. those women who could not stand abusive relationships resorted to divorce, regardless of criticism from family and community members. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 toang, n. & naami, a. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 14 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ mary (s): when i’m around my sudanese people, especially my husband, he wants me to come from work, cook and clean. i can now say something to him because i know if he try to hurt me the police will come, but after few incidents, i left him for good and now i don’t get beaten anymore. i still hear people saying bad things about me for leaving him and still claim that i’m his wife. lorlor (s): when we came to iowa, after three years of living together, i decided to move from him because he would say that i’m not a good mother and wanted me to do everything by myself after coming home from work. we are no longer together. people say that i’m a bad person for leaving him, i’m prostitute, so now people don’t let their wives hangout with me because they think i will turn them into bad persons. an interesting source of divorce discovered in this study was about educated men taking advantage of their uneducated wives to amass wealth for themselves and their families as tibessa (s) narrated below: men who knew their wives couldn’t read would send money home without their wives knowledge because they knew “she will not know what it is.” but smart women when they find the receipts, they will bring it to someone who could read and will explain to them what it is. because of this, people ended up divorcing because they don’t want to be with someone who sends money to his family without their permission. on the other hand, some of the uneducated women reported that their educated husbands had used their educational advantage to help them as indicated by rebeca (ss), “there are things i have to rely on my husband such as reading the mail and translating at doctors’ appointments.” another interesting finding this is that educated men tend to be less abusive as narrated by sarah (ss): when i got married my husband brought me to america and i was able to work, go to esl class to learn english. my husband never abuses me or does something wrong to me because he went to school and know right from wrong. new identities and opportunities while in their host country, the women explored opportunities they were represented with to empower themselves personally, educationally and economically. they embraced the opportunities for freedom and independence. some of the women furthered their education, secured paid or self-employment jobs. the following narratives describe these instances: mary (ns): when i came to the united states, i was happy because i now found school, i can work and fully support myself without having to worry about being beaten up when i did something wrong. i also found freedom at the work place. earning their own income and contributing to household expenses gave the women some sort of independence and power as described below by wani (ss); “now that i live in the united states, i have the freedom to own my own business. without a husband or relatives taking care of me and my children. i’m now the head of my household.” the women also reported that they felt more secured and confident in the united states, knowing that they could report abuse when it happened. koach (ss): when i moved to america with my family, i was sexually assaulted by two sudanese men, and this time, i told my dad and my dad went to look for them so we called the police and filed a complaint with them. now, i’m in a country where ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 toang, n. & naami, a. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 15 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the government could protect you if you were abused and value women to bring peace to my life. staying in abusive relationship: common experience in sudan, south sudan and united states of america although, some of the women reported leaving abusive relationships, others reported staying regardless of the violence. this is mainly due to their respect for their culture (despite its oppressive nature) and also having to return the dowry price (which is between 15 and 60 cows, depending on the tribe and the girl’s education levels). staying in abusive relationship was a common experience for women in sudan, south sudan as well as in the united states of america as narrated below: nima (ss): but in our culture, women are not encouraged to leave their husbands no matter what, back home, but even in the united states, some women still stayed with their abusive husbands because they don’t want to break their family or want people to talk bad about them. wani (ss): when i got married in the states, my husband would verbally abuse me, and beat me up sometimes but i couldn’t tell anyone because in my culture, its not okay to talk outside of your marriage. so i had to keep everything to myself…now in des moines, i know people who have been getting beaten up by their husbands, but would not want to report it because they are afraid that their family will have to pay back the dowry. discussion study findings indicate that patriarchy sudanese culture discriminates against women and marginalizes them. evidence from the study demonstrates gender inequality in education as in other studies (dulflo, 2012; faye, 2010; jack, 2012; mingot, 2013) and employment (jack, 2010; mingott, 2013). the women reported lack of access to educational opportunities when they were growing up. they attributed this issue to their culture, which has strict stereotypical gender roles that must be religiously adhered to. an interesting finding of the study is that, regardless of the oppressive sudanese cultural, some educated parents were more likely to educate their girl-child. girls who were fortunate to be enrolled in schools were more likely to be targeted and stereotyped. study outcome also suggests that educated women experienced employment-based discrimination, supporting other studies (jack, 2010; mingott, 2013). christian women in sudan were more likely to experience employmentbased discrimination due to their religion because islam is the predominant religion in sudanabout 97% of the population is muslim (bbc news: sudan profile. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14094995) another interesting finding is that, educated men were less likely to abuse their wives. on the other hand, some educated men took advantage of their uneducated wives to amass wealth for themselves and their families. and yet, other educated men used their educational advantage to help their wives to read their mails and to translate for them during doctors’ visits. the study also demonstrates that, regardless of where they resided, sudanese women performed stereotypical gender roles. however, there was some change in the roles the women played while in the state of iowa, validating studies which suggest that migrating into the united states of america undoubtedly changes the traditional gender roles of sudanese women (gladden, 2013). in the united states of america, some of the women furthered their http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14094995 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 toang, n. & naami, a. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 16 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ education and/or secured paid or self-employment jobs and contributed financially to household expenditures. also, irrespective of their ages and levels of education, the study findings indicated that sudanese women are more likely to experience gender-based violence including physical, verbal and emotional and sexual. gender-based violence from this study emanates from gender role assignment. it occurred both in the countries of origin and in the host country because gender-based violence is largely acceptable by both sudanese men and women in their countries of origin (hebbani, 2010; scott et al, 2013) and host countries (hebbani, 2010). in addition, the study suggests that the women had difficulties reporting abuses both in their home and host countries due to their respect for the elderly, which is one of the key sudanese cultural values. once the elderly (family or community members) disapproved of reporting abuse and/or divorce, the women have no say. however, while in the united states of america, some of the women embraced opportunities for freedom and independence. they empowered themselves personally, educationally and economically. some of them reported abuses to reduce the severity. others divorced, regardless of opposition and criticism from family and community members. evidence from the study suggests that women who divorced were branded “prostitutes” and “bad persons.” some were even treated as outcastes by their families. on the other hand, some of the women remained in abusive relationship regardless of systems to protect their human rights. the study found that sudanese women stayed in abusive relationships in both sudan and south sudan as well as in the state of iowa. reasons for staying in abusive relationships include respect for sudanese culture and the elderly; inability to pay back dowry (bridal price), which is between 15 and 60 cows depending on the tribe and the girl’s education levels and the abuse of women who disobey their culture rules (by family and community members). this finding validates studies indicating that women could even be abused by family members and close friends due to the belief that cultural rules should not be disobeyed (arabi, 2011; mingot, 2013; elnour, 2012). it is noteworthy that, throughout the women’s narrations, there was no single reference to seeking professional help from social workers except the law enforcement. this alone demonstrates the need for social workers to reaching out to this vulnerable population . conclusion and recommendations although findings from this qualitative study cannot be generalized to experiences of sudanese women in sudan, south sudan and state of iowa (united states of america) due to the limitations posed by sampling techniques, sample size, and study coverage area. however, insights from the study outcome could be useful for social work practitioners (especially those in the united states of america) given that the women currently reside in there. it is important for social work practitioners to be aware of and sensitive to communal/shared values (positive and negative) inherent in the sudanese culture. this knowledge could enhance effective service delivery for this population. for example, familiar support could be tapped for therapeutic processes. on the other hand, where there is an unfavorable living environment, the practitioner could present the victim with options to staying in the abusive environment. social workers could build the capacity of the women by providing them with information about available resources and how to access them as well as educating them about abuse and its consequences and avenues to address their concerns. i suggest that community outreach ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 toang, n. & naami, a. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 17 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ approach be used in dealing with these women. specifically, door-to-door outreach to hand out flyers containing information about useful existing resources and how to access them is recommended. the flyers could also be placed in the community at common places that the women are likely to go (e.g., (including libraries, local african churches, local grocery stores, and local sudanese organizations). social workers could also reach out to the sudanese women by having booths at local fairs and events. in conclusion, the study which explored the experiences of sudanese women in regards to gender-based violence before and after migration to the united states of america demonstrates the practice of stereotypical gender roles before and after migrating to the united states, although there were changes in the role the women played in the united states. the study also demonstrates the presence of gender-based violence before and after migrating to the united states. however, while some of the women accepted divorce and separation as part of their adaptation to the new culture, others remained in abusive relationships due to their respect for the sudanese culture and their inability to pay back dowry (bridal price) as well as abuse of women who disobey their cultural rules. cultural sensitivity awareness by social work practitioners and empowerment programs for the target population could help reduce gender-based violence against sudanese women while they reside in the united states of america. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 toang, n. & naami, a. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 18 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ references arabi, a. (2011). in power without power: women in politics and leadership positions in south sudan. hope, pain & patience: the lives of women in south sudan, 193-213 baird, m. b., & boyle, j. s. (2012). well-being of dinka refugee women of southern sudan. journal of transcultural nursing, 23(1). doi: 10.1177/1043659611423833 blanchfield, l, margesson, r, blyther, t.s., serafino, n. m & wyler, l. s. (2011). international violence against women: u.s. response and policy issues. congressional research services, 1-29 chen, z., fiske, s. t., & lee, t. l. (2009). ambivalent sexism and power-related gender-role ideology in marriage. spring science business media, 60, 1-25. doi: 10.1007/s11199-0099585-9 duflo, e. (2012). women's empowerment and economic development. journal of economic literatur,50(4), 1051-1079 elnour, a. m. (2012). learning in the company of women: the intersection of race, gender, and religion in the educational and career experience of immigrant professional sudanese muslim women in the united states (doctoral dissertation, the ohio state university). faya, r. (2010). barriers to higher education for women in southern sudan. centre for educational research, 1, 6-43. gervais, s. j., & hoffman, l. (2013). just think about it: mindfulness, sexism, and prejudice toward feminist. springer science business media, 68, 283-295. doi: 10.1007/s11199-0120241-4 gladden, j. (2013). coping strategies of sudanese refugee women in kakuma refugee camp, kenya. refugee survey quarterly hatoss, a. (2010). gendered barriers to educational opportunities: resettlement of sudanese refugees in australia. gender and education, 22, 147-160 haffejee, b., & east, j. f. (2015). african women refugee resettlement a womanist analysis. affilia journal of women and social work. doi 0886109915595840 hebbani, a (2010). intercultural communication challenges confronting female sudanese former refugees in australia jack, e. a. “education is my mother and father”: the “invisible” women of sudan. canada’s journal of refuges, (27)2, (2012). mccabe, c. (2011). african immigrants in the united states. washington dc: migration policy institute. retrieved from: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/african-immigrantsunited-states mingot, e. s., (2013). going home for the sake of a nation: the challenges facing southern sudanese women in post-secession khartoum. master’s thesis. university of stavenger, norway. retrieved ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 toang, n. & naami, a. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 19 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ from:https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/185866/mingot.pdf?sequence1&i sallowed=y nilsson, h. m. (2013). sudanese and south sudanese refugee women’s sense of security in kakuma refugee camp. masters’ thesis. uppsala university, kenya. retrieved from: http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:636637/fulltext01.pdf clark, s. (2001). practice update from the national association of social workers. national association of social workers online journal,1(2). retrieved from: http://www.naswdc.org/practice/adolescent_health/ah0102.asp scott, j., averbach, s., modest, a. m., hacker, m. r., cornish, s., spencer, d., murphy, m., & parveen, p., (2013). an assessment of gender inequitable norms and gender-based violence in south sudan: a community-based participatory research approach. conflict and health, 7(4), 2-11 https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/185866/mingot.pdf?sequence http://www.naswdc.org/practice/adolescent_health/ah0102.asp _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 biri, k. & mutambwa, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 23 _____________________________________________________________________ socio-cultural dynamics and education for development in zimbabwe: navigating the discourse of exclusion and marginalisation biri, kudzai a and mutambwa, john b abstract africa enjoys large numbers of institutions of higher learning and it has seen many women sailing through these institutions. this paper argues that, in spite of the negatives that characterise the educational system in africa and the marginalisation of most women, there exist avenues that can be exploited to promote and strengthen the relevance of higher education for development. women have either been ‘excluded’ from education or ‘bound’ by socio-cultural factors deterring their potential to contribute to the development of the continent. this study locates education in africa (zimbabwe) within the global context but at the same time paying attention to local dynamics. it looks at the contribution made by women in mainstream national development. the researchers perused through government bulletins and unesco reports on human capital development. using a womanist framework, the paper argues that in order to realise sustainable development, attention should be paid to socio-religious ethics that ‘disempower’ women but are often ignored by scholars, politicians and other stakeholders. key terms: women, culture, exclusion, education a department of religious studies classics and philosophy, university of zimbabwe. contacts: kudzibiri@gmail.com, p. o. box mp167 mt pleasant harare, zimbabwe . b department of linguistics, university of zimbabwe, zimbabwe. mailto:kudzibiri@gmail.com _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 biri, k. & mutambwa, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 24 _____________________________________________________________________ introduction the theme of sustainable development has been topical for more than a decade. it has to be understood within the context of widespread poverty, marginalisation and underdevelopment that characterise most african countries. educational institutions have been identified as powerful stakeholders for equipping and empowering people. the quest for institutional development has prompted great attention to the workings of both private and public sector organisations and there is still considerable ignorance of african institutions, dynamics and of the ways in which organisations function, both inwardly as well as in terms of their links to social, cultural and political institutions in the surrounding societies (woodford-berger 1998:34) the paper argues that, despite the increasing numbers of women with qualifications from tertiary institutions, the women have failed to make an impact on developmental issues in the country as well as on the continent. this poor showing by women has been attributed to socio-cultural and religious beliefs that continue to chain women to traditional roles, despite them having acquired expert knowledge from universities and polytechnics. background and preamble this paper utilises the zimbabwean context, at the same time locating it within the broader context of africa. it examines how the _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 biri, k. & mutambwa, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 25 _____________________________________________________________________ traditional shona socio-cultural religious orientation prevents women from participating in development in spite of attaining education from institutions of higher learning. several measures have been undertaken by government and non-governmental organisations (ngos) and even religious institutions (churches) to empower women. this came as a result of acknowledging gender disparities or gaps that exist in almost every sector in the country. the call for women empowerment through education has seen universities and colleges in the country adopting affirmative action in order to encourage the girl child to access education. the paper argues that development at a ‘micro level’ affects development at the macro level (national level). the way traditional socio-cultural religious ethics bind women inevitably affects development at national level. it also militates against the relevance of education. the paper examines higher education against the background of zimbabweans who are grappling with socio-economic and political challenges whose negative effects often burden mostly women. this paper acknowledges the positive contributions made by higher educational institutions in zimbabwe and africa in general, especially after colonialism. the role of institutions of higher education in zimbabwe in spite of the positive contributions by institutions of higher learning and their impact on addressing gender gaps, most women remain at the periphery of society. most leadership positions remain _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 biri, k. & mutambwa, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 26 _____________________________________________________________________ in the hands of men despite the fact that women enjoy numerical strength. the un report of 1991 acknowledges that women are poorly represented in ranks of power, policy and decision-making. the report notes that women make up less than 5% of the heads of state, heads of corporations and top positions in organisations. this is in spite of the fact that women are found in large numbers in lowlevel positions of public administration, political parties, trade unions and business. however, the ministry of education sport and culture module of 2002 concedes that women have made inroads in the past 20 years in parliament and middle management levels, even though their representation in these areas still averages less than 20%. this paper acknowledges the diversity that runs through africa, but at the same time, does not overlook the unique experiences that african women rather than men, face, that amount to exclusion and marginalisation in the developmental process. this is in spite of many women attaining education from institutions of higher learning. when navigating the discourse of education for empowerment of women and sustainable development, langure’s (1997:21) thoughts are worth noting; it is a common and somewhat unexamined belief that increased schooling for women will automatically bring about women’ advancement. it is often assumed that it is lack of schooling which has been holding women back. increased enrolment of women in schools is seen as a means to bring about gender equality in professional _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 biri, k. & mutambwa, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 27 _____________________________________________________________________ occupations within government and ultimately within larger society. women’s lack of education becomes the legitimation of male supremacy, yet there is little or no evidence based on patriarchal explanation for women’s subordination… langure (1997) brings out important issues that need to be noted: increased enrolment of women in schools and its significance, and the notions of patriarchy that have a bearing on the traditional sociocultural religious ethics, which consequently impinge on developmental processes. the government and ngos assume that by simply educating women, they are automatically advanced and should participate in the developmental processes. yet, there are important underlying socio-cultural currents that need to be addressed. the paper argues that these socio-cultural factors help to keep women under the checks and balances of men, even if a woman attains a position of leadership. cultural socialisation encourages women to consult and the myth that women need men by their side to excel is deeply embedded in many circles. the patriarchal society again perpetuates the myth that educating a woman means her advancement and independence. according to the patriarchal system, educated women become difficult to control. yet, some women in leadership positions do not lead but continue to be guided by cultural conditionings of compliance and subservience to men's ideas. the evidence that validates this argument is the continued pleas for women’s rights and empowerment. the question that may _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 biri, k. & mutambwa, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 28 _____________________________________________________________________ be asked is why women are clamouring for empowerment, when increased numbers of women are enrolling and graduating from the institutions of higher learning in society? this question brings to the fore, the central underlying questions in this study: why do we consider socio-cultural and religious dynamics in zimbabwe in the quest for sustainable development against the backdrop of educating and empowering women? does occupying leadership positions translate to leading and making decisions? the relevance of institutions of higher education in zimbabwe: an appraisal higher education is a necessity in africa, especially after the postcolonial period. several governments in africa, including the government of zimbabwe, have taken measures and implemented policies that ensure access to education by all citizens. zimbabwe has a combination of private, government and church –related institutions of higher learning. special attention has been paid to the enrolment of women and girls in these institutions of higher learning in order to empower them. this has resulted in the rise in numbers of women and girls who access education and those who attain qualifications from institutions of higher education. the study presupposes that higher education calls for and implies influence in developmental processes by all. the plight of women is a case to reckon if ever sustainable development is to be attained. this comes _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 biri, k. & mutambwa, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 29 _____________________________________________________________________ in the wake of the millennium development goals of 2020. while there are many institutions of higher learning in zimbabwe, these institutions need to pay attention to the dynamics of socio-cultural religious ethics that seem to persist in the mindset of many people. this means that policies by all relevant stakeholders for economic and political development have to recognize, and factor in, the social and cultural institutions so that the ‘syndrome’ that prevents women from being ‘high fliers’ in society, despite going through institutions of higher education can be exorcised. while the discussion has noted the significance of institutions of higher learning in zimbabwe, there is need to briefly examine the role of education and religion in africa and their impact on the developmental process in society. that way, it will be possible to critique existing challenges towards and encourage sustainable development of institutions of higher learning. the role of religion and education in africa religion forms the basis of african ways of life (ayantayo, 2003). according to mosala (1985), certain factors characterise african religion in a way that somewhat distinguishes it from other world religions, for example, african religion works more on a communal rather than individual basis. african ethics is basically religious ethics, intrinsically dependent on religion, the cultural norms flow from religious convictions (ayantayo, 2003). _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 biri, k. & mutambwa, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 30 _____________________________________________________________________ according to oduyoye (1997), myths, folktales and proverbs restate themes that appear in ethical and moral teaching. myths, folktales and proverbs are important in the moral formation. some of these encourage women to bind themselves at home, leaving them with limited time to explore other areas of life. gelfand (1973) says the concern of the shona clansmen is directed at social justice, obligation and responsibility. responsibilities have been placed on women and a typical african woman has the following roles: woman, mother and wife, apart from her responsibilities at work. the paper argues that all this is enshrined in patriarchy and places women within the checks and balance of men. no matter how high a woman might climb on the educational ladder, she is always reminded about her place and roles that tradition has assigned to her. the following examples from zimbabwe and zambia best demonstrate that there is need to go beyond offering higher education to women so that its relevance can be practical and manifest. one shona proverb says, adzidzisa mwanasikana adzidzisa rudzi (educating a woman is educating the whole nation). the proverb acknowledges the traditional role of women in socialising children and the young as they grow up. women who are educationally empowered are most likely to perform this role more effectively than those without meaningful education. this can be achieved by providing supportive mechanisms that ensure that women’s potential is explored to the best of their abilities. the corollary to this thinking is that educating the girl child enriches the family in that she will get married and increase the family network. _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 biri, k. & mutambwa, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 31 _____________________________________________________________________ in addition to that, an educated girl is most likely to fetch a wellheeled suitor who will pay a good bride price in order to marry her. chiunduramoyo (1986) says: dzidzo chombo chako chemuchihwande, hachisi chinhu chekuti unofamba wakadengezera pamusoro… (education is your private weapon, not something to display to the public) this traditional attitude and understanding of education, while plausible, somehow contradicts the purposes of education within the current global context. it is education for development, to compete on the global market and should not be confined to the individual. this also shows the shortcomings and limitations of traditional attitudes towards education with respect to women. they have to confine themselves to the home, if they cross the home boundary, they have trespassed. gundani (1991) captures this very clearly, using the example of politics in zimbabwe. gundani points out that the exploits of ruth chinamano were heroic for most men to acknowledge. she had entered into politics, a domain that was generally perceived as men’s. ruth’s achievements lie in encouraging other women to participate in domains perceived as men’s. also, it affirms the observations by chiunduramoyo that education was important (formal and informal) for the empowerment of an individual to make exploits in society. socio-cultural perceptions and socialisation need to be addressed in order for _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 biri, k. & mutambwa, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 32 _____________________________________________________________________ women to break from their closets into the public domain with confidence. lack of confidence means women cannot exploit their full potential, with the effect that education offered in institutions of higher learning becomes less appreciated. why do we pay attention to socio-cultural religious ethics: gender organisational: an overview neither institutions nor particular organisational settings are genderneutral because specific organisations are connected to overall societal cultures, attitudes and systems and meaning through their structures and symbols and through the women and men who make them up (woodford-berger, 1998). of importance is the fact that institutions are arenas wherein a particular kind of socialisation takes place, including re-enforcement of gendered perceptions through the allocation of work tasks, the relative positioning of men and women within an organisation, the distribution of authority and legitimate use of power, and the symbolic representations of gendered social relations manifested in, for example, language and metaphors, through regiment work practices, routines and processes. how does all this contribute to development? gendered perceptions and habits inform organisational performance and development as structures and cultures and with respect to both formal and informal dimensions (woodford-berger, 1998:36). in actual fact, innumerable studies have shown that women and men may be assigned or considered qualified for very different work duties or benefits due to _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 biri, k. & mutambwa, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 33 _____________________________________________________________________ their different positions in the organisation or in society in general. they may even be allocated duties and granted access to organisational resources in terms of what is considered to be “fitting” for their sex. it is not uncommon that even organisations composed of nearly all women are still controlled by men-women’s branches or wings of political parties or other state or parastatal organisations, or have men in their top managerial and decisionmaking echelons (woodford-berger 1998:37-39). all these lead to gender inequalities and imbalances of power and authority. there is, however, no need to blanket women’s experiences. this paper acknowledges some women who have acquired higher education and who also occupy ‘free space’. however, these are just a handful as most women are bound by traditional societal norms. the incorporation into higher education curriculum of socioreligious ethics for all, including men, will cultivate a spirit of partnership between male and females in order to strengthen the relevance of higher education in their lives. in order to create a vicious cycle of strengthening institutions of higher learning and promoting sustainable development, it would be necessary to tackle the socio-cultural and religious challenges that have prescribed on women, certain norms, values and perspectives. strengthening institutions of higher learning is a long process that needs to be multi-dimensional in approach by taking into cognisance, the most central issues for sustainable development. women need a sustainable and enabling environment that ‘releases’ them into the _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 biri, k. & mutambwa, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 34 _____________________________________________________________________ public domain confidently so that they can perform and this performance will lead to development. this way, it is possible to measure institutional relevance against the backdrop of changes and how they are affecting the excluded and marginalised. globalisation in the economic sense means that all countries increasingly find themselves part of intense worldwide economic competition. investment in education as a means to improve productivity is considered crucial by most governments today. internally, most african countries have moved away from a centrally planned economic system and consolidation of the nation state towards pluralism, a market economy and democratization of the political system. planning of education can no longer be seen as a technical and linear process but a gradual process of negotiation and consensus building between different actors (gustafsson, 1998:138). therefore this paper calls for negotiation with social and religious institutions as platforms that can effectively initiate ‘the release of women’ to their domains of interest, which may lead to positive development. factors affecting sustainable development and empowerment of women are a contested area, as there is lack of cohesion because of the fragmentation of ideologies, perspectives and attitudes. contradictions naturally remain between modern and traditional forms and institutions of governance, and between the state and the people, leading to discussion on how to integrate the traditional and the modern into one african style state (dia, 1993). yet the _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 biri, k. & mutambwa, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 35 _____________________________________________________________________ developmental process depends on the strength of the link between work carried out at the micro level and growth and development at national level and it is not unreasonable to assume that good results at national level (macro level) are as a result of what goes on at the micro level (carlsson, 1998:14). but why does education appear irrelevant at times and does not seem to change the lives of women much? organisational development and change are not a matter of simply transferring one model the western model to an african setting (carlsson, 1998:21). it is a matter of paying attention to the socio-cultural religious dimensions in africa that largely define and dictate the space for women and what they should achieve in life. the success and relevance of higher education institutions will depend on whether or not they ensure that individuals (women) do not become isolated islands but are integrated into a larger context of development work. how can this resistance to change be explained? the experiences from organisational development work in africa are not very encouraging. the continent probably offers one of the most difficult administrative environments imaginable. but the need for change is great. at the same time, the resistance to change is just as great (carlsson, 1998). exploring the issues: challenges and limitations _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 biri, k. & mutambwa, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 36 _____________________________________________________________________ strengthening higher education institutions relies on the availability of committed motivated, competent and dedicated people. in order to substantiate the point that the mere provision of education does not translate to relevance of institutions of higher learning and development, below are some examples. zimbabwe got its independence in 1980. it also embarked on programmes that were designed to empower women. there has been a rise in the number of women going through colleges and universities. female politicians rank among the most educated, yet there is a lot of exclusion and marginalisation. entry points at institutions of higher learning are lowered in order to make sure that these institutions include many female students. however, in spite of the good intention in some circles, it translates to the inferiority of women because they cannot compete with male students. as an example, both male and female students can pursue the same degree programme with female students being accepted into these programmes with inferior points to those of the male student. this has been described as affirmative action, whose objective is to increase the number of females in areas that were dominated by men. areas that easily come to mind are engineering, architecture and veterinary science. in spite of all the large numbers, women are still clamouring for change and empowerment. the writers’ experiences as lecturers at university show that some married female students go through painful experiences with their newly acquired qualifications. after completing their degrees, they are told by their husbands that their place is in the home, not in the public sector. this view emanates _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 biri, k. & mutambwa, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 37 _____________________________________________________________________ from the traditional patriarchal notion of the role and place of a woman that is ‘written within the hearts and minds of africans’ but poses challenges in this current global system. such decisions are blind to global socio-economic dynamics because, for higher education to become relevant in the contemporary world, we need to locate it within the broader context of the world system. there is, therefore, need for transformation of mentality that places women within a closet innovation in order to make the higher education that they acquire relevant; there is need for creativity in order to make sound female intellectual scholarship that initiate sustainable development. as an illustration, zambia got its independence in 1964. the government embarked on educating women in order to empower them and to develop their nation. educating women and empowering them was part of the national agenda designed to negate the ills of the colonial system. educating women is a positive step in the direction of empowering and developing them. the contribution of religion and culture pentecostals are seen as people who encourage empowerment and leadership of all people regardless of gender (kalu 2008). they advocate for empowerment through education. soothill’s (2010) analysis of ghanaian charismatic churches resonates well with the situation in zimbabwe. she correctly points out that in zimbabwean pentecostalism, god is not a democrat, but has his dictates that have _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 biri, k. & mutambwa, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 38 _____________________________________________________________________ to be followed. there are no rights, hence, a complex trajectory they have sourced from both biblical patriarch and the traditional paradigm of male supremacy. this acts as a hindrance towards development of women. the religious models presented to women militate against the quest for upward mobility in zones that are generally referred to as male domains. all this has a negative impact on the developmental process of women because it translates to exclusion and marginalisation. women are also disempowered through inheritance. inheritance within the zimbabwean culture means that women are like property; when their husbands die, they are passed on to the brothers. the traditional zimbabwean culture does not allow women to inherit any property from their deceased husbands; this makes them economically powerless. this cultural arrangement seems to shape female identity within the shona society, and the custom is very strong among traditional as well as modern zimbabwean men. this cultural practice, while it holds the people together, is retrogressive as it works against women’s empowerment. recommendations having established that putting women through university education is no guarantee for women’s empowerment, the paper argues that there is need for deliberate creation for opportunities for women. the quarter system is a case in point where a certain number of positions in political as well as administrative duties are deliberately set aside for women so that they are not in competition with men. _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 biri, k. & mutambwa, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 39 _____________________________________________________________________ perhaps more important than setting aside positions of responsibility for women is the drive to sensitise men on the need to take women as their equals at workplaces. as already suggested elsewhere in the paper, this is the biggest hurdle that stands in the way of women empowerment because of the fact that such attitudes are entrenched in people’s culture. conclusion several factors that militate against the empowerment of women as well as their meaningful participation in national issues have been discussed. these include deep-seated traditional beliefs, the small number of females with higher education when compared to men, and the lack of opportunities for women to prove themselves. because of these factors, the provision of higher education to women is not a guarantee for sustainable development. this is in light of the existence of traditional socio-cultural religious ethics that limit, confine and designate specific space for women who have attained higher education. these socio-cultural and religious ethics militate against women, leading to their exclusion and marginalisation, much to the detriment of the developmental process. _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 3, number 1, 2013 biri, k. & mutambwa, j. african journal of social work, 3(1), august 2013 40 _____________________________________________________________________ references ayantayo, j. k.; 2003. african traditional ethics and transformation: innovation and ambivalence involved and modification necessary for sound 21 st century african intellectual scholarship. ibadan: university of ibadan. chiunduramoyo, a.; 1986. ziva kwawakabva. gweru: mambo press. dia, m. a.; 1993. governance approach to civil service reform in sub-saharan africa. world bank technical paper no 25, washington: world bank. ministry of education sport and culture; 2002. gender equality in education. harare: unesco office. oduyoye, m. a.; 1997. daughters of anowa: african woman and patriarchy. town: publishers. gelfand, m.; 1973. the genuine shona. gweru: mambo press. gustafsson, i.; 1998. basic–education management of an extremely complex system. in l. wohlgemuth, j. carlsson and h. kifle (eds.) institution building in africa. nordiska afrikainstitutet: uppsala. johnston, a.; 1998. on developing institutions in africa. in: wohlgemuth, l., carlsson, j. and kifle, h. (eds.) institution building in africa. nordiska afrikainstitutet: uppsala. langure, s. h.; 1997. education for women’s empowerment or schooling for women’s subordination. in: medel, c. (ed). negotiating and creating spaces of power. anonuevo: unesco institution for education, hamburg. woodford-berger, p.; 1998. organisational cultures and institutional development. in: wohlgemuth, l., carlsson, j. and kifle, h., (eds.) institution building and leadership in africa. nordiska afrikainstitutet: uppsala. _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. drinking and depression as predictors of social support and quality of life amongst civilians and ex-combatants in juba, south sudan nkhoma, potiphar. abstract this paper examined drinking and depression as predictors of social support and quality of life among civilians and ex-combatants in south sudan. high levels of drinking and depression and rising rates of suicide have been reported as growing matters of public health concern. some ex-combatants will suffer severe psychological conditions, including post traumatic stress disorder (ptsd) after the war. mental health conditions that co-exist with alcohol abuse have a more debilitating effect. designing effective intervention programs to prevent complications and or to treat those at risk is critical. several scales were used to measure psychological wellbeing. regression, independent samples t-test techniques and standard equation modelling were used to evaluate the hypotheses. gender and affiliation were found to be significant predictors of social support while education and drinking were significant predictors of quality of life. however, depression was not a significant predictor of either. the research was conducted from april to september 2011. data was collected from civilians and verified ex-combatants and women associated armed forces in western and northern bahr el ghazal. four trained caseworkers of the south sudan ddr commission assisted with data collection. key terms: drinking, depression, ex-combatants, and sudan. the writer of the paper is a social work clinician with experience working in south africa, guinea, liberia, sierra leone and usa. email: pnkhoma@ci.davenport.ia.us african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 56 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. introduction the signing of the comprehensive peace agreement (cap) in january of 2005 between the sudan’s people’s liberation movement (splm) and the government of sudan ended sudan’s second civil war which had lasted from 1983 to 2005. this was preceded by the first civil war that had lasted from 1955 to 1972. this agreement marked the end of one of africa’s protracted and bitter civil wars, and raised hopes for long term peace after nearly forty years of war. the prolonged exposure to war renders many in the population susceptible to possible cumulative emotional trauma and related mental health issues. the reported high rates of trauma and depression may give just a glimpse into the depth and breadth of challenges likely to face service providers. exposure to trauma often affects every aspect of everyday living and functioning, including but not limited to, how one deals with and or manages change, learns, thinks, works and or relates to others. trauma survivors are generally more prone to experience mental health and physical health problems. intervention strategies focused only on ex-combatants and women associated with armed forces (waaf) alone, will neglect the majority of civilians exposed to trauma untreated, and vulnerable to developing complications. the adjustment and coping of excombatants may be further enhanced by the re-integration socioeconomic support packages and skills training they receive. it is well african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 57 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. established that individuals with good emotional social support systems cope better than those without. ironically, to some degree, war also gave combatants more ‘control’ and ‘self-efficacy’ than civilians over stressful and stress inducing situations. by understanding the effects of trauma, its sources and impacts, policy and decision makers, as well as other stakeholders can help design and develop appropriate and responsive programs. along with other developmental priorities, such as reconstruction and development, restoration of safety and security, provision of competent basic mental health support must be a key priority for long term peace and stability in south sudan. background few studies in south sudan found depression, drinking and suicide to be growing problems, and possible key issues of public health concern for south sudan (nkhoma, 2011; winkler, 2010; roberts et al., 2009). the possible co-occurrence of drinking, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression amongst ex-combatants has a potential to amplify the harms associated with each one separately. roberts reported the existence of disconcertingly high levels of ptsd amongst southern sudanese, where 36% of the sampled population (n= 1242) met the criteria for ptsd, existing along with high levels of depressive symptoms at 50% for the sample (roberts et al., 2009). in their study conducted in northern uganda and south sudan, karunakara et al., (2004) found prevalence of ptsd amongst african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 58 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. south sudanese in south sudan was 48% compared to 46% among south sudanese refugees living in uganda. when considered together with reports of high levels of drinking, aggression, domestic violence and high rates suicide, these factors will place enormous additional stressors on the mental health of those affected and the public health system. mental health is recognized as a key public health issue in conflict affected populations (iasc, 2007, roberts et al., 2009), we believe it must considered as such too in post-conflict societies, especially in the interests of building peace and stability. there are currently no studies conducted in south sudan to compare the mental health effects of war between the civilian, and the excombatant populations. in recent focus group discussion with excombatants and waaf, my findings indicated that they experience serious mental health concerns including high levels of depression, post-traumatic stress, increased alcohol use, domestic violence and suicidal ideation. depression is one of the most common affective disorders with a life time prevalence of between 10 to 16%, and an estimated life time occurrence of between 8 to 18% in the general population (alaadin & ansul, 2008). prevalence rates for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder in south sudan are significantly high. post-traumatic stress disorder is likely to be co-morbid with other mental health disorders, including with depression. further, substance abuse is a well-documented co-morbid factor in many psychological disorders, including for both depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 59 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. considering the potential risks posed by the possible co-occurrence of drinking and depression in conditions of prolonged exposure to war such as is the case in south sudan, can lead to elevated levels of depression, drinking and ptsd, this study investigated their ability to predict perceived social support and quality of life amongst excombatants and civilians. there are currently no studies related to drinking and depression as predictors of social support and quality of life comparing excombatants and civilians. this study uses structural equation modeling (sem), to address this gap. the objective is realized through literature review, evaluation of the research hypotheses using sem. key findings are reported, limitations and implications discussed, and suggestions for future research are offered. literature review theoretical framework theories of social behaviour, in particular social learning theory (bandura, 1977) and normative theory (paton-simpson, 2001), contend that perceived or real social norms exert a strong influence on social behaviour, where social norms refer to the expected behaviours in specific situations (hagman, clifford, noel, 2007). according to social learning theory, drinking including heavy drinking can be influenced by observing peers, imitation and or modeling (bandura, 1977). in this context therefore drinking both within ex-combatants and civilians is likely to be influenced by african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 60 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. dominant local cultures, as most will imitate, exhibit and maintain socially desirable and acceptable drinking behaviours. larimer et al., (2009) found that the influence of perceived approved behaviours of peers was one of the strongest influences on personal drinking amongst college students. i believe that this will be the case with excombatants and civilians, in keeping with social learning theory. in view of the above discussion, i hypothesized as follows: h1: drinking will be negatively correlated to social support and quality of life. drinking and depression few studies investigated the effects of alcohol use on the relationship between stress and depression, and found that light to moderate drinkers had less depression when compared to nondrinkers and or heavy drinkers (lipton, 1994). depression has been correlated with poor health, overall task performance (ameresekere et al., 2012) and elevated substance abuse and anxiety (andrew and wilding, 2004). arthur (2004) found that depressed individuals lacked many necessary interpersonal skills, and made unrealistic demands on themselves and others. research shows that mental health conditions that co-exist with substance use and or abuse have a far more debilitating psychological effect than those that do not (ayazi et al., 2012). i posited therefore that, many ex-combatants will have difficulties with relationships during the re-integration african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 61 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. period leading to poor social support and depression. in view of the foregoing discussion the following was hypothesized. h2: depression will be negatively correlated to social support and quality of life. social support and suicide social support research emphasizes the importance of external factors and availability of social support for coping with challenging life events. the process of re-integration is going to place enormous adjustment demands (social, physical, emotional, financial and otherwise) on the ex-combatants, their families and the communities which they are to become part of, which additional stressors do not necessarily arise for civilians. without the right levels of social support, ex-combatants may experience painful social isolation which may impact negatively on their health and psychological wellbeing. social isolation and loneliness have been related to chronic illness and poor health status, with links to increased alcohol use, depression and suicidal ideation (swami et al., 2001) on the other hand, social support has been shown to act as a psychological buffer against stress and has been associated with lower levels of stress, (negga and applewhite, 2007) and is positively correlated with high levels of social coping; (zimet, 1998). other studies show that deterioration in the quality of the relationship, regardless of whether one drinks or does not, tends to lead to depression and also that there is a positive correlation between depression and suicide african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 62 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. (kashbeck and christensen, 1995). in view of above discussion i hypothesized as follows: h3: suicidal ideation will be negatively correlated to social support and quality of life. domestic violence and ptsd domestic violence is defined as ‘any means of establishing power and control over the victims by both physical and psychological methods of coercion’ (pence and paymar, 1993; shephard, 1992). radford and russell (1992) observe that domestic violence is used to protest a setback in power relations regarding women in society, and often allows men to get away with such violent behaviour towards women. while londt (2004) notes that domestic violence is progressive in its debilitation and often lethal. current research findings indicate that domestic violence is a problem in south sudan. it is complicated by social, cultural traditions and institutional practices that seem to condone it. individuals who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder may have difficulties controlling their impulse and or coping with elevated levels of stress, which may render them vulnerable to committing increased acts of domestic violence as they attempt to regain control in a situation. in view of the above discussion i hypothesized the following: h4: post traumatic stress disorder will be negatively correlated to social support and quality of life. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 63 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. methodology procedures the data was collected from verified ex-combatants and civilians in northern bahr el ghazal (nbeg) and western bahr el ghazal (wbeg). several instruments were utilized to collect data: a background information form (bif), clinically administered post traumatic stress scale (caps), social support scale (ss), quality of life scale (qol) and several scales to measure depression, alcohol consumption, domestic violence and suicidal ideation. the bif was used to record information pertaining to area, affiliation, ethnicity, age, gender, rank, years of service, type of vocational training and employment status. participants the sample consisted of 238 respondents, made up of 108 (45.4%) ex-combatants and 130 (54.6%) civilians aged 18-79 years. the sample was made up of 129 (54.2%) (77 nbeg & 52 wbeg) male and 109 (45.8%) (50 nbeg & 59 wbeg) females of whom 55 males and 53 females were ex-combatants. with 127(53.4%) participants from nbeg and 111(46.6%) coming from wbeg. most research participants (37.4%) were between the ages of 35-49 years, with: 10.9% (18-24), 28.6 %( 25-34), 10.1% (50-59), and 13% (60-79). ethnic composition of the sample was 63.4% dinka, 16.4% jur/nueri, 12.6% balanda, and 2.5% each for mundari and zande, with 1.7% falata and 0.8% magayai. only 5.5% of participants were african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 64 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. employed full-time, 8.4% part-time with the remainder, 86.1% identifying as ‘not-working’. sixty-five percent (65.1%) had no formal schooling with 24.4% attending primary school but not literate, while only 10.5% can be regarded as literate. measures to measure quality of life, the quality of life (qol) scale was administered to participants, the 13-item questionnaire like all other questionnaires is anchored from 1 (“strongly disagree”) to 5 (“strongly disagree) and was developed by lee, bobko, earley, lokke et al., (1991). the scale was reverse coded so that lower values reflect higher scores and the cronbach alpha for this scale was .912. i developed the scales for suicidal ideation (3-items), drinking (8-items) and domestic violence (6-items), all the scales had a high and excellent reliability ranging from .873 to a high of .978 which is better than .70 required for such research (hair, 1998, nunnally, 1978). results the proposed quality of life model presented in figure 1 was tested using latent variable structural equation modelling (sem) to evaluate research hypotheses by using the lisrel computer program (version 8.30, joreskog & sorbom, 1996). a major strength of using structural equation modelling (sem) is that it uses latent variables which allow for the estimation of relationships among theoretically interesting constructs that are free of the effects african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 65 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. of measurement unreliability. the covariance matrix was used as the input for all models, and the maximum likelihood estimation procedure was employed to produce the model parameters. to examine model fit, measures of absolute fit were employed, incremental fit, and parsimonious fit in order to determine how well the data fit the hypothesized model (hair, anderson, tatham, & black, 1998; mueller, 1996). the means, standard deviations and zero-order correlations for the model were calculated. common method variance tests since all constructs were measured using self-report measures, we examined whether common method variance was a serious issue. as recommended by padsakoff and organ (1986), harman’s one-factor test analysis was conducted. in this test, all variables were entered together into an unrotated factor analysis and the results were examined. if substantial common method variance is present, then either a single factor would emerge or one general factor would account for most of the total variance explained in the items (podsakoff & organ, 1986). after entering all the items into the factor analysis model four factors emerged from the analysis, and the first factor accounted for 19 percent of total variance, however, no general factor emerged from the factor analysis. thus, common method variance was not considered to be a serious issue in this study. model fit indicators african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 66 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. the following fit indices were used to assess the fit of the nomological network developed in figure 1. the goodness-of-fit index (gfi) is a measure of absolute fit of the model by comparing the fitted model with the actual data, and ranges from 0 to 1. values that are greater than 0.90 demonstrate that the model fits the data well (hair et al, 1998). the absolute fit measures, maximum likelihood ratio chi-square (χ2) and goodness-of-fit index (gfi), provide a measure of the extent to which the covariance matrix estimated by the hypothesized model reproduces the observed covariance matrix. in addition the root mean square error of approximation (rmsea) was considered as it provides an estimate of the measurement error. another fit index, the non-normed fit index (nnfi), was used to assess model fit; the nnfi assess the penalty for adding additional parameters to the model. the normed fit index (nfi) provides information about how much better the model fits than a baseline model, rather than as a sole function of the difference between the reproduced and observed covariance matrices (mueller, 1996; bentler & bonnett, 1980). in nfi and nnfi the nested models have a chi-square closer to zero, in which case it can be said that the model is parsimonious (mueller, 1996; marsh et al., 1988). the comparative fit index (cfi) has similar attributes to the nfi and compares predicted covariance matrix to the observed covariance matrix and is least affected by sample size. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 67 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. figure 1: conceptual model for quality of life affiliation domestic violence depression gender drinking alcohol quality of life social support education ptsd suicidal ideation african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 68 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. test of the model the two step approach to structural equation modeling was employed (anderson & gerbing, 1988) first, the measurement model was inspected for satisfactory fit indices. after establishing satisfactory model fit, the structural coefficients were interpreted. model measurement the measurement model had acceptable fit indices (see table 1). that is, the chi-square statistic was at its minimum, and the p-value was non-significant. the gfi was above its recommended threshold of 0.90 (hair et al., 1998), and the root mean square error of approximation (rmsea) was less than 0.08, indicative of an acceptable model (steiger & lind, 1980). the chi-square divided by degrees of freedom co-efficient was less than three, which indicates an acceptable model fit (marsh et al., 1988). the cfi, nfi and nnfi all indicated an acceptable fit of the model to the data. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 69 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. table 1: fit indices for the quality of life measurement model model χ2 (df) pvalue χ2 (df) rmsea gfi nnf i nf i cf i baseline 0.00 (1) 1.00 0.00 0.0 1 1.10 1 1 statistics are based on a sample of 205 respondents. degrees of freedom are in parentheses after the chi-square value. rmsea = root mean square error of approximation. gfi = goodness-of-fit index. nnfi = non-normed fit index. nfi = normed fit index. cfi = comparative fit index. df = degrees of freedom. interpretation of structural equation modelling table 2 displays significant structural coefficients for the quality of life model. drinking was found to be a statistically significant and negatively correlated predictor of quality of life, which seemed to indicate that the more one drank; the worse their quality of life was likely to be. contrary to expectations, depression was not found be significant predictor of quality of life in this model. however, affiliation and gender emerged as statistically significant and negatively correlated to social support, which seems to suggest that woman and those who were not ex-combatants, were likely to african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 70 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. experience poor social support than men. education emerged as a statistically significant and positive predictor of quality of life. table 2: unstandardized structural coefficients for the quality of life model parameter path coefficient t-value smc social support 19% affiliation -6.85 -2.77* gender -6.87 -2.68* quality of life 14% alcohol use/ drinking -0.44 -2.95* education 0.28 2.75* statistics are based on a sample of 238 respondents. these are the endogenous variables in the model; the exogenous variables are listed underneath. *significant at the 0.05 level. smc=squared multiple correlation. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 71 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. overall, four factors affiliation, gender, drinking (alcohol use) and education were significant predictors of quality of life for the hypothesized quality of life model. partial support was established for h1, which stated that ‘drinking will be negatively correlated to social support and quality of life’. drinking was found to be statistically significant and negatively correlated with quality of life, but not to social support. contrary to expectation, partial support was established for h2, which stated that ‘depression will be negatively correlated to social support and quality of life’. as hypothesized, depression was found to be negatively correlated with social support, but unexpectedly positively correlated with quality of life, though both relationships were statistically insignificant. the third set of hypotheses, h3 predicted ‘suicidal ideation will be negatively correlated to social support and quality of life’. this was partially rejected when it was established that suicidal ideation was positively correlated with social support, but negatively correlated with quality of life, however both relationships were statistically insignificant as well. the last set of hypotheses, h4 stated that ‘posttraumatic stress disorder will be negatively correlated with social support and quality of life’. this was partially affirmed, when ptsd was found to be negatively correlated to quality of life, but rejected when contrary to expectation it was shown to be positively correlated to social support, both associations were however, shown to be statistically insignificant. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 72 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. none of the paths, in h1 a, h2 a,b, h3 a,b and h4 a,b were statistically significant, and only part of h1 b (drinking will be negatively correlated to quality of life) was statistically significant, but not h1 a (drinking will be negatively correlated to social support). the squared multiple correlations for social support and quality of life were 19% and 14% respectively. discussion the current research investigated the relationship between drinking and depression as predictors of social support and quality of life amongst ex-combatants and civilians in south sudan. using structural equation modelling techniques to evaluate the hypothesis, we found that affiliation and gender were significant predictors of social support, while drinking and education were significant predictors of quality of life. drinking was found to be positively associated with social support, which may indicate that drinking is widely socially accepted as a norm and thus positively associated. surprisingly, however, depression was not found to be as significant predictor of either. the significant negative association between gender and affiliation suggests that men and women who are not in the army may experience poor social support and thus overall poor quality of life. as it is, studies show that women exhibit high levels of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. we note a curious positive association between suicide and social support, which my suggest that high social support, comes with high expectations especially for ex-combatants, thus putting pressure on them, and african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 73 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. leaving them probably more vulnerable to depression and suicide, which may explain why studies find high suicide rates, even though depression and suicidal ideation are not found to be significant predictors of either. with limited opportunities for socio-economic advancement, many would be likely to fulfil the high expectations that come with having served one’s country. on the other hand, ‘too much’ social support may also be experienced as infantilizing, and produce additional stressors, rather than buffer against stress and depression. considering the low literacy rate of the sample (10.5%), and the low rate of gainful employment of individuals (13.9%), the challenges for providing opportunities for self-actualization through work are desperately needed. ayazi observed that exposure to traumatic events coupled with socio-economic disadvantage were significantly associated with ptsd or conditions where ptsd was often comorbid with depression. importantly they note that individuals with socio-economic disadvantage were most likely to have comorbid conditions, and to have experienced more traumatic experiences demonstrated by elevated by high levels of psychological distress, than individuals with only ptsd and or those with depression alone (ayazi et al., 2012). with few mental health professionals south sudan may wish to emulate intervention programs introduced by the centre for victims of torture in liberia and sierra leone to help survivors in the community. the programs build lasting and continually improving african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 74 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. local peer counselling capabilities, support advocacy initiatives and educate the local population about mental health issues, reduce distress and increasing appropriate referrals and contribute toward professional development. the study provides additional evidence of factors that are predictors of social support and quality of life; that may be important in the design of relevant and effective mental health intervention programs to educate, identify, provide supportive counselling and treat those most at risk in the affected population segments. contributions the findings from this study have important practical implications for decision makers and policy makers in government departments and for implementing partners. in considering different strategies to provide mental health resources, including basic training and capacity development (e.g. peer counseling) and advance training (e.g. juba university), coupled with community based psychoeducation programs, so as to provide appropriate intervention and support to those at risk. these capacity development strategies may help prevent complications, improve daily functioning, and help reduce depression and the indicated high rates of suicide and suicidal ideation. identifying some of the determinant factors of social support and quality of life can make an important contribution to the design of the mental health intervention protocol. limitations african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 75 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. this study was the first to investigate factors that predict social support and quality of life amongst civilians and combatants, and as such, literature was found to be limited. second, the cross sectional design of the study does not allow for causal inferences. third, the research used trained research assistants who had to translate and interpret questions into local languages. fourth, another limitation of the study is that all data were collected using self-report measures, which may lead to the problem of common method bias. however, harmon’s one-factor test did not indicate a problem with common method variance. conclusion the results of the study demonstrate significant predictors of the hypothesized quality of life model amongst ex-combatants and civilians, and point to possible areas of intervention to ameliorate the suffering. a future research would be able to use a well-established trauma scale and depression scale to test the latent variable model. specifically, studies are needed to compare and contrast robust samples of ethnic group members in other states with more diverse ethnic groups and verified ex-combatants and areas of intense war and or prolonged skirmishes. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 76 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. references alaadin, u., & ansul; a. 2008. prevalence of symptoms of depression amongst high school students in a district of western turkey: an epidemiological study. journal of school health. 78 (5), 287-293. ameresekere, m., & pierce, c.m. 2010. post-conflict mental health in south sudan: overview of common psychiatric disorders part 1: depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. south sudan medical journal, 5 (1.), 4-8. ameresekere, m. & pierce, c.m. 2012. post-conflict mental health in south sudan: overview 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_____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. beck, a.t. & beck, r.w. 1972. screening depressed patients in family practice: a rapid technique. postgraduate medicine, 52 (12), 81-85. bentler, p.m., & bonnet, d.g. 1980. “significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures.” psychological bulletin, 88, 588-606. hagman, b.t., clifford, p.r., & noel, n.e. 2007. social norms theory-based interventions: testing the feasibility of a purported mechanism of action. journal of american college health, 56(3) 293-298. hair, j.f., anderson, r.e., tatham, r.l., and black, w.c. 1998. multivariate data analysis. macmillan, new york. inter-agency standing committee. 2007. guidelines on mental health and psychosocial support in emergency settings, geneva: iasac. karukanara, u.k., neur, f., schauer, m., singh, k., hill, k., & elbert, t. 2004. 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_____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. londt, p.m. 2004. management of domestic violence: risk-based assessment intervention guidelines with perpetrators of intimate violence. university of the western cape (unpublished ph.d research thesis), bellville, south africa. lipton, r.i. 1994. the effects of moderate alcohol use on the relationship between stress and depression. american journal of public health, 4(12), 1913 – 1917. marsh, h.w., hau, k., & grayson, d. 1988. goodness-of-fit in structural equation models. routledge, new york. mueller, r.o. 1996. basic principles of structural equation modeling: an introduction to lisrel and eqs. springer-verlag, new york. negga, f., & applewhite, s.l.i. 2007. african american college students and stress: school racial composition, self-esteem and social support. journal of college student development, 41(4), 823 – 830. nunnally, j.c. 1978. psychometric theory, second edition, mcgraw-hill, new york. nkhoma, p., 2011. focus group discussions with ex-combatants and waaf in juba, torit, and yei , (south sudan). podsakoff, p. m., & organ, d. w. 1986. self-reports in organizational research: problems and prospects. journal of management, 12(4): 531–544. pence, e. & paymar, m. 1993. education groups for men who batter: the duluth model, new york: springer. radford, j., & russell, d.e.h. 1992. femicide: the politics of woman killing. new york: twayne publishers. roberts, b., damundu, e.y., lomoro, o., & sondorp, e. 200). postconflict mental health needs: a cross sectional survey of trauma, african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 79 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 nkhoma, p. depression and associated factors in juba, southern sudan, bmc psychiatry, 9(7),1-10. shepard, m. 1992. predicting batterer recidivism five years after community intervention. journal of family violence, 7(3), 167-178. swami, v., chomorro-preemuzic, t., sinniah, d., kannan, t.m.k., stanistree, d., & furnham, a. 2001. general health mediates the telationship between loneliness, life satisfaction, and depression. social psychiatry psychiatric epidemiology, 42, 161-166. steiger, j.h. & lind, j.c. 1980. statistically-based tests for the number of common factors. paper presented at the annual meeting of the psychometry society, iowa city. winkler, n. 2010. psychosocial intervention needs amongst excombatants in south sudan. juba: south sudan ddr commission and the bonn international center for conversion (bicc); november (unpublished remarks at a presentation to the ssddr conference in juba). zimet, d.g., dahlem, n.w., zimet, s.g. and farley, k.g.; 1988 the multidimensional scale of perceived social support. journal of personality assessment, 52(1), 30-41. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 80 _____________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 kakowa, f. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 1 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ publisher african journal of social work afri. j. soc. work © national association of social workers-zimbabwe/author(s) issn print 1563-3934 issn online 2409-5605 licensed under a creative commons attribution-non-commercial 4.0 international license nurturing professional social work in malawi felix kakowa abstract social work training in malawi started with a community development certificate in 1964 and later a certificate in social welfare in 1978. in 2006, the first degree programme was introduced. as of 2016, three universities offered degree programmes. despite this long history, social work has not been fully professionalised. most of the work that social workers should be doing, especially at senior levels, is being done by non-social workers. this applies to both government and non-government social work positions, although there are signs of improvement. further to this, there is no regulating or coordinating body for social work education, research and practice. a regulating body of social work in malawi would enhance development of the profession. current social work teaching and practice follows western models, some of them not very appropriate to the local context. recognition of indigenous approaches, local socio-economic conditions and cultural underpinnings would assist in contextualizing the curriculum and ultimately, making social work in malawi culturally relevant. reflective and evidence based practice could help in this process. the researcher used desk research to review social work practice and education in malawi and argues that the best way to nurture the profession is for social work educators and practitioners to interact and learn from each other. a reflexive approach where curriculum and practice would inform each other is recommended. consequently, contextually relevant curriculum and a strong theory backed practice would be achieved. key terms: malawi, social work, education, curriculum, practice, reflection, evidence, indigenous methods author details: lecturer in social work, sociology department, chancellor college, university of malawi, p.o. box 280, zomba, malawi. email: fkakowa@cc.ac.mw or fkakowa@gmail.com ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 kakowa, f. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 2 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ introduction social work training in malawi started with a community development certificate in 1964 at magomero college, a government training institution. later in 1978, the college introduced a certificate course in social welfare that produced social welfare assistants (swas) (magomero college archive files, 1980). in 2006, the first degree programme was introduced by the catholic university of malawi. as of 2016, three universities offered degree programmes. despite this long history, social work has not been fully professionalised. social work in malawi was essentially an urban phenomenon directed at migrants and juvenile delinquents, who posed a threat to urban living (potts, 1986). the international federation of social workers (ifsw), the international association of schools of social work (iassw) and international council of social welfare (icsw) jointly approved the following definition of social work: social work is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people. principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities are central to social work. underpinned by theories of social work, social sciences, humanities and indigenous knowledge, social work engages people and structures to address life challenges and enhance well-being (ifsw, iassw & icsw, 2014). from this definition, it can be deduced that social work has three important strands: education, research and practice. the definition stresses that use of theories and recognition of indigenous knowledge are important for social work education, research and practice. kaseke (1991) writes that globally, social work was born as a response to increased vulnerability due to industrial revolution and ensuing urbanization. in africa, the profession was introduced by colonial administrators to mitigate social ills in the urban areas (kaseke, 1991), although prior to the introduction of professional social work, social welfare services were offered either through religious organisations or traditional structures. the colonial administrators’ rationale was that social ills including destitution, prostitution and drug abuse, if left unattended would undermine order and stability in urban areas (kaseke, 1991). in this paper, the author explores social work education, research and practice in malawi. malawi is a small landlocked country in southern africa with a population of approximately 16.8 million persons and is one of the world’s poorest economies, ranking 173 out of the 188 countries (united nations development programme, 2015). up to 40 percent of the population, which is predominantly rural, lives below the national poverty line. the 2013 malawi labour force survey (national statistics office, nso, 2014) indicates that 89 percent of working persons in malawi were in informal employment set-ups. this sector is characterized by low wages and underemployment. consequently, the share of the working poor was high (estimated at 53.6%), implying that most of those that have jobs do not earn enough to support their families adequately. a significant proportion (87%) of the poor were small or medium scale farmers, who mostly relied on rain fed agriculture which is highly susceptible to droughts. in 2015, malawi had a human development index score of 0.493, which reflects a relatively low level of life expectancy at birth which stands at 57 years, an adult literacy rate of 71.8 percent and a gross domestic product (gdp) per capita of us$761 (undp, 2015). social work in malawi education social work education in malawi dates back to 1964 when magomero college, a training institution under the then ministry of local government, introduced a certificate programme in community development mainly targeting malawi young pioneers to effectively implement community development projects. the young pioneers were an elite wing of the league of malawi youth, a nationalist movement of the then ruling malawi congress party (mcp) (phiri, 2000). in 1966 government established the ministry of community and social development that inherited magomero college and the certificate course. the growing need for social welfare services within the communities led to the incorporation of more social work modules into the curriculum and in 1978, the college introduced a fully-fledged certificate programme in social welfare that produced social welfare assistants (swas). during this period, the professional cadre of social welfare officers were drawn from sociology and other social sciences and sent for professional training at swansea university in wales. in 2006, the catholic university of malawi introduced a four-year bachelor’s degree programme in social work. this was followed by dmi-saint-john of god the baptist university’s (dmi-sjgbu) opening of a school of social work with three bachelors’ degree programmes, namely community development, human resource management and social work, in 2010. however, the ministry of gender, children, disability and social welfare (mogcdsw) had little say on the curriculum, these being private universities. the ministry, therefore collaborated with the university of malawi, unicef and usaid to introduce a social work degree programme ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 kakowa, f. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 3 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ at chancellor college, the first intake of which was in 2013. apart from these programmes, there are also some colleges that offer rural and community development courses examined by uk-based bodies. some private universities including blantyre international university, shareworld open university and exploits university have also introduced four-year bachelor’s degree programmes in rural and community development. the regional psychosocial support initiative (repssi) in collaboration with the university of kwazulu natal (ukzn) introduced a certificate programme, community based work with children and youth (cbwcy), which targets volunteers and frontline staff in social welfare agencies, working with children and youth (repssi, 2011). the degree programmes introduced by the three universities are still getting established, separate from each other and hope for regulation and standardisation rests in the yet to be formed national association of social workers. however, as argued by gray and fook (2004), there is need for social work education to be relevant and address current problems. there is therefore a need to ensure that the curriculum is contextualized to reflect the needs of malawians. this involves going beyond activities that are traditionally conceptualized as part of the social work domain (mupedziswa, 1992). the curriculum should prepare the professionals to be imaginative and flexible to ably tackle the country’s entangled social problems. there must be a recognition that the theory base of the curriculum need to respond to needs of the local populace that is supposed to be served, if the social work education is to be relevant. all curriculum reviewed in this study indicated that there was a focus on general social science modules including sociology, psychology, anthropology, political science and economics in the first two years of the programmes. the last two years move on to developmental social work, child protection and social work with different categories of people. common modules in the chancellor college, catholic university and dmi-sjgbu curriculum are: entrepreneurship and micro-financing, counselling and guidance, hiv and aids management, organisational behaviour and conflict management, hospital social work, rural and urban development planning, social work administration, social work with disabilities and special populations, family and child welfare, life course and ageing, social protection, youth and development, environment and disaster risk management, community health and nutrition, and community development. all colleges also send their students once or twice for field placement during the third and fourth years of their studies. the placements are either in charities/nongovernmental organisations or with the district councils and can be classified into two categories. in the first category, students are expected to work at the agency they have been assigned, shadowing practising social workers within the agency and produce a report at the end. in the other category, the students are expected to develop a project and implement within the placement agency under supervision of a practising social worker and produce a report at the end. the placements are generally four months long. although there are different approaches, all colleges train generalist or generic social workers. the programmes however are not very contextualised. practice malawi’s national social welfare policy (government of malawi, 2015) states that social welfare in malawi, has a philanthropic background which precedes the colonialization of 1891 which ended with independence in 1964. this was mostly through traditional structures which, like in most african societies, used kinship, extended family structures and traditional leadership to support the vulnerable members of their communities (avendal, 2011). later, missionaries migrated into the country and established churches which, apart from the religious teachings, were offered education, health, alms and counselling services to the communities. in a way, they functioned as informal social workers (darkwa, 1999). there has always been a working relationship between government through the social welfare department and civil society organisations (csos) comprising of community based organisations (cbos), local and international non-governmental organisations (ngos) and religious organisations. the working relationship between government and civil society organisations is promoted in one of the five key priority areas of the social welfare department: ngo and cbo coordination. from the government side, the main providers of social welfare support have been the mogcdsw; ministry of health, ministry of economic planning and development, ministry of labour; and ministry of youth and sports. social workers in malawi are the lead professionals in the provision of social welfare services. they generally fall under mogcdsw. the department of social welfare in the ministry has a policy mandate of coordinating all social welfare activities. this of course, does not mean that all components of social welfare fall within it. other key players include the sister directorates of community development, child affairs, gender affairs and disability and the elderly. at implementation level, the key players are social welfare officers (swos), social welfare assistants (swas), community development officers (cdos) and community development assistants (cdas) and of late, the community child protection workers (ccpws) (sibale and nthambi, 2008). most of these positions are held by para-social workers, trained up to certificate level while top positions are mostly held by non-social work professionals due to inadequate supply of professional social workers. however, just as in ngos, the situation is improving, with more professional social workers taking up top positions. social workers ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 kakowa, f. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 4 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ in malawi work within the confines of specific policy and legislation contained in various acts of parliament, policy guidelines and plans of action that have been developed for different categories of the population. professionalizing social work in malawi while evaluating social work practice and education in africa, kang’ethe (2014) observed that the profession in some african countries appears to display the following flaws: it continues to follow a curriculum that was crafted by western world countries that does not adequately match the growth needs of african countries; it is not adequately addressing most of the social ills african countries are experiencing; and is usually eclipsed by other professions such as sociology, psychology and economics. malawi risks falling into this debacle if the curriculum being developed are not checked to tally with contextual needs. in an attempt to offer a solution to the problem of inappropriate curriculum, cossom (1990) argued that social work in developing countries should free itself from the in-built assumptions and cultural biases of first world theories and models of practice. some countries in the sub-saharan region such as zimbabwe, zambia, south africa and botswana have over the years worked hard to unveil an indigenous social work identity, thus, social development. central to the professionalisation of social work practice in malawi is the advancement of social work education beyond the certificate level to diplomas, bachelor’s degrees and post-graduate qualifications. the commencement of degree programmes by the three universities sets the mark for professionalising social work practice in the country. this would mean that the graduates would start occupying the supervisory and administrative social work positions that require social work education. at this developmental level of social work education in malawi, the argument goes back to bernstein’s (1991) question on whether the emphasis in the training is a response to the needs of the field or whether the services offered in the field are a result of the training. as much as there have been social welfare services provided by different stakeholders in the country, professionalising the practice requires putting in place procedures, approaches and conceptualization that might not have been stressed or employed. on the other hand, the curriculum that the institutions have developed with assistance from foreign professionals need to recognize local approaches that work, existing shortfalls in the practice, contextual cultural underpinnings and the kinds of services required. this article therefore advocates for a reflexive social work education where existing practice adapts the immense knowledge coming in from the newly introduced programmes. on the other hand, the universities should learn from the existing practice and local contexts. incorporation of this knowledge into the curriculum will indigenise the programmes and make them more relevant to the local contexts. indigenisation of social work education has been explained differently by different authors, among which walton and el-nasr’s (1988) perspective was that indigenisation is a stage of transition, of putting an imported knowledge through a process of authentication, thus making it relevant to the local social, cultural, political and economic context. hall (1990) described it as the process where social work is shaped to suit the socioeconomic and cultural realities of developing countries. reflection and reflexivity play a central role in this process. reflection and reflexivity have also been defined differently by many authors. bolton (2014) views reflexivity as finding strategies to question our own attitudes, thought processes, values, assumptions, prejudices and habitual actions, to strive to understand our complex roles in relation to others. it is becoming aware of the limits of our knowledge, of how our own behaviour plays into organisational practices and why such practices might marginalise groups or exclude individuals (bolton, 2014). from the social work education point of view, a reflexive approach would imply that social work education in malawi should continuously learn from the established practice and cultural underpinnings of the country and incorporate in the curriculum those approaches that have been proved to work. furthermore, the institutions should identify gaps in the current practice and enrich the curriculum to produce graduates that are very relevant for the market. in the same vein, social work practice in the country should also incorporate new knowledge and skills brought by university trained social workers from the three universities. in the end, the gap between theory (social work education and research) and practice would be narrowed as argued by healy (2014). reflexivity would ensure that social work educators are able to investigate new knowledge that is adding credence to the practice and also existing gaps that could be incorporated into the curriculum. through reflexive practice both practicing social workers and social work educators would reflect on theoretical approaches and methods that can optimally assist the malawian society. the high pervasiveness of ngos in the country and inability of statutory social workers to provide extensive social work intervention has led to the proliferation of social work ‘mechanics’ or adapted skills being offered as short courses or workshops to social welfare frontline staff and volunteers. this has led to a social work practice without the theoretical knowledge base and hence most practitioners lack a basic point of reflection. this leaves a dent on the practice that could be rectified by reflexivity. from the practice side, reflexivity requires engagement in a process of examining the fundamental assumptions implicit in practice experience through the re-examination of past-experience in the light of new knowledge from ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 kakowa, f. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 5 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the universities (fook and gardner, 2013) and devising changed thinking and practices from this new understanding. conclusion social work training in malawi has developed from community development certificate courses started in 1964 to degree programmes started in 2006. despite this long history, social work has not been fully professionalised. most of the work that social workers should be doing, especially at senior level, is being done by non-social workers. this applies to both government and non-government social work positions. furthermore, there is no regulating or coordinating body for social work education, research and practice. a regulating body of social work in malawi would enhance development of the profession. current social work teaching and practice follows western models which are not appropriate to the local context. recognition of indigenous approaches, local socioeconomic conditions and cultural underpinnings would assist in contextualizing the curriculum and ultimately, making social work in malawi culturally relevant. reflective and evidence based practice could help in this process. references avendal, c.; (2011). social work in ghana: engaging traditional actors in professional practice. journal of comparative social work, 2011, 2(number), pages. bernstein, a.; (1991). social work and a new south africa: can social workers meet the challenge? maatskaplike werk/social work, 27 (3/4), 222-231. bolton, g.; (2014). reflective practice writing and professional development. london: sage publication. cossom, j.; (1990). increasing relevance and authentisation in social work curricula by writing and teaching from indigenous cases. 25th international congress of the international association of schools of social work, lima, peru. darkwa, o.; (1999). continuing social work education in an electronic age: the opportunities and challenges facing social work education in ghana. professional development: the international journal of continuing social work education, 2(1), 38-43 fook, j. & gardner, f. (eds); (2013). critical reflection in context. routledge: london. gray, m. & fook, j.; (2004). the quest for a universal social work: some issues and implications. social work education, 23(5), 625-644. hall, n.; (1990). social work training in africa: a fieldwork manual. harare: jsda. healy, k.; (2014). social work theories in context: creating frameworks for practice (2nd ed). new york: palgrave. ifsw; (2014). global definition of social work. retrieved on 21st january, 2016 from: www.ifsw.org/policies/definition-of-social-work/ kang’ethe, s. m.; (2014). exploring and evaluating the niche of social work as an engine for social development in selected african countries mediterranean journal of social sciences, 5, (24), 1734-1738. kaseke, e.; (1991). social work practice in zimbabwe. journal of social development in africa. (1991), 6 (1), 33-45. magomero college archive files; (1980). ministry of labour and local government internal communication. mupedziswa, r.; (1992). africa at the crossroads: major challenges for social work education and practice towards the year 2000. journal of social development in africa, 7(2), 19-38. national statistical office (nso); (2014). malawi labour participation survey. zomba: nso. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 6 number 2 2016 kakowa, f. african journal of social work, 6(2), december 2016 6 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ phiri, k. m.; (2000). a case of revolutionary change in contemporary malawi: the malawi army and the disarming of the malawi young pioneers. journal of peace, conflict and military studies, 1(1), 1-15. potts, d.; (1986). urbanisation in malawi with special reference to the new capital city of lilongwe. phd thesis, london university college. retrieved from http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1317532/ repssi; (2011). repssi strategy: 2011-2015. randburg: repssi. government of malawi; (2015). national social welfare policy: promoting social inclusion and human dignity. lilongwe: mogcdsw. sibale, b. and nthambi, t.; (2008). mid-term review of the national plan of action (npa) for orphaned and other vulnerable children, draft report. lilongwe: malawi ministry of women and child development and centre for development management. undp; (2015). human development report 2015: work for human development. new york: undp walton, r. g. and abo el nasr, m. m.; (1988). indigenisation and authentisation in terms of social work in egypt. international social work, 31(2), 135–144. _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. challenges experienced by unemployed adults on anti-retroviral therapy in harare zinyemba, lizzy abstract the anti -retroviral therapy (art) study sought to investigate the challenges that were experienced by unemployed adults on art in harare, zimbabwe over two periods, 2008 and 2013. the 2008 period marked the time when zimbabwe was experiencing social and economic challenges mainly evidenced by hyperinflation and collapse of the local currency. in 2009, a multi-currency economy was introduced and this immediately contained inflation. the study concentrated on the health, social and nutritional aspects of the respondents during the two different economies and was analysed using the marxist school of thought. the study was a repeated cross sectional survey, where data was presented simultaneously for the two periods revealing the socio-economic status of individuals as the strongest predictor of health, opportunistic disease causation and longetivity on people and on medical treatment. the study concludes that there is a co-relationship between socio economic status and art adherence and recommends a holistic approach to art. key terms: anti-retroviral therapy, nutrition, health, medical treatment, adherence, social class and marxism school of social work, university of zimbabwe. contacts: lizzyzinyemba@gmail.com, p. bag 66022 kopje, harare. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 55 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. introduction in 2008, zimbabwe experienced severe social and economic challenges, the economy was characterised by an extra ordinary hyperinflation and shortages of foreign currency which affected all sectors of the economy including the health sector. the health sector was equally affected as the hyperinflation eroded the salaries of health workers. a parliament report from the ministry of health and child welfare cited in labour and economic development research institute zimbabwe (ledriz, 2012) confirmed that 80% of all health professionals trained in zimbabwe had migrated to other countries. the shortage of foreign currency made it difficult to import drugs and hospital equipment. after the introduction of a multi-currency system an improvement was noted in the supply of drugs and health personnel. this paper will look at the challenges that were faced by unemployed adults on antiretro viral therapy (art) when inflation officially reached an overwhelming 231 million percent by july 2008 and when inflation figures african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 56 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. stabilised to a single digit after the introduction of the multi-currency (ledriz, 2012). background during 2008, the country experienced severe macroeconomic constraints, such as rising poverty levels, unstable exchange rates and hyperinflation. these factors necessitated the need for long term planning while making it difficult both to plan for and adhere to expenditure and revenue targets (sims, 2013). hiv and aids further strained already stretched health budgets and systems. the situation in the country in 2008 deteriorated to the extent that the government introduced a wide range of measures to try to respond to the situation but could not be effected due to economic challenges. the national health strategy, dubbed the 1997-2007: working for quality and equity in health, was the main policy that had been in place. this policy was supposed to be succeeded by the national health strategy for zimbabwe 2009-2013. this strategy was delayed in its implementation due the socio economic african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 57 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. challenges that the country faced. the country thus had policy on paper to plan for the attainment of effective art but could not be implemented. the unprecedented hyperinflation and shortages of foreign currency faced by the country had a detrimental effect on health personnel. salaries were eroded and the country experienced massive brain drain of health personnel (matendere, 2010). drugs became unaffordable to the generality of the population. basic drugs like arvs were scant in most government hospitals to the extent that it was a challenge to initiate new patients on art (matendere, 2010). an estimated 80% of admission in public hospitals was attributed to hiv related illness (ledriz, 2012). the kind of strain that the general populace went through varied depending on the level of services and nature of the demand and the capacity of the hospital. this supports marx school of thought that the economic mode of production that a country is going through determines the general character of the social political and spiritual process of life that is experienced by the people (giddens, 2009). the economic situation that zimbabwe went through in 2008 affected almost african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 58 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. everyone and hit hard all areas of life. for the unemployed adult on art it was a very difficult situation as their health condition and treatment requirements needed to be adhered to despite the economic challenges being experienced in the country. the economic challenges also contributed to the already tremendous rises in the adult mortality rates. zimbabwe statistics, (2006) also indicated that the largest increase in mortality rates was observed among women aged twenty five years and above and among men aged thirty years and above. these age patterns of adult mortality were consistent with the age pattern of hiv infection in zimbabwe. the situation, however improved after the introduction of the multi-currency system. the government embarked on comprehensive intervention strategies to prevent effects of hiv and aids, on all sectors of the economy. it was, however, noted that these efforts still had challenges up to date as lot of harm had taken place (kramarenko, 2010). methodology african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 59 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. the research was a repeated cross sectional design that looked at the challenges being experienced by unemployed adults on art. data was collected in 2008 when zimbabwe was at its peak of economic meltdown and in 2013 when the economic situation was reported to have improved (kramarenko, 2010). a total of 100 people participated in the study, 50 respondents in 2008 and 50 respondents in 2013. the same tools were used to collect data in both years, a desk review and observations were made to identify if the introduction of the multicurrency system had made a positive impact in achieving treatment for unemployed adults on art. respondents were interviewed as they came in the hospital to collect their monthly medicines. the researcher made use of the patients’ files and interviewed those that had indicated that they were unemployed. data was collected from patients at beatrice road infectious disease hospital (bridh) in harare. the hospital is situated in mbare along simon mazorodze road. the hospital caters for people in the southern suburbs of harare. it treats diseases like tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid, dysentery and measles amongst others. it also has an opportunistic african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 60 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. infections clinic (oic) that caters for hiv and aids patients (city of harare, 2013). the position of bridh is shown on the map, figure 1. figure 1: position of beatrice road infectious disease hospital, harare, zimbabwe source: google maps, 2013 theoretical framework this paper used the marx theory on social class to explain the impact of social class on unemployed adults african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 61 _____________________________________________________________________ javascript:void(0) javascript:void(0) _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. on art. in marxism, the needs and freedom of the individual are very important. marx condemns any society that imposes a division of labour without considering the need for the well being and for maximum self realization of each and every individual. he criticizes the class society which is a situation in which an individual’s fate tends to be determined by his class position (barry and yuill, 2008). this was the case for the unemployed adults on art as their social class determined their fate, which was failure to adhere to the requirements of their monthly treatments. the marxist school of thought was used to present how the situational analysis of unemployed adults on art’s, nutrition and health were determined by the social class position that they occupied in the society. results and discussion demographic analysis women were more forth coming to the study than men. this might be because of the cultural background where women are expected to participate in community health african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 62 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. programmes. the study targeted men and women who were between the ages of twenty years and sixty years in both 2008 and 2013, with the minimum age being 21 and maximum 60. this meant that the sexually and economically active age group was covered. the data set in 2008 was bimodal because it had two sets of age groups that appeared most frequently. that is 36 and 34 while in 2013 the mode was 36. these age groups are the most sexually active as revealed by unaids (2012). these age groups have a high risk of being infected by hiv and aids (unaids, 2012). they are also the most economically productive age groups which are supported by studies carried out by unaids, (2012) that hiv and aids has affected the economy by reducing the labour force. the high utilization of medical services by the economically active age group due to the hiv and aids pandemic is opposed to what is cited in barry etal 2008 that utilization of medical services is most common amongst the elderly as the use is determined more by african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 63 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. need than any other factors. the table below shows the percentage distribution by gender and age of the respondents who participated in the study. table 1: the percentage distribution of respondents by age and gender year 2008 year 2013 variabl e frequency % frequency % gender male 20 40 14 28 female 30 60 36 72 total 50 100 50 100 age 21-30years 20 40 18 36 31-40 years 22 44 24 48 41-50 years 4 8 6 12 51-60 years 2 4 2 4 61++ years 2 4 0 0 the marital status of the respondents reflects that in both years, unemployed adults on art were without a partner and this probably affected their survival strategies and the idea of taking medication on time as they needed someone to remind them. this may also be attributed to disclosure among the aids patients as they were required to disclose to people who were close to them so african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 64 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. as to get assistance with their treatments. table 2 below depicts the marital status of the respondents. table 2: percentage distribution of respondents by marital status year 2008 year 2013 marital status frequency % frequency % married 22 44 18 36 widowed 14 28 20 40 divorced 4 8 2 4 single 2 4 0 0 deserted 4 8 8 16 living in 4 8 2 4 total 50 100% 50 100% the majority of the respondents who had attained secondary school education and beyond were 76% and 80% in 2008 and 2013 respectively as shown in table 3 below. these were most likely to get some form of seasonal unskilled employment in the informal sector while the remaining 23% were still depending on petty african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 65 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. trading and vending. those that had attained post secondary school education were mainly affected by the high unemployment levels that the country has been going through in the past five years. (zimbabwe statistics, 2013). the level of education was worthy being discussed as education determines the economic status of individuals in societies, which in turn affects the way one adheres to art. table 3 shows the educational qualifications of the respondents. table 3: percentage distribution of respondents by education year 2008 year 2013 level of education frequency 2008 % frequency 2013 % none 1 2 0 0 primary 11 22 10 20 secondary 36 72 35 70 post secondary 2 4 5 10 total 50 100 50 100 african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 66 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. health in art taking care of health is a very crucial element. living a healthy life will also contribute to an increased life span. the idea behind art is meant to prevent people living with hiv and aids from easily being attacked by opportunistic diseases that reflect poor immunity (brierley, 2013). the treatment makes the sick people to be well and be in a position to carry out their day to day activities. people on art, thus live longer and healthier, while on treatment. this is in support of parsons concept of the sick role that the sick person should try to get well barry etal, 2008. people living with hiv and aids try to get well by taking their daily and monthly treatments. in chronic diseases like hiv and aids parsons cited in barry etal, (2008) acknowledges that the goal of complete recovery is impractical. the chronic disease can be managed so that a person can be able to maintain a relatively normal pattern of physiological and social functioning. this is made possible in art patients as the treatment restores the normal functioning of the individual. in art treatment, taking in medication is very important as defaulting african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 67 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. treatments has serious implications on one’s health that include drug resistance and recurring of opportunistic infections (unaids, 2013). this is in support with parsons’ line of thinking in his sick role that the sick person should seek technically competent help and cooperate with the physician (barry et al, 2008). defaulting treatment is one of the major health challenges that were cited by the respondents. defaulting treatments was due to a number of factors like sociocultural factors (zimbabwe statistics, 2011). during 2008 and 2013, the study revealed that 64% and 86% respectively of the respondents did not buy their prescribed drugs of opportunistic infections on time. this was because of other demanding aspects of life like buying food and payments for shelter. in both economies, the respondents indicated that they defaulted because they could not afford transport costs and other demanding aspects of their lives. it was noted that those respondents in the lower social classes of the economy migrated, to other countries in search of employment (murombedzi, 2013). the paper indicated that those african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 68 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. who were in the lower social class were still experiencing difficulties to adhere to their monthly treatments as they ended up migrating to nearby countries in search of menial jobs. it was also noted that those that migrated could not afford to come and collect their monthly treatments on time and ended up defaulting as they would have not made enough savings to come back home and collect their treatments. despite the economy improving, the respondents still indicated that they could not raise the multi currency required to meet their health needs as they made a living by mainly engaging in petty trading and menial work. this was a common trend that was persistent among the unemployed adults on art that were interviewed during the periods of economic hardships and the multicurrency economy. in marxism, once inequalities come into being they create better opportunities for the rich than for the poor, as it was noted by murombedzi (2013) that after the introduction of the multi currency the same health problems that were experienced by the lower class were no longer experienced by the respondents in better social african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 69 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. classes like the middle class, that were working. even though the economic situation had changed, the unemployed adults on art still had challenges in adhering to their treatments. the unemployed adults on art could not work as a team and cooperate with the physician due to high levels of poverty that surrounded them. thus cooperation on art adherence and early treatment of opportunistic infections with the physician was secondary as they could not meet their basic needs. this is opposed to what who (2013) indicated that for better health, there is need for the patient to cooperate with the physician. this defeated the whole idea of art. from the study findings it can be noted that unemployed adults on art could not assume parson’s sick role. this was due to the economic situation in the country in 2008, many unemployed adults on art did not have the opportunity to enjoy the sick role status because assuming the sick role status rendered them less likely to be able to earn a living or survive in conditions of poverty. this is supported by parsons cited in barry et al (2008) who noted that people living in a poverty african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 70 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. stricken environment might work regardless of how sick they might be as long as they felt that they might be able to perform some of their work activities. to further exacerbate the situation, most of the unemployed adults on art could not access adequate health services and their health was no longer being taken as a human right but as a privilege. this shows how the political situation in zimbabwe influenced the socio economic status of unemployed adults on art. this is supported by giddens (2009) in the political economy theory that emphasizes on the role of economic and political systems in shaping and reproducing the prevailing inequalities in society nutrition the coexistence of high rates of malnutrition and hiv and aids in africa creates an additional challenge unaids (2008). hiv is characterized by progressive destruction of the immune system leading to recurrent opportunistic infections and malignancies, progressive dilapidation and death. malnutrition is recorded to be one of the major complications of hiv infections and is a african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 71 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. significant factor in advancement of disease (who, 2013). prior to the dollarization, all the respondents indicated that they had nutritional challenges. it was difficult for them to put a meal on their table. 12% of the respondents could afford one meal a day and this was usually supper. the respondents reported this to be a 001 meal plan where they had no meal in the morning and afternoon and one meal in the evening. the majority of the respondents (52%) could afford two meals a day and this was usually breakfast and supper. 36% of the respondents had three meals a day. for breakfast 8% of the respondents indicated that they had porridge and plain tea. the respondents that consumed porridge alone were 22%. the respondents that indicated that they had tea with bread were 20%. some of the respondents, 24% had sadza and vegetables in the morning, which is not a balanced diet. the remainder 26% did not eat anything in the morning despite their poor health that requires food. 52% of the respondents indicated that they had lunch, 80% of the respondents indicated that they consumed sadza and vegetables. 19% reported that they either had african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 72 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. tea with bread or tea with sadza. all the respondents indicated that they had supper. the respondents that indicated that they had a fruit highlighted that it was not bought but home grown or they were indigenous fruits. due to the above stated challenges 80% of respondents ended up eating food that they did not want to eat. most of the respondents (90%) indicated that they could not afford a balanced diet due to not eating a variety of foods. 88% of the sample indicated that they rationed their meals so that they could take them longer. these results validate the contention by unaids (2008) that most adults who were unemployed and living with hiv, could not afford a balanced diet, despite the fact that it was essential for the art to work effectively. the situation was further exacerbated by the economic mode of production that the country was going through that was characterized by the unavailability of basic commodities in most retail shops in the country. the unemployed adults on art in 2013 also indicated that with the little money that they got from petty trading and menial jobs in the multi currency economy, they could afford to eat anything that they wanted to eat as food was african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 73 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. now available and affordable. the majority of the respondents (80%) could afford three meals a day. 20% of the respondents had two meals a day. for breakfast all the respondents indicated that they had porridge, tea and bread while some few respondents indicated that on some of the days they could afford a sandwich. for the respondents that indicated that they had lunch the majority of the respondents (90%) indicated that they consumed sadza and vegetables or sadza and beans. the remaining 10% had either tea with bread or rice with soup. all the respondents indicated that they had supper. the respondents (60%) in 2013 also indicated that they rationed their meals so that they could take them longer. this shows a decline in the number of respondents that rationed their food from (88%) in 2008 to (60%) in 2013.the majority 70% of the respondents indicated that life was better. their only challenge was raising the money required to buy food as it was noted that the foreign currency was very difficult to come by to those people who were not formally employed and depended on pieces of work like manual labour and petty trade in african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 74 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. the community, and donations from the civic society and the extended family. figure 2 shows the equation that the unemployed adults on art were facing. instead of adhering to art and receiving early treatments of opportunistic infections and eating balanced diet the opposite was true and lead to non achievement of art. figure 2: the sequential steps that depict the plan of art there were significant changes that the unemployed adults on art reported to have occurred. the change in the country’s economy has impacted positively on the unemployed adults on art. the variable change of life style was noted by all the respondents in 2008. while in 2013 few of the respondents (30%) indicated that they african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 75 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. maintained their life style. in 2008 (88%) of the respondents indicated that household poverty levels had increased. the number reduced to 20% in 2013. this is in support with the marxist school of thought that notes that the economic mode of production determines the general character of the social political and spiritual process of life that is experienced by the people (giddens 2009). as the economic situation improved the processes of life also improved as highlighted in the table above. in 2008, the minority of respondents indicated that they could afford a balanced diet (20%) while the number increased to 60% in 2013. table 4 below shows the distribution of the social challenges faced by the respondents during the two periods. table 4: percentage distribution of respondents social challenges in 2008 and 2013 african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 76 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. year 2008 2013 social challenge frequency 2008 % frequency 2013 % change of life style 50 100 35 70 reduced expenditure 46 92 15 30 increased poverty levels 44 88 10 20 selling of asserts 30 60 2 4 defaulting treatment 36 72 0 0 afford a balanced diet 10 20 30 60 coping mechanism the respondents highlighted that they depended on the extended family members, the community and the civic society to supplement their needs. the respondents indicated that the extended family had large numbers of people to look after, thus the burden was rather too heavy for them. it was also noted that the extended family was willing to assist but had no sufficient resources to cater for the needs of the unemployed adult on art. this supports unicef, (2006) findings that the extended family needs support in order to efficiently assist other family members. this shows durkheim’s solidarity theory where he postulated the importance of a society’s african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 77 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. cohesion and integration (giddens, 2009). this solidarity was observed in zimbabwe during the economic challenges as the extended family and the community played a pivotal role in assisting unemployed adults on art. from the study findings in both 2008 and 2013, it was quite normal for the unemployed adults on art to leave their social roles being attended to by other coping mechanism like the extended family, community and the civic society. this is in agreement with what parson’s, sick role that the sick person is exempted from his normal social roles. although the extended family was still functional it was noted that this coping mechanism was not reliable. the extended family could not buy their medication on time, and they had to forgo their medication because the extended family had no money to buy the medication for the treatment of opportunistic infections. the study revealed that the extended family provided food when the respondents were left with absolutely nothing. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 78 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. the civic society has played a pivotal role in assisting the unemployed adults on art. the studies revealed that the unemployed adults on art were assisted by the non governmental organizations (ngo). in 2013, 76% of the respondents whose health needs were taken care of by ngos also highlighted that they got their medication on time. however, the respondents indicated that the need to target more beneficiaries in their interventions as the intervention targeted a few people. eighty four percent (84%) of the respondents that were assisted with food from ngos in 2008 indicated that the food was not enough to take them up to the next month when they received the next food ration. this was because they had to share the food with the extended family that usually gave them a helping hand when they had problems. in 2013, 72% of the respondents highlighted that they received food rations from the ngos and their main challenge was that there was nothing for breakfast. psycho-social support from the ngo was also reported in both 2008 and 2013, and was reported to be very useful to the unemployed adults on art. however this coping mechanism was reported to target a few people. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 79 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. the community also played an essential role in the lives of the unemployed adults on art in both 2008 and 2013. the respondents indicated that the community assisted them with food, clothing and psychosocial support. the study revealed that the community assisted the unemployed adults on art with small amounts of food only when requested and money for transport to visit the hospital to collect their monthly treatments. fear of social exclusion was the reason why the respondents did not make much use of the community as a coping strategy in both years. these findings supported matendere’s, 2010 findings that people living with hiv and aids are less likely to disclose their situation in fear of social exclusion and the stigma associated with the disease. conclusion and recommendations the study concluded that there is a co-relationship between socio economic status and art adherence. the unemployed adults on art, faced challenges with their african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 80 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. health needs and nutritional needs, while being in the lower social class and this negatively affected their adherence to art. the study recommends a holistic approach to service provision, which incorporates a comprehensive service provision in all sectors of the economy for art to be a success. art should take into consideration the availability and affordability of health and nutritional needs of people living with hiv and aids. hence there is need for a coordinated centralised system where medication, food, health and social requirements of unemployed adults on art to be addressed and people’s welfare should be adequately addressed to complement the health treatments. the study hence recommends a vibrant well co-ordinated referral system in all areas concerning the welfare of unemployed adults on art for the successful achievement of art. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 81 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. references city of harare; 2013. city of harare hospitals. available: http://www.hararecity.co.zw (accessed 24 july 2013). cockerham, w.; 1989. medical sociology. london: prentice hall. giddens, a.; 2009. sociology. cambridge: polity press. government of zimbabwe; 2004. zimbabwe millennium development goals. progress report. harare: government of zimbabwe. kramarenko, s.; 2010 zimbabwe : challenges and policy options after hyperinflation. available: http://imfbook-store.org. (accessed 12 may 2013). labour & economic development research institute, zimbabwe. (ledriz); 2012. pro-poor and inclusive development in zimbabwe. beyond the enclave. harare: weaver press. matendere, l.; 2010. challenges associated with unemployed adult patients on antiretroviral therapy (art) at beatrice road infectious disease hospital. a dissertation submitted to the university of zimbabwe in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the master of social work degree. murombedzi, c.; 2013. arvs versus migration. the herald newspaper 25 april 2013, pc5. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 82 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 4, number 1, 2014 zinyemba, l. scrambler, g.; 2008. sociology as applied to medicine. harcourt publishers. sims, c.; 2013. restrictive measures and zimbabwe: a political implications economic impact and a way forward. available: http://academia.edu_18 61567_res (accessed 13.april 2013). unaids; 2012. impact of the global economic crises on women, girls and gender equality. available: http://unaids/economic_ gender _equity (accessed 4 march 2013). unaids; 2008. aids in africa: three scenarios to 2015. geneva: unaids. unicef; 2006. facing the future together. harare: unicef. who; 2008. towards universal access: scaling up priority hiv/aids interventions in the health sector; progress report. geneva: who. world bank; 1999. hiv/aids and poverty. world bank. barry, a. and yuill, c.; 2008.understanding sociology of health. an introduction . london: sage. zimbabwe statistics; 2010. zimbabwe demographic health survey 2010-2011. harare, zimbabwe statistics. african journal of social work, 4(1), june 2014 83 _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 5, number 2, 2015 editorial note african journal of social work, 5(2), december 2015 ii _____________________________________________________________________ editorial note i take pleasure in informing you that the journal is now available on african journals online (ajol) at http://www.ajol.info/index.php/ajsw/index. readers will be able to see our journal policy, guidelines, call for papers and all published articles. the content is licensed under the creative commons attribution-non commercial 4.0 international license. our journal is one of the 517 african journals available on ajol. of these, 206, including ours, are open access. this is an important development for us, an indication of the quality of our work. in this issue, isaiah mobolaji ojedokun examined extramarital affair as correlate of reproductive health and home instability among couples in ibadan, nigeria. descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. two hundred (200) couples were randomly selected for the study. a structured questionnaire was used to collect data for the study and a reliability coefficient of r=0.64 was obtained. collated and coded data was analysed with the use of frequency count, percentages and pearson moment correlation statistical method. two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level. the findings revealed that, there was significant relationship between extra-marital affair and reproductive health (r=.256, n=200, p<0.05. in the same vein, there was a significant relationship between extramarital affair and home instability in nigeria (r=.142, n=200. p=<0.05). the study concluded that extramarital affair is on the high side. it was also established that it threatens home stability and encourages the spread of sexually transmitted diseases such as hiv and aids and other stds. it was recommended that couples go an extra mile to ensure success in marriage. health social workers, health educators, religious leaders, parents and educators should also ensure adequate dissemination of information on the importance of reproductive health education and home stability to health and general well-being. http://www.ajol.info/ http://www.ajol.info/index.php/ajsw/index http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 5, number 2, 2015 editorial note african journal of social work, 5(2), december 2015 iii _____________________________________________________________________ noel muridzo and effie malianga looked at the phenomenon of child sexual abuse (csa) in zimbabwe. statistics, literature and debate reflect not only increased scientific interest in child sexual abuse and its potential effects but also growing public concern about this form of child maltreatment. the sexual abuse of children crosses cultural and economic divides. sexual abuse can lead to long-lasting, even life-long consequences and is a serious problem on individuals, families and societies. social workers by nature of their work, intervene at the individual, family and societal level. this paper explored the definition of csa, its effects and prevention strategies. the authors adopted meili‘s model of prevention which suggests prevention of csa at primary, secondary and tertiary levels concluded that social workers in zimbabwe have a role to play at all the three levels of intervention. phillip manyanye bohwasi, sought to answer the many questions asked of entrepreneurship growth and support in africa by analyzing different entrepreneurial and business leadership paradigms from america, europe and asia. literature shows that the americans and europeans grew their societies as a result of individual creativity and heroism. the asians placed much emphasis on the family and the worker as espoused in the kaizen japanese philosophy. africans have focused on doing it together, as expressed in the ubuntu spirit. after discussing the african model in light of these different perspectives, the author concluded that work on advancement of entrepreneurship in africa should focus on the need to produce local entrepreneurs who are culturally self-thinking and creative. they must use what professor rukuni termed, the machobane principle which postulates that, the best thinking and creative entrepreneurs are those who build their own local assets, construct their own roads and bridges, and dig their own deep water wells, in order to increase the value of their local communities. this is very important for social workers as they endeavour to build the capacities of communities. _____________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 5, number 2, 2015 editorial note african journal of social work, 5(2), december 2015 iv _____________________________________________________________________ in the last paper, abednico siambombe looked at two rural communities in zimbabwe and explored their participation in policy making. rural communities of zimbabwe have long been marginalised as evidenced by a large development gap between them and urban communities. the idea of linking lack of development in rural areas with participation in policy making process is vital for many policy makers. this research focused on assessing the roles played by rural people of zimbabwe in crafting and implementing economic policies. the research went further to investigate why rural communities showed little understanding of economic policies and whether it is important to engage the citizen in crafting and implementing public policies. the study was carried out in rural binga and chivi districts. the research illustrated that rural people had little understanding of economic policies. the paper concludes that supporting democracy, strengthening economic competiveness and meeting local state and global challenges requires the reimaging of the role of the citizen in 21st century public policies. participation should be an important pillar of such reimaging. the naswz are finalising the appointment of editor and associate editor. the process has been slow but the editors are now expected to start around march 2016. once they are appointed, i will revert to my previous role of managing the publication. this will therefore be my last publication as acting editor. i thank everyone for all the support during the period. provide the same amount of support to the incoming team. jacob mugumbate acting editor email: editor@ida.co.zw microsoft word 1 decolonising social work_ ajsw.docx ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 8 number 2 2018 tusasiirwe, s. african journal of social work, 8(2), december 2018 1 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ publisher african journal of social work afri. j. soc. work © national association of social workers-zimbabwe/author(s) issn print 1563-3934 issn online 2409-5605 licensed under a creative commons attribution-non-commercial 4.0 international license indexed & accredited with: african jornals online (ajol)|university of zimbabwe accredited journals (uzaj)|scopus (elsevier’s abstract and citation database)|directory of open access journals (doaj). listening to voices from below: learning from older women’s self-organised groups to decolonise social work in uganda tusasiirwe, sharlotte abstract although professional social work in uganda has a long history, given its colonial origin in the 1950s, the profession is still struggling with challenges such as an unclear professional mandate, public recognition and relevance. these challenges point to the ultimate need for decolonisation although social workers are grappling with finding ways to decolonise and localise their practice. this paper presents local knowledge on the self-organised mutual support groups led by older women, based on life story interviews of 10 older women in a rural community in south western uganda. local knowledge on groups’ formation and functions, their strengths and constraints will be presented. the main argument is that this local knowledge and experience can provide a basis for culturally appropriate social work interventions that build on the already existing initiatives and wisdom of people from below. the paper begins with a discussion on the current situation of social work in uganda before presenting the empirical findings on older women’s self-organised groups and how they can inform decolonisation of social work practice in uganda. key terms: decolonisation, social work, culturally relevant, older women, uganda, community-based key dates received 20 august 2018. revised: 17 october 2018. accepted: 26 november 2018. published: 02 december 2018. funding: none. conflict of interest: none. permission: available. ethics approval: approved. article type: original author details: ass.lecturer, department of social work and social administration, makerere university. phd candidate, school of social sciences and psychology, western sydney university, australia. p.o box 7062, kampala, uganda. email: t_sharlotte@yahoo.com ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 8 number 2 2018 tusasiirwe, s. african journal of social work, 8(2), december 2018 2 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ introduction whilst social work in uganda has a long history, the profession is still struggling with challenges of relevance and recognition (twikirize, 2014). modelled after the british system, professional social work was imported to uganda in the1950s as a modern, universal and superior model of responding to local social problems thus displacing traditional models of helping like those led by traditional chiefs in the communities (ministry of planning and community development, 1965). these local models were undervalued by the colonialists who regarded them as not organised enough to address problems of their envisaged modern ugandan society. the western professional social work model which espouses predominantly, individualistic tendencies, continues to dominate the post-colonial social work practice and education in uganda despite its failures to adequately meet the socio-cultural realities of the local people (spitzer, 2017). taking an example of social protection in uganda, most interventions made by social workers and policy makers have maintained their historical reliance and conformation to eurocentric welfare state models (midgley, 2013). uganda is currently implementing a cash transfer programme called social assistance grant for empowerment (sage), where the first 100 oldest individuals in selected sub-counties are being given 25,000 ugx ($7) monthly. while the scheme provides some relief to individual older people who are selected, who reportedly have used this money to access basic services like health care, the scheme is constrained by its non-universal nature, limited scope and coverage. financial constraints by the ugandan government threaten the sustainability of the scheme which remains heavily donor funded (ministry of gender labour and social development, 2016). most of older people are excluded from the programme which is projected to cover only 40 districts out of 121 districts of uganda by 2020. therefore majority of older people are ageing with limited formal support yet the informal support especially from the extended family is also being constrained by widespread poverty (bukuluki, mukuye, mubiru, & namuddu, 2017). confronted with such limitations of existing models, ugandan social workers are faced with a challenge of exploring models of practice that are appropriate for addressing widespread vulnerability while putting into consideration contextual realities. the search for appropriate social work has led to the evolution of different concepts to describe the process for example indigenisation, localisation, culturally relevant social work, decolonisation. the most preferred concept in uganda is indigenisation which means “a process of trying to fit imported knowledge and models into the local context, implying maintenance of strong links with the original material” (twikirize, 2014, p.79). the process of fitting or adapting western models into local contexts has been defined as a failed project given the persistence of not only social problems like poverty which the models are seeking to address but also persistent domination of western international frameworks in diverse cultural contexts (ugiagbe, 2017). osei-hwedie (2017) has presented about the impossibility of indigenising social work education and practice although he maintains that social work is a context-based profession that draws on, responds to needs, based on values and norms of society. moving forward, osei-hwedie proposes an evaluation of african cultural values, methods and knowledges to form the basis for social work in africa. the need to go beyond indigenisation to decolonisation has been echoed by scholars gray, coates, yellow bird & hetherington (2013). decolonisation of social work requires social work to cease its participation in colonising projects and “to remove the often subtle vestiges of colonisation from theory and practice” (gray, coates, yellow bird, & hetherington, 2013) p.7). like oseihwedie’s argument on african knowledges, decolonisation requires recognition of the contribution of local knowledges, traditions and practices as well as adopting a bottom-up approach to practice. a bottom-up approach that ensures reflective learning from the local communities has also been argued as a preferable way to engage in the process of searching for appropriate social work (twikirize, 2014).whilst it has been acknowledged that there is need to carefully, rigorously and respectfully seek and include local knowledge and ways of doing (doucet & denov, 2012), limited local research exists in uganda that documents local knowledge that can provide the basis for decolonised social work (twikirize, 2014). social work education and practice continues to be marred by limited context-specific concepts, theories, methods and examples. in response to this need, this paper presents local knowledge on self-organised mutual groups by older women living in a rural community in uganda. it argues that these local experiences and ways of thinking, knowing and doing should inform the development of strengths-based and culturally appropriate social work interventions and policies that build on already existing mechanisms of survival by older people themselves. the paper will provide the methodology followed by the findings, and lessons for decolonising social work practice and education will be discussed. setting, methods and ethics setting this paper presents a portion of findings from the broader phd project that was aimed at exploring the subjective experiences of older women ageing in uganda. nyakabungo b village, a rural community in south western uganda was purposively selected. bwambara sub-county, located in rukungiri district, is regarded as a hard-to________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 8 number 2 2018 tusasiirwe, s. african journal of social work, 8(2), december 2018 3 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ reach rural area given its geographical location which affects its accessibility. it is situated in queen elizabeth national park and approximately 404 km away from kampala city. this setting was purposively selected for this study to allow voices from such a hard-to-reach rural area to be explored and heard. nyakabungo is an ethnicallymixed community of banyankole, bakiiga and banyabutumbi. typical of many rural communities in uganda, their main sources of livelihood is subsistence agriculture and fishing. the area has very limited access to formal services like basic health care, education. kikarara parish is one of the worst income poverty-stricken areas in rukungiri district (rukungiri district local government, 2009). methods findings for this paper are based on data collected through life story interviews and focus group discussions conducted with 10 older women aged 50+. although the official definition of older people in uganda is 60+ years, age 50+ was adopted to cater for the context-based rural and social definitions of old age which may be overlooked by assumed universal chronological-based explanations of old age. life-story interviews were conducted in runyankole/rukiiga, a local language predominantly used in the community and also well-known by the researcher. interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed into english. individual life story interviews were conducted with each of the 10 older women. then the researcher did a preliminary analysis of the individual interviews and came up with emerging themes from the interviews. these themes were then reported back to the 10 older women in a focus group setting. two focus group discussions were conducted to discuss the emerging themes from the lifestory interviews. the focus group discussions steered additional feedback and sharing of collective experiences by the older women. ethics interviews and fgds were audio-recorded after seeking and obtaining verbal informed consent from the participants. all the audio-recordings were transcribed in english and files stored on password protected computer. pseudonyms are used to protect the identity of the participants. ethical approval was attained from western sydney university human research ethics committee (h11927), makerere university school of social sciences (03.17.028) and the uganda national council of science and technology (ss4316). approval was also obtained from local structures at rukungiri district local government, bwambara sub county, and nyakabungo b village local council. computer software nvivo 10 was used to manage and assist in analysing data for emerging themes and patterns. this paper discusses one key theme from the older women’s stories: the selforganised community-based groups as an important means of survival for the older women. i discuss the strengths and constraints of these groups as well as the lessons that can be learnt for decolonising social work practice and education in uganda. findings older women have spent their lifetime actively engaging in self-organised community-based groups through which they support each other to survive during hardships. older women cited a number of groups instrumental to their survival for instance bataka kweziika groups (burial aid group), bamukaaka groups (grandmothers’ rotational farming and credit groups). the strengths of these support groups lies in their principles of working in solidarity, utilising locally available resources, and informal knowledge, wisdom and skills that the older women have accumulated overtime. it is these principles that have sustained the groups and held communities cohesive. these groups have been established and have survived without external support from professional workers or government or non-governmental interventions. the groups have a long history. they survived the wrath of colonialism and continue to persist. the stories of older women and their survival through their support groups represents a life possible beyond interventions led predominantly by formal welfare institutions. because of their persistence and communal grounding, they need to be acknowledged and built on by social workers and policy makers seeking decolonised social work practice that listens to the marginalised women and starts from where they are. the specific self-organised groups and their functions are discussed below. bataka kwezika (burial aid groups) death is one of the major risks that people in the rural communities grapple with given the uncertainty surrounding it and the limited coping capacity of some members because of low incomes and accumulated savings. as a result, local community members, including both men and women, have formed these burial aid groups mainly to provide mutual help to each other during times of death. they support each other by buying food, coffins when a member dies as oliva explains. it [bataka kweziika group] helps in such a way that when you lose a person, they will help you with the burial arrangements, people come and burry, they buy food and prepare it, and the mourners eat (oliva, 60). ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 8 number 2 2018 tusasiirwe, s. african journal of social work, 8(2), december 2018 4 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ burial groups support their members by providing the basics needed to provide a decent send-off to their member. although originally established to provide burial aid, older women talked of the groups scaling up their activities to respond to the contemporary social problems emerging in their communities for instance food insecurity as a result of climate change. in their burial groups, they have established ‘food banks’ where each member brings grains and beans to the community store and this food is used only when there is a community food crisis like during drought periods when members are unable to bring food. burial aid groups have also scaled up their activities to incorporate a savings and credit function where each members must save an agreed on amount (2000ugx) and this can be accessed as small loans to the member at a smaller interest. when it accumulates, it is invested into communal income generating project as explained below by prisca right now we [bataka] are constructing a building with four rooms and we would like to complete them and rent them out, and in one put in our things like saucepans, and other things (prisca, 62). such communal projects are envisioned to generate income to run different activities by the group. despite meeting the practical needs of people in the communities, burial aid groups have provided spaces where mobilisation to form smaller groups to meet specific needs of members is done for instance bamukaaka groups. bamukaaka groups (rotational farming and credit groups) given that subsistence agriculture is the major livelihood source for the rural older women, digging is a critical part of their lives. as such, the older women have mobilized each other and formed rotational farming groups where they support each other to prepare gardens in time. women in these groups dig, weed, and harvest their crops together. they do this on a rotational basis. women support each other with their physical labour, their accumulated informal knowledge, skills and wisdom in cultivation. these older women have been in such rotational farming groups from when they were young and they still find them even more helpful. our group is for older women, those who can manage, we come together and dig for each other and there are also [farming groups for] young women like my daughter-in-law who was here a few minutes ago. i have greatly benefited from it [farming group], you see where those beans are, it is two and half acres, with my little energy would i weed that whole garden and finish it?, no, it would not be possible. but when i invited them [group members] in just two days we had finished the weeding (prisca, 62). older women support each other by providing labour throughout the whole farming process from preparing gardens to harvesting the crops. through this concerted effort, they have managed to put food on their table in their old age and poor health. some of the farming groups are multipurpose going beyond digging to include other activities like savings and credit function, although the older women were also part of support groups specifically set up to provide credit like the biika oguuze (savings and credit) groups. adopting a savings function have enabled older women access small loans and hence beating the exclusion from financial institutions that view the old as non-credit worthy. we have a savings box, whatever you have whether 500 ugandan shillings [ugx], 1,000 ugx, 5,000 ugx, you keep saving whatever you have and when you have an issue like sickness you can go there and they give you the money and it helps you (hellen,74). these groups have helped women access small loans to pay for basic services for instance purchasing medicine, transport to health centres and school fees for their grandchildren’s education. strengths of self-organised groups the strengths of these women’s groups lie within the fact that they value their local culture of working together, utilising locally available resources and the agency, commitment and leadership of older women in the community. valuing local culture of working in solidarity the groups demonstrate the collectivism and working in solidarity that older women and other community members adopt in finding local solutions for the existing social problems. solidarity is encapsulated also in the naming of the groups for instance ‘bataka kwezika’ or burial aid groups reflects the formation of these groups by community members (called abataka) to support each other to bury their own people (kweziika), without waiting for or relying on ‘outsiders’ like government to come and do it for them. community members agreed to always contribute the resources they have available and accessible to help their member provide a decent sendoff for their dear ones. grandmothers’ groups follow the principle of ‘okukwatanisa’ meaning working together in unity. groups believe that ageetereine niigo gaata iguufa meaning that through concerted effort by all the teeth, it is possible to break a bone. older women also talked about their belief that kamwe kamwe nigwo muganda, meaning that one by one makes a bundle which all explain why they prefer to come together in a group than ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 8 number 2 2018 tusasiirwe, s. african journal of social work, 8(2), december 2018 5 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ working individually. the encompassing principle in working together is that it reflects humanness or obuntu or ubuntu. valuing local resources these community-based groups are a demonstration of how the community themselves have mobilised their own locally available resources within their means to support themselves during dire times. these groups do not start from what the community members lack but rather they engage with the resources they have available in their localities. in other words, they adopt an asset and strengths-based rather than a deficit model. for example the burial aid groups depend on the produce that the group members themselves cultivate, collect and share with each other including food crops like beans, rice, and millet. rotational farming groups tap into the older women’s physical labour, skills and wisdom they have accumulated over their lifetime. this has been critical for the sustainability of these groups as they do not rely on any external support from government or ngos. groups ‘utilisation of older women’s agency, commitment and leadership these groups tap into older women’s agency and commitment. these groups have provided avenues and spaces for women to take up leadership in their different capacities. older women have mobilised, formed and they run those groups themselves especially the women-only groups like the rotational farming groups and credit groups. even in the broader mixed burial aid groups, older women are playing active roles as members of the group, fully committed to sustaining and supporting other group members. this role may be overlooked by advocates of representative democracy who take a narrow view of leadership by looking at it in terms of only those persons occupying specific positions of authority for example those serving on group committees. constraints of the groups the most pressing challenge that constrains older women’s groups is the lack of sufficient capital to engage in income generating activities as a way of diversifying their livelihood to raise some money to meet their basics. older women have formed the groups to support each other raise money for communal income generating projects like goat keeping, chicken rearing as kengiga explains about their grandmothers group: we had also thought that if we bought like ten goats, depending on the money that we would have saved, and we distribute them to some members and if it gives birth then you give the young one to another member, and like that. that’s what we had also agreed on. but because of the long dry season, we have not been able to save enough money, we save some little and then borrow all of it (kengiga, 55). grandmothers’ plans to start an income generating project have not been realised as their sources of income which is subsistence agriculture has been affected by drought that has hit their place for two consecutive years. it is during such climate-related risks that older women have sought grants from external organisations particularly the government. however, due to the elite-dominated top-down nature of policy and programme making in uganda, older women have been excluded from most of the formal interventions which apply age-based discrimination as seen in the current uganda women entrepreneurship programme (uwep) which targets women between 18-65 years. older women like the ones who participated in this study are systematically excluded from the programme as shared below …we were told at the bwambara sub-county headquarters that older women in the age of 60, 70 years, and above that we cannot manage such a group (nyanjura, 70+). when it comes to formal support, systems and policies treat older women as old, weak, dependent and vulnerable and thus unable to engage in productive work. yet this ageist thinking does not reflect the reality of the older women who participated in this study. these older women are working hard in their groups. they have the ideas of what income generating activities they want to engage in but are constrained by such systematic and societal discrimination that denies them the much needed support and services, and under looks their attempted inventions and ingenuity in persevering their adversities. challenging such structural discrimination that is embedded in formal policies and programmes is where social workers are needed most. the overall experiences of older women have implications and lessons for decolonising social work practice in uganda as discussed in the next section. lessons for decolonising social work practice whilst this study was conducted in one community in western uganda, the findings regarding the local ways of helping reflect what transpires in most other rural communities in uganda as demonstrated by other researchers documenting traditional mechanisms of helping in other regions of uganda (kasente, asingwire, banugire, & kyomuhendo, 2002). findings of this study demonstrate that self-organised community groups have been instrumental in the everyday survival of older women in bwambara. the women support each other through ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 8 number 2 2018 tusasiirwe, s. african journal of social work, 8(2), december 2018 6 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ hardships and in the absence of formal forms of support from government or non-government organisations. the strength of these groups is grounded in their value and utilisation of local knowledge, wisdom, resources, skills as well as the older women’s agency and commitment. however, older women’s self-organised mutual groups remain unexplored and unsupported to inform community led-formal social protection. formal social protection established by social workers and policy makers mainly copy eurocentric models hence borrow very little from these long existing models of helping adopted by rural people. for example, the current sage programme for older people has an individualistic focus which does not reflect the collectiveness and working in solidarity that the older women and other local community members were engaged in through their self-organised mutual groups. under looking of community-based models of helping has not just started in uganda but rather has its roots in the colonial history of professional social work where traditional mechanisms were regarded as non-modern and inferior to the british’s professional formal social welfare as the ideal model of helping. in fact as ruparanganda, ruparanganda, & mabvurira (2018) argue, social protection through traditional support systems like the selforganised groups dates before colonisation of africa and is still prevalent in the modern society although current social protection frameworks and programs exclude them in their definitions of social protection for instance the international labour organisation definition of social security. although ruparanganda, ruparanganda &mabvurira (2018) note that traditional social security operates as “an adjunct” to the formal social security systems, the other way round is true especially given the limited coverage and scope of formal social security in uganda. therefore, the first step to decolonise social work practice in uganda is the need for professional social workers and policy makers to first of all acknowledge, explore, validate, value the often under looked local wisdom and existing community-based alternatives such as the self-organised groups led by older women. decolonisation means putting first people in rural communities and their lived experiences to inform policy and programme design. local voice informing international and national policy agenda and programme design professional social workers, policy makers in uganda need to reflect and re-examine the position their elite and expertise power has placed them and the extent to which they draw on local knowledge from the majority nonelite in the rural areas like the older women. social workers need to re-examine the extent to which the policies and programmes being made are representing the voices of people from below whom they are meant to be working with. the enormous challenge is to avoid imposing top-down externally-informed policies and programmes where the local people just have no say or understanding as seen in sage and uwep. social workers and policy makers genuinely interested in decolonisation for the sake of the local people have to assertively resist the system that marginalises local voices but seeks to build on existing initiatives. building on and strengthening the community-based groups decolonising social work with older people in uganda requires social workers to work towards strengthening the scale and scope of the existing community-based groups like the older women’s initiatives. from the older women’s stories, their groups have the potential to be strengthened to provide the much needed social protection from below for older people. for instance, the burial aid groups could be strengthened to provide, in addition to burial aid, communal income generation to address poverty. such strengthening would come through governments giving grants to the groups to run their communal income generating activities through which they will accumulate savings that can be accessed by their members. also, the rotating grandmothers’ groups could be supported by social workers obtaining and advocating for resources to allow older women to start off their projects like their revolving goat loan. this approach is different from government or ngo-led initiatives where new groups are established without any consideration to how the long existing groups can be strengthened. in other words, in all, the groups provide a starting point for social workers and policy makers interested in pursuing strengths-based interventions that elevate the voices of the unheard and leverage their local answers to the adversities being faced. this is the similar lesson that social work educators also need to learn given the interdependence between practice and education. decolonising social work education decolonising social work education also requires valuing, validating, and integrating such knowledge, lived experiences and stories of older women. there has been a high tendency to devalue such local knowledge. experiences of the ‘locals’, ‘villagers’, the non-formally educated people are often overlooked by the elite, professionals who put much emphasis and regards western knowledge as superior (avendal, 2011). in fact to act and teach such local knowledge by older women may not be defined by some social workers in uganda as ‘professional’or standardized social work. while some western ways of knowing and doing may be valuable, they reinforce dominant paradigms that marginalise local ways of doing and voices (doucet &denov, 2012). such local knowledge and wisdom of people at the grassroots should form the basis for decolonised social work ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 8 number 2 2018 tusasiirwe, s. african journal of social work, 8(2), december 2018 7 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ education that any relevant western knowledge can build on, but not the other way round. social work education which is currently dominated by western theories emphasizing individualism need to learn and incorporate in their curriculum the principles of older women’s self-organised groups for instance the principles of working in solidarity which reflects the ‘obuntu’ philosophy in most african communities. some practical strategy to decolonise would also involve allowing different ways of teaching, knowing, beyond the traditional textual western knowledge sources and case examples. the older women who participated in this study were willing to share their life stories of adversities experienced but also their resilience and agency in managing them. since social work educators are struggling with lack of appropriate written teaching materials and cases, they could invite local older people to share their stories in class and training rooms. in fact this participatory and oral approach to teaching is culturally appropriate in african traditions that value learning from older people as espoused in the saying of ‘obukadde mageezi’ implying that old age means accumulated wisdom. from lived experience, most of the social work educators and students have lived in rural life and have personal experiences on how most of these local initiatives are a significant coping mechanism. in fact some social work educators and practitioners are members of such traditional burial aid and savings and credit groups. however, these lived experiences tend to be silenced by the western style social work that encourages professional distance, discourages selfdisclosure or sharing of personal experience as this is regarded as unethical, unprofessional and not befitting in the international, standardised social work (doucet & denov, 2012). social workers in uganda may need to decolonise their thinking, break free of such western ideologies and begin sharing and teaching social work that is practical, real and reflected in their personal and diverse local communities. recommendations for future research uganda is a diverse country comprised of different communities. although findings of this study demonstrate typical self-organisation particularly by local people in rural communities that mostly depend on subsistence agriculture, traditional ways of helping may be different in other communities for example in cattle keeping communities. unique ways of helping could also be explored in other regions of uganda for example in eastern or northern uganda. to appreciate rather than silence this complexity and diversity, more local research needs to be carried out to document community-based ways of helping in different communities. this local research should document in-depth the community-based initiatives, how they are formed and who forms them and why, the principles followed by the initiatives. this research has the potential to inform social work theory and practice in uganda that is based and builds on indigenous knowledge and models of helping embedded in communities. conclusion although decolonisation of social work practice and education has been acknowledged, the processes and practical mechanisms on localising social work remain largely slow and unexplored. lack of local research and knowledge on how to decolonise social work has been curtailing. this paper has presented local knowledge that is based on local voices on how self-organised groups have helped a group of older women to survive in south western uganda. it has demonstrated that these local community-based initiatives remain marginalised by the current professional social work practice and education that privileges eurocentric knowledge and models of helping. it has been argued that culturally appropriate social work practice can greatly benefit from exploring and building on such existing community-based mechanisms that value working in solidarity, utilise local knowledge, wisdom, expertise, skills and resources. the challenge to ugandan social workers and world-wide is to find ways of creating a favourable, receptive environment in which knowledge and voices from below-from the nonformally educated rural women and men, can speak and be heard. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 8 number 2 2018 tusasiirwe, s. african journal of social work, 8(2), december 2018 8 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ references avendal, c.; 2011. social work in ghana: engaging traditional actors in professional practices. journal of comparative social work, 6(2), 2-19. bukuluki, p., mukuye, r., mubiru, j., & namuddu, j.; 2017. social protection and social work in uganda. in m. gray (ed.), the handbook of social work and social development in africa. new york: routledge. doucet, d., & denov, m.; 2012. the power of sweet words: local forms of intervention with war-affected women in rural sierra leone. international social work, 55(5), 612-628. gray, m., coates, j., yellow bird, m., & hetherington, t. (eds.).; 2013. decolonising social work. london: routledge. kasente, d., asingwire, n., banugire, f., & kyomuhendo, s.; 2002. social security systems in uganda. journal os social development in africa, 17(2), 157-183. midgley, j. ; 2013. social development and social protection: new opportunities and challenges. development southern africa, 30(1), 2-12. ministry of gender labour and social development.; 2016. how ‘small’ grants are doing big things in the country side. retrieved from www.socialprotection.go.ug. acessed: 12 july 2018 ministry of planning and community development.;1965. sessional paper no.2 1957/58. the journal of the ministry of planning and community development: ministry of planning and community development. osei-hwedie, k.; (2017). ‘do not worry your head’: the impossibility of indigenizing social work education and practice in africa. paper presented at the asaswei/asswa/dsd social work conference tambo conference centre, boksburg, south africa. retrieved from . http://www.asaswei.org.za/files/2017/presentations/oseihwedie.pdf. accessed: 29th october 2018 rukungiri district local government.; (2009). higher local government statistical abstract. retrieved from rukungiri: https://www.ubos.org/onlinefiles/uploads/ubos/2009_hlg_%20abstract_printed/rukungiri%2final%2 0district%20abstract20%202008-09.pdf. acessed: 12 july 2018 ruparanganda, l., ruparanganda, b., & mabvurira, v.; (2018). the place of 'traditional' social security in modern era: lessons from buhera district african journal of social work, 8(1). spitzer, h.; (2017). social work in east africa: a mzungu perspective. international social work, 00(0), 1-14. twikirize, m. j.; (2014). indigenisation of social work in africa: debates, prospects and challenges. in h. spitzer, m. j. twikirize, & g. g. wairire (eds.), professional social work in east africa: towards social development, poverty reduction and gender equality. kampala: fountain publishers. ugiagbe, o. e.; (2017). decolonising social work in nigeria. in m. gray (ed.), the handbook of social work and social development in africa. london: routledge. microsoft word 9 corrections and proof reading dudzai.docx ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 8 number 2 2018 dudzai, c. african journal of social work, 8(2), december 2018 71 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ publisher african journal of social work afri. j. soc. work © national association of social workers-zimbabwe/author(s) issn print 1563-3934 issn online 2409-5605 licensed under a creative commons attribution-non-commercial 4.0 international license indexed & accredited with: african jornals online (ajol)|university of zimbabwe accredited journals (uzaj)|scopus (elsevier’s abstract and citation database)|directory of open access journals (doaj). the value of social sustainability policies to poverty reduction in zimbabwe: a social work perspective dudzai, cornelius abstract since the colonial era, poverty has been central to national socio-economic development priorities for zimbabwe. however, these development priorities could not be sustained largely due to lack of socially sustainable programmes. such programmes are a social process through which communities are able to meet the diverse needs of existing and future generations by being responsive to their environments and contributing to a high quality of life. while social sustainability is centred on liveability, it is characterised by safe, inclusive, democratic, well-planned and equitable communities. in this light, it is contended that among other issues, poverty in zimbabwe is a function of lack of social sustainability. as such, social work as a profession that seeks to promote social justice should prioritise social sustainability so as to alleviate the country’s structural ills. this paper demonstrated that the apparent dearth of social sustainability in zimbabwe is related to poverty and the ways through which social work practice can promote social sustainability were explained. utilising documentary review, the author demonstrated the extent to which the social sustainability concept could be applied to social work in order to promote pro-poor social development. the paper utilised zimbabwe’s indigenisation policy as a social sustainability policy. key terms: social work; social sustainability; poverty; zimbabwe key dates received: 30 may 2018 revised: 21 october 2018 accepted: 19 november 2018 published: 02 december 2018 funding: none conflict of interest: none permission: not applicable ethics approval: not applicable article type: analysis author details: master of social work student and graduate teaching assistant, university of zimbabwe, department of social work, box 167 mount pleasant, harare, zimbabwe, email: corneliusdudzai9@gmail.com ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 8 number 2 2018 dudzai, c. african journal of social work, 8(2), december 2018 72 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ introduction and background the place of social sustainability in social work practice is largely indisputable. as such, this paper seeks to discuss social sustainability within the context of social policy, giving an example of the indigenisation and economic empowerment policy. the paper begins by conceptualising social sustainability, giving four basic principles before linking these to the contextual imperatives of zimbabwe’s social policy trajectory. all this is then assessed within the framework of social work. polese and stren (2000; 229) describe social sustainability as “policies and institutions that have the overall effect of integrating diverse groups and cultural practices in a just and equitable fashion”. by integrating diverse groups and cultural practices in a just and equitable fashion, social sustainability’s function is to consolidate the entire society as a unit after understanding that each societal group is unique. the uniqueness of each societal group implies that each societal group should be capacitated to be able to work as a unit though made up of different groups. according to polese and stren (2000) policies that ensure that the populace’s wellbeing is improved are enacted through promotion of an egalitarian society that is determined by a just conduct at all institutional levels. taylor (2003) adds that social sustainability refers to policies that vitalize community involvement, volunteerism and local community development. according to taylor (2003)’s definition, social sustainability is framed as active citizenship in a society that is centred on equity. similarly, harris and goodwin (2001) define social sustainability as policies that promote a socially sustainable system that should attain fairness in distribution of resources and opportunity. such a scenario also implies that there is adequate provision of social services that are inclusive of health and education, gender equity and political accountability. dillard et al (2009) believe that social sustainability’s modern emanation lies in environmental sustainability policies and programmes. magis and shin (2009), are of the notion that social sustainability was adopted after realising the importance of place, community connections and active citizenship within an urban context and diverse groups of people. the diverse groups of people find themselves sharing limited resources and are motivated to work on more socially healthy ways. harris (2000) postulates that social sustainability gained formal and international repute following the world commission on environment and development (wced) report to the united nations in 1987. the report made the stipulation that sustainable development requires concerted attention to social, ecological and economic conditions. the 1987 report’s proposition is that society must be sustained in its right. horner et al (2009) stipulate that social sustainability is founded on the tradition of sustainable development. the tradition is human centred development. as expounded by magis and shin (2009), three primary constructs define human centred development. human centred development is defined through the basic needs approach, human development approach and the freedoms approach. streeten et al (1981) envisage that the basic needs approach is the initial engagement that reorients human development whose designation is that the world’s poor should be the primary beneficiaries of development. in this case, prioritization of people’s full physical, mental and social development are considered potent. according to atkinson (2008), the basic needs approach focuses on enhancing the fulfilment of basic physiological needs to the communities. streeten et al (1981) identified three objectives of the basic needs approach which are; establishment of social infrastructure that enhances effective and efficient delivery of public services pertaining to health care, education, water and sanitation, facilitation of community participation in democratic processes relevant to their well-being and creation of remunerative livelihoods whose income is able to meet sustenance costs. the human development approach that popularises development as humanness was championed by haq and the united nations development programme in 1999 (magis and shin, 2009:10). the approach is a transcendence of the basic needs approach (undp, 2010). the purpose of the human development approach is creation of an enabling environment for human enjoyment and creativity backed by good health (townsend, 2012). it is believed that creativity fosters widened community choice pertaining to social, economic and political spheres (undp, 1999). haq (1999) is of the view that human development is composed of equity, sustainability, productivity and empowerment. the freedoms approach defines human centred development as related to people’s ability to sustain themselves and have an influence on their surrounding world (sen, 1999). this implies that lack of freedom signals lack of development and poverty. five freedoms that are essential are outlined by sen (1999) which are protective security, political and civil rights, transparency guarantees, economic facilities and social opportunities. the principles of social sustainability magis and shin (2009) elaborate on four principles that anchor social sustainability. these are; human wellbeing, equity, democratic governance and democratic civic society. according to prescott-allen (2001), human wellbeing involves ensuring that the fulfilment of basic needs is done. such a fulfilment guarantees economic, political and social freedoms. the means through which qualitative improvements on human lives are done is economic development (tinker, 1997). the true axiom of economic development is improved human welfare (haq, 1999). this is because sustainable development policy’s concern ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 8 number 2 2018 dudzai, c. african journal of social work, 8(2), december 2018 73 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ is an improvement on the quality of life for people (organisation for economic corporation and development, 2001). polese and stren (2000) contend that social sustainability is equated to the extent to which inequalities in society are minimised. as such, hart (1999) states that communities and governments play a collaborative role in providing equitable rights, opportunities and outcomes. there is therefore a relationship between poverty and inequality since in a poor society, there is a rift that exists between the few rich and the poor majority in terms of accessing social services. this is because the rich are able to access high quality services such as good health facilities while the poor are unable to access high quality services. also, in a society characterised by inequality, resources are stolen from the poor by the powerful. the respect of human rights is centred on democratic institutions. when there is democracy, people are endowed with the skills essential in making effective and productive choices and seek for accountability from the government. government in turn must be answerable to the generality of the citizenry. more so, government is mandated to facilitate citizen participation in political and civic undertakings that affect their lives (sen, 1999). arguably, citizen participation is a precursor to poverty reduction. the current discussion contends that citizen participation is better achieved in an environment where civil society institutions are given space by government. this therefore points towards the need for strong civil society to consolidate citizen participation as a ploy to eradicate extreme poverty and deprivation in developing societies. the united nations development programme (2002; 53) regards civil societies as “a third pillar of 21st century human development strategy.” civil society promotes poverty alleviation efforts through volunteerism, whistleblowing and promotion of democratic institutions (salamon, 2004). such efforts reduce poverty as they recalibrate government and community focus to have efforts on addressing pressing issues that mire people in poverty. social sustainability is also effectively achieved where democratic governance prevails. odo (2015; 2), defines democratic governance as availability of choices and cherished values (including freedom); and accountability in governance”. as according to the definition, poverty can be reduced when there is democratic governance which avails wide choices for different individual groups. the aspect of accountability also implies that the government is answerable to the citizenry in making sure that the needed services are always catered for. social work practice and social sustainability the place of social sustainability to social work practice remains critical. as per social sustainability principles articulated above, social work is mandated by society to ameliorate human suffering, alleviate distress and enhance people’s capacities to elicit positive change in their lives. social sustainability complements and strengthens social work efforts through informing social policy. it is social policy that is key to addressing poverty. peeters (2012:18) is of the notion that social work works hand in glove with social sustainability towards achieving sustainable development. in this case, social work collaborates with social sustainability in the formulation of pro-poor sustainable policies that are anchored on social work values of service to humanity, dignity and worthy of individuals and social justice (international federation of social workers, 2014). to that effect, the social dimension of sustainable development when formulating propoor social policies needs to be explored by social work (peeters, 2012b: 14). promotion of human wellbeing is another central principle of social sustainability which conspires with social work. mitchell (2017:13), alludes that social work has a mission to fulfil as per requirement of the profession’s ethics and values. it is required for social work to enhance human well-being and facilitate access to basic needs of all people. such is done through ensuring that attention to making availability of needs is met. social work conspires with social sustainability in facilitating the empowerment of vulnerable, poor and oppressed groups (mitchell, 2017:9). therefore, social work infers with social sustainability in improving the quality of life for individuals, groups and communities (organisation for economic corporation and development, 2001). according to the european association of schools of social work (2014), the implication for social work practice in promoting social sustainability lies in social work’s contribution towards promoting three pillars of humanwellbeing. initially, social work has to encourage and facilitate research into the role of social work in alleviating tragedies such as drought that lead to food shortages. after coming up with the needed information, policy is then influenced to come up with sustainable copying mechanisms such as adoption of mechanised irrigation facilities such as drip irrigation. social work is also implied to promoting human-wellbeing in social sustainability programmes by fostering the essence of social development and wellbeing through sustainable and interdependent communities (mitchell, 2017). human well-being is also attained by enhancing standards in social work education and practice that initiate sustainable social development outcomes in communities (peeters, 2012). the implication for social work practice in promoting social sustainability also lies in social work having a role to play in promoting democratic governance. in this case, it could be argued that social work has a role to play in ensuring democratic governance by advocating for accountability from the government. mobilisation and empowerment of the citizenry has to be a social work responsibility so that citizens know their democratic rights and seek for accountability. legitimacy of rules and institutionalisation of the rule of law should also be ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 8 number 2 2018 dudzai, c. african journal of social work, 8(2), december 2018 74 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ sufficiently pursued if sustainable development is to be attained (jaysawal, 2013:15). in case of the government failing to meet its democratic duties, social work can mobilise citizens for social action till democratic governance is delivered. you (2012) argues that, democracy since athenian origin has always been government by the people with direct and full participation of the citizens in all matters affecting them. therefore, social work has to fulfil this through enhancement of participation of the citizenry in governance. devolution of powers from one central position to lower governance structures accessible to the general population has to be promoted through social work involvement in national planning. as a principle of social sustainability, social work is also implied of promoting democratic civil society. democratic civil societies assist in strengthening democratic governance (medeiros, 2009). to this effect, social work in zimbabwe should facilitate the establishment of democratic civil societies that strengthen democratic governance. as according to karl marx as cited in jaysawal (2013; 1), “civil society embraces the whole material intercourse of individuals with a definite stage of development of productive forces”. in civil societies, people learn the value of group action and social solidarity (jaysawal, 2013). as such, civil societies initiated through social work in zimbabwe may mobilise citizens for group action that will in turn lead to democratic governance. applying the social sustainability approach to practice: zimbabwe’s national indigenisation and economic empowerment policy as a way of redressing poverty in zimbabwe that was originating from what was a skewed ownership of productive assets, the government of zimbabwe adopted the indigenisation and economic empowerment initiatives under the indigenisation and economic empowerment policy. as according to the indigenisation and economic empowerment act of 2008 (chapter 14: 33), an indigenous zimbabwean is “anyone who, before independence was subjected to unfair discrimination presumably on the grounds of their race, and includes a descendant of such a person’’. zimbabwe’s indigenisation and economic empowerment policy was adopted under the indigenisation and economic empowerment act of 2008 (chapter 14; 33) (chowa, 2013). it is postulated by anderson (2010) that the indigenisation and economic empowerment policy which falls under the third chimurenga phase also involves the land reform programme. the policy was intended to ensure that indigenous zimbabweans own control of foreign owned companies that operate in zimbabwe (murombo, 2010). this means that 51% of shares in foreign owned companies were to be controlled by indigenous zimbabweans (shumba, 2014). the indigenisation concept “…foregrounds the status of being underprivileged and racial discrimination that occurred during the colonial era’’ (shumba, 2014; 13). to this end, zimbabwe’s indigenisation concept concurs with the principles of social sustainability that include the principle of equity (magis and shin, 2009). also, as expounded in magis and shin (2009), social sustainability is defined through the three constructs which are the basic needs approach, human development approach and the freedoms approach. the indigenisation and economic empowerment policy could be argued to be socially sustainable since apart from meeting the physiological needs of indigenous zimbabweans through land ownership and economic control, it also intended to facilitate their freedom through ensuring that zimbabweans are enabled to sustain themselves and influence the economic world around them through economic empowerment programmes. this is supported by the government’s claim that indigenisation is a way of empowering indigenous zimbabweans for a zimbabwe that is truly independent and whose resources and economy are controlled by zimbabweans (ministry of youth, indigenisation and empowerment, 2013). according to murombo (2010), indigenisation allows workers to be strategic partners of business who participate in strategic economic decisions. their involvement motivates them and room is given for them to acquire skills, education and creativity which are prerequisites for carrying out such a task. this is evidently clear that indigenisation policy is a social sustainability policy as the above allusion is in tandem with social sustainability’s principle of democratic governance (magis and shin, 2009). basing on the principle of democratic governance of social sustainability, people are endowed with skills, creativity, and information to make economic choices, and the voice and freedom to actively get involved in government issues pertaining to their lives. foreign owned companies were to cede 51% of their shares to indigenous zimbabweans through partnerships with business people, community share trusts and worker share trusts (the indigenisation and economic empowerment act, 2008). the social sustainability property of the indigenisation and economic empowerment policy is revealed through its agenda of reducing poverty through the policy’s principles of eliminating poverty and promoting economic empowerment (mawowa, 2007). the indigenous policy was a social sustainability policy that was meant to address economic inequalities that were created during the colonial times by ensuring that zimbabweans become shareholders of the economy instead of being mere employees of the economy (ministry of indigenisation and empowerment, 2013). in other words, the policy was remedying socio-economic injustice and inequality that could have led to most zimbabweans being poor since they have for long been neither controlling nor owning the assets and means of production. this proves that the indigenisation policy was a social sustainability policy meant to empower local zimbabweans through ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 8 number 2 2018 dudzai, c. african journal of social work, 8(2), december 2018 75 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ enhancing them to be shareholders of the economy. as evidenced above, the indigenisation and economic empowerment policy squarely fits into being a social sustainability policy. within the frames of a social sustainability policy like the indigenisation and economic empowerment policy, social workers are indebted of having failed to play a sufficient role in the reduction of poverty through the policy’s implementation. to this effect, the indigenisation policy’s failure to have created intended equity and reduction of poverty could be suggested to have been partly caused by lack of social work involvement and participation in its formulation, implementation and monitoring. how social work fits in the indigenisation policy? social work plays a pivotal role in the formulation, monitoring and implementation of social sustainability policies. social work is there to inform social sustainability policies such as the once effected indigenisation and economic empowerment policy in zimbabwe. social work fits in the indigenisation policy since it is a profession that is a domain of practices with a systemic place in society (peeters, 2012). below is an illustration of how the indigenisation and economic empowerment policy could have been utilised as a tool for poverty reduction in social work practice. initially, social work is an important ingredient in social sustainability policies such as the indigenisation policy since it has to empower communities. the webster dictionary as cited in parsons (2017) defines empowerment as the process of giving authority. parsons (2017) suggests that empowerment embraces the notion of social workers giving power to communities. peeters (2008) suggests that empowerment pertains to individual and community participation over their own lives and democratic participation in community life. empowerment is done through mediating structures and social work is key to formation of social structures that empower people to democratically participate in social sustainability policy activities. zimbabwe’s indigenisation policy could be argued to have failed since the policy lacked social work involvement in empowering communities. had social work been maximally involved in the indigenisation policy, it would have been ensured that the intended beneficiaries who are the communities would have benefited from reduced poverty. otherwise, due to social work absence in the indigenisation policy, only politicians managed to monopolise the process at the expense of the majority. social work can get involved in empowerment process through formation of strong social work institutions that are there to empower the communities and ensure that the government grants political power and respect legal rights to communities. it could also be argued that zimbabwe’s indigenisation policy could not be fruitful in reducing poverty since as according to the world food programme (2017), 63% of the 13, 8 million people still live below the poverty datum line, four years after the implementation of the policy. this could be argued to have been a consequence of lack of democratic governance. ndakaripa (2016) argues that consultation during the formulation of the policy was not done by the government. the implementation of the policy was mainly dominated by zanu pf. social work practice in such cases should advocate for democratic governance through calling for popular participation (jaysawal, 2013). popular participation through social movements includes the voice of the community in social sustainability policy formulation and implementation (medeiros, 2009). social work’s advocacy for democratic governance during formulation and implementation of social sustainability policies is vital since through democracy, strengthening of socio-economic and political freedoms of the communities is done (jaysawal, 2013). once the socio-economic and political freedoms are guaranteed, it is then ensured that equity is promoted and economic empowerment will have nothing to do with partisan allocation of resources as was witnessed during the land reform programme of the year 2000 (ndakaripa, 2016). that way, poverty is reduced. there is also need for democratic civil societies to assist in strengthening democratic governance (medeiros, 2009). as according to karl marx as cited in jaysawal (2013; 1), “civil society embraces the whole material intercourse of individuals with a definite stage of development of productive forces”. in civil societies, people learn the value of group action and social solidarity (jaysawal, 2013). social solidarity in civil societies educates people to engage in active citizenship and as a result, man will find the essence of participating in political and economic affairs of the country. in doing so, citizens begin to shape their own development destiny in social sustainability policies such as the recently zanu pf initiated indigenisation policy. if such policing involves people, they become informed of what the people need as supported by the adage that “nothing for the people without the people’’. conclusion there is an inextricable relationship between social work and social sustainability policies in sustainable development. social work theory is mandated to inform sustainable policies through policy research. when the formulation of social sustainability policies embraces social work knowledge and values, sustainable development is achieved. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 8 number 2 2018 dudzai, c. african journal of social work, 8(2), december 2018 76 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ references atkinson, g., dubourg, r., hamilton, k., munasinghe, h., pearce, d., and young, c; 1997. measuring sustainable development: macroeconomics and the environment. cheltenham, uk: edward elgar publishing limited. anderson, c; 2011. creating a legislative framework to govern mining in zimbabwe. harare: revenue watch. breuskin, i; 2012. social capital and governmental institutions. eth zurich, centre for international and comparative studies. brundtland, g. h; 1991. “sustainable development: the challenges ahead.” in sustainable development, edited by olav stokke. london, england: frank class and company limited. chowa, t; 2013. an analysis of zimbabwe’s indigenisation and economic empowerment programme (ieep) as an economic development approach. journal of economics. (1) 2, 2-18. dillard, j.,dujon, v and king, m. c; 2009. introduction in understanding the social dimension of sustainability. routledge, taylor and francis group, new york. david, h. and prescott-allen, r; 2002. flying blind: assessing progress towards sustainability, washington, d.c: island press. gudmundsson, g; 2012. the concept of social capital and its usage in educational studies. university of iceland. harris, jonathan m., and neva r. goodwin; 2001. “volume introduction.” in a survey of sustainable development: social and economic dimensions, edited by jonathan m. harris, timothy a. wise, kevin p. gallagher, and neva r. goodwin. washington, dc: island press. haq, mahbubul; 1999. reflections on human development. oxford, uk: oxford university press. hart, m; 1999. guide to sustainable community indicators. north andover, ma: sustainable measures. horner, m. gasparatos, a and el-haram, m; 2009. the argument against a reductionist approach for measuring sustainable development performance and the need for methodological pluralism. elsevier limited. indigenisation and economic empowerment act [chapter 14:33]. international federation of social workers; 2014. ifsw general assembly. jaysawal, n; 2013. civil society, democratic space, and social work. sage open. yio, b. w; 2012. “democracy and development in nigeria: a reflection on the country’s democratic experience up to 2011” in national development studies, no. 5. magis, k and shinn, c; 2009. emergent principles of social sustainability in understanding the social dimension of sustainability. routledge, taylor and francis group, new york. mawowa, s; 2013. community share ownership trusts (csots) in zimbabwe’s mining sector: the case of mhondoro-ngezi. harare: zimbabwe environmental law association (zela). mckenzie, s; 2004. “social sustainability: towards some definitions.” in hawke research institute working paper series, no 27. magill, south australia: hawke research institute, university of south australia. medeiros, r; 2009. social movements and civil society: towards a deeper theoretical dialogue between two fields of study. retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/1490781/social_movements_and_civil_society_towards_a_deeper_theoret ical_dialogue_between_two_fields_of_studyaccessed on 11/02/18:18.30. ministry of youth development indigenisation and empowerment; 2012. community share ownership schemes: operational framework for community share ownership schemes or trusts (csots) in terms of the indigenisation and economic empowerment act [chapter 14:33]. myeong, s and seo, h; 2016. which type of social capital matters for building trust in government? looking for a new type of social capital in the governance era.inha university, korea. murombo, t; 2010. law and the indigenisation of mineral resources in zimbabwe: any equity for local communities? available at: http://reference.sabinet.co.za/sa_epublication_article/sapr_v25_n2_a16. accessed on11/02.18. organisation for economic cooperation and development; 2001. sustainable development: critical issues. paris, france. taylor, t. markandya, a. and pedroso, s; 2003. tourism and sustainable development: lessons from recent world bank experience. university of bath. the ministry of youth, indigenisation and empowerment; 2013. mydie 2013 round up.http://www.myiee.gov.zw/index.php/news/29-mydie-2013-round-up.accessed on 12/ 02/18 todaro, m. p and smith, s. c; 2012. economic development. 11th edition. addison-wesley pearson. payne, m; 2006. what is professional social work? (2nd ed.). bristol: the polity press. peeters, j; 2008. empowerment: eenantwoord op het pleidooivoorverantwoordelijkheid [empowerment: an answer to the plea for responsibility]. in j. zeedijk& p. van bortel (eds.), bedrogen door de elite? kritischebeschouwingenbij theodore dalrymplescultuuranalyse [betrayed by the elite? critical reflections on theodore dalrymple’s analysis of culture] (pp. 72–82). kapellen: pelckmans. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 8 number 2 2018 dudzai, c. african journal of social work, 8(2), december 2018 77 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ peeters, j; 2012. social work and sustainable development: towards a socio-ecological practice model. journal of social intervention: theory and practice.igitur publishing, in corporation with utrecht university of applied sciences, faculty of society and law. peeters, j; 2012b. the place of social work in sustainable development: towards ecosocial practice. international journal of social welfare, 21(3), 287–298. polese, m, and stren, r; 2000. the social sustainability of cities: diversity and the management of change. toronto: university of toronto press. prescott-allen, r; 2001. the wellbeing of nations: a country-by-country index of quality of life and the environment. washington, dc: island press. odo, l. u; 2015. democracy and good governance in nigeria: challenges and prospects. global journal of human social science: f political science. global journals inc. 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2006. human development report, beyond scarcity: power, poverty and the global water crisis. united nations development programme; 2010. human development report. the real wealth of nations: pathways to human development. world commission on environment and development; 1987. our common future. oxford, uk: oxford university press. microsoft word 4 towards a democratised method of data collection through the adoption and adaptation of the shona concept of dare.docx ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 jaure r., makura a. h. & alexander g. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 173 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ publisher african journal of social work afri. j. soc. work © national association of social workers-zimbabwe/author(s) issn print 1563-3934 issn online 2409-5605 licensed under a creative commons attribution-non-commercial 4.0 international license indexed& accredited with: african journals online (ajol) | university of zimbabwe accredited journals (uzaj) | scopus (elsevier’s abstract and citation database) | directory of open access journals (doaj) | society of african journal editors (saje) | asian digital library (adl) | african social work network(aswnet) | department of higher education and training (dhet) south africa | sjr | cnki – china | journal publishing practices and standards (jpps) | ebsco towards a democratised method of data collection through the adoption and adaptation of the shona concept of dare ricanos jaure, alfred henry makura and gregory alexander abstract this theoretical paper sought to explore the shona concept of dare as an ideal democratised knowledge round table that could be adopted as a method of data collection in africa. the dare or ubiquitous circle is a participatory communication practice located among traditional shona societies of zimbabwe and is a potential replacement to traditional qualitative data collection tools such as interviews and focus group discussion. the goal is to promote participation and decolonise research processes in africa by adopting existing communication practices among indigenous people. the attempt is to depart from conducting research as an extractive process conducted by the researcher and the participants, the investigator and the investigated or the analyst and the analysed. conversely, information sharing rooted in the african concept of dare is more of knowledge round table and is participatory, democratised, recognises expertise and allows the sharing of experience. a properly structured information sharing session moulded in the dare concept is culturally grounded, built on trust, respect and is a relationship. the more knowledgeable and experienced participants have space to give direction to the data collection process. participants have a platform to learn from each other and can identify with the collected data. the study recommends a shift from traditional data collection tools to information sharing moulded in the dare concept for reliable and authentic data collection. this african round table is more democratised and culturally grounded allowing the process not only to yield required data but also improve communities through shared experiences. key terms: information sharing, data collection, participatory, democratised, african, dare key dates received: march 2022 revised: june 2022 accepted: july 2022 published: august 2022 funding: none conflict of interest: none permission: none ethics approval: not applicable author/s details: ricanos jaure, post-doctoral fellow, central university of technology, south africa, email jaurericanos2019@gmail.com alfred henry makura, associate professor: central university of technology, south africa gregory alexander, associate professor, central university of technology, south africa current and previous volumes are available at: https://africasocialwork.net/current-and-past-issues/ how to reference using aswnet style: jaure r., makura a. h. and alexander g. (2022). towards a democratised method of data collection through the adoption and adaptation of the shona concept of dare. african journal of social work, 12(4), 173-178. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 jaure r., makura a. h. & alexander g. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 174 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ introduction for long, data collection in africa has been viewed as an extractive, imposed, one way process in which communities feel coerced to yield data. data collected is directed by the researcher, probably to get a degree qualification or inform practice. the researcher is the one who comes armed with established research instruments to conduct what could be regarded as “his/her” research. this approach assumes that there is a superior, more knowledgeable partner who extracts data from less research oriented individuals who are subjects in the research process. the interactions and outcomes obtained largely represent the interests and bias of the researcher. little or no consideration is made to established indigenous knowledge systems or traditional information sharing platforms that could be utilised in gathering data such as the dare. communities that yield data end up not identifying with the data because the data collection process was one way, imposed and not participatory. this in part may explain why research participants do not bother to follow up and see the end product. this theoretical paper sought to return to the more traditional methods of information sharing moulded in the dare concept. the process would not only allow the indigenous people to have a voice but would also promote their participation in research processes. decolonisation agenda this essay is part of the decolonising agenda which sought to shift from eurocentric conception and understanding of humanity to a pluralistic approach (chimuka, 2001). for years researchers have descended on african communities with already made research tools. rarely do the instruments and ethical approvals carry the input of the research participants. indigenous knowledge systems are also not considered and existing information sharing forums such as dare are ignored. decolonisation is a, “critique of the dominance of euro-western language and thought cultural and academic imperialism” (chilisa, major and khudu-petersen, 2017: 327) decolonising or indigenous research aims at utilising indigenous knowledge systems and world views which promote the participation of the indigenous people in the research process (kwame, 2017). ncube and tomaselli (2020) consider the dare as a platform for participatory communication which was established long before the arrival of the europeans in africa. because africa already have such a platform it would be inappropriate to impose other data collection platforms without first exploring what existed. totally setting aside established indigenous systems and traditions may alienate the participants. such an approach may fail to promote the participation of the indigenous people and the participants may not identify with the research outcomes. thus, research would have departed from the agenda of advancing, engaging and transforming communities (chilisa, et al. 2017). through the adoption of the dare as a traditional institution for participatory communication people who were previously marginalised and overlooked get a voice in the research process (barnes, 2022). utilising the dare enriches research as it enables the researcher to influence and be influenced by the research process as it transforms data collection to information sharing. the indigenous ways of knowing are also promoted thereby promoting equal rights in the research process (kwame, 2017; chilisa, et al. 2017). this responds to the call to align research methods to the intentions, context and participatory nature of indigenous knowledge (khupe and keane 2017). data collected becomes a product of social cues, is participatory and is grounded in the culture of the researched african communities. the cultures of the shona people in this way contribute to the understanding of humanity as a whole. dare platform among the shona communities two interpretations are held on the dare platform. it could be a tribal court or a board with judicial authority (chimundu and manoya, 2001). the definition of interest in this study according to the shona dictionary dare or chivara is a meeting forum for men of village (ncube and tomaselli, 2020, chimundu and manoya, 2001). it is a traditional institution and a protocol of participatory communication (ncube and tomaselli, 2020). the degree of formality differentiates the dare from the dariro. dare is more formalised. in traditional shona communities the place was a small distance away from the homes and was a mandatory meeting place for all men (ncube and tomaselli, 2020). the defining features of dare include that, it was a mandatory meeting place for all men, evening meals were shared, and information and experiences were shared (gombe, 2000). these ethical considerations were also made e.g confidentiality; what was discussed at a dare stayed at the dare (zvataurwa padare zvinogara padare). for ncube and tomaselli (2020) the dare is a solidarity relational philosophy. this implies that the platform goes ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 jaure r., makura a. h. & alexander g. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 175 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ beyond just a meeting but it builds relations and solidarity for the participants. the information shared at the round table is driven by the desired outcomes. the dare was also an educational authority or law giving authority (ncube and tomaselli, 2020). the process of sharing information was also meant to educate as more knowledgeable elders shared experience with the young and growing population. in the village at sundown men would gather around a fire to share experiences, knowledge and information at a dare. men of various age groups would all attend. the discussion did not centre on any specific topic but what was important was to transmit their heritage from one generation to the next. social skills such a courtship or negotiations were trained at the dare. young boys of age learnt the necessary skills and often they obtained the desired apt results. the knowledgeable elders would share information in which attributes such as humility, being brave, loyalty and hard work were some of the thematic lines underlining the discussions. at a dare anyone could bring forth the topic for discussion implying that the process was democratised. it was acceptable that at a dare not everyone was equal. the elders always had last say and gave direction to the development of the narrative. respect was always given to the more knowledgeable and experienced elders. it was expected that someone could be banished for constantly sharing irrelevant information that may distort the narratives. thus, in all the information shared be it in the form of folk tales at a dare was meant to share their underlined norms and values. from such defining features, a dare has potential when utilised as a data collection to yield rich data. this is because the approach is already rooted within the traditions and culture of the shona people. the researchers sought to explore how the values of such a platform could be adopted and adapted as a data collection method in research. ubuntu roots of dare in african communities dare was an information sharing round table through which indigenous knowledge among the shona communities of zimbabwe were passed from generation to generation. this was the basis on which the ubuntu philosophy was transmitted and preserved. at a dare the important values and practises that make africans authentic human beings were imparted (zvomuya, 2020). solidarity, reciprocity, interconnectedness and bonding are some of the key tenets in the ubuntu philosophy that relied on platforms such as dare for their transmission and preservation. the ubuntu brand as we find it needed such platforms for continuity. a lot can still be drawn from dare system in the conduct of research and in the quest to transform data collection to information sharing to improve on beneficiation.. ubuntu as a philosophy emphasises “being self through others” (mugumbate and nyanguru, 2013). by sharing information one would have demonstrated being selfless which also defines ubuntu. the process of sharing information was a two way process as it was motivated by the desire to build a bond. according to mugumbate and nyaguru (2013) ubuntu relates to bonding and this is expressed through the saying, i am because we are and i am human because i belong. when young men and old men gathered around a bonfire for their dare session it not only resulted in the sharing of knowledge and experiences but bonds were built. the norms and values of the community were therefore transmitted and preserved. interconnectedness is what defines ubuntu (zvomuya, 2020). when members of a family gathered for their dare session, they become interconnected and bonds were built. ubuntu philosophy recognises the universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity (mavesera, mavuru and nyanhanda, 2018). sharing in this case implied not only sharing resources but also information. the shona saw value in sharing information and avoid overreliance on one’s own opinion. this is explained by the shona proverb, ‘zano ndoga akasiya jira mumasese” meaning there is danger in relying solely on one’s own opinion. extensive consultations were made at a dare before a decision was made and usually the decision of the majority or that of elders “vakatanga kuona zuva” meaning those who saw the sun first (born first) prevailed. the expected community norms and values were shared at a dare. the young get acquainted with acceptable standards that would guide them every day. experts in any given area were afforded the opportunity to share their experiences for the benefit of the community. these processes also made their behaviours predictable. this again facilitated bonding which was a critical element underlining the ubuntu philosophy (mugumbate and nyanguru, 2013). they bonded in their diversity. bonding that has become the hallmark of ubuntu among african communities, was not only an outcome but was in fact a process facilitated by information sharing round tables such as dare. according to zvomuya (2020) ubuntu philosophy is characterised by interconnectedness. people reached the stage of saying “i am because we are” because effort would have been made to build the interconnectedness and bonding through platforms such as dare (mungai, 2015). the ubuntu base of relatedness is critical in the drive for interconnectedness. the relational ethical framework calls for the participants to see self as a reflection of ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 jaure r., makura a. h. & alexander g. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 176 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ others and also to honour and respect others as one would have wished for oneself (chilisa, 2017). sharing information and experiences facilitated by platforms such as dare allowed communities to identify with each other. community members also respect each other in their diversity. application of dare approach in data collection the way in which dare was organised and structured among the shona communities can bring forth tangible lessons that could be utilised in data collection. social researchers in africa have been accused of having a mercenary attitude in which they extract data for their own studies and failing to impact on the researched communities. adopting indigenous frameworks and knowledge systems is the hallmark of ubuntu (zvomuya, 2020). through the adoption of the dare system research would be transformed and fitted within the framework of the indigenous knowledge system. this has potential not only to yield data that is rich for the researcher but data that participants identify with and leaves significant marks within the researched communities. the important tenets of ubuntu such as interconnectedness, solidarity, self-respect, collective visioning become the envisioned end benefits from the research process. interconnectedness in data collection social research relies a lot on group interactions and it is important to create the correct environment that would allow the process to be natural, inclusive and mutually beneficial. to get to this end researchers in africa need to utilise the existing knowledge systems and structures. instead of setting up new and foreign data gathering methods, this paper advocates for adopting and modifying what is already present in the indigenous knowledge system. information sharing round table called dare among the shona communities brings forth important lessons that enriches data collection. data collection would cease from being driven by the end product but is a relationship and a network. the researcher and the researched community enter into a relationship guided by honour and respect. the relationship is guided by the relational ethical framework in which the researcher sees ‘self’ as a reflection of ‘other’ (chilisa et al. 2017). the dare was a participatory information sharing platform. ncube and tomaselli (2020) view dare as one of the institutions or protocol for participatory communication among indigenous shona communities. the more knowledgeable and experienced individuals utilised the dare session to share and empower other community members. this key approach is a key component missing in data collection approaches such as interviews, focus group discussions and group discussions. participants are largely expected to respond to the researcher’s questions. once the questions are answered the research ends. the interests of the participants rarely go beyond what the researcher wants. this explains why the participants rarely given the opportunity to ask questions. thus, research in africa can borrow this participatory approach used in dare sessions. social research would be collaborative and research participants would have a say in the research process. participants could also shape the direction that the research would take because they would view themselves as equal partners who are sharing information. besides sharing information meals were often shared at a dare forum (ncube and tomaselli. the sharing of food continued to represent the ubuntu culture. the process ensured that no one could go to bed hungry. it was common to have one common bowl for the staple sadza and another bowl for the relish and everyone would share from it. this process would help build interconnectedness among the african communities. sharing a meal while sharing information at a dare was not regarded as similar to paying for data or unethical. the whole process was meant to build bonds, build relationships and interconnectedness. information was shared to build bonds, educate and improve the community. collaborative transformation and empowerment in data collection empowerment was one of the objectives in the dare session. information sharing was often driven by the desire to empower the young and the community with required skills. “it is a place for considering one another and one another’s contributions, ideas, needs, aspirations and concerns; the place of looking forward together; the place of collective morale, mutual confidence building, faith and optimism built on consensus, trust and reconciliation of otherwise” mahoso (2018). research in africa needs to be driven by a similar approach. data collection in social research should be driven by similar goals, i.e. empowerment of the researched community. the more knowledgeable research participants are expected to share their knowledge and experiences for the benefit of the community. research participants in this case are active participants. this approach fits in the goals of ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 jaure r., makura a. h. & alexander g. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 177 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ participatory research and facilitates collaborative transformation and empowerment of community members. research in this regard becomes a relationship. stories shared at a dare session often followed similar thematic lines that were based on ubuntu. tenets and virtues such as hard work self-respect, unhu, social skills and solidarity dominated the storylines. in other words information sharing left significant marks on the participants. the behaviour of younger participants fitted within the norms and values of their community. in a similar fashion, data collection in research needs to be mutually beneficial as it should leave a mark on the research participants. enriching research through adopting the dare approach would enrich the data collection process. data collection would have an impact on the researched communities as it helps build solidarity, interconnectedness, collective visioning or harmony among communities. this gives value to data collection in research. according to khupe and keane (2017) research needs to be relevant and should endeavour to improve the quality of life of the indigenous people. this end could be attained through the adaptation and adaptation of existing indigenous information sharing platforms such as the dare among shona communities. recommendation the study recommends the deployment of traditional african communication forums such as the dare in data collection. adoption of dare as a data collection platform is a two way reciprocal process that would help in building sustainable communities as it is rooted in the african culture. while the researcher benefits from the research data, communities are also empowered. further exploration of the dare platform and similar traditional communication forums is required so that research in africa yields data that the africans identify with. this paper recommends a shift from data collection tools and approaches that ignore established indigenous communication practices. it is no secret that the knowledge production is replete and dominated by eurocentric constructs and processes. hence, the clarion call to a shift that would allow data collection processes that are culturally grounded through a strategy omodan (2020) calls 'disruptive caring pedagogy'. essentially, we advocate an approach that seeks to decolonise knowledge production by embracing afrocentric approaches such as the dare concept. conclusion information sharing round tables moulded on the dare concept proves to be an appropriate data collection tool among african communities. this is because the key tenets that build the african are integrated. the dare concept gives valuable take home lessons in the conduct of research as it promotes ubuntu. research would be guided by self-respect, solidarity, honour and is a relationship where bonds are built. the collaborative and participatory nature of indigenous knowledge systems get aligned to the research. it is important to consider that africans have been sharing information before the coming of europeans. in consideration of that it would be inappropriate to deploy data collection methods that do not have african roots at least when conducting research in africa. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 jaure r., makura a. h. & alexander g. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 178 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ references chilisa, b., major, t. e. and khudu-petersen, k. (2017) community engagement with a postcolonial, africanbased relational paradigm. qualitative research 17(3) 326–339 chimuka, t. a. (2001) ethics among the shona. zambezia xxviii (1), 23-37. chimundu, h. and manoya, e. (2001) duramazwi guru rechishona. harare: national government publishers. gombe j. m. (2000) tsika dzavashona rakavandudzwa college press, harare. mugumbate, j. & nyanguru, a. (2013). exploring african philosophy: the value of ubuntu in social work. african journal of social work, 3 (1), 82-100. omodan, b. i., & ige, o. a. (2021). university students' perceptions of curriculum content delivery during covid-19 new normal in south africa. qualitative research in education, 10(2), 204-227. khupe, c. and keane, m. (2017). towards an african education research methodology: decolonising new knowledge. educational research for social change, 6(1), 25-37. kwame, a. (2017) reflexivity and the insider/outsider discourse in indigenous research: my personal experiences. alter native: an international journal of indigenous people, 1-8). mungai, n. w. (2015) afrocentric social work: implications for practice issues. new delhi: charles sturt university. zvomuya w. (2020) ubuntu as an international turning point for social work: new lenses from the african pot of knowledge. african journal of social work 10 (1) 24-29. microsoft word 8 stories of decolonising research education and practiceexperiences from my phd research.docx ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 tusasiirwe, s. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 207 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ publisher african journal of social work afri. j. soc. work © national association of social workers-zimbabwe/author(s) issn print 1563-3934 issn online 2409-5605 licensed under a creative commons attribution-non-commercial 4.0 international license indexed& accredited with: african journals online (ajol) | university of zimbabwe accredited journals (uzaj) | scopus (elsevier’s abstract and citation database) | directory of open access journals (doaj) | society of african journal editors (saje) | asian digital library (adl) | african social work network(aswnet) | department of higher education and training (dhet) south africa | sjr | cnki – china | journal publishing practices and standards (jpps) | ebsco stories of decolonising research education and practice: experiences from my doctor of philosophy (phd) research sharlotte tusasiirwe abstract the need to challenge and disrupt the colonial legacy of research and education in african contexts is an urgent one although voices and experiences of decolonisation in action/practice are still scanty in this context. drawing from the african oral storytelling tradition where lived experience is extolled as a powerful teaching tool, in this article, i share experiences of how and when i came to align my doctor of philosophy (phd) research to a decolonising agenda. deeply listening to my research participants was central in challenging me to engage in decolonising research practices and epistemologies. the process of having to explain my research to the participants, in our indigenous language, led me to a journey of re-valuing, recognising, and drawing on indigenous african epistemologies as the foundation for the methods, ethics and methodology for my research. the main lesson from this experience and the major message for researchers and research educators is about the urgent need and responsibility to challenge and disrupt the ongoing colonial thinking and teaching where african indigenous knowledges, languages, ways of knowing, are continuously marginalised, if not erased. discussions of ongoing colonisation in research education and practice are presented, followed by examples of decolonised african research methods and ethics. a call to action to decolonisation concludes the article. key terms: african storytelling, doctor of philosophy (phd), decolonisation, ethics, research key dates received: march 2022 revised: june 2022 accepted: july 2022 published: august 2022 funding: none conflict of interest: none permission: none ethics approval: not applicable author/s details: sharlotte tusasiirwe, lecturer, social work and community welfare, western sydney university, email: s.tusasiirwe@westernsydney.edu.au current and previous volumes are available at: https://africasocialwork.net/current-and-past-issues/ how to reference using aswnet style: tusasiirwe , s. (2022). stories of decolonising research education and practice: experiences from my doctor of philosophy (phd) research. african journal of social work, 12(4), 207-213. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 tusasiirwe, s. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 208 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ introduction and background there is a troubling thinking that colonisation is a thing of the past implying that there is no need for decolonisation in the current era. however, as this article shall demonstrate and building on what other african authors like bulhan (2015), mbembe (2016), chilisa (2012), wa thiongʼo (1986) have argued, colonisation is still ongoing and it has gone beyond dispossession of lands and peoples to colonisation of people’s minds, their being and knowing. colonisation continues to manifest in situations where the knowledges, beliefs, worldviews of colonisers continue to be imposed on other societies, consequently devaluing, marginalising, disregarding, eroding the knowledges, beliefs, values, of the colonised. colonisation in research practice and education continues to manifest in several ways. first is through the ideology of the colonised which means that the colonised are now their own ‘colonisers’ whereby they are engaging in perpetuating the devaluation and marginalisation of their own local or indigenous cultures and knowledges by believing and presenting white western knowledges as universal or ‘the standard’. most institutions of learning in africa are still “westernised” as “all that they aspire to is to become local instantiations of a dominant academic model based on eurocentric epistemic canon…a canon that attributes truth only to the western way of knowledge production” ignoring and devaluing other epistemic traditions (mbembe, 2015, n.p). therefore, to decolonise in african context is not necessarily about de-westernisation or total rejection of european knowledge traditions but it is about “defining clearly what is at the centre”. as ngugi wa thiongo (1986) elaborated, decolonisation is about re-centering, that is, putting africa, its knowledges, cultures, mother tongues/indigenous languages, african people, at the centre, before extending outwards to learn about european and other knowledge traditions, ways of being and doing, which are needed only if they are relevant for africans to understand themselves and to move forward. decolonisation is not something new, but the gap and challenge for africa remains in articulating clearly what it is all about and coming up with propositions of what the alternative to eurocentric model could look like (mbemba, 2016). in social work education and research, although the commitment to decolonisation is growing rapidly, examples of how decolonising practices are operationalised remains an important gap for researchers (tusasiirwe, 2022). this is the gap that this article seeks to respond to as it provides lived experiences of epistemic colonisation and how decolonisation happened during the author’s pursuit of phd research at an australian university but with field work in a ugandan context. i share my story of how in the process of doing my phd, i was taken back to reflect on how colonisation and colonialism in research education and practice remain an unfinished business unless we engage in two critical decolonisation steps of un-learning deficit colonial views and re-learning to re-value what we know, believe, and value as africans. by way of structure, i will first discuss ongoing colonisation in research education and practice. then i will explore decolonisation drawing on my experiences during phd research. i discuss african indigenous oral storytelling and the african research methods of individual, communal conversation and observation that can be used in african research. decolonising ethics and alternative obuntu/ubuntu ethics are discussed and lastly, call to action to decolonise is presented. ongoing colonisation in research education and practice western languages, research methodologies and methods predominated all my research education and practice. in my foundational education at primary level in uganda, we were forced to speak english and punished for speaking our own indigenous languages at school. while learning english was compulsory, none of the indigenous languages was (is). i never got a chance to learn to write my own indigenous language which i learnt to speak only while in my local community. erasing our indigenous languages meant erasing all the epistemologies and culture embedded in them. at university level, non-african texts, literature on research have been taught as the legitimate ways of doing research and knowing, leaving our lit/orature in the margins. unsurprisingly, when it came to conceptualising my phd research proposal in australia, i framed my research in what i was taught were the legitimate methods and methodologies in research and academia. i had originally planned to use western methods including interviewing, observation and focus group discussions and my methodology was grounded in feminist phenomenology. in my proposal, i stated that i would use life story interviewing as i read it from atkinson (2002). as with the strategy of colonisation where western texts are often read or presented as legitimate, i had struggled to find texts where my african oral storytelling methodology was written about yet i was told that i must provide a written reference to the methods and methodology i finally choose to use in my phd research. being situated in an australian tertiary education system that predominantly privileges western ways of doing research and academic writing, it was regarded not authentic to say i would use my indigenous storytelling method learnt from my local village, without showing previous researchers/scholars who had written or used the method. owing to the predominant availability of knowledges from the north, texts documenting western knowledges are overwhelmingly available in university libraries as compared to texts documenting knowledges on methods and methodologies from the south (chilisa 2012). it is easier for teachers to refer students to read western literature ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 tusasiirwe, s. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 209 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ because this is ‘available’ but also it is what most of the teachers have also largely read. by university libraries not stocking literature or referencing orature from the south and by teachers in universities not including literature from authors in the south on their reading lists, our knowledges from the south are erased and are not within reach in our institutions of learning. also, coming from an oral society, most of my learning in the community was passed on orally using orature like stories, proverbs, folklore, songs. this is rich orature that also remains in the margins as universities privilege literature/written work as the ‘legitimate’ sources of knowledge. therefore, in my research proposal, i easily referenced that i would follow life story interviewing method by atkinson because i could not reference my mother who had taught me african indigenous oral story telling since this was not written about anywhere. having successfully defended my proposal, i set out to seek ethical clearance from three ethical committees in australia and uganda. having obtained ethical clearance, i set out to conduct my fieldwork in uganda. it was during this field work, in my face-to-face interactions with the participants, using our indigenous languages, that i was, unexpectedly, led to the process of decolonisation. decolonising research methods and methodologies importance of indigenous languages in decolonising research, it is important that the research methods used build on the epistemologies and languages of the participants and that they are understandable to the researched (chilisa, 2012). decolonisation process has the ultimate goal of recovering, restoring and re-valuing indigenous ways of knowing and local and indigenous people’s languages. my phd research project targeted exploring and learning from experiences of three subgroups of participants, that is, social policy makers, community workers and older women living a local community in uganda. social policy makers and community workers were formally educated and therefore could speak english during our conversations. although we sometimes stumbled upon concepts or words in our local languages (luganda and runyankore) which we would not easily translate into english, since we understood both english and the local languages, our conversations were mostly smooth even when we spoke a mixture of these languages. however, when it came to conversations with the older women, i could only use runyankore/rukiga because the older women did not understand english. the fact that i had to communicate purely in my local language was the turning point that led me to recognising how i had been drawing on our indigenous ways of knowing and being without giving due acknowledgment to these epistemologies and the culture they are embedded in. during my field work with older women, i needed to explain to them what the research i was doing was all about as well as the methods i was intending to use to collect data. although i had stated in my proposal that i was using interviewing method, when it came to translation of interviewing method to runyankole/rukiga, the concept of interviewing did not translate well to mean the type of conversations i was intending to have with the older women. in our local context in western ugandan communities, interviewing is generally understood as a method of gaining data or information from someone through strict question and answer. this interviewing method is often used by institutions like police during their criminal investigations. also interviewing method is often used when applicants go for interviews when seeking employment. in this interviewing, there are unequal power relations between the interviewers and the interviewees and there is no meaningful relationship. in the process of self-reflection and translation of interviewing into my context, i came to the realisation that i was not going to ‘interview’ older women, but i was going to have ‘conversations’ with the older women. conversations in runyankole/rukiga language are called okuganira. okuganira is about story telling in a conversational and relational way. when i explained this method of having conversations and the reasoning behind my request for stories from older women, it became very clear to me that i was actually drawing on the african oral storytelling tradition where we sit with older people who tell us stories from their experiences with the goals of teaching moral lessons and imparting knowledge, norms, values and ways of survival. although i had read about life story interviewing, i did not feel connected to the way this method was being written about, but i knew, followed, and explained african oral storytelling because this translated in my local indigenous language; it resonated, i knew it because i had experienced it; it was my frame of reference. reclaiming african indigenous oral storytelling: methodology and methods african indigenous storytelling is a long-held tradition and powerful pedagogical tool for communicating knowledge and wisdom (chinyowa 2001, utley 2019). it is through stories that acceptable behaviours, morals, expectations, cultural values, and worldviews are transmitted across generations (chilisa 2012, chinyowa 2001, utley 2019, wa thiongʼo 1986). african stories are often told not just for entertainment but with the intention that listeners or readers learn a moral lesson from the experiences being shared. through story telling is how african philosophies like obuntu/ubuntu, values, societal expectations, norms have been passed on from generations to generations. during my research, i was not only drawing on my indigenous knowledge about oral storytelling but i was also drawing on and remembering my experiences of how my mother and the community i ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 tusasiirwe, s. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 210 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ grew up in in rural uganda had taught me through stories, told at the fireplace, in the evening, after a day’s work. having conversations with older women in my local language was my ‘ahaa’ moment where i was able to connect myself back to my language and epistemologies embedded in, the ways of knowing and being of people in my community who were now participating in the research. i suppose i would not have come to this moment of connection had i conducted my research in english language only. i experienced a critical moment of learning and relearning that had not happened in my 20 years of formal education. the lesson learnt and the main argument in this article is the illustration of the importance of indigenous languages and ways of knowing in connecting us back to what chilisa calls ‘the non-academic knowledge system of the researched [that] has survived despite the best efforts of colonisation to devalue it’ (chilisa, 2014, p.5). the non-academic knowledge system is often distinguished from the so-called academic knowledge system which is informed by western disciplines, but this may not necessarily resonate with the researched (chilisa, 2014). decolonisation theory and process requires connection to the researched’s and african frames of reference and epistemologies. african indigenous storytelling informs three research methods that can be adopted in research in african context, that is individual or one-on-one conversations; communal participatory conversations; learning by observations. i adopted these methods in my research by first having one-on-one conversations with older women where we talked about stories of their lives and the lessons we can learn from them. i did a preliminary analysis of these individual conversations and made a report of common themes or stories the older women shared. then following our communal storytelling approach, i organised group conversations with the older women where collective stories were shared in a group set up. i invited the 10 older women who had participated in the individual conversations to come for a communal conversation. i felt obligated to establish a communal fireplace where shared stories would be told and collective knowledge co-produced from those experiences shared. however, also as a researcher on a decolonising agenda, i felt obligated to organise a communal fireplace where i would get a chance to go back to the older women to share with them the knowledge and lessons that i was going to write about in the phd thesis. i had been engaged in most research projects conceptualised in western ways of knowing where we as researchers went into the communities, we collected data and therefore knowledge from them but we never went back to the researched communities to explain what knowledge it was we were writing about them. we produced reports often for funders of the research. the reports were written in english which most of these local communities would never have access to because of the foreign language. this was the ‘dirty’ research i wanted to disrupt (smith 1999) by sharing with the older women the knowledge i had gained from the conversations with each of them. during our group okuganira/conversations i shared with them the messages i had learnt from listening to their stories and reading the transcripts from those individual conversations. the women validated, expounded, and deeply analysed the preliminary lessons in a communal set-up, co-producing collective stories. apart from co-producing knowledge with the participants, african individual and group conversations are unique in that they are relational and non-hierarchical. each one’s story and contribution is valued. genuine, nonmanipulative relationships that go beyond the research project are formed and built during these conversations. while in most western research set-ups, relationships should be terminated or even avoided to encourage objectivity, african conversations, trust and relationships are a means and end in the research process. the women’s group okuganiira were unique compared to western focus group discussions because they were rooted in indigenous african epistemologies. first, the group okuganiira regarded the rituals and taboos of the participants as vital parts of the research process. second, they involved older women empathising, counselling, and supporting each other. to illustrate the first point, during the group conversations, we introduced ourselves to each other to be aware of each other’s self-definition but also to affirm our connection and confidence in our culture. i introduced myself, the village i come from, my clan, the totem of my clan, my marital status and the village and clan i married into. this was to establish any connections, for example, if there were any of my clan’s mates or women who came from my village or older women who could have some relatives married in my village. one of the older women had a relative married to someone in my village and she had been to my village to visit. this was the beginning of a relationship that would go beyond the group okuganiira and my phd research. even if my research project ended, when i am in uganda, i visit these older women as they are now part of my communal family and network. in relation to the second point, older women empathised and supported each other during the okuganiira. at the beginning of the group conversation, as we set rules to guide the conversation, i came with the rules and conditions i had committed to in my ethics application. i told older women that they should keep all the information discussed in the group confidential and that they should share their personal experiences in a passive voice or third person voice to avoid social harm. the older women agreed with this initially. however, as the conversations went on, it was evident that the older women, although coming from different parts of the village, knew each other’s experiences and stories and it was impossible for women to follow my rules that required them to share their stories in a passive or third person voice. during the group conversations, the women comforted one who had no grandchildren. while at the beginning of the okuganiira, this older woman introduced herself as childless, the other older women knew that she was not a barren woman. they gave her reassurance, and ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 tusasiirwe, s. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 211 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ empathised with her, while demonstrating deep understanding that she could have been feeling the stigma that is often experienced by older women with no children and grandchildren, in a community where children are a vital source of status and identity, particularly to women. the older women supported each other and together brainstormed possible strategies to use to live in harmony with family members, particularly some stubborn daughters-in-law. the group provided space where older women talked about their lives and where they affirmed and supported each other. these were healing experiences which could have been missed had the women heeded my requests that they use the passive third person voice to talk about their personal experiences. as african indigenous scholars chilisa & ntseane (2010, p. 629) remind us, there is a need “to move to healing research methods that allow research participants to name and share pain and to collectively envision strategies for resistance, resilience and survival.” african individual and group conversation research methods were supplemented by observation method. this observation method involved following the participants and actively interacting, participating, and observing their everyday actions and inactions. we talked about their experiences and feelings, their frustrations and enablers as we observed them. the observations and conversations took place everywhere, anytime making learning and knowledge creation boundaryless and timeless. through this method of following participants, i had the opportunity to tell the story through lived experience and real encounters with the participants and their communities. adopting such african research methods required decolonising research ethics. decolonising ethics decolonising research goes hand in hand with decolonising ethics which should be contextual and not a one-sizefits all. from my experience, attaining ethical clearance from ethical committees does not guarantee or mean ethical research. rather what is defined as ethical behaviour for researchers in african contexts should be defined by african ways of being and doing instead of an imposition of western ethical frameworks which tend to be top down and prioritise documentation over people and relationships. for example, informed verbal consent was more appropriate for oral societies and participants who cannot read and write instead of imposing written forms of demonstrating consent. because how informed is consent demonstrated by thumb printing forms that the participant her/himself cannot read? also, regarding confidentiality, participants should be given the option of choosing or waiving confidentiality as some participants were willing to have their real names appear against their stories instead of imposing use of pseudonyms for all. beyond documentation and paperwork, ethical behaviour enshrined in obuntu/ubuntu philosophies was more appropriate for communities for example the ethics of mutual respect and responsibility, mutual empathy and concern for what the communities were experiencing, and the researcher taking on the responsibility of ensuring that something is done to change or address the social problems/challenges the community was experiencing. ethical research should be one that makes a difference in the communities rather than one that benefits the researchers and their funders. decolonising as a difficult process requiring courage: use of orature in data analysis and writing decolonisation is a possible but difficult process because it requires coming to know through ways that have been trivialised as backward while questioning western ways of knowing that we have been indoctrinated to revere. while i knew that i had used and drawn on the long-held african storytelling traditions to collect life stories and experiences of my participants, i was also aware that in academia which is dominated by western epistemologies, such indigenous ways of knowing have been labelled as illegitimate. i was aware that around the world, indigenous methodologies and knowledges are not accepted by most western researchers and scholars (smith 2012). that it is still hard for students to conduct research from their perspective, and even when supported by their supervisors, students who have used indigenous methodologies have been criticised for not using the so called ‘bona fide’ research methodologies (bessarab and ng'andu 2010). being honest about the african oral storytelling tradition meant putting up with the risk and pressure that my phd may be marked down because a western method and methodology has not been used. decolonisation and disrupting the status quo in our research education system requires both knowledge and courage. i was courageous from with in because i knew that i was standing up against an education system that had devalued our indigenous knowledges, languages, philosophies. thus, my thesis references african indigenous storytelling and i use african proverbs, stories like the story of the humming bird, and i acknowledge community people like my mother as sages, oral scholars whose indigenous knowledge i was drawing on in my phd. this is a disruption of the status quo by acknowledging that people who may not have university qualifications have legitimate knowledges that must not be silenced. as kenyan decolonization author wane (2008) has argued, indigenous knowledge, orature and literature are a living experience and the most crucial form of anti-colonial resistance. decolonising as a liberatory experience ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 tusasiirwe, s. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 212 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ my experience in decolonising research methodologies is that the process is so beneficial that it results into a liberatory research and education. the process results into research and education that connects rather than isolate students from who they are, their worldviews, cultural values and generally their way of being and doing, which does not represent just the individual students but whole communities, generations and generations. the individual experience becomes a collective one that makes communities, their philosophies visible, indeed demonstrating how the personal is political. the decolonising moments can be quite emotional, tearful, confronting, full of anger, but also freedom after finally realising an oppressive education system that alienated, and isolated you from your cultural values, languages. the realisation also gives you courage to take further action to share the experience and invite others (colonisers, colonised) to engage in decolonisation to create an education system that embraces rather than tolerates diversity of epistemologies, experiences, all students bring in academia. as my phd examiners noted, my thesis contributed to providing a critique of hegemonic western research traditions, an area we still need more voices in, especially coming from colonised’s contexts. we need more research projects that disrupt the marginalisation of knowledges of the colonised. liberatory research and education is not one that is just about upholding the dominant ideological systems, research methods and methodologies but one that allows us as students to connect deeply with ourselves and communities and allows people especially from western contexts to question, challenge, reflect on their assumptions, as my examiner highlighted: as an examiner and a researcher from a western and european paradigm i have had, of course to question some of my own assumptions and to apply critical reflexivity within the examining process. here i have drawn on my adherence to a radical and progressive tradition in social work and in qualitative research (both of which have a commitment to rejecting individualistic and pathologising discourses and to centralising structural factors and marginalised voices). i have also drawn on my work with researchers in zambia, nigeria and the occupied palestinian territories, which have hopefully sensitised me to some of the profound issues raised in your dissertation about colonization and the long shadows that it casts. on this basis, i have identified some areas that could be extended or strengthened and these are indicated below (minor revisions and corrections) (examiners report). a call to action: the enduring need to decolonise research education and the role of educators around the world all researchers and educators need to teach and encourage students to use their own indigenous ways of knowing and researching in their bachelor’s, masters or phd projects. it is therefore imperative that all educators and researchers in the north and south acquaint themselves with decolonisation and indigenous ways of knowing so that they can be able to support better the students everywhere they are. educators and researchers especially those teaching and supervising international students including african students in the north need to challenge themselves from within including questioning the thinking that western methods and methodologies are superior or the best everywhere. there is need for openness, learning about non-western ways of thinking and being to support better students from diverse backgrounds. to evaluate how complicit or not in perpetuating colonisation and colonialism, educators and researchers should gauge themselves by looking at how much they have read or endeavoured to know and teach about indigenous ways of knowing at any level. the call to action to decolonise research and education in african and global contexts is that educators wherever they are must critically examine their own teaching and research starting with their reading lists. the reading lists show whose knowledges and voices teachers are privileging and therefore whose they are marginalising. in my education in uganda, sweden, australia, there is still very little attempt in the curriculum to incorporate writers, methods, and therefore knowledges from the global south, a problematic situation which continues to position the west as producers of knowledge and others as consumers of knowledge. as we have often joked about our education experiences, in africa, we learn about the whole world, but no one learns about us, our philosophies, indigenous knowledges, which in this era of decolonisation, must stop. decolonised education spaces are spaces where diverse epistemologies and perspectives about research or any other topics are embraced and discussed. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 tusasiirwe, s. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 213 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ references atkinson, f. (2002). the life story interview. in f. j. gubrium & a. j. holstein (eds.), handbook of interview research: context and method. thousand oaks: sage publications. bessarab, d., & ng'andu, b. (2010). yarning about yarning as a legitimate method in indigenous research. international journal of critical indigenous studies, 3(1), 37-50. bulhan, a. h. (2015). stages of colonialism in africa: from occupation of land to occupation of being journal of social and political psychology, 3(1), 239–256. chilisa, b. (2012). indigenous research methodologies. thousand oaks: sage publications. chilisa, b. (2014). indigenous research is a journey: an interview with bagele chilisa. the international journal of narrative therapy and community work, 2, 41-44. chilisa, b., & ntseane, g. (2010). resisting dominant discourses: implications of indigenous, african feminist theory and methods for gender and education research. gender and education, 22(6), 617-632. chinyowa, k. (2001). the sarungano and shona storytelling: an african theatrical paradigm. studies in theatre and performance, 21(1), 18-30. mbembe, a. (2015). decolonising knowledge and the question of the archive https://africaisacountry.atavist.com/decolonizing-knowledge-and-the-question-of-the-archive mbembe, a. (2016, 2016/02/01). decolonizing the university: new directions. arts and humanities in higher education, 15(1), 29-45. smith, l. t. (1999). decolonizing methodologies: research and indigenous peoples. london, zed books. smith, l. t. (2012). decolonizing methodologies: research and indigenous peoples. london: zed books. 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. utley, o. (2019). keeping the tradition of african storytelling alive. retrieved 03rd may 2019 from https://teachers.yale.edu/curriculum/viewer/initiative_09.01.08_u wa thiongʼo, n. (1986). decolonising the mind: the politics of language in african literature. london: james currey. https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/999573905602121 wane, n. n. (2008, 2008/07/01). mapping the field of indigenous knowledges in anti-colonial discourse: a transformative journey in education. race ethnicity and education, 11(2), 183-197. microsoft word 7 decolonising research methodologies in the global southexperiences of an african social scientist.docx ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 chigevenga, r. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 199 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ publisher african journal of social work afri. j. soc. work © national association of social workers-zimbabwe/author(s) issn print 1563-3934 issn online 2409-5605 licensed under a creative commons attribution-non-commercial 4.0 international license indexed& accredited with: african journals online (ajol) | university of zimbabwe accredited journals (uzaj) | scopus (elsevier’s abstract and citation database) | directory of open access journals (doaj) | society of african journal editors (saje) | asian digital library (adl) | african social work network(aswnet) | department of higher education and training (dhet) south africa | sjr | cnki – china | journal publishing practices and standards (jpps) | ebsco decolonising research methodologies in the global south: experiences of an african social scientist rosemary chigevenga abstract research is a systematic and objective way of gathering information to enrich the existing body of knowledge. the way research is conducted in parts of the global south specifically in african contexts where i work, can be understood in terms of the continent’s colonial heritage and its regulations are mostly, if not predominantly western-oriented. the aim of this paper is to unpack the experiences encountered by the researcher in undertaking studies in african contexts. from inception to data presentation and analysis, the researcher can testify that she was mostly guided by western methodologies. this posed challenges and in some cases affected the authenticity of the research findings. in most research activities i engaged in, the ethical guidelines i adhered to, ways of selecting participants, data collection procedures and even the ways i presented and analysed data were guided by western philosophies. adopting approaches from the west without incorporating our indigenous knowledge systems make me feel that the studies i have conducted lack adequate african involvement. in some cases i could tell that the participants were distanced away from me as a researcher. basing on such experiences, i therefore suggest that african research should mainly be guided by our african heritage for it to sufficiently address the needs of our communities. key terms: african contexts, decolonising, heritage, methodologies, western-oriented key dates received: march 2022 revised: april 2021 accepted: april 2022 published: june 2022 funding: none conflict of interest: none permission: none ethics approval: not applicable author/s details: rosemary chigevenga, department of psychology, great zimbabwe university, masvingo. email: rosychev@gmail.com or rchigevenga@gzu.ac.zw current and previous volumes are available at: https://africasocialwork.net/current-and-past-issues/ how to reference using aswnet style: chigevenga, r. (2022). decolonising research methodologies in the global south: experiences of an african social scientist. african journal of social work, 12(4), 199-206. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 chigevenga, r. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 200 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ introduction decolonising research methodologies refers to efforts being made to contextualise research methods and demystify the overrated importance of western research methodologies. non-western research methodologies have been devalued or not considered in research on african knowledge. this has been so, due to the dominance of western epistemologies, ontologies and axiology. the objective of research should be to benefit the communities from which knowledge is drawn and this can only be achieved if the values and ethics of such communities shape the methods of extracting knowledge. for many years, research from africa has been done through western lenses hence compromising the appropriateness and relevance of its findings on african people. in this paper the writer gave a reflection of the experiences she went through in conducting research in africa, specifically in zimbabwe. a background to the study will be presented first followed by literature review, methodology and experiences of the researcher. finally, conclusions, implications and recommendations will be provided. background african research has been done since time immemorial. most of this research has been guided by western or eurocentric methodologies. bangura, as cited in council for the development of social science research in africa (codesria) (2019), pinpointed that after three centuries of utilising eurocentric/western methodologies, the majority of african communities remain marginal in the scientific community. this reflects that such methodologies have done little to benefit the african continent because they are foreign. some scholars reiterate that even though there were calls for indigenisation after attainment of independence, methodologies in african research contexts continued to rely on western epistemology (keane & seehawer, 2017). basing on these views, seehawer (2018), states that perpetual use of western methodologies puts african research at risk of marginalising indigenous knowledge and its holders. in addition, searching for knowledge on africa using western lenses that are insensitive to the researched’s epistemologies might yield out of context or wrong conclusions. bangura in codesria (2019), proposed that africans within the continent and in the diaspora must engage in the resuscitation of old, employing contemporary and coming up with new authentic afrocentric methodologies. african research on its phenomena keep lagging behind because the methods it uses are incompatible within african systems which includes its philosophy and ethical grounding. the fact that progress in african research has been and still remains slow has led to debates and actions directed on decolonising research methodologies and promoting indigenous knowledge systems. a decolonising research methodology is an approach that is used to challenge the eurocentric research methods that undermine the local knowledge and experiences of the marginalised population groups (nhemachena et.al. 2016; khupe and keane, 2017; chilisa, 2012). debates on decolonisation started long back though the issues became pronounced in recent years. according to crawford et.al. (2021), such debates started about sixty years back through the initiatives of ghana’s first president and pan-african leader, dr kwame nkrumah who showed the importance of africancentered knowledge. dr. kwame nkrumah unearthed the importance of african centered knowledge when he established the institute of african studies at the university of ghana. he went further and invited dr. w.e.b. du bois who was a civil rights activist and a fellow pan-africanist to come to african and work on an encyclopedia african project on africa and the african people. nkrumah’s activities had a decolonisation agenda. besides nkrumah’s initiatives, another pioneer to the contextualization of african methodologies and education was claude ake who advocated for endogenous knowledge production on africa. despite these actions, african knowledge remained marginalised and were resuscitated within the academia and society in later years (mbembe, 2016; nyamnjoh 2017; ndlovu-gathseni 2018). the major event which led to this resuscitation was the 2015 ‘#rhodes must fall’ movement in south africa which led to the widespread demand for decolonisation of higher education in south africa (crawford et.al. 2021). despite the past and recent actions against the dominance of western methodologies in research and african education, african centered methodologies and decolonisation initiatives still lag behind. a number of factors hinder the progress of contextualisation of research methods in africa. crawford et.al. (2021), reiterate that issues of power inequalities and injustice are critical in the decolonisation of knowledge production. they state that the existence of asymmetrical power relations between scholars in the global north and south cause predominance of non-african writers on african issues in high impact academic journals thus giving a questionable picture of findings presented on african phenomena and african people. in addition most africans lack direct access to research grants and also face challenges in accessing academic work by african colleagues in no-open-access publications which may mean that most of research findings that is easily accessible by the public has been conducted through non-african lenses. in support of the previous points, keane, khupe and seehawer (2017), state that as indigenous knowledge researchers, they have remained aligned to a western scientific paradigm in which they have often utilised to justify the scientific validity of indigenous knowledge. they also reiterate that the ultimate judgment of the value of research comes via peer-reviewed publications, ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 chigevenga, r. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 201 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ citation indices and impact factors which are controlled by non-african journals which are not easily accessible by many african scholars. this has seen researchers like nhemachena et al (2016), stressing that research conducted among indigenous african people has not impacted positively on the health of african people. it is against this background that the writer of this paper presented her reflections on the experiences she encountered in doing research in african contexts. this has led to the proposal of intensifying efforts toward decolonisation of research methodologies in african contexts. the writer will explore the necessity for this decolonisation of extraction of knowledge in africa. literature review the author reviewed literature published between 2012 and 2022 that was available online. the articles reviewed for this paper came from various journals. selection of articles was based on their relation to the idea of decontextualising research methodologies in africa. basing on this focus, the researcher reviewed articles that looked at any one of the following issues: the philosophy guiding africanism, methods of extracting knowledge in africa and important factors on decolonising research methodologies. the reviewed literature was related to the author’s experiences which further influenced the conclusions and recommendations thereof. philosophy guiding african research african continent comprises of diverse cultures and this diversity is also witnessed even within the same country. despite this diversity, the continent is unified by the philosophy of ubuntu. the ubuntu philosophy is based on the belief that the humanness of an individual is based on his or her relations with others. desmond tutu is commonly cited as having pioneered the statement that, ‘umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu,’ meaning a person is a person because of others. seehawer (2018), described ubuntu as an african philosophy, worldview, moral ethics and a way of knowing. other researchers suggested different views about this concept for instance khupe (2014) mkabela, (2015) oviawe, (2016), regard it as a research paradigm; oviawe (2016) cited willis (2007) who regard it as a comprehensive belief system, worldview or framework that guides research and practice in a field. seehawer (2018) cited chilisa (2012) who states that as a paradigm ubuntu is characterised by philosophical assumptions about the nature of social reality (ontology), ways of knowing (epistemology) and ethics and value system (axiology). this then creates the foundation of a research methodology. the fact that ubuntu philosophy guides many african beliefs and behaviour makes it the best worldview to direct african research. the bulk of african indigenous knowledge has been and is being generated by people who bear the same connection to ubuntu epistemology, ontology and axiology. ubuntu philosophy is used to also show connection of humanity to its environment. in this regard for effective research in african contexts, researchers must value and have their work anchored in ubuntu philosophy. african ways of gathering knowledge gathering information about africans is not a thing of today. indigenous knowledge systems have always been in existence however they have been subdued by western methodologies and philosophies. the writer will explain some african-centred research methods that can be resuscitated and help in obtaining african knowledge through ways that are familiar to the local communities. codesria (2019), explored a number of methods that were explained by bangura and other doctoral studies. these included rekh methodology, utcha and uhem methodology, archeoastronomical, behsau-pehsa methodology, egyptological methodology, hermeneutic methodology, griot methodology, sankofa methodology, pan-africanism and ubuntugogy methodology among others. the rekh methodology was used by ancient egyptians and was adopted by the yoruba from nigeria who used the concept as imo which implies first-hand knowledge involving naming and action. the knowledge was said to be acquired through direct observation or contact with knowledge rather than being told. utcha and uhem methodology also came from ancient egyptian meaning to rectify and narrate, recount, repeat and tell a story or a dream. this method was used to rectify misconceptions and misinterpretations. archeoastronomical methodology is a scientific study which has been used by ancient astronomies in their cultural contexts through the utilisation of archaeological and anthropological evidence. the methodology’s sources include both written and archaeological remains, and it embraces calendric, practical observation, sky lore, celestial myth, and more. one example of its use is amongst the luo people in kenya who believe that all that is under the sun is blessed with sex. behsau-pehsa methodology was also used in ancient egypt to explain the predator-prey relationship. it tries to explore the exploitative nature of some relationships. egyptological methodology is a disciplined approach that give people room to demarcate the differences that may arise from the subjectivity of their experiences of the various aspects of the study of ancient egypt. it assumes that african social knowledge is communicable, compelling and valid. hermeneutic methodology was also derived from ancient egypt and it is characterized by a number of methods and theories of interpretation and the art of understanding texts. griot methodology uses ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 chigevenga, r. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 202 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ history or traditions to mold the heritage and identity of politics of numerous west african societies. sankofa methodology originated among the akan people of west africa and is premised on the idea that as africans move forward into the future, they need to reach back into their past and take with them all that works and is positive. according to bangura (2011), this methodology is about learning from the past which refers to african culture, history, philosophies and identity. pan-africanism has a narrower and broader meaning. it emphasises the historiography of all people of african descent on any continent including africa itself. ubuntugogy is an african educational paradigm that was conceptualised by bangura (2010b), as the art and science of teaching and learning undergirded by humanity towards others. the major elements of this methodology include religiosity, consensus building and dialogue among the africans which are all anchored on the ubuntu concept. there are many other methodologies based on african foundations that have not been outlined in this paper, however the idea here is that, africa is rich in methodologies that can be developed to address research in this continent. important factors in decolonising research methodologies a number of scholars tried to explore various factors that may promote successful research of africans within african contexts. these include power, trust, culture and cultural competence, respectful and legitimate research practice as well as recognition of individual and communities’ assets (keikelame & swartz, 2019). the idea of power has been conceptualised as twofold and researchers have been urged to adopt the approach of ‘power with’ as opposed to ‘power over approach’ when conducting research among marginalised and vulnerable populations. such an approach equalises the researcher and the researched as there will be equal power sharing. this has also been supported by khupe and keane (2017), who posit that when research is characterised by respect and authentic connection within the community, it becomes successful. in addition, chilisa (2014), formulated twelve basic questions which researcher(s) must ask themselves to verify if research being conducted is more decolonised or indigenised. generally the questions emphasise that the research must show social relevance, must clarify decolonization and indigenization intent, must show its uniqueness which must reflect appreciation of local ontological, epistemological, cultural and value assumptions as well as contribute towards a novel research approach constructed from an indigenous conceptual or theoretical perspective. trust is another factor which is required in decolonising research methodologies. evidence of trust between the researchers and the researched creates openness and it underpins good research practice which reflects sound relationships (moodley & singh, 2016). the scientific community is sometimes associated with the remnants of colonialism thereby establishing trust between the researcher and the researched helps in clearing distrust. establishing trust between the researcher and the researched is vital in a decolonising research process. trust is an ingredient for safeguarding the rights of the vulnerable. africa is a multicultural continent therefore valuing culture and cultural competence becomes imperative during the decolonising process. keikelame and swartz (2019), reiterate that continuous engagement with the researched can enable researchers to gain a deeper understanding of their culture and history. appreciation of the background of the researched promotes valuing diversity as well as appreciating the strengths that the researched may bring to the study. embodied in this are issues of respect and trust which are vital in decolonisation. another aspect of importance in this process is respectful and legitimate research practice. keikelame and swartz (2019), pointed that research must be done on the basis that clearer guidelines for conducting the research have been conveyed to the indigenous people. mohindra (2016), states that indigenous research practices need to be thoroughly examined to ensure that they are culturally and ethically appropriate. the aim being to value the existence of the researched. the process also link with the basis of the ubuntu philosophy which also advocates for respect of human relations in the community. the last factor is that of recognition of individual and communities’ assets. the assets refer to any resources which may include individual strengths that may be vital for community development. sweet et al. (2014), point out that a decolonising process is about reorientation from problematising indigenous people to valuing community strengths, capacities and resilience – to a proper process in which time and opportunities to develop relationships and trust are created. thus having such a recognition also promotes respect for the researched. methodology this paper is based on the author’s personal research experiences in african contexts. the author engaged in research within african context specifically in zimbabwe. the writer has experience of working with people from different cultural backgrounds which included the shona (with its various dialects), the ndebele, the tonga, the shangaane and the venda. researching on these diverse cultures gave the researcher an opportunity to assess whether eurocentric methodologies value beliefs and norms of the researched. it also offered her an opportunity to identify gaps created by these borrowed methodologies and this led to the need for advocating for decolonisation of research methodologies. the following themes constitute what the author went through. in writing this article, the writer adopted an auto-ethnographic approach where she reflected on her personal experiences as an african ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 chigevenga, r. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 203 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ researcher. sharing personal experiences may be subjective and embarrassing to the writer however the writer ensured that she just reflected experiences as they are without bias. the reflections therefore considered both the strength and weaknesses of western research methodologies. such an approach was followed to promote the idea that africans should adapt foreign research methodologies after making some evaluations. themes research process in collecting data from participants the researcher observed that in most cases if not all there was need to first get consent of gatekeepers as well as from the participants themselves. the research process could reflect on the issue of power relations as discussed by keikelame and swartz (2019). to show respect towards the owners of the land the researcher approached the community gatekeepers to seek permission of entry and of accessing the community. the researcher noted the influence of western ideology as this permission could come in writing. such an act is foreign in traditional african contexts where mostly people agree on certain issues through verbal communication. in most cases when a researcher wants to enter a community he or she seeks permission from the ministry of local government first which gives him or her a letter to produce as evidence of permission to the local authorities. though there is recognition of local authority and respect for the authority, the process is guided by western protocols. on the other hand such a procedure may act as a way of implementing the local ethics approach (chilisa, 2017), which emphasise utilization of local ethics in all stages of the research process and obtaining ethics approval at family, community and national levels. after getting permission from local leadership the researcher goes to access the participants. informed consent is also sought from the participants again through signing of informed consent forms. though some scholars talk of getting this orally, most of them allude to the fact that the safest way to get informed consent from the participants is through getting their consent in black and white. the idea of agreeing to undertake the research through writing is not african, it originated in the west. as noted in chilisa (2017), consent does not need to be written as the practice of writing down and issuing forms has been regarded as intimidating which eliminates the continuous negotiation valued in african society. hence even though the act reflect respecting the researched, the procedure is mainly informed by western ways. on another note, the idea of first getting approval of the community gatekeepers reflects the oneness of african communities. one could realise that without approval from these leaders the research would not be successful. some scholars say that when doing research, the participants must be involved from planning, data collection up to data presentation and analysis. this suites the description of participatory action research. however in most studies that i have been involved, participants were only engaged during the data collection process. in some studies, the participants would ask us if we were going to produce copies of research reports for them and the principal investigator would promise to provide one for them but in reality nothing would be produced for the participants. most, if not all of the research reports i have written or we have written as a team of researchers are in english. though english is the medium of instruction in zimbabwean schools, not everyone fully comprehend communications presented in english. henceforth, even though the research projects were to be availed to the participants, there was a high chance of having the majority fail to understand the documents especially those within the rural communities. in this regard, the western approach does not fully involve the researched throughout the whole research process. hence the need to decolonise research methodologies and conduct research purely in accordance with african ways and communicating with the researched in local languages that they fully understand. the researcher also noticed that in most cases the research instruments were developed in english and needed to be translated to vernacular languages. the translation is usually done by professional translators. at some point we experienced challenges with a research instrument that was translated by professionals from english to tonga and also english to ndau. in trying to utilise the instrument on the ground the local translators would struggle to understand the translated instrument even though the vernacular language was their mother tongue which they used on daily basis. basing on this, the writer learnt that through the act of translating research instruments, the western approach would be trying to show value towards the researched however the use of professional translators who are not residents of the target communities defeats the whole purpose. use of vernacular supports the local language approach which has been emphasised by chilisa (2017) who says local languages must be used in all stages of the research process and researchers must avoid use of language unfamiliar to the participants. the researcher also once used pre-designed tests which have been developed in the west to assess some attributes among african people. some of the items in the instruments were totally unfamiliar to the researched hence there was a great risk of getting responses that tested another attribute not the intended one. this therefore requires an african approach that will make use of the local people in designing the research instruments which will help in conveying the correct message to the researched. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 chigevenga, r. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 204 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ research methods during research i have used a number of research methods either as a group or as an individual. there are some methods which connect to the ubuntu philosophy but there are some which are so foreign that the researched will be very much divorced from them. the author has observed that the use of narrative and focus group discussions is almost linked to some traditional ways of seeking information. narratives are related to storytelling that has been used in the past to share information and focus group discussions can be related to the use of dare or community meetings that are also common in our african context. what then may affect data gathering through the use of these methods are the audio recordings or the note taking that researchers do which may make some participants very uncomfortable even after giving consent. besides, the two mentioned methods, the researcher once used interviews, questionnaires and vignettes in data collection. the use of interviews and questionnaires promotes individualism which is contrary to the oneness preached in traditional local communities. when the researcher utilised vignettes in one of the studies, participants were presented with a hypothetical story from which they were supposed to deduce meaning and come up with responses basing on imagination. the participants struggled to give meaningful responses as they had not been exposed to vignettes before. in addition, the use of online research tools like kobo tools has promoted and intensified the digital divide especially between those in the rural areas and those in urban areas. in most rural areas people lack devices which are compatible with such research instruments and those who have the devices may fail to afford the data required to access research online. under such circumstances, research findings may fail to depict the real experiences of an african person from a purely african context. henceforth there is need for africans to develop research methods that are purely african to solicit valuable information whose eventuality will be to benefit the researched. ethics ethical considerations are another element of research which reflects the dominance of western ideas in research. firstly, many ethics review boards in various african institutions either are guided by foreign ethics boards like american psychological association or british psychology society. in some cases they draft their own ethical codes of conduct which borrow heavily from foreign boards. this defeats the essence of africanism. ethical and moral behaviour are embedded in the ubuntu philosophy. this philosophy values the spirituality of local people. in this regard, for ethical considerations to really value the essence of africanism in local people, they should embrace the basis of the ubuntu philosophy. secondly, the researcher noticed that when conducting research it is the researcher who decides which ethical issues to take seriously and which ones to just highlight for formality. such a scenario negates the respect of humanity that is usually required in human interaction within african communities. adopting views from chilisa (2017), one may recommend use of the decolonial approach which argues that ethics are not universal hence western ethics are inapplicable in africa and vice versa. thus there is need to have research ethics that are guided by african philosophies used to define humanity. the author also noticed some power imbalances between the researcher and the researched even when the latter were far much older than the former. colonialism has instilled in many africans the idea that professionals are knowledgeable and must be respected. this may distorts the responses that the researched give to the researcher. participants may response in a manner that they think is expected by the researcher which may not be a true reflection of their experiences. the same mentality also creates a distance between the researcher and the researched. yet for the researcher to fully understand people within their contexts there is need for constant engagement with them. the experiences explored above portray that most of the research conducted in african contexts is guided by western ideologies. this therefore calls for research that is purely guided by african philosophies like the ubuntu philosophy that manages to unite the whole of africa with its diversity. conclusions, implications and recommendations conclusions the reflections presented above together with the reviewed literature points to the conclusion that western philosophies still dominate the research done in africa despite the movement against it. there is still that power imbalance between researchers from the global north and those from the global south. those from the global north still dominate in writing about africans using their foreign lenses. such incidents occur as remnants of colonialism. africans must therefore unite and come up with research that is guided by african philosophies. in other words there is need for decolonisation of research methods. the relevance of research and its ability to impact positively on lives of the indigenous people can only be attained when it is driven by indigenous world views, cultural values and a language that is relevant to the indigenous people. indigenous knowledge systems are rich in information that can help researchers in the african ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 chigevenga, r. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 205 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ continent to gather valuable information for local communities. research should also be propelled by constructive discussions on knowledge systems and how these systems restrain and exclude other forms of knowledge, and the kind of actions needed for these systems to be more open and integrated. it must also be concluded that a true african-centered research paradigm must be built on the ubuntu philosophy which uphold the spirituality of the local people. african spirituality has seen africans survive as one since time immemorial hence research which negates this aspect is not good enough for the african continent. african research must not be dominated by western views instead the west must learn about africa based on african perspectives that must be communicated by africans themselves. african research must go beyond the confines of european classical humanism with its class, socio-economic and geographical limitations. implications and recommendations based on this reflection, the implication is that the debate on decolonising research methodologies in african research started long back but there is still western dominance in how research is conducted in africa today. the researcher recommends that african researchers must intensify the decolonisation agenda for meaningful and productive information gathering to occur in africa. the researchers must also unite and come up with ideas on how they can deal with the diversity of the african continent so that research benefits the intended beneficiaries. in relation to ethics, this reflective article has portrayed that the ethical considerations adhered to in most african research, are based on euro-centric and american philosophies. this negates full consideration of african values and norms. it is therefore recommended that african research must be guided by ethical considerations developed basing on african philosophies like ubuntu. africans must not just adopt ethics from western countries, they must instead adapt them. when it comes to research methods and processes, it can be noted that they heavily borrowed from the global. this therefore calls for contextualise of research methods and processes. we need research methods and processes that make an african participant free to express him or herself. research boards and research institutions in africa must be tasked with the role of developing research methods that are friendly to the african participant as well as the african researcher. with reference to education, learning and practice, it is recommended that research institutes and institutions for higher and tertiary education must groom researcher from an african perspective. when they teach and practice research, it must be guided by the ubuntu philosophy and other african philosophies. in relation to research results utilisation, the researcher recommends that implementers must make use of research to benefit africa and its people. research results must be used to bring innovation and civilisation that address the needs of africans. basically the researcher advocates for research that values african diversity and that respects african philosophies. conclusion the writer managed to present reflections of her experiences in researching in african contexts. basically the reflection connects to the vast literature which portrays that research in africa is still marred with the remnants of the colonial period. it is therefore imperative for all african researchers within the continent and in the diaspora to unite and develop afrocentric research methodologies. african research methods and processes borrow much from western philosophies which mostly ignore the values and norms of the researched. such an approach becomes more beneficial to the researcher than the researched. efforts have been put to change the face of african research so that it captures the essence of african philosophies however little has been done to appreciate such initiatives. there is therefore need for a revamp of research methods and processes utilised in african contexts so that it becomes meaningful and beneficial to both the researcher and the researched. we need to contextualise research methodologies. decolonisation of research methodologies, thus becomes a necessity. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 chigevenga, r. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 206 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ references chilisa, b. (2012). indigenous research methodologies. los angeles, ca: sage. chilisa, b. (2014). indigenous research is a journey. the international journal of narrative therapy and community work. 2: 41-44. chilisa, b., major, t. and khudu-petersen, k. (2017). community engagement with a postcolonial, african-based relational paradigm. qualitative research. 17. (3), 326-339. 10.1177/1468794117696176. council for the development of social science research in africa (codesria) (2019). conducting research and mentoring students in africa. www.codesria.org. retrieved on 2 january 2022. crawford, g., mai-bornu, z. and landström, k. (2021) decolonising knowledge production on africa: why it’s still necessary and what can be done. journal of the british academy, (2021) 9(s1), 21–46. keane, m., khupe, c. and seehawer, m. (2017). decolonising methodology: who benefits from indigenous knowledge research? educational research and social change. 6:12–24. keikelame m, j. and swartz, l. 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(2018). decolonising research in a sub-saharan african context: exploring ubuntu as a foundation for research methodology, ethics and agenda. international journal of social research methodology, 21:4, 453-466. sweet, m., a., dudgeon, p. and mccallum k. (2014). decolonising practices: can journalism learn from health care to improve indigenous health outcomes? medical journal of australia, 200:626–627. microsoft word 2 sociocultural determinants hindering academic research among social workers in nigeria.docx ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ramsey-soroghaye b. n. & ogbanga, m. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 153 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ publisher african journal of social work afri. j. soc. work © national association of social workers-zimbabwe/author(s) issn print 1563-3934 issn online 2409-5605 licensed under a creative commons attribution-non-commercial 4.0 international license indexed & accredited with: african journals online (ajol) | university of zimbabwe accredited journals (uzaj) | scopus (elsevier’s abstract and citation database) | directory of open access journals (doaj) | society of african journal editors (saje) | asian digital library (adl) | african social work network (aswnet) | department of higher education and training (dhet) south africa | sjr | cnki – china | journal publishing practices and standards (jpps) | ebsco socio-cultural determinants hindering research among social workers in nigeria blessing ngowari ramsey-soroghaye and mina ogbanga abstract research is done in nigeria just as it is done in any other country. however, there are socio-cultural determinants that hinder social workers from actively carrying-out research in nigeria. the importance of research cannot be overemphasized because, it is in searching that we know more and learn new things. despite this established fact, social workers in nigeria face hindrances in carrying-out research. qualitative method was used in this study. twenty (20) social workers with either a bachelor of science (bsc.), post graduate diploma (pgd), masters of science (msc.) or doctor of philosophy (phd.) participated in the research. this study found out that factors such as poor funding, poor knowledge of research, poor mentorship and coaching on research, hard-to-reach population in data collection, patriarchy systems, cultural and religious belief, limited african literatures theories and books on research that are indigenous in nature, discouragements from the non-utilization of results from study in policy formulation and programmes just to mention a few hindered social work research in nigeria. in conclusion, the study recommends that measures should be put in place to checkmate these indicated hindrances in a bid to preserve and improve upon knowledge which is what research stands for. key terms: social work, research methods, socio-cultural, determinants key dates received: march 2022 revised: june 2022 accepted: july 2022 published: august 2022 funding: none conflict of interest: none permission: none ethics approval: african independent ethics committee (aiec), reference no. ea0227 author/s details ramsey-soroghaye b. n., department of social work university of port harcourt, choba, river state, nigeria, blessing.ramseysoroghaye@uniport.edu.ng ogbanga, m., department of social work university of port harcourt, choba river state, nigeria, mina.ogbanga@uniport.edu.ng current and previous volumes are available at: https://africasocialwork.net/current-and-past-issues/ how to reference using aswnet style: ramsey-soroghaye b. n. and ogbanga, m. (2022). socio-cultural determinants hindering research among social workers in nigeria. african journal of social work, 11(4), 153-162. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ramsey-soroghaye b. n. & ogbanga, m. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 154 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ introduction professionally, social work is a helping profession charged with duties of rendering help and proffering relevant and evident solutions to identified social problems. one of the best methods of identifying these social problems is through research. research simply term means to search. in searching, various methods are employed to ensure that the research process is scientific and verifiable. social workers make use of research to enhance their skills and improve their social functioning. again, it is also through research government makes adjustments to policies and programmes that are of benefit to the people. regardless of the importance and uniqueness of research certain socio-cultural determinants act as hindrances to social work research in nigeria. this study therefore intends to examine the socio-cultural determinants hindering research among social workers in nigeria. background meaning of research research includes investigations conducted to explore new facts, and its activities are significant in propelling the developmental process of any nation (igiri et al., 2021). oyesola (2010) views research as the application of the scientific method to attain or prove new and existing theories. he further explained that it is search, invention, discovery and establishment of new knowledge, facts, principles, theories and methods. it is also acknowledged as a systematic and objective search for knowledge, to establish theories and prove the truth of ideas, hypotheses and assumptions. the more we study about an existing phenomenon, the better we get in rendering solutions as social workers. research is a thorough examination of circumstances, objects, or situations for the purpose of improving upon and adding to knowledge. evidently, research is done in nigeria just as it is done in any other country. however, there are major problems which are socially, culturally or economically inclined that pose great threat to carrying out proper research. the importance of research cannot be overemphasized, it is in searching we know more and learn new things. research is a tool for enhancing human capital development (chikwe, ogidi & nwachukwu, 2015). research implies a careful examination of an object or situation for the purpose of effecting development and improvement. it is a way of acquiring dependable and useful information and data about a particular object of research as well as the analysis of the data collected in order to arrive at a valid conclusion (emakoji & otah, 2018). factors affecting research in nigeria igiri et al., (2021) reported that there are factors such as motivation, gender, age, research knowledge and skills, academic rank, research orientation, collaboration, leadership, availability of resources, institutional missions, orientation, rewards, mentoring programs, and institutional research policy that affect research. despite the unique importance of research, a significant number of problems hinder academic research especially as it relates to social work. also, as important as research is to national growth, productivity and development, little investment and attention is given to it (kumwenda et al., 2017). for instance, nigeria’s research sector lacks necessary facilities/equipments and materials needed for a meaningful research (chikwe et al., 2015). also, persistent strike actions embarked on by most tertiary institutions in nigeria affects research in the country (emakoji &otah, 2018). funding is a key player in properly conducting a research and it is at this point the hope of a potential researcher is dashed. a recent report revealed that a greater number of research studies carried out by academic staff in nigeria are self-funded from their inadequate salaries (ebikabowei et al., 2017). this phenomenon is not just a nigerian problem as saric utzinger and bonfoh (2018) rightly observed that in most african countries, research funding is low (saric et al., 2018) and this affects academic research. mentoring is poorly practiced in the nigerian research culture. emakoji and otah (2018) revealed that mentoring plays a vital role in sustainability and continuity in research and this aspect has been ignored. it is evident that active mentoring affords the opportunity for transfer of skills which protégés can apply in diverse professional circumstances, promotes productive use of knowledge, clarity of goals and roles, job satisfaction, career growth and success. again, over the years nigerians have been faced with worrisome and threatening issues of insecurity arising from terrorism, kidnapping, war and religious crises (emakoji & otah, 2018) and these forces seriously affect what research should be. sadly, should these problems persist; nigeria’s academic research will lose its value and true position amongst other nations. therefore, the need to curb these seen and unforeseen ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ramsey-soroghaye b. n. & ogbanga, m. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 155 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ determinants that hinder research would be pointed out with the aim of proffering possible solutions for better social work practice. importance of indigenous research (ir) chilisa et al., (2017) argued that african indigenous scholars, students, and non-indigenous researchers and scholars can benefit from exposure to the diversity of research paradigms ranging from the dominant eurowestern paradigms to the historically marginalised indigenous research paradigms. khupe and keane (2017) have argued that research methods that conform to indigenous knowledge systems (iks) are underused in our research despite the various calls for decolonised research methods. indigenous research stems from the call to decolonise knowledge validation and representation. it is an invention that comes from an afrocentric perspective (khupe & keane, 2017). indigenous knowledge sees culture and language as acceptable and important to research (lipka et al., 2013). for research to be relevant and even improve the quality of life of the people, it needs to be rooted in indigenous cultural values, and languages (talen, 2013). research done in nigeria has its uniqueness with what is done outside nigeria. it is this uniqueness such as language, values and cultural practices that must be considered when social workers carry-out research. indigenous and non-indigenous researchers are encouraged to adopt multi-paradigmatic research perspectives (johnson 2015). this study adopts the developmental research (dr) approach. this is because this research is relevant to social workers thus it has an intention of improving the lives of social workers and the larger society in the short/long (chilisa, 2019). there are various studies today on search engines like google, google scholar, medline, pubmed and so on. this shows that research is actually in place but very scare studies exist on social work research in africa or nigeria. also, very few studies have talked on the problems of research therefore; this study intends to bridge that gap by examining the socio-cultural determinants hindering research among social workers in nigeria. methodology qualitative research through a phenomenological research design approach was used for this study. social phenomenology seeks to examine experiences from social workers perspective on research in nigeria (cleland, 2017). this study adopted a qualitative exploratory design as the research methodology and a semi-structured questionnaire approach to elicit data from participants through in-depth interviews (idis) for this study. purposive sampling was used to select 20 willing social workers who had a bachelor, post-graduate diploma, masters or doctoral degree in social work. the inclusion criteria were alumni students of university of nigeria nsukka, university of calabar and university of ibadan who had a social work degree, who had conducted a research and were willing to take part in the study. initially, 30 social workers were contacted and sent the consent form to sign and return as an acknowledgement to willingly participate in the study but only 20 persons responded. study participants were sent consent form on the study and those who declined one-on-one interview due to the corona virus (covid-19) factor resorted to whatsapp interview. saturation which involves getting data from participants until there is no new information (palinkas et al., 2015).the steps of this qualitative research include data collection, data analysis, coding and drawing conclusions from the raw data. ethical approval for this study was gotten from african independent ethics committee (aiec) with reference no. ea0227. in analysis the data, the results from the study were transcribed verbatim into english by a grandaunt of linguistics and communication studies university of calabar, cross rivers state. six theme related to this study was gotten thereafter and where arranged thematically. framework analysis will also be used to determine emerging themes and to identify relationships between themes and responses. results research is important for continuity and consistency in learning. findings from this study have yielded good results in social work research. all the study respondents indicated fair knowledge of research. funds, power supply, mentoring, language barriers, motivation were some hindrances to conducting research. qualitative and quantitative researches were the two types of research known to the study participants. while indigenous research ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ramsey-soroghaye b. n. & ogbanga, m. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 156 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ has received a massive wake-up call, majority of the study participants were of the view that research is the same everywhere. however, six themes were gotten from the qualitative data and are discussed below: knowledge of research interestingly, responses from our study show that all the study respondents have an idea on what research is. research according to this study finding if properly utilized can help any country’s policy formulation and interventions in most cases. “research is an intentional investigation of a subject matter with the aim of establishing existing facts and developing new ideas” (idi participant; m.sc., social work, university of ibadan). in responding to what research is, an assistant lecturer from the university of calabar revealed thus: research is searching for more knowledge on a particular event or phenomenon in the society. it involves finding answers or explanation to why things happen and also to clear ones doubt about certain happenings in the society (idi participant; assistant lecturer university of calabar; msc social work). new findings, new discoveries, new knowledge and information are what research entails according to a participant. she avowed that: research basically to me as a scholar means new findings, new discoveries, knowledge, and information. it is actually a useful tool for learning; with research you are updated. research can be in different forms and any material can be used for research but the most important thing is the authenticity of the source of information. research from credible bodies is really useful for learning because it boosts our knowledge and gives us more information on any area of interest” (idi participant; msc social work university of nigeria, nsukka). an assistant lecturer of the university of calabar stated that: “research is a useful tool for learning because without research scholars cannot have accurate information about things that occur or happen in the society. research is important and useful because it aids communication amongst people and builds networks. more so, without research, we cannot make decisions that will influence social policies that will be beneficial to the citizens. we may also not be able to tackle and resolve social problems in the society if we do not conduct research to know why such problems exist” (idi participant; assistant lecturer university of calabar; msc social work). another participant mentioned that: “research is getting information to enable you make changes in policies especially in a country where it is used. research means searching to know more, searching to get information. i think research is a very useful instrument for learning. personally, i have gained, learned and gathered a lot of information from research” (idi participant; lecturer i university of nigeria, nsukka; msc social work). on types of research, quantitative and qualitative types of studies were the most conducted. participants of the in-depth interviews when asked the types of researches they knew opined thus: “i have conducted certain types of researches like quantitative and qualitative studies with the use of questionnaires, surveys and interviews” (idi participant; msc social work university of nigeria, nsukka). another participant stated thus: “i have conducted a qualitative research and have served as a research assistant in a quantitative research” (idi participant; assistant lecturer university of calabar; msc social work). ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ramsey-soroghaye b. n. & ogbanga, m. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 157 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ similarities/dissimilarities of research in nigeria and research in diaspora arguments on whether nigeria research is the same as any other research in other countries engineered the need for this sub-theme. this study intends to know if there are any similarities and dissimilarities of research in nigeria and in diasporas. according to a respondent, there is no disparity between the type of research done in nigeria and outside nigeria. research is research everywhere but the only little difference is that our pattern of research in nigeria is faced with challenges (idi participant; lecturer i, university of nigeria, nsukka; msc. social work). other participants revealed thus: “from my little experience on the similarities and dissimilarities of research between nigeria and diasporas i would say ‘yes’ and ‘no’. because the foundation of research, types of research are the same. it is applicable everywhere. although, the methodologies can change depending on the area of the study but i believe the people in diaspora are more open to advance type of research. when i talk about advance research, i am looking at the scientific aspect, they have funding for research and even grants but in nigeria there are limitations to research” (idi participant; msc. social work university of nigeria, nsukka). another participant stated that: “research is the same all the over the globe but may differ in methods. the most important thing is to observe the ethics of research. i don’t know how research is carried out in diaspora but i feel that with the level of development over there, they may have more advanced method of conducting research especially with the use of electronics such as distributing their questionnaire online as compared to us here going to the study area to distribute it by hand. there could also be a difference in the method of analysing data, most people here find it difficult to use spss and nvivo because they are not taught properly but i am sure over there they will guide researchers on how to do so and make sure they are perfect in it” (idi participant; assistant lecturer, university of calabar; msc. social work). problems affecting social research sadly, despite the knowledge of what research is, especially from a social work perspective, there are preventable factors acting as determinants that hinder research in nigeria. funds, power supply, mentoring, language barriers, motivation, just to mention a few are hindrances to conducting research. a participant said that during her b.sc. days, she didn’t find anyone to mentor and coach her on what research truly is. her project was more of a trial and error pattern not until she started her msc. programme before she knew more on research, so she thinks that this kind of scenario affects research (idi participant; social welfare officer bsc. social work, university of calabar). however, the various problems affecting research are revealed thus: “there issues of power, lack of funds and even when you have finances it’s not sustainable, there are data issues and it constraints one from carrying out concrete research. again, people are not really open to give you information because the system in general is problematic and in the past, people who carried out research previously must have been not-sincere so it gave root to people not to open up especially when they are not sure of confidentiality. these are some problems that hinder research in nigeria” (idi participant; msc social work university of nigeria, nsukka). another participant stated that: “i think lack of motivation. motivation in this sense means that some research just ends up on the shelves, you have limited time. limited time per say is that the school curriculum does not give you enough time and even the environment some even when carrying-out the research, sometimes there are deadlines and you are doing all things in a hurry and sometimes people know a research is not good enough but they just have to meet up deadlines and sometimes the supervisor doesn’t share the same opinion as the student and cannot properly guide the student in the area of research he/she is conducting” (idi participant; msc social work university of nigeria, nsukka). ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ramsey-soroghaye b. n. & ogbanga, m. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 158 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ another participant said that: “lack of competence in data analyses, difficulty in using internet facilities, money is also a problem because in diaspora they award grants for researchers to enable them go to the field and get all the materials and information they need which is hardly the case here. some people may get the grant here in nigeria but end up not going to the field, they use the money for their personal problem due to greed and then do arm chair research, fabricating data just to meet up. some good researchers are also not encouraged because there is no money to go to the field and get quality data, some have to travel out of town and make commitments in the communities with the little money they have, such occurrence may deter one from further research. also, the time given for research is not enough so the result is a work that is shabbily done that lacks merit all in a bid to meet deadline” (idi participant; assistant lecturer, university of calabar; msc. social work). a participant mentioned that: “there is difficulty is carrying-out research here. we lack the funds to conduct research unlike outside the country where millions are given to people to conduct research. also, language barrier affects research. there are about 350 ethnic groups with different languages and you know at times it might be difficult to conduct research in such a scenario. another problem is the government; they do not utilize the information gotten from a research so it appears that those of us in the educational sector are just writing for our promotion and not for any intervention because government does not use our findings” (idi participant; lecturer i university of nigeria, nsukka; msc. social work). again, a participant identified that: “there is poor knowledge of what research is and this affects participation in research. there is the issue of hard-to-reach population and this affects social research. again, most social researches that deal with human respondents are faced with any challenges such as the respondents asking for financial obligations and refusal to give detailed information about a particular study even when they have the capacity to provide relevant information” (idi participant; pgd in social work, university of nigeria, nsukka). additionally, a participant revealed that: “hindrances such as tribalism, cultural and religious beliefs hinder social research. during one of my field works in a rural part of nigeria, some female respondents refused to fill out their questionnaire because their husbands were not around to fill their questionnaire and this was not too good for the study. i think the patriarchal system operational in nigeria hinders research” (idi participant; phd in social work, university of nigeria, nsukka). another participant opined thus: “one thing i will say is that in nigeria, in fact african, research is very limited. we have limited african literatures theories and books on research that are indigenous in nature and this discourages the use findings of the study in policy formulation and programmes” (idi participant; social welfare officer. bsc., social work, university of calabar). knowledge of what social work entails this research is a social work study involving only social workers however; we taught it necessary to find out if the study respondents actually knew what social work is and not necessarily just having degrees in the profession. a respondent mentioned that “social workers are helping professionals that work in myriad settings to provide psychosocial helps to individuals, couples, families, groups, organisations and communities” (idi participant; m sc. social work, university of ibadan).other participants stated thus: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ramsey-soroghaye b. n. & ogbanga, m. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 159 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “social workers are people who help in the enhancement of the lives of persons. they help in identifying the strength and weaknesses of persons to improve general well-being of a person, group of persons such as the aged, abused and impaired” (idi participant; msc., social work, university of nigeria, nsukka). additionally: “social workers are professionals trained to help individuals who as a result of social problems cannot function well in the society. they exist in the society to resolve the social problems of people and to enhance their social functioning. they are found in various settings of the society such as schools, hospitals, ministries, prisons, ngos, courts where they render selfless service to humanity” (idi participant; assistant lecturer university of calabar; msc social work). importance of research to social work profession the importance of research to social work practice cannot be overstated. it is in searching we know more and solve more problems, thus, making the society function properly. respondents stated that “social workers carry out systematic investigations of systems and societies to aid the development of policies and practical interventions for people” (idi participant; m.sc. social work, university of ibadan). another participant said that “social work requires research. it helps you know what theory, model or perspective is best to understand a particular problem.” (idi participant; m.sc. social work university of nigeria, nsukka). other participants stated thus: “actually, social workers take part in research. this is the avenue through which they discover or unravel solutions to the social problems of people and also influence the implementation of policies that can help to curb the problem” (idi participant; assistant lecturer, university of calabar; msc., social work). additionally, a participant revealed that: “research relates to what social workers do because during assessment which is one of the case work processes in social work, the social worker makes effort to find out the what, why, where, how and when of a situation affecting the client. with the information gathered, it is easy to find a lasting solution to the problem at hand. more so, it is through asking, interrogation and communication that a fact is established, and this is part of research and a method used by social workers to elicit valid information from their clients” (idi participant; assistant lecturer university of calabar; msc., social work). additionally: “social workers are change-agents, we conduct research and the essence of research is to bring change in a society where things are not going well or where there is decay. for example, let’s use our educational system. the essence of research is to find out why the problem is here and what causes the problem and the effect of the problem and at the end proffer solution to the problems or make policies that will bring a change to the problem. as social workers who are change-agents, we are also here to make policies, we are here to find-out people’s problems and we also go a long way in proffering interventions that bring that problem to an end. social workers also advocate” (idi participant; lecturer i university of nigeria, nsukka; msc., social work). possible solutions in promoting social work research it is not enough to know what research is, measures to curb these factors hindering research must be actively carried-out to improve research in nigeria. according to a participant; “funding and favourable policies will go a long way in promoting and improving social research in nigeria” (idi participant; msc., social work, university of ibadan). another participant stated that: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ramsey-soroghaye b. n. & ogbanga, m. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 160 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “social work profession can be encouraged through research by ensuring that there are competent professionals in the area of research to serve as mentors. institutions should organise workshop and seminars (on-the-job-training) to enable social workers enhance and improve their knowledge base about research. research grants should be awarded to social workers to enable them carry out ground breaking research on existing and emerging social problems in the society” (idi participant; assistant lecturer university of calabar; msc social work). discussion quite a good number of findings have been identified in this study especially as it relates to the socio-cultural determinants hindering academic research among social workers in nigeria. however, before we delve into these factors hindering research especially among social workers in nigeria, other important findings in this study will be discussed. research is an important tool for learning because research carried-out by credible bodies boost knowledge and gives proper information on any area of interest. research means searching for more knowledge on a particular event or phenomenon in the society and with research you are updated. this finding is in tandem with that of oyesola (2010). oyesola (2010) views research as the application of the scientific method to attain or prove new and exciting theories. findings of this study revealed that to conduct a research is to search for more knowledge on a particular event or phenomenon in the society. it involves finding answers or explanation to why things happen and also to clear ones doubt about certain happenings in the society. this finding supports that of kapoor et al., (2018) who opined that research is ued to get information and obtain positive feedback. this study also found out that research is a useful tool for learning because without research scholars cannot have accurate information about things that occur or happen in the society. research is important and useful because it aids communication amongst people and builds networks. this finding also agrees with that of çaparlar and dönmez (2016). çaparlar and dönmez (2016) in their study revealed that research is conducted for the purpose of contributing towards science by the systematic collection, interpretation and evaluation of data and that, too, in a planned manner. finding from this study showed that there is no disparity on the type of research done in nigeria and the type of research done outside nigeria. according to our findings, research is research everywhere but the only differences are the types of challenges peculiar to our country nigeria and it goes a long way in affecting the whole process of research. this could be the reason why egbetokun et al., (2022) opined that nigeria has a very large research system, with nearly 200 universities that employed more than 60,000 academic staff at the end of 2019. this study also revealed that the foundation of research and types of research are the same as it is applicable everywhere. however, this study points to the fact that although methodologies vary depending on the area of the study but research is same everywhere in the world. quantitative and qualitative researches were the two types of research revealed in this study. this could alsp be the reason why antwi and hamza (2015) made an attempt to discuss quantitative and qualitative research methodologies in his study. again, the identified socio-cultural determinants affecting research in nigeria are: locality, poor power supply, lack of funds, lack of data, lack of openness to research by potential participants/respondents in giving ample information, lack of motivation, limited time for carrying-out research most school curriculum does not give enough time when carrying-out the research, lack of competence in data analyses, difficulty in using internet facilities, lack of grants for researchers, fabrication of data, language barriers, poor knowledge of what research is, issues of hard-to-reach population, tribalism, cultural and religious beliefs and limited african literatures theories and books on research that are indigenous in nature. consequently, our findings corroborates with that of igiri et al., (2021). they reported that factors such as motivation, gender, age, research knowledge/skills, academic rank, research orientation, collaboration, leadership, availability of resources, institutional missions, orientation, rewards, mentoring programs, and institutional research policy affect research. also, bezuidenhout and chakauya (2018) in their study revealed that funding and data sharing are two-fold factors affecting research. amadi (2003) identified illiteracy, attitude of government, individuals and significant others towards research findings, secrecy of information, scarcity of records as problems of research in nigeria. social work profession is a research-centred profession that finds out people’s problems and possible solutions to these problems. this study revealed that social workers are problem solvers. they exist in the society to resolve the social problems of people and to enhance their social functioning. social workers are found in settings such as: schools, hospitals, ministries, prisons, ngos, courts where they render selfless service to humanity. social ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ramsey-soroghaye b. n. & ogbanga, m. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 161 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ workers take part in research as it is through research that they discover or unravel solutions to the social problems of people and also influence implementation of policies that can help to curb these identified problems. conclusion research relates to what social workers do and the information gathered from our research as social workers will go a long way in problem solving and policy formulation if findings are utilized by government and other related bodies. therefore, factors such as lack of proper knowledge on research, poor mentorship/coaching on research methods, none awareness on who social worker are, lack of funds, hindrances with data collection such as hardto-reach population, patriarchy systems, tribalism and cultural/religious belief, limited african literatures theories and books on research that are indigenous in nature, discouragements from the non-utilization of results from study in policy formulation and programmes just to mention a few hindering social work research must be curbed. this study recommends that measures should be put in place to checkmate these indicated hindrances in a bid to preserve knowledge and improve upon knowledge which is what research stands for. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ramsey-soroghaye b. n. & ogbanga, m. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 162 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ references amadi, r. 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(2018). research productivity and main publishing institutions in côte d’ivoire, 2000-2016. global health, 14 (1), 88. microsoft word 6 walking the theories we talkutilizing african social work theories in african research.docx ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 alemayehu gebru & wario wako african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 189 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ publisher african journal of social work afri. j. soc. work © national association of social workers-zimbabwe/author(s) issn print 1563-3934 issn online 2409-5605 licensed under a creative commons attribution-non-commercial 4.0 international license indexed& accredited with: african journals online (ajol) | university of zimbabwe accredited journals (uzaj) | scopus (elsevier’s abstract and citation database) | directory of open access journals (doaj) | society of african journal editors (saje) | asian digital library (adl) | african social work network(aswnet) | department of higher education and training (dhet) south africa | sjr | cnki – china | journal publishing practices and standards (jpps) | ebsco walking the theories we talk: utilizing african social work theories in african research alemayehu gebru and wario wako abstract the study employed a predominantly indigenous research framework of african-centered or afrocentric research to explore how african social work researchers are using african social work theories as theoretical framework to guide their studies. this is important because african researchers are highly dependent on western theories and research methodologies while investigating african issues. however, western theories have not been suitable to comprehend the situations in africa; therefore, it needs indigenous lenses to observe, analyze, and explain the social phenomena. the study participants were ten academician researchers at jimma university who were identified through a purposive sampling technique. also, eight articles were reviewed to learn whether the researchers used african theories as theoretical framework for their studies or not. the study employed thematic analysis to analyze the data. finally, as ethical considerations, ethics don't exist on forms; it is human creatures that ought to be ethical. so, we used oral consent of the participants and conducted the interview with their language. to secure the trustworthiness of the study, the data were triangulated from interviewees and document reviews. the study showed that the reasons for why african social workers are relying on western theories are to get acceptance, urban biased social work curriculum, lack of information about indigenous theories, the perplexity of developing theories and devaluing indigenous knowledge. also, the study revealed that inducing researchers to use indigenous theories in their study and changing the orientation of our education are some solutions to minimize our dependence on western theories while dealing with african issues. therefore, we suggested that african scholars should see inward to better prognoses african matters and walk the theories we talk to be practical. key terms: africa, indigenous knowledge, relevance, research, social work, theories, ubuntu key dates received: march 2022 revised: june 2022 accepted: july 2022 published: august 2022 funding: none conflict of interest: none permission: none ethics approval: not applicable author/s details: alemayehu gebru, lecturer, jimma university, school of social work, email: gebrualemayehu@gmail.com wario wako, lecturer, jimma university, school of social work, email: wariowako2464@gmail.com current and previous volumes are available at: https://africasocialwork.net/current-and-past-issues/ how to reference using aswnet style: alemayehu gebru and wario wako (2022). walking the theories we talk: utilizing african social work theories in african research. african journal of social work, 12(4), 189-198. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 alemayehu gebru & wario wako african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 190 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ introduction as we read articles of social work in our country ethiopia, we learned that social work scholars mainly dependent on western’s theory in conducting research and ignored the african theories. even most of them didn’t strive to develop a theory from their research analysis of the data they obtained from the participants. rather, they use topto-bottom approach by applying the existing theories that may perhaps not relevant to our cases. thus, the purpose of this study was to indicate the gaps created in employing western theoretical frameworks that were not considered the contextual values and knowledge of african countries. furthermore, the decolonization and indigenization of social work education, practice and research efforts will be accelerated if we care more about contextualization as we do now. background the attitude of the world about theories should be developed and useful when they are from the western perspectives is a legend in today’s realm. african people have a long history of developing theories and they have been doing the same today. african has deep-rooted as well as beneficial theories that african descendants developed. those they are the longstanding of ancient societies of african, most of them are not written; rather they are oral literature (orature). theories become useful on how much practitioners, researchers and academicians applied it in their activities; though african theories are used less. thus, just when africans use their theories, they become vital. we can follow the influence of ubuntu in the current world (african social work network, 2021). the african-centered agent is devoted to advancing inquire about that advances the voice of its members. it begins from the notion that people’s encounters are one of a kind which their stories matter to the information era. thus, inquire about is conducted that regards and respects the person and community (davis, williams, & akinyela, 2010; reviere, 2001; zentella, 2015 as cited in tricia, colita & iris, 2017). the researcher sees herself or himself as inter-reliant with the community. the thought of conducting inquire about that's not communityassociated, educated, and authorized defies african-centered to inquire about. additionally, the researcher contains an obligation to the community that keeps going well past the inquiry about concludes. in this manner, to include and esteem the points of view of the community, african researchers ought to utilize the worldviews of african individuals. as the calling proceeds its tirelessness of social equity and human rights, the african-centered theory is doable to not as it understood the populaces of individuals planning, but with others inside the embroidered artwork of history and culture. highlighting the encounters and commitments of assorted communities, african-centered social work has a permanent part to play within the profession’s headway (tricia, colita & iris, 2017). whereas there's more work required to reveal what it offers the calling and communities over the globe, the opportunity is displayed to develop african-centered investigate undertakings and coordinated hone viewpoints as a way to address modern and future challenges. there are studies about that concern almost the ethnocentric nature of show standards inside sciences that build up the premise for social work theory and hone with black families and children. appropriately, mekada (1999) examined the african-centered worldview and created a worldview for social work. the finding highlights the theoretical shortfalls inside existing social work models that don't consider the worldviews of different communities and society. the author questions the pertinence of the worldview of western situated theories to african settings. subsequently, the author contends for an alternative worldview that's grounded within the social verifiable reality of the black encounter. mazama asserted that afrocentric paradigm is important to fairly understand the worldviews of african people. and the author said that afrocentricity fights that our primary issue as african individuals is our as a rule oblivious appropriation of the western worldview and point of view and their orderly conceptual systems. the list of those thoughts and theories that have attacked our lives as typical, normal, or indeed more awful, perfect is unbounded (2001, p. 387). the notion of the author shows that the invasion of western theories both studies and practices of african scholars restrict us from comprehending our problems and providing complete resolutions contextually. the author believes that africa has immense theories to be applied both in studies and practices except the ignorance of them totally. thus, the author said that there exists an assortment of afrocentric hypotheses connected to a wide extent of themes. usually not astounding since, as examined prior, african considers is committed to all angles of our lives. we might survey, as an outline, hypotheses created around african women and men's connections and social issues within the african community (mazama a., 2001, p. 400). when the author scrutinizes the existing literature of a broad base of information and discussion of the africancentered worldview and development of african-centered viewpoints in social work, it is not well studied yet. even social work profession is challenged to embrace an alternative worldviews and paradigms as legitimate bases for social work theory and practice, when we observe the african-centered perspectives social work. and the ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 alemayehu gebru & wario wako african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 191 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ profession talks about its core principles of equality, social justice and self-determination without the africancentered worldview which shows its inadequacy. and the author convinced that the african-centered perspective is now well articulated its philosophical assumptions and knowledge base providing social work designs. therefore, this support and nurture the cultural, philosophical, historical and collective development of african people throughout the world (mekada, 1999). on the other hand, ibrahimi and mattaini argued that for social work to be valuable in africa, reorientation of its strategies toward encouraging all-encompassing and innate mediation is obligatory. pushing that decolonization of social work requires challenging prevailing models of hone and investigate whereas joining conventional values and hones that have withstood centuries of abuse into socially consonant shapes of benefit and request (2017, p. 1). one of the authors elaborates that the great levels of absolute poverty, malnutrition and illiteracy throughout the sub-saharan region need african social workers to cultivate novel methods of intervention which differ from those used in western countries. identifying, supplementing and improving the strengths of underprivileged people remain at the core of all social work practice. the author shows the range of survival strategies used by african households which should be considered by social workers when they deal with indigenous clients. and the author concludes that these require strengthening through unconventional approaches to orthodox social work methods (siobhan, 2008). owusu-ansah and mji contended that to be significant and engaging, african-based inquiries have to consolidate african ideas from graduation to the conclusion of the application of policies exuding from the investigation. the creators accepted that typically invaluable work to engaging and important for context-specific enduring effect. their work looked to extend mindfulness with respect to the need to grasp innate information within the arranging and application of investigation in africa. they moreover confirmed the supportability of the afrocentric worldview in african inquire about and contended the significance of an emancipatory and participatory kind of ponder that values and grasps innate information and individuals. the overwhelmingly western-oriented scholastic circles and requests either thrust to the outskirts or curbed the african voice since innate information and approaches are routinely ignored or not taken genuinely (2013). the aforesaid literature depicted that there is a need to conduct a study on how african social work researchers have been utilizing african social work theories. thus, this study aimed at exploring how african social work researchers are using african social work theories as theoretical framework to guide their studies. to comprehend that, the following research questions were posed and addressed: 1. why do we depend on western theories? 2. what shall we do to reorient our approach towards african worldview? theoretical framework ubuntu can direct research objectives, ethics and methodology, and decolonize research program and methodology (african social work network, 2021). the researchers preferred to use ubuntu as theoretical framework for this study. since ubuntu stands for all african communities who are highly interdependent and promote collective lives, it is the right framework to apprehend the african social work scholars. the theory of ubuntu in social work helps to scrutinize the values and assets of the community while studying and practicing with them. thus, we applied this indigenous theory to learn the understanding of social work scholars in jimma university concerning african theories for african research. as long as ubuntu is devised by the relational theory of ‘i am what i am because of you’, it revealed how jimma university social work scholars give attention to the indigenous theories, perspectives and models. this ubuntu theoretical framework offered an opportunity for the researchers to witness the experiences of individual scholars in their social environment and how they consider the worldviews of the community through applying indigenous theories, perspectives and models. root of ubuntu about 60,000 a long time prior, black individuals moved out of africa and a few settled within the pacific locale. relatives of the people who settled within the pacific locale have values comparable to ubuntu nowadays. these black inborn individuals are found in australia, tonga, fiji, papua modern guinea. it cannot be marked down that ubuntu begun some time recently the extraordinary movement out of africa (african social work network, 2021). about 4,000 a long time prior, verbal, archeological and etymological inquire about has appeared that most black individuals were concentrated in west-central and northern parts of africa. they at that point spread all through the landmass basically since of attack, desertification, moved forward innovation and populace development. whereas they spread, they spread with their common societies and logic. this reasoning was ubuntu (african social work network, 2021). though african theories have been developing long ago, theories and ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 alemayehu gebru & wario wako african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 192 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ approaches from outside that may be useful have been utilized in african research and practices. for instance, system theory and social learning theory with african examples and explanations are best examples. however, they can’t replace ubuntu or never seen as equal as ubuntu. this is why we have interest in ubuntu. literature review theories, models and frameworks used in africa as the philosophy of african, ubuntu expresses the trustworthiness of the people of africa and their communities secured by their collective values and practices. though the hints of these values and practices vary across diverse ethnic groups, they all signpost to one thing – an authentic individual human being is part of a bigger and other momentous relational, communal, societal, environmental and spiritual world. the word ubuntu is articulated in a different way in several african communities and languages but all stating to the similar thing (african social work network, 2021). hence, we can say that ubuntu is an umbrella philosophy of africans. according to african social work network, social work theories in africa can be classified into four major parts, such as the green group, the light green group, the amber group and the red group theories. the green group of theories embraces of theories that we consider safe and useful. most of them were developed inside africa. the light green group theories are new and emerging theories cultivated in africa, they are worthwhile. the amber group of theories involves theories developed outside but that may be beneficial. and, the red group theories, as the color indicates, are unsafe or risky theories, or those with some degree of relevance (2021). under the green group of theories, there are about twenty six theories though the number exceeds. the website listed a few, such as afrocentrism, collectivism, african family theory (ukama), individual-in-family theory, ubuntu theories, indigenisation theory, ukuru theory, decolonization theory, african social development model (kaseke, 2001), one-africa theory, independence theory, pan-africanism, african assets theory, african strengths theory, ujamaa theory, diaspora theory, paulo freire theory of learning/pedagogy, tanoa ni veiqaravi (serving bowl of serving others) (pacific islands theory), maori people’s models of wellbeing, illness and health, bottomup approach, case management framework (zimbabwe), six-tier system of child care, welfare and development, jairos jiri disability and rehabilitation model, jairosi jiri charity model, nkrumaism, and orature theory (zirimu’s orature theory). the light green group of theories that are safe and emerging theories and approaches holds four african social work theories: theory of grandparents, friendship bench, dead aid theory and kalinganire’s social work practice model. and the amber group of theories which are from outside that may be useful in our context includes systems theory (the west’s ubuntu-like ideas, should not replace ubuntu or be seen as equal) and social learning theory with african examples and explanations (african social work network, 2021). now, at least african social work scholars can get one more material to be familiar with african social work theories. it will motivate them to read more about the african social work theories. research methods a predominantly indigenous research framework of african-centered or afrocentric research design was employed to identify the experiences of social work researchers in jimma university. african-centered or afrocentric inquiry tries to ascertain the essence of both individual and group experience of phenomena (as ubuntu expresses ‘i am what i am because of you’). participants were selected purposely based on their relevance to the study at hand. ten key informants from jimma university, school of social work were involved and eight articles were reviewed to learn whether the researchers used african theories as theoretical framework for their studies or not. in-depth key informant interview and document review were applied to collect the data. the researchers reviewed literatures that were available online. the authors used the database of the african journals online (ajol), the africa social work network (aswnet), and the ethiopian journal of social sciences and language studies. the thematically analyzed data generated the major themes. data were triangulated from interviewees and document reviews to enhance the credibility of the findings. the oral consent of the participants to involve in the study, using codes instead of their name, and reporting the findings in aggregate manner were the strategies to consider the research ethics. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 alemayehu gebru & wario wako african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 193 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ findings of the study the findings are under two themes: reasons why africans depend on western theories and possible solutions to reorient our approach towards african worldview. reasons why africans depend on western theories direct replica of social work education curriculums from america the document review from african social work network aggregates information and a resource to facilitate social work on the african continent is revealed: when professional social work was introduced to africa, as was the case in most developing countries of the caribbean, asia, the pacific and south america, the foreigners who brought social work wrongly assumed that social work was new to these regions, and therefore chose to sideline, ignore and replace existing systems with theirs. in replacing existing systems, the foreign people depended on theories from outside. the local theories did not die, but thrived where western influence was not there, or alongside them. with time, most local theories found their way back into african social work. the finding from key informant interviewee (ki-7) showed that the ethiopian social work curriculum which is directly fetched from the westerns or american’s curriculum has been influenced the professionals to depend on it instead of looking inside. moreover, the participant asserted that the ease accessibility of the western social work theories made the professionals sluggish and made them to take and go. though there are some countries and communities of africa remain strong in using indigenous theories, perspectives and models, the application of indigenous theories in jimma university school of social work researchers is meager. to get acceptance the finding showed that african social work scholars are trapped with western oriented education, research and theories to get acceptance from them. ki-4 said that students, instructors and researchers are clinging to western theories to get acceptance from their supervisors, journal editors, reviewers and examiners. besides, ki-3 asserted that thesis, dissertations and articles may not get approval, if they didn’t include western theoretical frameworks as a guiding tool. likewise, ki-5 confirmed that all concerned bodies, such as students, instructors, researchers, supervisors, examiners and journal editors as well as reviewers intrinsically believed as the western theories are the paramount and the standard of quality. therefore, african social work researchers will prefer to employ the western theoretical frameworks to obtain the gateway to join the international scientific community. urban biased social work curriculum literatures showed that though little efforts have been made to indigenize social work education, international and local information indicated that the profession is urban biased. similarly, literatures of social work education, practice and research in ethiopia revealed that scholars and students were give due emphasis to urban problems and look for resolutions there. therefore, focusing on the urban issues has neglected the rural community where contextualizing is highly feasible and finding indigenous knowledge, theories, perspectives as well as models are vividly experiential. this gap uncovered that conducting all-embracing studies to understand the context and developing new theories based on the data from indigenous people is very compulsory. besides, crafting strong social work curriculum which considers the culminated knowledge of the continent is additional opportunities to better harness the solutions to the local difficulties. western oriented education curriculum: the finding revealed that early socialization of our education system has tremendous impacts on the attitude of today’s scholars to incline towards the western knowledge, skills and values. ki-2 mentioned, “we grow up with western’s perspectives and inculcated that the western community has better knowledge than us”. he also said that we have developed inferiority complex by considering the westerns as superior in introducing and advancing the modern knowledge in the world. similarly, ki-9 stated that many african countries are following their education by western language, particularly english language. most of the time, knowledge and skills are defined in terms of western language. so, poor adoption of curriculum design through using african languages pushes african scholars including social work researchers to take their case to the western world. hence, the educational orientation, the distorted attitude we have about western, and our socialization are played great role in hindering us from knowing and using our resources properly. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 alemayehu gebru & wario wako african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 194 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ lack of information about indigenous theories the indigenous theories, perspectives and models which are in practice in african continent are not accessible to the scholars to the expected level. african scholars are weak in disseminating and publicizing what they have done concerning indigenous theories, perspectives and models that can help researchers and practitioners with the knowledge of the context. ki-4 stated, “first of all, i want to ask that; do we have african social work theory? if we have, where they are?” and the information from african social work network confirmed that there is lack of information regarding orature theories in africa and the problem of inaccessibility of orature theories slowed down their application in african social work research. the finding asserted that african scholars have been hesitating to utilize information from the oral literature because they are cynical about the credibility and dependability of data from oral literature. unless they begin to reconsider their sarcastic perspective regarding the unwritten theories, the home-based knowledge will remain as untapped resources of the continent. hence, the finding from the participants affirmed that african scholars should work towards decolonizing social work education from western dominated theories for practice and research. the perplexity of developing theories it’s debatable and perplexing the application of theoretical framework to qualitative research. because to develop either theoretical or conceptual framework, we need to conduct extensive literature review or generate from rich data of the participants. these two tiresome procedures of utilizing theories, perspectives or models in research have been hindering researchers to undertake studies either without theories or with western worldview theories. for instance, wario and alemayehu have studied on children’s socialization during covid-19 pandemic lockdown. however, they failed to use african social work theoretical framework to guide their investigation. and they synthesis their finding with western experiences rather than context oriented conditions (2020). though the pandemic has a global trend in touching all human kinds, the preparedness, responses and feedbacks of every region might be different. therefore, having context specific theoretical lens for social work research is very crucial. furthermore, they conducted a study on the lived experiences of female university students during the lockdown time. but they ignored the western and local theories, perspectives or models to understand the worldviews of the local people. even though they involved female university students from diverse groups in terms of their ethnics, age, and socio-economic status and so on, they failed to concern about their viewpoints (2021). alemayehu gebru is conducted a study on psychosocial impacts of covid-19 lockdown and coping strategies of the community of jimma university, southwest ethiopia and found that the participants handled the challenges through changing their lifestyle, compliance to instructions, concerning for others as well as they engaged in resource mobilization, gave time to their family and worked on self-update. and the author at least tried to utilize african social work theory: ubuntu which is very relevant to social work practice and research (2020). as we learned from this study, it focuses on the experiences of the community of jimma university and used the africancentered social work theory and it helped to observe the worldview of the local people. even this researcher picked up the readymade of african-centered theory like spoon-feed rather than developing novel theory by using grounded theory method or conducting extensive literature review. devaluing indigenous knowledge the finding showed that african scholars didn’t considered the african theories as valuable as the western’s one. ki-3 said, “i think african scholars have doubt about the usefulness of african theories”. similarly, ki-10 stated, “why we are struggling to develop new theories or perspectives? what can we add on the western’s efforts? nothing new that we can bring to the table: all worldviews are already studied.” during our document review, we have learned that almost all researchers are ignored african theoretical frameworks in their study that indicated the devaluing stance they have towards african indigenous knowledge. moreover, ki-8 affirmed that most african social work researchers sent their findings to western for publication considering their journals as perfect and suitable for academic promotion. so, african scholars including social work researchers send their research to the western for publication where western theories are highly welcomed. identity confusion the finding indicated that african scholars those who attended their academic careers with western theories and in their physical and social environment were influenced by their worldviews. for instance, ki-9 said: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 alemayehu gebru & wario wako african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 195 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ due to the social problems like poverty in africa, there are issues of brain drain, emigrants and many african students are following their education outside their continent mostly europe and america. after completing their education and work, they return to africa and start to show the interest of western in africa. western has supporters from africa who follow and run their agendas in africa as they socialized and trained by them. so, these all influence african scholars including social work researchers to fail to use african theories while doing their research in the local context. possible solutions to reorient our approach towards african worldview thematizing studies, brainstorming seminars, crafting strong social work curriculums conducting research with the intention of developing social work theories from the context by having the indigenous knowledge in mind will be vital to decolonize the western theories. the participants also believed that contextualizing western theories of social work which fit the indigenous communities need is advisable. for example, different participants suggested different strategies to contextualize western theories of social work in ethiopia. for instance, ki-1 stated, “we take theories that can be a response to our country’s problem and leave the competencies designed for westerns problem, e.g. theories related with suicide”. on the other hand, ki-3 said, “currently we have included ‘indigenous social work course’ to our curriculum and in the future thematizing thesis works, preparing brainstorming seminars; crafting strong curriculums are helpful for contextualizing purposes”. hence, he stressed that indigenizing the profession and fitting it to our context is an assignment for each and every institution offering the social work program. thus, the participants asserted that african scholars should give primacy to indigenous social work knowledge and theories to better understand the cases of the community and provide context sensitive solutions. and the finding revealed that the assignment calls for african social work scholars to utilize indigenous social work theories in their studies and practice, undertake studies to develop social work theories, craft strong indigenized social work curriculum and establishing strong social work professional associations in african context. then, these indigenous social work curriculum and strong social work associations will craft context oriented standards and competencies to handle the problems of africans by africans. according to the key informant (ki-4), conducting extensive research to develop indigenous knowledge of social work for african social work professionals is a way out to decolonize the profession from the western oriented theory. by undertaking widespread investigation in the continent, scholars can comprehend and uncover the profound indigenous social work knowledge, skills and values and the upcoming professionals will be liberated from the total dependency of the western theories. therefore, thematizing local studies will contribute for the cultivation of indigenous knowledge and designing strong indigenous social work curriculum. inducing researchers to use indigenous theories in their study the finding indicated that providing incentive to african researchers to use indigenous social work theories in their studies will improve the current gaps of depending on the western’s worldview. ki-5 confirmed that giving due emphasis to african-centered theories and rewarding those scholars who have been employing indigenous theories for their research and practice will enhance its utilization in the future endeavors. and ki-4 affirmed that african social work journals in particular and african journals in general should give priority to accept and publish the work of scholars with indigenous theories, perspectives and models. moreover, ki-1 stated that african journals in general and african social work journals in particular have to speed up the open access opportunities of papers published with indigenous worldviews. changing the orientation of our education the finding revealed that african social work education curriculum should change its orientation towards insideout approach. ki-9 affirmed that the african social work education curriculum is a copy-paste of those western educational worldviews; therefore, unless african alters this orientation, they remain under the worldviews of the outsiders. and, ki-8 said that socializing african children with indigenous theories, perspectives and models, is the only way out from the predominant influences of western’s worldviews which is tailored with their size. furthermore, ki-7 asserted, “from our childhood to this day, our attitude is twisted with the alleged of whites are well-educated and have advanced solutions for every problem in the world”. thus, the finding gives a clue to alter the orientation of our education to reconsider its primacy to western theories, perspectives and models. african for african should be practical ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 alemayehu gebru & wario wako african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 196 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the result from document reviews showed that most of african social work studies suggest the african problems should be addressed by african methods. and context-specific solutions are well-fitted the situations as scholars recommended. however, the application of such powerful technique is not as expected to this end. therefore, ki-6 asserted, “we have to walk the theories we talk; otherwise, other centuries to pass as we talk”. discussion there are a number of similarities among the themes of this study finding and others scholarly contributions. nevertheless, there are some themes peculiar to this particular study. for instance, the african social work network aggregates information and resources to facilitate social work on the african continent affirmed that there are countries with social work theories and remain strong against the western’s worldviews (2021). the other study showed that there are several theories and models to be applied both to studies and practices except the ignorance of african scholars (ama mazama, 2001). nonetheless, in this study, we have identified that social work scholars in jimma university school of social work are querying about the existence of african social work theories. forget regarding the classifications of african social work theories based on their relevance to the context of africa, the participants were uncertain its existence at all. this study asserted that reorienting the educational curriculum from western dominated worldviews to context-specific perspectives. besides, ibrahimi and mattaini claimed that to make social work fruitful in africa, reorientation of its approaches and challenging prominent models of practice and research (2017). thanks to african social work and other scholars for their unreserved efforts to develop and nurture africancentered philosophy and theoretical perspectives to be used for education, practice, and research. novice scholars will be held responsible to change into practice those identified african social work theories and continue striving to develop novel context-specific indigenous worldviews. to do so, african social work scholars can use fieldwork and research as hand to implement what has been learned into the classroom. then, we can say, we are walking what we are talking and the african philosophy and theoretical framework ‘ubuntu’ becomes eloquent. the finding uncovered that african social work authors are challenged to utilize african-centered theories in their studies due to many fold factors. the reasons include: to get acceptance by western scholars and institutions through using their theories, the direct copy of social work education curriculum from western, the urban biased social work curriculum, lack of information about indigenous theories, the perplexity of developing novel theories, devaluing indigenous knowledge. the finding showed that inducing researchers to use indigenous theories in their study, thematizing studies, brainstorming seminars, crafting strong social work curriculums, changing the orientation of social work education and making the african for african rhetoric practical are the mitigating mechanisms for aforesaid challenges. recommendations from the essence of the finding, we can suggest the following way outs. 1. african social work professionals should provide a leading opportunity to african-centered theories in their studies and practices. 2. african social work journals should give due emphasis in making african theories, perspectives and models accessible to the world. 3. african social work instructors and students should look for indigenous worldview to better illustrate and understand the local experiences in their day to day academic endeavors. 4. african social work researchers should conduct wide-ranging studies to cultivate african theories and consolidate the already identified. 5. african social work journals should encourage local authors those using african social work theories by giving prime in publishing and disseminating the articles worldwide. conclusion to sum up, though there are some african scholars who use african theories for african studies, still it needs further consideration to get the contextual perspectives. the dependency of african researchers on the western framework will be declined and the decolonization process becomes easy if they try to see the situation of africa with an african lens. otherwise, the concept of from the ‘west to the rest’ remains the governing framework and the african problems will be diagnosed by non-africans without the knowledge of the physical and social environment. it is obvious that there are so many reasons behind ignoring the african-centered theories in using for studying african problems by local scholars. however, it is the responsibility of african social work scholars to develop, apply and integrate african theories, perspectives, and models as a theoretical framework for their studies. taking prime responsibilities in promoting the indigenous knowledge, theoretical framework, and ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 alemayehu gebru & wario wako african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 197 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ contextualizing the western theories rather than applying as it is, is the mandate of social work professionals in africa due to their professional values indebted them to do so. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 alemayehu gebru & wario wako african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 198 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ references africa social work network (aswnet), (2021). the aswnet aggregates information and resources to facilitate social work on the african continent. african theories of social work chilisa, b. (2014). indigenous research is a journey. the international journal of narrative therapy and community work, , no. 2, pp. 41-44. gebru a. (2020). psychosocial impacts of covid-19 lockdown and coping strategies of the community, jimma university, southwest ethiopia. african journal of social work, 10(3), 41-49. gebru a., and doja h. (2021). exploring the challenges of social work education from field education perspective in ethiopia: the case of four public universities. ethiopian journal of social sciences and language studies 8(1), 79-89 gebru, a. and wako, w. (2021). female university students lived experiences of covid-19 lockdown: the case of jimma university, southwest ethiopia. journal of development administration (jda), 6(3), 97 105. gebru, a., berhanu, z. and hajji, t. (2021) discharge planning and post-discharge follow-up care practice in psychiatry department at jimma medical center, ethiopia. african journal of social work, 11(2), 52-59 graham, m. j. (1999). the african-centred worldview: developing a paradigm for social work. the british journal of social work, 29(2), 251-267. ibrahima, a. b., & mattaini, m. a. (2019). social work in africa: decolonizing methodologies and approaches. international social work, 62(2), 799-813. mazama a. (2001). the afrocentric paradigm contours and definitions. journal of black studies, 31(4), 387-405. owusu-ansah, f.e. & mji, g., (2013). african indigenous knowledge and research. african journal of disability 2(1), 30-35. siobhan e. laird (2008). social work practice to support survival strategies in sub-saharan africa. the british journal of social work, 38(1), pp. 135-151. tricia bent-goodley, colita nichols fairfax & iris carlton-laney (2017) the significance of african-centered social work for social work practice, journal of human behavior in the social environment, 27:1-2, 16. tricia bent-goodley, colita nichols fairfax & iris carlton-laney (2017). the significance of african-centered social work for social work practice. journal of human behavior in the social environment, 27 (1)-2, 16. wako w., and gebru a. (2020). exploring the role of social work in correctional setting: jimma zone correctional center, ethiopia. ethiopian journal of social sciences and language studies 7(2), 61-70. microsoft word 5 the hurdle of disseminating social work research findings in zimbabwe and and a proposed model.docx ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 charamba s. & mukurazvizha r. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 179 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ publisher african journal of social work afri. j. soc. work © national association of social workers-zimbabwe/author(s) issn print 1563-3934 issn online 2409-5605 licensed under a creative commons attribution-non-commercial 4.0 international license indexed& accredited with: african journals online (ajol) | university of zimbabwe accredited journals (uzaj) | scopus (elsevier’s abstract and citation database) | directory of open access journals (doaj) | society of african journal editors (saje) | asian digital library (adl) | african social work network(aswnet) | department of higher education and training (dhet) south africa | sjr | cnki – china | journal publishing practices and standards (jpps) | ebsco the hurdle of disseminating social work research findings in zimbabwe and a proposed model sunungurayi charamba and rudo mukurazhizha abstract research is a critical component in social work academic and practice circles. research aims at interrogating research implications and findings to ensure that it influences policy, practice and inform interventions. however, in africa, specifically zimbabwe academics are more interested in publishing research articles for their professional development and promotion in work places such as universities. it seems little attention is given to disseminate findings to stakeholders, research participants, communities so that changes and implementation of programs is effected by evidence from research findings. there is need for decolonisation and education on the part of african social workers to consider the later call seriously to develop communities. the researchers recommend blending academic and practical implications of social work research findings if social work research is to bring noticeable and great changes for emerging clinical and developmental issues for individuals, groups and communities. furthermore, if participants and key informants know that their contributions are valued they are likely to take research seriously as the outcome will benefit them. key terms: challenges, communities, decolonisation, dissemination, feedback, practice, research findings, social work, zimbabwe key dates received: march 2022 revised: june 2022 accepted: july 2022 published: august 2022 funding: none conflict of interest: none permission: none ethics approval: not applicable author/s details: sunungurayi charamba, midlands state university, faculty of social sciences, school of social work, corner grant and chinhoyi street, harare, zimbabwe. suecharambas@gmail.com rudo mukurazhizha, midlands state university, faculty of social sciences, school of social work, corner grant and chinhoyi street, harare, zimbabwe. mukurazhizharudo@gmail.com current and previous volumes are available at: https://africasocialwork.net/current-and-past-issues/ how to reference using aswnet style: charamba s. and mukurazvizha r. (2022). the hurdle of disseminating social work research findings in zimbabwe and a proposed model. african journal of social work, 12(4), 179-188. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 charamba s. & mukurazvizha r. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 180 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ introduction research is one of the core methods of social work which can assist in identifying problems, opportunities and improving the well-being of communities. in order to explore on existing diversified problematic issues affecting communities such as social, economic, environmental and political research is critical. research findings may contribute to the improvement of knowledge, influence policy making and practice (mugumbate & mtetwa, 2019). in social work research is the of the methods of helping individuals, groups and communities through research if it is done through a socially acceptable, manner it may improve the well-being of communities and impact on the general welfare of societies (maphalala, 2017; chilisa, 2012). the purpose of this paper is to look at the dissemination of research findings in social work education and practice. the paper is divided into sections with the background, research problem, theory, and literature, the motivation of the study, methodology, findings, and implications of the study, conclusions of the study, and the conclusion for the paper. background research as a method of social work research is the pillar of social work education and practice (makofane, 2018). it is not new to the field of social work globally and regionally (hodge & kibirige, 2022), in zimbabwe research emerged soon after independence (mupedziswa, 1998). social work research aims to identify problems, understand, explain, collect data, analyse data collected, present findings, and make recommendations for change in societies (gray, sharland, schubert & heinsch, 2014). according to aswnet, (2021) social work refers to the kind of social work that is relevant, preferred and practiced in africa. the researchers produce knowledge in which individuals, groups, communities are recipient users of the findings of the research (mabvurira and makhubele, 2018. in social work, research is undertaken by students at various levels, lecturers, and even extends to consultancy whilst research from practitioners is less appealing. research findings for social work discipline are very rich but shelved in libraries and internet yet it seems there is limited dissemination of research findings to benefit societies and communities involved. research is a recognised method of social work among casework, group work, community work, and administration in social work hence the need to highlight the inconsistencies in the feedback of social work research findings. despite the great movement toward research for many years, it is evident from the practice of the authors that research does not properly benefit individuals, groups, communities, and stakeholders. institutional review boards and research ethics committees require researchers when they get clearance to carry out research to give feedback on findings from the study to recipients and stakeholders during their initial process for example research council of zimbabwe (rcz), african independent ethics committee (aiec) among other boards. research as a core method of social work, social workers have a professional responsibility to generate and use research in practice interventions and strategies (bright, 2020). according to kaseke, dhemba, gumbo & kasere (1998) research is an important instrument for development in communities, however, due to the paucity of resources in the service provision in zimbabwe it affects even elements of research as there are various spheres with the social aspects receiving less priority to non-funding, agriculture receives 16% funding from the government as the country is an agro-based economy and so their findings should be disseminated (food aid organisation, 2017). efforts are there to encourage those in the education of social work, zimbabwe has education 5.0 with five pillars which include research, innovation, industrialization, community service, and teaching. universities have frequently been regarded as key institutions in the process of social change and development (ede, 2013). nations across the globe today depend increasingly on knowledge, ideas, and skills that are produced in universities (world bank, 2018). in practice, social service research is usually funded by donors in disaster situations and emergencies, social work research funding and dissemination of findings is still at a snail-pace and might be regarded as communication between social work scientists which the participants and stakeholders are often alienated due to multiple challenges. engagement in research-informed practice is regarded as a core competency by social work professional bodies (naswz, 2016). research in social work is hinged on academic and practice fields. however, the academic side seems to gain momentum at the expense of the latter and this is also attributed to the selling of brains for a consultancy where expertise is displayed. this implies that research is done for financial gains awarded to academics in consultancy causing the practicebased to be neglected. in academia dissemination of research findings is normally done through presentations and articles but feedback to communities and research is normally forgotten (vaughn, jacoby, williams, guerra, thomas & richmond, 2012) showing that this is not new. the results are submitted to the funding agencies without any influence from the researchers to contribute to communities. research in many universities in africa is conducted mostly to earn promotions, thus most researchers are aspiring and relatively new ph.d. holders. in fact, once a university lecturer is promoted to the rank of professor, research ends (ede, ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 charamba s. & mukurazvizha r. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 181 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2013; ambe, 2013). most research in african universities is conducted purely to earn academic promotions and has no relevance to the needs of the industry. research to practice deficiency needs to be properly explored in social work in zimbabwe and africa as a whole so that research has meaning in the social work fraternity. research in africa in the dynamic environment in which we live, especially in africa which is still a developing continent, it is very naïve of any person or institution to think that important decisions can continue to be made by rule of thumb or guesswork-hunches. brain drain, fostered by the absence of measures to promote research and innovation, the gaps in legislation to protect intellectual property, and the low wages earned by scientists, constitutes a major concern in the dissemination of research findings. according to unesco (2014: 67), some important changes will need to be implemented if the continent is to reach the suggested target of 1000 researchers per million population by 2025. other countries are investing in research as a discipline and in turn it contributes to the development of their nations for example south africa have research contributing 0.94% as a proportion of gdp, in terms of scientific publications, south africa is 46%, nigeria (11.4%) and kenya (6.6%) (ambe, 2013). other countries such as uganda, cameroon, zambia, and botswana have tried to cushion salaries for university researchers and teaching staff to yield better dissemination of findings. the need for research as a tool for socioeconomic development has long been realized by african nations and yet efforts are still at a snail’s pace with some covering sectors such as agriculture which has a direct contribution to economic development whilst other sectors such as social services are rarely funded least in times of emergencies. the slow pace of the pursuit of social service research activities in some sectors in african nations has been largely responsible for the stunted growth and development of africa as a third-world continent (ede, 2013). community feedback and dissemination of research findings is very important in social work practice and education. research is multi-faceted in nature in social work ranging from micro (individuals and families), meso (group) and macro (community) level perspectives. in social work problems troubling individuals, groups, and communities that are clinical or developmental in nature are found using systematic inquiry into the affected populace. mbulayi & makuyana (2021) posit that people have social, economic and psychological challenges and interventions should be informed by research findings. the areas for research can be poverty, education disparities, health-related problems, disability, water and sanitation, gender inequalities, and occupational issues among others. the results are key not only to social work education but to participants, policymakers, stakeholders and add value in gray areas. however, this can be only achieved if the feedback of the research findings is communicated by researchers to all stakeholders involved in the research process. research problem and justification research is being conducted by social work academics and practitioners including participants who assist with information voluntarily, however, feedback to the very participants is still at a snail’s pace in africa. as research is conducted utilising ethics, so should be the dissemination of findings, the people who contributed to knowledge need to know whether positive or negative findings will assist research participants in their well-being as a whole. research and dissemination of findings in zimbabwe are closely tied to a shona proverb aguta haaoneke which means one who has had his fill does not bid farewell, they leave because they have nothing further to ask. the findings of the research may assist communities to develop, change their attitudes and focus on positivity but the question is how can societies contribute towards their wellbeing when little to no feedback is given to them, how can they embrace the positive aspects in their societies when they have no positive feedback to encourage them. figure 1 indicates the existing stages in research and the missing link. figure 1: existing stages in research and the missing link ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 charamba s. & mukurazvizha r. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 182 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the contribution of this research is that it might add value to the knowledge gap in african social work research in responding to human and social needs in a culture-specific context. furthermore, it may promote strong collaboration and partnership of policymakers, social planners, practitioners, students, participants, and stakeholders in coming together so that they speak the same language where research may not be regarded as scientists speaking to other scientists. research findings should be communicated properly where everyone participates thus having a sense of oneness and solidarity. if participants are also trained and educated about research it will make them and take research seriously provide useful information affecting them as communities, groups and individuals. ubuntu theory the article is informed by the ubuntu theory which is an african philosophy that places emphasis on the premise that 'being self through others and values humanity among people (van breda, 2019; mugumbate and nyanguru, 2013). the principles of ubuntu theory like collectiveness, sharing, dependability, community denotes the cyclical nature of research hence the need for reciprocity in research studies where the participants give input and the researchers share outcomes through dissemination of findings for visible social change. the theory is critical when considering dissemination of social work research findings as to the researchers, primary participants; key informants, stakeholders, and policymakers constitute the research populace. therefore the value of human relations where there is no superiority-inferiority complexity is of uttermost importance if feedback of research findings is to have a great contribution to social work practice is considered rather than producing rich researches with no implementation for change to the researched individuals, groups or communities. ubuntu theory becomes a lens of explaining the challenges and what could be done in african social work education and practice if this social work method is to be vigorous and stand the taste of time. methodology the study adopts an experience-based approach (eba) or experiential approach drawing on the experiences of the intersection of authors in social work practice and the academic field. this study seeks to use the experiencebased approach as a methodology that is relevant to social work practice to suit the indigenous settings in africa (chilisa, major & khudu-petersen, 2017; chilisa, 2012) in describing and explaining the gap existing in giving feedback and recommendations to researched individuals, groups, and communities in responding to problems that might have been identified. the eba is motivated by ibrahima and mattaini (2019); khupe and keane (2017) who argued for the decolonization of african social work methodologies. many social work researchers use a qualitative research approach in seeking to explore and understand problems affecting individuals, groups, and communities. the qualitative approach emphasizes the understanding of social phenomena through direct observation, communication with participants, or analysis of texts (mabvurira and makhubele, 2018). experiencebased approach the researchers feel that is a rich source of information involving views and opinions which can help the social work discipline to identify diagnose and come up with solutions in research in africa especially the dissemination of findings. the research utilised narrative research design as it best suits the storytelling of the experiences of the authors. the advantage is its uniqueness in sharing how research findings are shared and some of the challenges. findings language barriers the researchers found out that in zimbabwe there are many dialects constituting the ndebele, zezuru, korekore, ndau, karanga,, venda, shangani, maungwe, tonga among others. the research documents with the outcome of the research are normally written in english but some are illiterate and can only comprehend the local language within the confines of their geographical setting. i have realised that during my practice in a hospital setting the research findings were submitted to the institutional research committee office before the students at undergraduate, master’s, and phd submit their final work to their respective universities. rarely were the documented research findings handed to the department and participants in question for perusal and translated into different languages. however, the data collection instruments were translated into vernacular language so as to elicit fruitful information which is different from disseminating the finding (author 1). ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 charamba s. & mukurazvizha r. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 183 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ transcription of research findings in vernacular language braille and sign language included is very rare, l have researched disability issues several times with some of the research participants being visually impaired yet l do not remember when l had braille to share the findings. when collecting data, it is hoped by the participants that they will also gain the research findings in the same manner the researcher managed to elicit data from them, but it’s hardly the cas. (author 2). from the verbatim it is evident that the research findings are presented in english whilst ignoring other local languages and special needs especially of the visually impaired. selling brains in consultancy work from experience in practice, social workers are also into consultancy work where they collect the data and analyse the data yet the contracting organisations are the ones who own the findings. it is very difficult for social work researchers to really know how the findings are going to be given back to the prospective beneficiaries to make changes whether on poverty, health-related issues, water and sanitation, and vulnerable groups. this is shown below: social workers can be given consultancy work by developmental and financing agencies to carry out research in communities as experts in soliciting knowledge. however, once the data is collected and analysed the findings and recommendations are little is known about whether the outcome is communicated properly to the participants and stakeholders. the agencies after paying for the services offered by social work researchers would be in possession of the findings meaning to say that the knowledge is there but the practical use is questionable whether it will be for sourcing funding or what? (author 1). consultancy work comes with remuneration, it often comes with deadlines and set deliverables that have to meet the vision of the agency. as a social worker with a responsibility to the agency, clients, and the profession, one will be in an ethical dilemma of wanting to share knowledge with the research findings which could not be the core of the agency such that one is left with no option but just to ensure there is no harm to participants, the research should be voluntary among other ethics to protect the participants (author 2). from the above narratives, it is evident that social work researchers have the knowledge to carry out research guided by research ethics and they are recruited to carry out the study. it is clear that they do not have a say in the dissemination of the findings instead a mechanism should be designed to make sure that change is informed by evidence from the research. dissertations and thesis in social work academic circles there is evidence from academic practice that shows that research is done in partial fulfilment of the requirements of undergraduate and postgraduate studies in schools of social work education. there is overwhelming research done by students in academic fields where they identify problems and research in societies and communities. they analyse the findings and present them through vivas where they will defend their findings and show that they have done the research. this is presented by a1 below: in my experience in academia in universities for undergraduates and postgraduates to complete their studies they carry out research in their area of interest where they identify the problem and collect data with the aid of the school supervisor. upon completion, they present their findings to the department of social work and there are also required to submit a soft copy to the library to be uploaded on the internet. the life after analysis of research findings seems to be not of great importance (author 1). dissemination of research findings in academia has not benefitted the participants who are involved in the research process rather university repositories hardly have the space to occupy the research findings such that other findings are lying idle in various offices with no one to look at them. it is a core mandate of universities in zimbabwe that in order for one to graduate they should have at least 2 copies of their dissertations one for the department and one for the library, due to technology a soft copy will also be uploaded online. i remember when l did my first dissertation the organisation requested a copy of my findings which l shared with them, but l believe the copy is there for formality not to share the findings with the participants who were involved in the entire research process. i ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 charamba s. & mukurazvizha r. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 184 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ do not remember looking at my dissertation from the day l submitted it, maybe when l want to refer to the research participants that l did not give them feedback (author 2). the direct words clearly show that the output from academic field is huge but the use of findings does not benefit the researched communities as there is no proper follow up on dissemination of findings. writing research articles for promotional purposes from the experience of the researchers, research competency is a requirement in tertiary institutions across all disciplines including social work guided by the 5.0 obligations in universities. almost every lecturer engages in research to boost articles as contractual performances and promotional requirements. this makes individuals in academia carrying out research a requirement. this implies that much attention is given to publishing articles in different highly indexed journals whereas the participants and stakeholders might not get the research findings for use to change practice and come up with new methods and strategies in practice to improve the lives of community members in different societies. there is competition among lecturers in publishing in highly indexed journals but the dissemination of findings is not done (author 1). there is a need for one to be tenured and there is no option research is key in academic life that is why we are always writing research papers, trying to grab every opportunity that comes our way which to do with research. at times researching is extrinsic which includes promotions but for me, it is now intrinsic l feel l have to be a mentor, referring to my work in this academic life. however, it all goes to promotional purposes and titles in academia which brings some form of satisfaction (author 2). it is evident from the narratives research for promotional purposes are at the core of social work in academic circles. lack of resources to implement the findings from the experiences of the authors, it is evident that the lack of financial resources by targeted stakeholders to bring required change in the welfare and delivery of services informed by research findings is a major stumbling block in social work research. the researchers, at times, give feedback but follow up for the implementation is rarely done especially in countries with troubled economies. the interrogation of the authors with researchers during their practice indicated that at times it’s not the problem for the researchers but failure to have funding opportunities to carry out recommended activities to improve their welfare resulting in a vicious cycle of the same problems as there is no funding specifically for vulnerable and marginalised communities in the national budget. in cases where research findings have been communicated the recommendations maybe just be thrown in the dustbin of history because of a lack of financial resources responding to research outcomes. in government departments, there is rarely any funding earmarked for research thus research findings are not fully utilised. for example, in hospital setups, participants are drawn from different departments but at times after discharge, there are no funds for follow-ups to give feedback and design strategies to improve their living standards (author 1). it is evident that utilisation of research findings especially in third world countries due to harsh economic environments characterised by small budgets for critical areas of research may be given a small grant limiting the change in the lives of individuals, groups, and communities in responding to their human and social needs. from the ubuntu perspective wholeness of research is undermined by a lack of resources thereby leading to a further vicious cycle of problems. discussion of findings it is clear that there should be a clear pathway of making sure that the findings reach the recipients who should benefit and bring about needed change as required by the social work quest to research participants. the findings should be translated into local languages and even translators to share the information, especially with the elderly who cannot read so as to be user friendly also advocated by (ndimande, 2012). languages are diversified in terms of locality, cultural identities, and experience therefore consumers should not be discriminated from accessing results because of language barriers hence the call for indigenising research so that no-one is left behind ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 charamba s. & mukurazvizha r. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 185 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (mabvurira & makhubele 2018). communication of research findings should be clear using local language hence the need for advocacy to social work researchers to take this seriously if the robust change is to be witnessed in social work practice after being informed by research. the social work university libraries and the internet has more than enough research findings which show that knowledge that is current and matches existing problems in communities is there but the broadcasting of findings back to the community is limited hence a vicious cycle of the same problems. muriisa, (2014) contemplates also the underutilisation of research output in ugandan universities though it is core to higher institutes of learning which is also similar to social work universities in zimbabwe. wight , ahikire, kwesiga (2014) highlight the need for social scientists not to be fascinated by being hired for money by consultancy but to make a difference through giving results back to the society which is also confirmed in the current research. therefore there is need for training and partnership among stakeholders like consultant agencies, academia, community members band practitioners to be educated about the importance of research output in terms of dissemination of findings back to communities. there is need to have a copy of research findings to be submitted to participants at their research sites for verification before submission and publications to reduce cases of misrepresentation of findings. failure to give feedback at times makes the participants be reluctant to participate in future research where they echo sentiments that they are tired of being asked questions about their plight yet nothing is changing for their livelihoods. strategies that can be utilised to improve the dissemination of research findings the findings of the study indicated language barriers hinder the dissemination of findings in social work and should be corrected through the use of local languages guided by geographical boundaries so that the elderly and illiterate benefit from the outcome of their contributions. research in africa is not endemic to africa as it was brought by education from the west hence the need for decolonisation of research in the african context by desisting from using english as a medium of communication in the dissemination of findings thus calling for indigenisation of research in social work. science serves its purpose if properly communicated to participants and stakeholders. advocacy for research grants from the national budgetary allocation towards research through the ministry of labour and social services to inform social policy and social planning. according to mafa (2017) and the resource dependency theory by pfeffer and salancik (2003), policies on their own are insufficient to bring any change if they are not backed up with resources that can ensure their translation into needed programs. funding is critical for the dissemination of research findings so as to engage the local communities on areas that need change and how to ensure the wellbeing of communities as a whole. the findings reiterate the fact that zimbabwe adopts a residual approach to the dissemination of research findings where its intervention is minimal and temporary. the institutions training social work should ensure goodwill by students disseminating their research findings. social workers as advocates for social justice (lucas 2015; lombard & twikirize 2014) should therefore lobby for the dissemination of research findings to the research participants as a way of community feedback that may sustain their wellbeing and find ways to ensure effective coping mechanisms in their localities. the current paper has also established that social work practitioners and educators suffer a lack of financial viability (kumi, 2017). this implies that the impact, as well as visibility of research findings being offered by social workers in zimbabwe, may continue to be compromised as there is a lack of the needed resources to ensure that research findings reach the grassroots levels. as a result, the dissemination of research findings remains glaring in ensuring the wellbeing of societies. in academic institutions, there is a need for the establishment of a research institute that grooms the students with feedback on research findings. the students at undergraduate and postgraduate academic institutions teaching social work should engage in the refresher course and teach students the importance of feedback on research findings in the process of creating knowledge. furthermore, supervisors should also teach students that dissertation writing is not only a journey for authorship but be aligned to social work values and social work research ethics to bring about positive change in marginalised and underprivileged participants researched. social work education and training should encourage their students to disseminate findings it should be awarded some marks after feedback from the participants involved in the research process as knowledge is imparted zano marairanwa. the african researchers should publish in african journals if they can be country specific to translate the research findings which can benefit the african base even translated to local languages to improve accessibility by stakeholders thereby benefiting rather than preferring international journals. the relevant stakeholders in practice and academic circles should engage in a fruitful partnership in the implementation of research findings where they articulate their needs, fears, and solutions in valuing the dignity and worth of all partners if the rich research findings of the research are to be of great importance to all subsystems involved. this ensures sharing and exchange of information critical to the feedback of findings as no one is left behind. dialogue and partnership between policymakers, implementers, academics, and various ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 charamba s. & mukurazvizha r. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 186 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ stakeholders are needed if research is to have noticeable positive yields through workshops and training for wholeness, reciprocity, exchange of ideas, solidarity, and communism. social marketing through mass media to raise awareness and sensitisations of communities on the dissemination of research findings on billboards, social media platforms, music, radio, television, dramas identity to ubuntu perspective. this might make even the participants at the grassroots level realise that research is not just a mere waste of time but bring about change in their ways of life. consultancy agencies should also value the feedback from individuals, groups, and communities rather than making reports to their donors for financial gains. it is evident that some participants now respond to what is needed by enumerators as they do not realise the change and at times take the interviewing process not serious. the social work researchers should be abiding by social research ethics of accountability. figure 2: model of disseminating results conclusion the article concludes that the process of dissemination of research findings in social work has the ubuntu perspective embedded in it. the feedback from research findings is faced with multiple challenges such as a lack of financial resources, language barriers, selling of research expertise in consultancy, research for promotional basis, and dissertations in circulation for academic fulfilment. there is a need to consider indigenisation for research in social work to also consider culturally sensitive issues specific to local communities where research is carried out. feedback on research findings needs robust attention through the partnership of academics, practice, stakeholders, policymakers to map the way forward if research findings are to be fruitful in spearheading change in communities. the critical players in the research process such as students, lecturers, practitioners, and stakeholders should have combined training and workshop to curb the problem of having dormant social work research findings on library shelves and on the internet. dissemination of research findings community engagement social marketing workshops with local stakeholders publishing in african journals translation of findings to local languages feedback to ethical committee ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 charamba s. & mukurazvizha r. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 187 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of ubuntu in social work. african journal of social work, 3 (1), 82-100. mupedziswa r., (1988). social work practice in zimbabwe and the factors instrumental in its development. university of zimbabwe: school of social work muriisa r. k., (2014) rethinking the role of universities in africa: leadership as a missing link in explaining university performance in uganda. journal of higher education in africa 12(1), 69-92. ndimande b.s., (2012). decolonizing research in post-apartheid south africa: the politics of methodology. qualitative inquiry, 18(3), 215–226. o'hare t., (2020). evidence-based practices for social workers: an interdisciplinary approach. usa: oxford university press. sithole s., (2016). conducting research for the first time: experiences of under-graduate social work students. the social work practitioner-researcher, 28 (1). udochukwu e., (2011). the role of research in economic growth, journal of policy and development studies, 6(1), 25-34. unesco (2014). research and development: africa is making progress despite major challenges, http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view. van breda d.d., (2019). developing the concept of ubuntu as african theory for social work practice. social work 55(4), 439-450 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 charamba s. & mukurazvizha r. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 188 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ viriri a., and mungwini, p., (2010). african cosmology and the duality of western hegemony: the search for an african identity. the journal of pan-african studies 3(27), 27-42. wight d., ahikire j., and kwesiga, j.c (2014). consultancy research as a barrier to strengthening social science research capacity in uganda. social science & medicine, 116, 32-40. microsoft word 1 key drivers of egyptian social work researchers' low preference for using qualitative research methods in social work studies.docx ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ibrahim, a. t. h. & elsherbiny, m. m. k. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 142 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ publisher african journal of social work afri. j. soc. work © national association of social workers-zimbabwe/author(s) issn print 1563-3934 issn online 2409-5605 licensed under a creative commons attribution-non-commercial 4.0 international license indexed& accredited with: african journals online (ajol) | university of zimbabwe accredited journals (uzaj) | scopus (elsevier’s abstract and citation database) | directory of open access journals (doaj) | society of african journal editors (saje) | asian digital library (adl) | african social work network(aswnet) | department of higher education and training (dhet) south africa | sjr | cnki – china | journal publishing practices and standards (jpps) | ebsco key drivers of egyptian social work researchers' low preference for using qualitative research methods in social work studies ahmed thabet helal ibrahim and mohamed mohamed kamel elsherbiny abstract social work has a long history in applying qualitative research methods. although the use of the qualitative approach in social work research helps enrich the research, many researchers in social work disciplines in egypt still avoid using this method when implementing scientific studies in professional social work settings. this study investigates the key drivers of egyptian social work researchers' low preferences for using qualitative research methods. an online survey was conducted using a non-probability snowball sampling technique scale. a total of 67 responses were received: 25 males and 42 females with ages ranging from 30 years old to more than 49 years old. findings show that many factors are preventing the use of this type of method, such as the researchers’ lack of skills in using the qualitative method, the researchers’ lack of sufficient knowledge about this method in the different educational stages, the fear of not being able to do this type of research, and their preference for quantitative research. this study provides strategies for helping social work researchers apply qualitative research methods in their studies. key terms: qualitative research methods, social work studies, egypt, social work research key dates received: march 2022 revised: june 2022 accepted: july 2022 published: august 2022 funding: none conflict of interest: none permission: none ethics approval: not applicable author/s details: ahmed thabet helal ibrahim sociology and social work department, college of arts and social sciences, sultan qaboos university, oman; social casework department, faculty of social work at assiut university, egypt. email: a.ibrahim1@squ.edu.om & ahmed.socialwork@aun.edu.eg mohamed mohamed kamel elsherbiny, professor, social casework department, faculty of social work, assiut university; sociology and social work department, college of arts and social sciences, sultan qaboos university, oman. email: mmsherbiny@aun.edu.eg & sherbiny@squ.edu.om current and previous volumes are available at: https://africasocialwork.net/current-and-past-issues/ how to reference using aswnet style: ibrahim a. t. h. and elsherbiny, m. m. k. (2022). key drivers of egyptian social work researchers' low preference for using qualitative research methods in social work studies. african journal of social work, 12(4), 142-152. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ibrahim, a. t. h. & elsherbiny, m. m. k. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 143 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ introduction there are various benefits and reasons why qualitative research is appealing and relevant to social work. despite the fact that qualitative research is gaining traction and gaining widespread recognition around the world, a significant number of social work researchers in egypt are yet to receive knowledge of qualitative research, so they hardly be involved in that method of research. this may be because the egyptian academic institutions in social work are still far from applying this type of research, especially with the dominance of quantitative research in all research activities in social work. this dominance results in low preference by social work researchers in egypt to use qualitative research methods. in this paper, the authors discuss the main reasons and motives for the low preference of egyptian researchers to use qualitative research methods in social work studies. background at the beginning of the twenties of the last century, scientific research in humanities and social sciences was dominated by research methods based on field quantitative data. the competition of gaining scientific status focused on the degree of complexity and detailed data, methods, and way of analyzing the quantitative data. these are analyzing and collection of these data have achieved widespread a way that suggests that those who do not use these complex methods are not well prepared for scientific research methods (al-elwany, 2006). despite the importance of quantitative research methods in human research regarding their reliance on statistical data and quantitative analyzes interpretations that can be generalized in understanding human phenomena, these quantitative approaches take from the natural sciences approach as the only approach when researching human phenomena without taking into account the unique specificity of those phenomena and the social researcher's relationship with them. the results of scientific studies and research confirm the dominance of quantitative research in humanities and social sciences. due to its frequent uses in natural research, quantitative research methodology is considered more scientific and accurate than qualitative research methodology. it has become dominant in the human sciences in general. as a result, the quantitative approach became associated with the positivist model (al-harby, 2021). if the quantitative approach seeks to predict and test hypotheses, and apply and apply the theory to reality, the qualitative approach is not limited to merely describing the phenomenon but building scientific theories through observations and experiences as well that the researcher goes through in his study el-kandarī states that when quantitative research provides an explanation based on inference, it does not provide a thorough, analytical and realistic understanding of that behavior. qualitative research seeks to explain human phenomena by understanding reality and its multiple aspects, in order to deeply depict the complex pattern of what is being studied in building models through the analysis of its component parts and their composition, the interpretation of the social meaning of events, and the analysis of the relationships between events and external factors (alkandarī, 2006). quantitative research is based on numbers and statistics and focuses on numerical measurement of certain features of a problem or phenomenon. because quantitative research often collects a large and representative sample of data from a large number of respondents, statistics help quantitative research in the processing of large amounts of detailed data. quantitative research is most useful when the phenomenon is well-understood to determine which precise categories and types of data are required to gain a better understanding (sheafor, horejsi, 2015). the impact of quantitative methodologies on social work research has sometimes been limited due to the sensitive and confidential nature of the social work activity (malcome, 2013). there are also schools of thought (particularly feminism) that believe quantitative research fails to effectively explore and hence fully understand research participants.in qualitative research, non-numerical data is collected and analyzed in order to better comprehend concepts, opinions, or experiences. it is interpretivist, looking for a deeper understanding of a phenomenon in its context (denzin & lincoln, 2008; morrow, 2007). the goal of qualitative research is to describe the factors being investigated. it is expressed using the words for the given data sets. when the underlying characteristics of the phenomenon being examined are still uncertain and difficult to define, qualitative research is the best option. in general, qualitative research differs from quantitative research in that it is inductive rather than deductive, and it takes into account experiences in context rather than controlling for factors as in an experiment (bogdan & biklen, 2007). ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ibrahim, a. t. h. & elsherbiny, m. m. k. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 144 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the relevance of qualitative and quantitative research to africa despite the fact that qualitative and quantitative research approaches are on opposite ends of the spectrum, they are all geared at detecting and identifying social problems in different ways. qualitative research used many methods in collecting data (see table 1) from the participants in their natural settings. the collected data (for example through in-depth interview) give a detailed explanation of the studied problem or phenomenon. as for the other type, quantitative research has been seen as a "researcher detachment" method (eyisi, d, 2016). when it comes to "researcher detachment," quantitative research has a distinct advantage. research bias will be eliminated as there is no effect of data collection. when the researcher collects the data by telephone, internet, or even a pencil-and-paper questionnaire, the risk of bias in data collection or analysis is greatly reduced. table 1: examples of quantitative and qualitative approaches used in africa qualitative research methods quantitative research methods interviews experiments focus groups questionnaires content analysis observation surveys such as kap (abdullahi, et al., 2012) case study database reports storytelling observations expressed in numbers the problem the importance of qualitative research methodology in the social sciences comes from the fact that it focuses on describing phenomena and a deeper understanding of them. it is also based on the philosophy that the truth is not one but rather multiple and changing and is formed and built according to the understanding of a group of people or individuals. accordingly, the problem of this study focuses on identifying the main reasons and motives for the low preference of egyptian researchers to use qualitative research methods in social work studies. moreover, this study also attempts to determine the relationship between some demographic variables such as gender, residence, number of experience years and nature of work and their relationship to the low preference of qualitative research in social work in egypt. the significance of this study comes from the importance of the qualitative approach to social work studies and research, as qualitative research methods allow for more deep investigation and questioning of the subjects based on their responses, as the researcher tries to understand their motives and feelings along with their thoughts, information and opinions. this cross-sectional study seeks to understand the key drivers of egyptian social work researchers' low preferences for using qualitative research methods in social work studies. the primary research question for this study is the following: what are the main motives for egyptian social work researchers' low preferences for using qualitative research methods in social work studies? addressing this question will provide empirical evidence as to what are the factors associated with the low ability of social work researchers in egypt to integrate qualitative methods into their scientific research in a way that sheds light on some recommendations that would enhance the use of qualitative research methods in social work research in egypt. theoretical framework research methods, in the field of human and social studies, were at first obtained from the research methods in natural science subjects, and their main concern was focused on research and verification of things that could be observed and measured. therefore, researchers called this method the quantitative research method. for a long time, researchers in sociology and psychology concentrate on studying the human behavior. they found it very difficult to explain using quantitative measurement. quantitative measurement often shows that a group of people behave in a certain way, but it does not give us an adequate answer about how they behave in this way. since that, many researchers have adopted qualitative research methods (al-jeddy, 2014). from this point of view, the qualitative approach comes with unique features and characteristics that take into account the characteristics of human phenomena characterized by continuous change, multiple reality and circular causality to give new horizons for the social researcher enabling him to integrate with the human phenomenon and interact with it in order to understand the social reality associated with it (al-brithen, 2012). the qualitative approach refers to research strategies such as observation and participation, in-depth interview, field research, comprehensive coexistence of social activity, among others. such strategies allow the researcher to obtain direct knowledge from ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ibrahim, a. t. h. & elsherbiny, m. m. k. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 145 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ the real world that he/she deals with by research and study (zeitoun, 2004). literature review goldman (1989) indicated that practitioners in the humanitarian professions should reduce reliance on quantitative research and move towards more realistic methods in dealing with human phenomena such as case study, naturalistic investigation and content analysis, because of the importance of these methods in helping the professional practitioner to efficiently and effectively provide the assistance process, as it contributes to an indepth understanding of the dimensions of the problems faced by those seeking assistance. few egyptian studies have been conducted researchers' disfavor to use the qualitative approach in social studies, such as the study of al-harby (2021), which reveals the obstacles to using qualitative approach in sociology research. that study recommended the necessity of getting rid of unidirectionality in sociology research and using methodological pluralism in line with the studied phenomena, training staff members, post-graduate students and researchers to use qualitative methodologies, initiating an independent course for teaching qualitative methods in undergraduate and post-graduate programs, and publishing cultural programs that enhance the use of qualitative methods. el-sherbiny's study (2020) aimed determining the attitudes of faculty members towards the use of the qualitative approach in social work research. the results of his study displayed a decrease in the tendency of egyptian faculty members to use qualitative research in social work. the study emphasized the necessity to increase the knowledge of faculty members with the techniques and advantages of the qualitative approach in social work research. the study also recommended the necessity of conducting more future studies concerned with strengthening the attitudes of faculty members towards the use of the qualitative approach in social work research. abdel hamid's study (2009) indicated that the reliance on quantitative research in the arab environment in general and the egyptian environment, in particular, is due to several reasons such as the conservative tendency that dominates arab societies and the resulting tendency of adapting to the existing conditions, and even their fierce resistance to any attempts of change or renewal, the scientific upbringing of successive generations of arab researchers was based on the data of the functional constructivist school and its intellectual perceptions which have dominated and continues to dominate on the activities and events of social research in the education and preparation of arab researchers. moreover, the culture of distance from the clash, which was formed by many researchers and left by the colonial tendency, established among researchers the notion that their security and the security of their families is linked to the distance from dealing with social issues and problems in an analytical and critical manner. hence, it became the safest alternative for them to adopt the quantitative approach, because it allows for a kind of political and social neutrality in dealing with these issues, as it presents a superficial vision that is separated from the political and social context. social researchers realized that their economic security is largely related to what they accumulate of cultural capital, and they achieve that from their ability to adopt a research thesis that allows them not to disagree with the orientation of states and systems of government and to provide acceptable solutions from the ruling elite to the problems of society. methodology data collection the current study is considered a cross-sectional study using descriptive method designed to assess the key motives of egyptian social work researchers' low preferences for using qualitative research methods in social work studies. an online measurement has been developed using google examples with an annex of informed consent form attached. the survey link was sent through emails, whatsapp, and other social media (facebook and twitter) to the participants' contacts. participants were encouraged to publish the survey to as many social work researchers as possible. when the participants receive the link and click on it, they automatically obtain information about the study and the informed consent. after they accepted the survey, they filled out demographic details, and then a set of questions, which participants had to answer, appeared consecutively. the study was done online. participants could access the internet to participate in the study. participants over the age of 18, who are able to read arabic, and are ready to give informed consent, were included. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ibrahim, a. t. h. & elsherbiny, m. m. k. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 146 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ study instrument the survey instrument was adopted as a main key instrument for collecting data from the egyptian researchers. the authors designed the instrument in accordance with the aims and the study questions. the study instruments were verified through refereeing the survey by ten specialized professors in social work in egypt. the process of the instrument’s validity was represented after calculating the internal consistency according to cronbach equation. the total value of the instrument was 0.95 which is considered as the highest rates that are acceptable for the purposes of the study. response options were presented on a five-point likert-scale assessing agreement with the stem: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neither agree nor disagree, 4= agree, and 5 = strongly agree. characteristics of the study sample most participants 44(65.67%) reported being between 30 years or less of age; 42(62.7%) reported being between 30 years or less of age, 21(31.33%) reported being between 30-39 years of age; and 4 (5.97 %) reported being between 40-49 years of age (m 30.36, sd 6.98). twenty five participants were male (37.3%) and 42 (62.7%) were female. most of the participants, 40(59.7%) reported holding a bachelor of social work (bsw) as their highest level of education, while 16 participants (23.8%) reported holding a master’s in social work (msw), and 11 (16.5 %) reported completing their doctor of philosophy (phd). most of the participants, 40 (59.7%) reported a postgraduate student as their current position, while 9 participants (13.4%) reported working as a demonstrator, 7 (10.4 %) reported working as a teaching assistant, 6 (9.0 %) reported working as an assistant professor, 3 (4.5 %) reported working as a professor, and 2 (3.0 %) reported working as an associate professor. thirty seven participants (55.22%) reported having five years or less of professional experience, 19 (28.36%) reported having 5>10 years, 7 (10.45 %) reported having 10>15 years, and only 4 respondents (5.97%) reported having 15> years of experience (m 5.582, sd 6.86). twenty three participants (34.3%) reported fields of social work as their specialization, while 22 participants (32.8%) reported micro social work, 13 (19.4 %) reported social policy and planning, 7 (10.4 %) reported macro social work, and 2 (3.0 %) reported mezzo social work as their specialization. results the key drivers of egyptian social work researchers' low preferences for using qualitative research methods the results of the current study indicated that there are three main factors that drive egyptian social work researchers to the low preferences for using qualitative research methods. these factors are personal factors, academic institution factors, and environment and research climate factors that drive egyptian social work researchers to the low preferences for using qualitative research methods. in the following tables, we will refer to these factors. personal factors that drive egyptian social work researchers to the low preferences for using qualitative research methods ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ibrahim, a. t. h. & elsherbiny, m. m. k. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 147 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ table 2: the responses of the study sample toward low preference for qualitative research according to the researcher's personal factors n=67 no. item mean sd rank level 1 i am convinced of the futility of qualitative research in addressing research phenomena and problems. 2.299 1.02 22 disagree 2 i prefer the quantitative research style to qualitative research for its ease. 3.045 0.944 9 neither agree nor disagree 3 i do not know the steps of qualitative research and the mechanisms for its implementation. 2.791 0.993 20 neither agree nor disagree 4 i do not favour the use of qualitative research in social work research due to its long implementation time. 2.761 0.971 21 neither agree nor disagree 5 i do not have sufficient knowledge of how to conduct qualitative research and its applications. 3.030 1.044 11 neither agree nor disagree 6 i am afraid that i will not be able to do this type of research. 2.881 1.038 17 neither agree nor disagree 7 i miss the ability to form the research question in qualitative studies. 3.045 0.960 10 neither agree nor disagree 8 i am afraid of the difficulty of finding the appropriate statistical analysis in the qualitative study. 3.209 0.978 5 neither agree nor disagree 9 i do not have sufficient knowledge of the ethics of qualitative research. 2.925 1.049 16 neither agree nor disagree 10 i lack the ability to understand and perceive deep qualitative research problems and phenomena. 2.866 0.968 18 neither agree nor disagree 11 i am afraid of the difficulty of applying research interviews related to qualitative research. 2.866 1.013 19 neither agree nor disagree 12 lack of financial resources prevents me from using the qualitative approach. 2.940 1.071 14 neither agree nor disagree 13 i lack the knowledge, experience and skills to conduct qualitative research. 3.030 1.10 12 neither agree nor disagree 14 i do not prefer using qualitative research because its results cannot be generalized. 2.940 0.833 15 neither agree nor disagree 15 i do not have sufficient research depth to analyze and interpret qualitative research data. 3.194 1.062 6 neither agree nor disagree 16 i prefer to use quantitative research rather than qualitative because that's what i know. 3.030 1.015 13 neither agree nor disagree 17 i lack awareness of the relationships between events, external factors research phenomena. 3.493 0.823 2 agree 18 i am having difficulty applying statistical validity and reliability in qualitative research. 3.239 0.889 4 neither agree nor disagree 19 i cannot obtain and represent the sample in the research community when applying qualitative research. 3.164 0.963 7 neither agree nor disagree 20 i did not participate in any funded researches concerned with the qualitative approach in social work. 3.582 0.972 1 agree 21 qualitative research methods drain a lot of researchers' time and effort. 3.119 1.066 8 neither agree nor disagree 22 i do not know how to deal with statistical programs related to qualitative analysis. 3.343 0.993 3 neither agree nor disagree average 3.036 0.603 neither agree nor disagree table 2 shows that the researchers' responses to the phrases of the first axis concerned with the motives of the low preference of egyptian researchers for qualitative research due to the personality of the researchers came with an average rate of (3.036) and a standard deviation of (0.603) with a degree of neutral approval. the table also shows the averages and the standard deviations regarding the responses of the sample members. the order of the phrases according to their average displays that the phrases (17-20) came in a high degree. these phrases indicated that one of the most important reasons for researchers not preferring to use the qualitative approach is the lack of funded research projects concerned with qualitative research in social work, as well as the researchers’ lack of ability to perceive correlations between the events and the external factors of research phenomena when using the qualitative method. most of the phrases in this table show a neutral response, which indicates the low preference of egyptian researchers to use qualitative research methods according to personal factors that the egyptian researchers lack the knowledge of how to use statistical programs concerned with qualitative approach. other factors are the unavailability of an appropriate statistical test for qualitative research and finding difficulty in applying validity and statistical stability in qualitative research. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ibrahim, a. t. h. & elsherbiny, m. m. k. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 148 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ academic institution factors that drive egyptian social work researchers to the low preferences for using qualitative research methods table 3: the responses of the study sample towards the low preference for qualitative research according to the factors associated with the academic institution n=67 no. item mean sd rank level 1 i did not receive sufficient theoretical knowledge of qualitative research. 3.194 1.08 6 neither agree nor disagree 2 arab scientific journals refuse to publish research papers that use qualitative research as a research methodology. 2.970 0.921 8 neither agree nor disagree 3 there is a lack of arabic, and non-arabic sources and references specialized in qualitative research. 2.985 0.929 7 neither agree nor disagree 4 i have no desire to contradict the general trend in my organization, which tends to use quantitative research in social work. 3.224 0.867 5 neither agree nor disagree 5 academic culture promotes the use of the quantitative method in social work research. 3.388 0.797 3 neither agree nor disagree 6 the focus of the faculty staff who taught me about quantitative studies 3.522 0.911 1 agree 7 the university does not provide the necessary statistical software to analyze qualitative data. 3.254 0.990 4 neither agree nor disagree 8 the lack of conferences and workshops that encourage the dissemination of a culture of qualitative research in social work. 3.493 1.04 2 agree average 3.254 0.644 neither agree nor disagree table (3) shows that the researchers' responses to the second axis phrases of the factors associated with the low preference of egyptian researchers for the use of qualitative research represented in the academic institutions in which they work came with an average of (3.254) and a standard deviation of (0.644) with a degree of neutral approval. the table also shows the average and the standard deviations of the responses of the sample members. regarding the order of the phrases according to their averages, the phrases (7,8) display a high degree, while the rest of the phrases in the table indicate a medium degree. the low preference of the egyptian researchers to use the qualitative approach may be because researchers do not receive any courses related to qualitative research, as well as the lack of scientific events that encourage the integration of qualitative research into their scientific research, in addition to the academic culture that enhances the importance of using the quantitative approach over the qualitative approach in social work studies. moreover, the lack of qualitative statistical programs that the university provides to the researchers reduces their interest in using qualitative research in their studies. environment and research climate factors that drive egyptian social work researchers to the low preferences for using qualitative research methods table 4: the responses of the study sample towards the low preference for qualitative research according to the factors related to the environment and research climate (n=67) no. item mean sd rank level 1 i think qualitative research is not suitable for theses and scientific research. 2.910 0.981 5 neither agree nor disagree 2 i think that qualitative research is not suitable for scientific promotion. 2.552 0.875 7 disagree 3 i have doubts about the importance and nature of qualitative research. 2.433 0.891 8 disagree 4 i believe that qualitative research is dominated by subjectivity and the researcher’s personality more than scientific methodology. 2.806 0.941 6 neither agree nor disagree 5 i am convinced that the scientific strength and rigor of quantitative research prevent my resort to qualitative research. 2.985 0.913 4 neither agree nor disagree 6 i think that quantitative research methods are the way to achieve scientific research in terms of their ability to control the dimensions of the study. 3.105 0.873 3 neither agree nor disagree 7 i have not received enough encouragement from the research community to use qualitative research in social work. 3.418 0.924 1 agree 8 the academic community does not interact well with the tools used by qualitative research methods. 3.254 0.927 2 neither agree nor disagree average 2.933 0.587 neither agree nor disagree ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ibrahim, a. t. h. & elsherbiny, m. m. k. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 149 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ table 4 shows the researchers' responses to the phrases of the third axis regarding the factors of egyptian researchers' low preference for qualitative research represented in the research environment and the cultural climate. the third axis shows an average of (2.933) and a standard deviation of (0.587) with a degree of neutral approval. the table also shows the averages and the deviations of the responses of the sample members. regarding the order of the phrases according to their average, phrase (7) comes in a high degree. one of the most critical factors of the researchers' low preference to use the qualitative approach is that they do not receive sufficient encouragement to use it in the research environment. on the other hand, phrases (2&3) come in a low degree, as the researchers of the study sample disagree on the inadequacy of qualitative research for scientific promotion. they doubt the lack of importance and nature of qualitative research. displaying the phrases in the table in a medium degree indicates the low preference of egyptian researchers to use qualitative research methods in their scientific studies. this may be because the researchers have indicated that the academic community does not care about research tools designed for a qualitative approach, and believes in the efficiency of the quantitative research tools for the implementation of scientific research because of their capabilities to control the dimensions of the study, and convinces the researchers with the knowledgeable strength of quantitative research, that is not available in qualitative research from its point of view. table 5: mean, standard deviation, dimensions arrangement, and degree of agreement for the three research dimensions arranged in descending order according to the averages (n=67) survey dimensions mean sd rank level the second dimension is the academic institution 3.254 0.644 1 neither agree nor disagree the first dimension is the researcher's personal factors 3.036 0.603 2 neither agree nor disagree the third dimension is the environment and research climate 2.933 0.587 3 neither agree nor disagree overall average of the tool 3.060 0.544 table 5 shows the average, the standard deviation, the order of the axes, and the degree of approval of the three research axes arranged in descending order according to the averages. the averages arranged from the first to the third are (3.254, 3.036, 2.933), respectively. the total average of the research tool is (3.060) with a standard deviation of (0.544), which indicates that the preference of egyptian researchers to use qualitative research methods in their scientific research is neutral. this may back to some factors indicated by the researchers of the study sample themselves, such as receiving academic learning focused on quantitative studies only and lacking scientific activities related to qualitative research such as conferences, training courses and workshops. they also refer to other factors such as the academic culture of the institution where they work that enhances the use of the quantitative approach and discourages using the qualitative approach in their scientific research. other factors may be the lack of interaction with qualitative research tools and the lack of proficiency in using qualitative statistical programs. the researchers of the study samples also illustrate that the funded research they worked on was dependent only on quantitative research rather than a qualitative one. table 6: the differences between the study sample toward qualitative research preferences according to the variable of years of experience (n=67) survey dimensions sum of squares df mean square f sig. the researcher's personal factors between groups 925.599 3 308.533 1.818 .153 within groups 10693.475 63 169.738 total 11619.075 66 the academic institution between groups 51.448 3 17.149 .636 .595 within groups 1698.493 63 26.960 total 1749.940 66 the environment and research climate between groups 51.346 3 17.115 .767 .517 within groups 1405.311 63 22.307 total 1456.657 66 the whole survey between groups 1086.241 3 362.080 .840 .477 within groups 27157.371 63 431.069 total 28243.612 66 table 6 shows that there are no statistically significant differences regarding the variable number of years of experience between the study sample in the first, the second and the third axes and the questionnaire as a whole. this indicates that all the study samples, regardless of their years of experience, whether these years of experience ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ibrahim, a. t. h. & elsherbiny, m. m. k. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 150 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ are few or many, do not affect their preference for using qualitative research, which confirms the low preference by egyptian researchers of different ages and years of experience. discussion and implications this study attempts to clarify the key drivers of egyptian social work researchers' low preferences for using qualitative research methods in social work studies. our study tried to fill the gap associated with carrying out studies on the issue of low preferences for using qualitative research methods in social work studies in egypt– a need we identified in a previous study (el-sherbiny, 2020). the results of the current study indicate that the factors of the low preference by egyptian researchers to use qualitative research in social work are either due to subjective factors related to the personality, skills and knowledge of the researchers themselves in social work studies, factors related to the academic institution in which they work or graduate, or factors related to the research culture in the egyptian environment towards qualitative research. the results of the current study explain that the low preference of the egyptian researchers in using qualitative research in their scientific research is also due to several academic factors, such as the researchers do not receive any courses related to qualitative research and the lack of scientific activities that encourage the integration of qualitative research into their scientific research. moreover, the academic culture enhances the importance of using the quantitative approach over the qualitative approach in social work research. a lack of qualitative statistical programs provided by the university decreases the researchers' interest in qualitative research in their scientific studies. it is necessary to spread the culture of the qualitative approach and its importance in egyptian social work studies by holding seminars, conferences and workshops on qualitative research, its philosophy, importance, analysis of its data, and encouraging researchers to attend these events. the participants explain that there are several factors that prevent them from adopting the qualitative approach in their scientific research. among these factors is the lack of funded research projects concerned with qualitative research in social work and the researchers’ lack of ability to understand the relationships between the events and the external factors of research phenomena when using a qualitative approach. the egyptian researchers' lack of knowledge of how to use the statistical programs for the qualitative approach, and their fear of not having an appropriate statistical test for qualitative research represent some of these factors, as well as the difficulty that they can find in applying validity and statistical stability in qualitative research. it is also essential to provide some statistical programs for qualitative research, training faculty members, post-graduate students and researchers to use it in analyzing qualitative data, which helps develop their concepts, skills and attitudes towards qualitative research as one of the important approaches in social work. this study also shows several factors related to egypt’s environment and research climate regarding qualitative research and its incorporation into egyptian social work studies. the participants of the study sample indicate that they do not receive sufficient encouragement from the surrounding research environment to use the qualitative method, as well as the academic community’s lack of interest in research tools designed for qualitative methods; and the belief that quantitative research methods confirm the achievement of scientific research for their capabilities to control the dimensions of the study. in addition to this, the researchers' belief in the strength of the quantitative research methods; is not available in qualitative research from their point of view. moreover, this study indicates that all of the researchers in the study sample, according to the years of experience they have, whether less than 5 years or more than 15 years, do not prefer qualitative research which means that the years of experience variable is not significant in preferring the study sample to use qualitative research in egyptian social work studies. accordingly, the researchers' low preference for integrating qualitative research methods into social work is not the result of the moment but rather the result of successive years of time periods with the dominance of quantitative methods in egyptian social work studies. this confirms the need to prepare continuous learning programs concerned with training junior and senior researchers to encourage the integration of qualitative research into their scientific studies. it is also necessary to imply specialized curricula on qualitative research in social work within the programs of preparing social workers in the undergraduate and postgraduate. providing scientific references dealing with qualitative research in libraries and making them available to researchers in paper and electronic form to benefit from them and refer to them when needed is also a crucial matter. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ibrahim, a. t. h. & elsherbiny, m. m. k. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 151 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ conclusion this study explores the key motives of egyptian social work researchers' low preference for using qualitative research methods in social work studies. the authors have found that three main factors prevent egyptian researchers from preferring to use qualitative research methods in social work studies. the first factor is the subjective reasons related to the researchers' personality, skills, and knowledge when they use qualitative research in social work studies. the second factor comes back to the academic institution where the researchers work or graduate. finally, the third factor is the research culture in general in the egyptian environment towards qualitative research. there is a need to conduct further studies exploring the barriers that prevent using the qualitative method in social work research in egypt and a need to incorporate findings and recommendations for professional practice in all social work educational programs. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 ibrahim, a. t. h. & elsherbiny, m. m. k. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 152 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ references abdel hamid, a. s. (2009). qualitative research beyond statistical significance, journal of education, qatar national committee for education, culture and science, 38(171), 268-283. abdelaziz, s. r. (2019). mechanisms of employing social work research to achieve egypt’s 2030 vision: a study from the point of view of faculty members and the supporting body in some social work faculties, journal of social work, egyptian association of social workers, 61(5), 229-276. abdullahi, ali. a., et al. (2012). contemporary discourses in qualitative research: lessons for health research in nigeria, african sociological review, 16 (1), 19-40. alal-harby, k. bs. (2021). obstacles to using the qualitative approach in sociology research and studies, umm al-qura university, journal of social sciences, 12 (2), 523-607. alel-kandarī, j. (2006). quantitative and qualitative research methods in the field of social and behavioral sciences. kuwait: scientific publication council. al-brithen, a. (2012). criteria for measuring the effectiveness of professional practice of social work using the qualitative approach, journal of human sciences, college of arts, 25(1), 269-253. al-elwany, t. (2006). a picture of the scientific research crisis. islamic knowledge journal, 112-115. al-jeddy, m. m. (2014). the effectiveness of using the qualitative approach in social research, al-zaytoonah university journal, 9 (2), 27-36. bogdan, r.c. and biklen, s.k. (2007). qualitative research for education: an introduction to theory and methods, 5th edition, allyn & bacon, boston. bradford w. sheafor, charles r. horejsi (2015). techniques and guidelines for social work practice, 10th edition, allyn & bacon, inc. carey, m. (2013). the social work dissertation: using small-scale qualitative methodology, 2nd ed., open university press/mcgraw-hill education. el-sherbiny, m. s. (2020). attitudes of faculty members towards using the qualitative approach in social work research, journal of the college of social work for research and social studies, 19(2), 110-160. eyisi, d. (2016). the usefulness of qualitative and quantitative approaches and methods in researching problemsolving ability in science education curriculum. journal of education and practice, 7(15), 91-100. goldman, l. (1989). moving counselling research into the 21st century. the counselling psychologist, 17, 8185. zeitoun, k. a (2004). methodology of educational and psychological research from a quantitative and qualitative perspective. cairo: the world of books. microsoft word 3 research on the vatsonga people of southern africaa reflection on a case study.docx ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 simbine s. l., le roux l. & muridzo n. g. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 163 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ publisher african journal of social work afri. j. soc. work © national association of social workers-zimbabwe/author(s) issn print 1563-3934 issn online 2409-5605 licensed under a creative commons attribution-non-commercial 4.0 international license indexed& accredited with: african journals online (ajol) | university of zimbabwe accredited journals (uzaj) | scopus (elsevier’s abstract and citation database) | directory of open access journals (doaj) | society of african journal editors (saje) | asian digital library (adl) | african social work network(aswnet) | department of higher education and training (dhet) south africa | sjr | cnki – china | journal publishing practices and standards (jpps) | ebsco research on the vatsonga people of southern africa: a reflection on a case study samuel lisenga simbine, liana le roux and noel garikai muridzo abstract for decades, african researchers relied on eurocentric concepts, models, philosophies, ethics, designs, and methods ingrained in the european research literature. the indiscriminate use of eurocentric concepts to conceive african research is not sustainable given the uniqueness of african cultures. this situation gives impetus to the call for the development of a way of conducting research that is more suited to indigenous african contexts. the paper contains a reflection on the researchers’ past research experiences within african socio-cultural contexts. we aim to share our experiences on a research study that we conducted in zimbabwe with the vatsonga of southern africa; one of the ethnic groups that adopt an afrocentric worldview. we discuss how we implemented theoretical perspectives, research methods, and research ethical considerations. we found that we had to adapt the implementation of our research to be aligned with the norms and practices of the vatsonga. research ethical considerations are highlighted as an important step towards fostering indigenised research on the continent. in addition, we propose the dissemination of research findings to include indigenous communities where the research has been conducted. this should be done through community meetings or workshops as the african people follow an oral-based tradition of knowledge transmission. the paper concludes by highlighting the need for african literature to guide researchers in conducting research studies in indigenous african communities. key terms: research methods, indigenous contexts, southern africa, vatsonga people, zimbabwe key dates received: march 2022 revised: june 2022 accepted: july 2022 published: august 2022 funding: university of pretoria post graduate office bursary conflict of interest: none permission: none ethics approval: not applicable author/s details: simbine samuel lisenga (formerly samuel lisenga mahuntse), doctoral graduate, department of social work and criminology, university of pretoria; lecturer, school of social work, midlands state university, smahuntse@gmail.com le roux liana (mp), department of social work and criminology, university of pretoria, liana.leroux@up.ac.za muridzo noel garikai, executive director, school of social work, midlands state university, muridzon@staff.msu.ac.zw current and previous volumes are available at: https://africasocialwork.net/current-and-past-issues/ how to reference using aswnet style: simbine s. l., le roux l. and muridzo n. g. (2022). research on the vatsonga people of southern africa: a reflection on a case study. african journal of social work, 12(4), 163-172. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 simbine s. l., le roux l. & muridzo n. g. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 164 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ introduction the social work profession was developed in western contexts, especially in europe and america. even though the professional identity grew in the regions mentioned, social work was being practiced everywhere. for centuries, african researchers, students, librarians, and academics relied on eurocentric research concepts contained in the european research literature. this scenario if it continues unabated has the potential to perpetuate the legacy of colonisation whereby africa (servant) looks up to europe and america (the masters) for guidance and approval on research issues. many authors criticise the west for side-lining african knowledge in social work thus making social work foreign to the african context. this has led to calls for the indigenisation of social work to gain currency. to achieve indigenisation of social work in general and particularly in research would demand that africans ought to research, write, and develop their theories, models, concepts, and designs that they are willing to utilise in solving various african problems. the paper is a reflection on the researchers’ past research experiences within african socio-cultural contexts. based on a study that was conducted with indigenous people, namely the vatsonga of southern africa, we share our experiences. the paper will first provide a background to the study, followed by a discussion on the concept of decolonised research, the research methodology used, and reflections on our experiences of doing research in an african context. furthermore, a discussion, conclusions, and recommendations will be provided. background social work in most parts of africa was introduced by colonial entities or by institutions such as christian missionary establishments (mkabela, 2005; hollingsworth and phillips, 2017). this naturally sidelined african knowledge as the colonisers taught social work from their socio-cultural perspective, negating the african worldview. as a result, western models of social work were reproduced on the african continent, based on european methodologies and concepts. this eurocentric social work had limited room for acknowledgement and use of african indigenous knowledge systems (aiks) (makofane and shirindi, 2018). the debates on decolonising research methodologies show how research “... is still steeped in the euro-north american-centric worldview” (shokane and masoga, 2021:23). to reverse this historical injustice, social work practice in africa should be informed by research done in africa (mabvurira and makhubele, 2018). the apologetic stance towards decades of the decimation of african knowledge seems to have reached its end. this period is described by some as an ‘epistemicide’ that needs to be reversed (tondi, 2021). a call for africanisation and decolonisation of social sciences in general and social work in particular is gaining traction (sithole, 2021; tusasiirwe, 2022). to this end, some are calling for the adoption of afrocentric methodology in social work research as a step towards africanising the profession (mabvurira and makhubele, 2018). this would then liberate africans from the restraints of western thoughts, culture, and perceptions as africans research and develop their african identity (mabvurira and makhubele, 2018). the indiscriminate use of the euro-north-american-centric worldview to conceive african research is not sustainable. the current tide on the importance of researching african indigenous communities using afrocentric research methodologies needs to be sustained. this would lead to the regeneration of african cultural heritage and the sharing of that heritage with the rest of the world (themane, 2021). if we want to validate research (accountability), we need to consider methods that will be relevant to and acceptable to sub-saharan africa. this situation gives impetus to the call for the development of a way of conducting research that is more suited to indigenous african contexts. efforts to indigenise decolonise, and africanise social work find themselves having to compete with the calls to universalise and internationalise social work. universal social work assumes that there should be one world and one social work guided by a common knowledge base (gray, 2005). in our view the concept of internationalisation of social work is noble, however, the challenge emanates from a situation whereby european and north american theories, concepts, models, and knowledge are used as the benchmark for international social work standards. africa then becomes a passive recipient of eurocentric knowledge in the name of universal social work. this amounts to professional imperialism creeping in, described“...as trends within social work which promote the dominance of western worldviews over diverse local and indigenous cultural perspectives” (mabvurira and makhubele, 2018).therefore, calls for universal social work would only carry meaning in africa if there is room for africa to equally influence the social work debates on the global stage. decolonisation and africanisation of research our paper is a reflection of our research experiences in a study conducted within an african context in a way to contribute to a trail of knowledge creation that enhances understanding of afrocentric research methodologies. africanisation and decolonisation are intricately linked terms with sithole (2021) using them interchangeably. it is important to understand what is meant by the terms decolonisation of research if we are to understand the ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 simbine s. l., le roux l. & muridzo n. g. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 165 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ process of building an afrocentric worldview of research. the decolonisation of research is viewed as a process of conducting research in such a way that the worldviews of those who have suffered a long history of oppression and marginalisation are enabled by referring to their local contexts (chilisa, 2019). social workers should use their practice skills of reflection and reflexivity to advance the decolonisation of social work (gross and kufeyani, 2021). those who are pessimistic about an african identity argue that africa is not homogeneous hence it is difficult to have an african philosophy. contrary to this view, the afrocentric worldview of the peoples of subsaharan africa is diverse, but still, central concepts, principles, and practices that bind the african indigenous people could be identified (thabede, 2008).the afrocentric methodology is premised on the afrocentric paradigm which deals with the question of african identity from the perspective of african people (mabvurira and makhubele, 2018:18; makofane and shirindi, 2018:28).africa and its people have been researched for decades using western research methodologies which have little or no respect for african culture, beliefs, spirituality, and the context in general typical of colonial approaches (mogorosi and thabede, 2018).to africanise and decolonise social work research in africa, african researchers should deliberately lean towards research methodologies that are in sync with the afrocentric worldview. the problem: dealing with the legacy of colonisation since the advent of colonisation, africa and its people have been researched through western methodologies. the findings from these research studies in certain instances were irrelevant to solving african problems. research must be relevant, as it informs our training and work, “...at the same time generating knowledge that is used for teaching” (mabvurira and makhubele, 2018:12). in addition, there is limited availability of textbooks on african research, leading to reliance on literature from western countries. despite the trickling in of african literature on afrocentric research methodologies, the use of this literature by africans is still limited due to perceptions that the eurocentric textbooks are more authentic as compared to african literature. this is evidence of colonial ‘hangover’ whereby anything african is viewed as inferior, even by africans themselves. consequently, researchers in africa are faced with the challenge of having to deal with the impact and lasting legacy of colonialism (shokane and masoga, 2021). the focus should be on challenging the dominance of eurocentricoriented approaches to research that have created a one-size-fits-all solution (themane, 2021). thus, africa needs to focus on two main issues: knowledge creation and a robust decolonisation campaign to use african textbooks containing afrocentric concepts, methods, models, theories, philosophy, and african cultural heritage. this would avoid a problem of under-utilisation of african literature despite afrocentric textbooks being made available. background to the study the article provides a reflection on our research experiences gained from conducting a study with the vatsonga people of southern africa. the study was conducted in mozambique and zimbabwe involving 40 vatsonga elders who are custodians of the vatsonga cultural heritage. fouché (2021) states that research is a logical and orderly process that comprises the following elements: a research problem, research design, empirical evidence, and conclusions. we discuss our reflections on the implementation of the study on the vatsonga iks with inclusion of these elements. we deliberately leave out the findings of that study to focus on sharing our practical experiences of the implementation of the research methods in an african context through what others term ‘turning our sociological eyes on our own lives’ (roy, 2020). reflexive research is described in detail as “...researcher consciously stepping back from the action to theorise what is taking place, and also stepping up to be an active part of that contextualised action.” (attia and edge, 2017:33). thus, in retrospect, we reflect on the study with the vatsonga people in mozambique and zimbabwe to highlight relevant aspects of an afrocentric way of doing research, as will be discussed in the following sections. during the empirical study (conducted by the first author) reflective discussions were continuously held with the other authors in their roles of research supervisor and social work colleague who had knowledge of the challenges related to child protection in the region. in addition, each author contributed reflections and literature towards the discussion in this article. reflection on the implementation of the vatsonga case study the study aimed to explore the potential contribution of the iks of the vatsonga to child protection in an african context. the rationale for the study was based on the first author’s experience of child protection interventions in zimbabwe. data were collected form 40 elders who were knowledge bearers of the vatsonga iks and 22 social workers who worked in the field of child protection. however, for this article, only the experiences of interactions with the vatsonga elders are reflected upon. time was dedicated to review literature on the background information on the conceptualisation and status of iks prior to field research. this background information on iks played a significant role in informing the problem statement and research methodology, for example the ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 simbine s. l., le roux l. & muridzo n. g. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 166 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ selection of the study sample and the methods of data collection. one of the researchers is from the vatsonga ethnic group and is familiar with large aspects of the vatsonga culture. however, being from the younger generation, it was important to understand the culture from the perspectives of the older generation who were custodians of the vatsonga iks. a literature study on the history and traditional iks of the vatsonga was conducted to ‘situate’ the researcher in the study. preparation for the research by studying literature and adopting a reflective stance was important for deciding on the appropriate research approach, design, and research methods. in the ensuing sections we reflect on our experiences with theoretical perspectives used in the study, literature study, research approach, data collection methods used as our experiences with ethical considerations. 1. theoretical perspectives we adopted social constructionism and ecological systems theory to guide our study. we found these theories to be a good starting point to sensitise us to understand people’s lived reality. social constructionism made us aware of the fact that people construct their reality based on their perceptions, experiences, and culture (schenk, 2019). therefore, we were sensitive to the fact that we should not bring our own biases into the research situation and data collection and analysis. we approached the interviews with the utmost respect. this was especially important since iks was relegated to the periphery in the past as not relevant, primitive, and not ‘scientific enough’ for use in modern society. social constructionism meant that we had to use in-depth interviews guided by open-ended questions which allowed us to capture the participants’ lived experiences (makofane and shirindi, 2018). ecological systems theory sensitised us to the encompassing influence of culture (in the macrosystem) on people’s lives (in inner systems), but also, that culture was not static (chronosystem) and we could not take a blanket approach with all people (louw, louw & kail, 2014). whereas these two theories were suitable for an afrocentric study which we conducted, we found ourselves relying heavily on euro-north american-centric literature as they were limited african literature that expatiates on social constructionism and the ecological systems theory. there is a need for afrocentric researchers to equally delve into the debates regarding these theories to ensure a decolonised view that researchers seeking to use these theories to guide their studies can rely on home grown views. 2. literature review a thorough literature study was conducted on the difference between western and afrocentric worldviews, the critical importance of their iks to the african people, and general guidelines on important aspects underlying the afrocentric worldview. an overview of the history of the vatsonga, an understudied people, was also obtained as background to the study. we had to understand the african research participant from a historical context hence we dedicated space to reviewing literature on the history and cultural heritage of the vatsonga. in addition, the literature review included a conceptualisation of child protection to analyse the relevance of the vatsonga iks to the challenges and legal stipulations related to the protection of children. the literature study also helped us to identify the challenges that iks experienced in the eyes of many western scholars. we initially struggled to find recent african literature on these key concepts when we started the study in 2015. however, the availability of african literature on the phenomenon under study significantly improved in the years to follow especially from 2017 up to 2021 when we concluded the study. thus, studying of the literature on an ongoing basis helped us to be up to date with trends and issues which emerged over the duration of the study. in addition to informing the rationale for the study, the literature review also informed the research approach that was followed (fouché, 2021). 3. research approach, research type, and research design the study aimed to explore the possible contribution of vatsonga iks to child protection strategies in an african context. the research was based on a qualitative research approach. mabvurira and makhubele (2018) are of the view that afrocentric methodology shares the same characteristics as qualitative research methods. they posit that both methods assume that people use interpretive schemes which must be understood and that the character of the local context must be articulated (mabvurira and makhubele, 2018). through the qualitative research approach, we managed to explore the participants’ views in their own words. based on the rich data collected on the vatsonga iks, we agree with the statement by themane (2021:82) that quantitative research methods are not advised as they are unable “…to deliver a decolonised or africanised indigenous community research because it relied on the traditional methods of conducting research which was brought over from europe”. we therefore suggest that afrocentric researchers make use of qualitative research methods, which can be supported by mixedmethods research should they wish to portray quantitative data as well. research in afrocentric contexts must lead to meaningful change. therefore, based on the views of the vatsonga iks custodians who participated in the study, a culturally sensitive child protection programme for social workers was developed and piloted with 22 child protection social workers in harare, zimbabwe, in ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 simbine s. l., le roux l. & muridzo n. g. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 167 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2018.thereby we sought to turn our findings into social work services as dictated by the tenets of applied research (jansen, 2016). following on the feedback during the pilot programme, we are in the process of refining the programme that will be shared with the wider community of social workers and other child protection stakeholders in zimbabwe. we believe that afrocentric research should offer tangible solutions to the indigenisation agenda of social work services by converting findings into goods and services. shokane and masoga (2021) advise that decolonising research involves the adoption of an afro-sensed perspective that aims to understand the experiences of africans. in our study, the case study design was relevant as it aligns with the constructivist paradigm that reflects the importance of the subjective meanings and perspectives of the research participants (nieuwenhuis, 2016) 4. population and sampling as indigenous knowledge is held by the elders in the traditional african communities, purposive sampling was implemented to recruit the sample of the study that consisted of elderly vatsonga men and women who were knowledge bearers of their iks. purposive sampling was therefore used (strydom, 2021).the participants resided in the chiredzi district in zimbabwe and the chokwe district in mozambique. their ages ranged from 60 to 90 years but also a smaller group of younger persons who were informed about their iks and regarded as knowledge bearers were included in the study sample. furthermore, the use of snowball sampling procedures ensured that we included the knowledge bearers of vatsonga culture and iks in line with the dictates of indigenous and decolonising research (strydom, 2021). to this end, rix, wilson, sheehan and tujague (2019) assert that decolonised research is characterised by the recognition and inclusion of people in indigenous communities. the importance of the hierarchic structures in indigenous african communities was recognised by accessing participants with the help of the traditional leaders such as the headmen and chiefs who knew the knowledge bearers in their communities (mupedziswa, rankopo and mwansa, 2019). however, we made efforts to ensure that those who were identified by the traditional leaders were only recruited upon giving their consent to participate. in turn, those who agreed to participate were asked to nominate people they considered knowledge bearers and we approached the nominees with an offer for them to participate. this approach was until 40 participants were recruited, 20 in each participating district. we found snowball sampling to be suitable for decolonised research as it fostered the inclusion of the marginalised yet knowledgeable people in the knowledge construction. 5. data collection african people transmit their knowledge through oral tradition. in this tradition, indigenous knowledge is a tacit knowledge that is mostly undocumented, but transferred orally (ossai, 2010). language is a critical from of preservation and transmission of indigenous knowledge (khupe and keane, 2017). therefore, it was important to recognise that bearers of the vatsonga iks in most cases would be more comfortable with oral traditions. interviewing was therefore found to be a suitable data collection method. shokane and masoga (2021) encourage researchers to consider the fact that local communities are more comfortable with oral methods of data collection. in addition, owusu-ansah and mju (2013:2) warn against viewing the african oral tradition as simplistic as this conception misunderstands the rich complexities that are found in the oral tradition, for example in storytelling, folktales, poetry, praise, songs, and music.during data collection, respectful mutual dialogue in which the participants’ superior knowledge on the topic was acknowledged as an important aspect to show respect for the participants, to ensure that rich information was collected, and to respect the oral tradition of knowledge transmission by african people. robinson (2007: 172) describes culturally sensitive or appropriate interviewing as follows: “culturally appropriate interviewing techniques consider how questions are asked, level of intrusiveness, directness, formality, forms of address”. these aspects were considered to engage in data collection from a decolonising perspective. the research participants were hence regarded as partners in the process of knowledge construction, which allowed us to tap into “the wealth of knowledge among the elders in african communities” (shokane and masoga, 2021:33). we realised and acknowledged the importance of language in traditional african communities; therefore it was of value to obtain the assistance of a research assistant who was familiar with different dialects in the xitsonga language in addition to the primary researcher who is a mutsonga (a member of the vatsonga ethnic group). this person signed confirmation of confidentiality. for publication, the interviews were translated into english. we believe that the role of the xitsonga-speaking research assistant in the collection of data and the translation of interviews into english minimised the loss of the original meaning of concepts. based on our experiences, we recommend that researchers carrying out studies with communities that do not speak the language must consider the use of native research assistants who would ensure that interviews are conducted in the participants’ language. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 simbine s. l., le roux l. & muridzo n. g. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 168 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. data analysis and presentation it was important for us that the research findings should be a true reflection of the views of the participants hence we adopted a thematic data analysis approach. to achieve this, interview recordings were transcribed into verbatim transcriptions. interviews held in xitsonga were translated into english and were further reduced by generating categories, key, and salient themes in the data. after reading and re-reading the interview transcripts, the research findings were presented in themes and sub-themes backed by verbatim quotes of the participants. to this effect, measures to enhance data quality were of significance and included reflective discussions with the study supervisor and the research assistant, who understood the different vatsonga dialects. also, peer debriefing was done through discussion with the third author, who had extensive knowledge of child protection in an african context. the presentation of the research findings was intended to provide a rich description for the readers to understand the views of the participants. this is in line with the thinking of makofane and shirindi (2018) who posit that the presentation of findings by themes and subthemes should include quotations expressing the exact words from the interview transcripts. shokane and masoga (2021) emphasise that indigenous research must focus on empowerment, in which the voices of the indigenous people are heard, their wisdoms are captured, and their lived experiences are told. in this way, indigenous research can contribute to the acceptance of diversity without judgement based on race or culture (khupe and keane, 2017). we found thematic analysis of qualitative data as suitable for afrocentric research as it allowed for the capturing of the voices and the lived experiences of the participants. 7. ethical considerations research ethics provide rules and behavioural guidelines for researchers towards appropriate conduct towards research participants and other parties involved in research studies (strydom and roestenburg, 2021). in this section, the authors reflect on how research ethics would manifest in the study of the vatsonga iks. we observed several considerations in terms of ethical research practices; however, for this article, we reflect on the following ethical considerations: institutional approval, the importance of relational ethics and respect, consent to participate, and beneficence. institutional approval mogorosi (2018) posits that researchers must obtain ethical approval from their institutions before they carry out their research. maintaining high ethics standards should be at the centre of a decolonised afrocentric research to ensure that all participants, including those who are the poor, illiterate, and vulnerable, are treated with dignity and respect. before carrying out the study we subjected our research proposal to the university of pretoria, faculty of humanities research ethics committee who approved it on 25 may 2017 under reference number gw20170520hs. we also sought permission from various government agencies and institutions that had an interest in the study such as the mozambican embassy in zimbabwe, the national association of social workers zimbabwe, the ministry responsible for cultural heritage, and the department of social development. institutional approval not only guarantees the protection of research participants but also bolster the credibility of the researchers by the gatekeepers. all the gatekeeping structures and persons that we approached for permission to carry out the study in the two districts in zimbabwe and mozambique respectively, requested to see our institutional ethics approval letter underscoring the importance of getting the institutional approval. the importance of relational ethics and respect the vatsonga, like other african cultures, are deeply rooted in values underlying ubuntu, which differs from the more individualistic western-oriented approach to personhood (mabvurira and makhubele, 2018). ubuntu emphasises the interrelatedness, mutual care, respect, and dignity of people. khupe and keane (2017) propose that african researchers need to develop research methods that embrace the participants’ cultural values and lived experience. the concept of relational ethics as described by boydell (2007 in mogorosi, 2018) was, therefore, an important ethical consideration for our study. chilisa, major and khudu-petersen (2017) refer to a relational ethical framework as affording the researched with the respect and honour that the researcher would wish for the self.in our study, relational ethics were for example practiced in the way in which participants were recruited (snowball sampling) and in the important role of respect that was shown to the participants throughout, as discussed in other sections of this article such as the consent to participate. to gain access to the participants, permission was first gained from the local authorities. the principle of respect was a fundamental ethical principle in our research. the researchers showed respect to the participants as elders in their community as well as knowledge bearers of their iks in the way in which they addressed them and conducted the interviews (robinson, 2007).we presented the participants with a bar of soap as a token gift in line with a common practice among the ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 simbine s. l., le roux l. & muridzo n. g. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 169 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ vatsonga whereby a visitor does not come empty-handed and upon leaving their host also ensures that the visitor gets something to carry with them. as a result of the mutual respect that existed between the principal researcher and the participants, some of the participants addressed the researcher as “my son”. this was acceptable given that in the vatsonga culture any older person refers to any younger generation as their ‘child’ whilst the younger generation reciprocates by regarding every older generation as ‘mother’ or ‘father’. consideration of literacy level and language was a way to show respect to elders who were more familiar with oral than the written transmission of knowledge. another way of respect was in terms of acknowledging their spiritual beliefs as we devoted time to solicit for the participant’s views on the role of ancestors and the dead in relation to the living. various rituals ranging from birth rites, death rites, rites of passage to adulthood, naming rituals mong other rituals were explored because of an understanding of their role in child protection among the vatsonga. thus, we continuously reflected on the way in which the researcher showed respect to the participants’ culture, level of literacy, and spirituality. this would mark a departure from a eurocentric approach that might view african culture as harmful and pose european cultures as the civilisation that is good to all humanity. voluntary participation and consent to participate all the participants had to provide their consent to participate. not all participants could sign their names and therefore we hand to allow them to use their thumbprint or to put an ‘x’ on the informed consent forms as their signature. the primary researcher took time to explain the contents of the letters of informed consent to participants who could not read with a full understanding of the information. therefore, researchers doing research among indigenous communities in africa should prepare themselves fully to meet a significant number of participants who could neither read nor write. as the participants in the vatsonga study were identified by means of snowball sampling, only those who indicated their willingness to participate were contacted. we considered this form of indirect sampling as a way of showing respect to the decisions of community members on whether to participate in the study or not. obtaining participants’ consent is a critical aspect of the protection of their rights (strydom and roestenburg, 2021). it could be considered in this regard to prepare an audio or video recording that explains the contents of the consent form in addition to the written consent form. we did not manage to do the same but reflecting on the process, we consider such measures as a possibility for use in addition to the written consent form. beneficence we regard the principle of beneficence to be relevant to the study on vatsonga iks. beneficence implies acknowledging the superior knowledge of the participants and knowing that sharing their knowledge would be used in practice, namely child protection in the case of the study. mogorosi (2018) posits that beneficence relates to balancing the potential benefit of the research with the potential risk and harm that the research can cause. the study was undertaken to gain knowledge of how vatsonga iks could contribute to child protection and to subsequently develop a programme for social workers on this aspect. this aspect was communicated in the letter of informed consent. also, the participants were requested to provide suggestions for working together with social workers on issues that they agreed upon, but also on matters that were seen as contentious such as conceptualisations of child labour. the principle of beneficence should be at the core of afrocentric research in line with ubuntu philosophy that carries in it notions of hospitality, doing good to others, and not to harm persons. with the information obtained during data collection in the vatsonga study, it was evident that the concept to ‘do good’ could benefit the participants and their society (direct beneficence) as well as the scientific community through the knowledge of an african culture and worldview (indirect beneficence) (strydom and roestenburg, 2021). recommendations khupe and keane (2017) express the need for examples of research in the southern african context that can offer suggestions for indigenous researchers. in this article, we attempt to contribute to indigenous research by reflecting on the research methods used in a study of the vatsonga iks. based on our reflections on our experiences of doing research within the african context, the following recommendations to afrocentric researchers, academics, and students are made: • african research studies can disseminate knowledge on african indigenous knowledge and culture, and can bring about a greater understanding of the diversity of worldviews in different socio-cultural ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 simbine s. l., le roux l. & muridzo n. g. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 170 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ contexts. afrocentric research studies could thereby place the african worldview on equal levels of recognition as the western worldview that has dominated social research in the past. • we believe that african research can only be credible if the methodological decisions are specific (sefotho, 2021) and relevant to the african socio-cultural context. the afrocentric worldview rests on the appreciation of the collective spirit and group solidarity, which differs from the individualistic perspective in western contexts (robinson, 2007). we support the adoption of an ethical relational perspective to research that “illustrates the importance of protection, restoration and revitalisation of valuable local knowledge” (chilisa et al., 2017: 329). in this way, more rigorous research findings can be obtained in indigenous contexts. • when researching iks within an african context, one has to consider adopting a qualitative research approach with a constructivist research paradigm. this approach would give the researchers room to explore the worldview of the participants and understand the phenomenon under investigation better. we advise against the adoption of quantitative research approaches only as this would not give room to explore the lived experiences of those being researched. • we recommend orally based data collection methods when doing research on social issues with local african communities. as was also the case in our discussion of the vatsonga study, most iks custodians are from the older generation who in most instances could not read nor write and are not conversant in english; hence the use of orally based data collection methods such as focus group discussions and faceto-face interviews are deemed more suitable. in addition, interviews must be conducted in the language known to the research participants and, if needed, a translator competent in the participants’ language should assist in data collection and the translation of data transcripts. such measures will ensure that the voices of the participants are heard and accurately represented. • we further recommend that researchers engaging in afrocentric research should devote ample time to review literature related to decolonisation, africanisation, indigenisation, and iks relating to research and social work. this would ensure that the researchers become familiar with afrocentric philosophy and concepts to guide their ensuing research methods and processes. this knowledge could also support reflective research practices as the researcher could become aware of personal bias or conceptions that may influence data collection, data analysis and relational interaction with the research participants. • researchers must be aware of the social structures in traditional communities in order to follow culturally appropriate approaches for gaining access to research participants. non-probability sampling techniques such as availability, judgemental, purposive, and snowball sampling are suggested for gaining access to participants that can offer information relevant to a particular study. in the spirit of ubuntu, researchers in african contexts must honour the ethical principle of beneficence, for example by informing communities about strategies that could emanate from the research findings or utilizing research findings to bring about social change. to this effect, chilisa et al. (2017) advocate for research studies that engage and transform african communities. applied research studies, such as the study we discussed in this article, are recommended to empower marginalised or vulnerable communities. in addition, the principle of beneficence can enhance the researchers’ accountability to the research participants. feedback to research participants must be done through community meetings or workshops to respect the african traditions of oral communication and group solidarity. conclusion in this article, we have provided a literature background calling for decolonisation and africanisation of research methodologies in social work that argues against the indiscriminate use of the euro-north american-centred worldview in research. a reflection on the goal of the study and the research methodology that were implemented in a study on vatsonga iks were provided, including the theoretical perspectives, data collection methods, data analysis, and presentation of findings. we also reflected on some ethical considerations considered during the research study. we identified certain observations and experiences in the vatsonga study that could inform afrocentric research methods, for example qualitative studies, non-probability and indirect sampling methods and oral-based data collection methods. we conclude that there must be deliberate efforts by researchers to conduct research, create knowledge and reflect on experiences that can support afrocentric research methods that put african philosophy and cultural heritage at the centre of social work research in african regions. the article is concluded by highlighting the need for african literature to guide researchers in conducting research studies in indigenous african communities. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ajsw, volume 12 number 4 2022 simbine s. l., le roux l. & muridzo n. g. african journal of social work, 12(4), 2022 171 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ references attia, m. and edge, j., (2017). be (com) ing a reflexive researcher: a developmental approach to research methodology. open review of educational research, 4(1), pp.33-45. chilisa, b., (2019). indigenous research methodologies, sage publications, london. fouché, c.b., (2021). introduction to the research process. in fouché, c.b., strydom, h. and roestenburg, w.j.h. 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