Reflections on Social Work in a Developing Continent: The Case of Africa

In reading Chitereka's article "Social Work Practice in a Developing Continent: The Case of Africa" I found myself reflecting on the role of social work as a whole. While Chitereka raises many valid arguments about the colonial framework of Social Work in Africa, I think that his points are also important when applied to a wider scope of Social Work practice - including Canadian practice.  Typically social workers have been used or co-opted as agents of state control. I would argue that modern day social workers often play oppressive, and controlling roles especially in the fields of child welfare and health care - although oppressive practice is certainly not limited to these areas. Chitereka's article suggests the following question to me: how can we broaden our practice globally to encourage non - oppressive work? How can we work collaboratively, to liberate and engage local populations. What communities should we work within (this is a question that we need to each answer individually)? Is it possible to see beyond our cultural and political blind-spots? How can we mitigate our blinders if we can not remove them all together? As a whole how do we shift paradigms and make ourselves and the work that we do relevant, engaged and powerful? How can we shift from being agents of control to agents of empowerment (re-empowerment, co-empowerment?)

I certainly do not agree with Chitereka's definition of social work as a "professional approach to ameliorating social problems". What about prevention, community building (referred to in the most beautiful way last night as common-unity building) and health promotion? We must shift toward the building of that which is positive, while noting our challanges. Yes, this change is implied in the shift toward a social development paradigm, and yet is a paradigm shift enough to make the changes that we need? I think it is beyond framework - we need a re-envisioning of what social work means. We have to step beyond defining ourselves based on oppressive institutions and ask ourselves (and more importantly the communities within which we work and live) how we can best be of service. Social work can be a practice of humility and service, but this requires letting go of ‘should's' and instead asking those around us ‘what' and ‘how'.