PROMOTION OF PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL WORK TOWARDS SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY REDUCTION IN EAST AFRICA (PROSOWO PROJECT)
Dr. Gidraph G. Wairire, Senior Lecturer and Kenya Country Coordinator,
PROSOWO Project
PROSOWO is an acronym for the Project - Promotion of Professional Social Work Towards Social Development and Poverty Reduction in East Africa. It involves five partner universities in five countries namely Carinthia University of Applied Sciences (Austria), University of Nairobi (Kenya), Makerere University (Uganda), National University of Rwanda (Rwanda) and Institute of Social Work (Tanzania). The project officially started in March 2011. In Kenya, the project is being implemented through the Department of Sociology and Social Work under the coordination of Dr. Gidraph Wairire who also serves as the Kenya country and East African Regional Coordinator of the project.
Overall objective:
To promote professional social work (SW) education and practice to more effectively contribute towards social development and poverty reduction in achieving the Millennium Development Goals in East Africa.
Specific objectives:
1. To strengthen the capacity of higher social work education institutions in the region through research, curriculum development and joint publications.
2. To develop sustainable academic partnerships and networks in Africa and with Austria in social work training and research.
3. To conduct research on the role of social work in poverty reduction towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
4. To develop a more relevant social work curriculum in alignment with national poverty reduction plans and social development strategies.
5. To facilitate the process of drafting a discussion paper on regulating the social work profession for discussions with relevant government authoritites.
Project description:
The project is intended to have a strong research focus on social work in the East African region. It is envisaged to conduct research on the role of social work and its contribution towards poverty reduction in the partner countries. This will be achieved through analysis of relevant development documents and applied empirical research (questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, field visits). Results of this process will lead to 4 national and 1 comparative regional research reports and at least 5 scientific manuscripts per year to be submitted to international journals and conferences.
It is envisaged that the research outcome will be translated into revised SW curricula that incorporate;
i. The respective countries’ poverty reduction strategies,
ii. The social development approach as a theoretical framework,
iii. Local and culturally relevant knowledge, and
iv. Gender equality.
These interlinked activities will contribute to the capacity of the concerned higher education institutions, promote the social work profession, support gender equality, and significantly assist poverty reduction strategies through well-trained and qualified Social Work staff. A major scientific outcome of the whole project will be a “Handbook on Social Work in East Africa”. This handbook will be presented at events both in the region as well as in Austria.
Project status (February 2013)
Different activities for the project have so far been realised for Kenya. Key among them is the One Day International Social Work Symposium held at the University of Nairobi on 29th June 2011. This Symposium served as a platform through which the overall PROSOWO project was disseminated to the local and international community of social work educators from USA, UK, Belgium, Italy, Japan, Ethiopia, South Africa, China and Hong Kong. About 20 international delegates attended the symposium together with social work academic staff and students from the University of Nairobi, Daystar University, and Catholic University of East Africa. Many local practitioners in Kenya got to learn more about PROSOWO through this symposium. Prof. Lucy Irungu, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research, Production and Extension) gave the inaugural address. Other senior University of Nairobi management officials including Prof. Enos Njeru, the Principal, College of Humanities and Social Sciences and Prof. Preston Chitere, Dean - Faculty of Arts, attended the symposium.
Please see the link here below for photos and more on this symposium http://www.appear.at/appear/project_portfolio/academic_partnerships/prosowo_project26_prep13
The Key note address in the symposium was delivered by Prof. Vishantie Sewpaul from the University of Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa. The symposium theme was ‘Recasting Professional Social Work for Poverty Reduction and Realization of Millennium Development Goals in Africa’. Five papers, two by PROSOWO county coordinators from Kenya and Uganda were presented in the symposium.
The research component of the project commenced in September 2011 when the research ‘The Role Of Professional Social Work In Poverty Reduction And Realization Of Millennium Development Goals In East Africa’ was conducted. The research covered Nairobi, Coast, Rift Valley and Eastern provinces. Dr. Pius Mutie, Dr. Agnes Zani, Dr. Gidraph Wairire and Dr. Mumbi Machera were in charge of each of the four regions respectively. The research targeted social work practitioners, social work educators, social work clients and social work students. The findings are expected to contribute to new ideas that may help improve the existing social work curriculum in social work training institutions and also improve the capacities of trained social work professionals in Kenya.
Through the project, several social work books (See attached list) have been acquired and are now readily available at the JKML. Several conference papers in line with the project objectives have been presented in International conferences. Research outcomes were disseminated through a stakeholders’ workshop in January 2013 in Nairobi while the final country report for the same research will thereafter be completed with consideration of the inputs derived from the stakeholders’ workshop.
Work on the proposed social work hand book is in progress. The book ‘Professional Social Work In East Africa: Towards Social Development and Poverty Reduction’ is edited by Helmut Spitzer, Janestic Twikiriza and Gidraph Wairire and will be published by Fountain Publishers, Kampala.
Links: http://www.appear.at/appear/project_portfolio/academic_partnerships/prosowo_project26_prep13
A Brief On Prosowo Research Dissemination Workshop held on 25th January 2013
The PROSOWO research team comprising of Dr. Gidraph Wairire, Dr. Agnes Zani, Dr. Mumbi Machera and Dr. Pius Mutie, all from the Department of Sociology and Social Work hosted a very successful PROSOWO Research Dissemination Workshop on 25th January 2013 at the Boulevard Hotel - Nairobi where they disseminated some of the key findings of the research ‘The Role Of Professional Social Work In Poverty Reduction And Realization Of Millennium Development Goals In East Africa’.
The workshop was officially opened by the Principal, CHSS Prof. Enos Njeru and attended by delegates from different agencies that employ social workers in Kenya. Social work academic staff and students from the University of Nairobi, Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Daystar University, Kenya Institute of Social Work were also in attendance. Prof. Paul Mbatia, Dr. Nungari Salim and Dr. Karatu Kiemo all from the department of Sociology and Social Work and Mr. Mutea Rukwaro, director of social services – Meru County were the main discussants in the workshop.
Most of the findings reflect on the existing realities of social work education and practice in Kenya with regard to poverty reduction and social development. Emerging roles of social work in the efforts to reduce poverty and enhance social development were highlighted. The need to revise the social work curricula and to generate indigenous approaches for social work practice were also expounded as key recommendations derived from the study and which will make social work education and practice have more impact in the Kenyan society.
On policy issues, the workshop deliberated on the need to go beyond the research and liaise with other stakeholders in Kenya to ensure that social work as a profession acquires legislative provisions for more recognition which will then improve the status of social work practitioners in their fields of practice.
Forthcoming PROSOWO Regional Consortium 27th Feb 2013
There will be a regional consultative workshop on 27th February from 8.00am at the Silver Springs Hotel, Nairobi. This meeting will comprise of 2 delegates from Rwanda, 2 from Tanzania, 2 from Austria, 3 from Uganda and 4 from Kenya. The 4 from Kenya are the four senior researchers involved in this project and who have jointly completed the study ‘The Role Of Professional Social Work In Poverty Reduction And Realization Of Millennium Development Goals In East Africa’. We may also have representatives of social work associations in the countries involved since the next stage is to explore how the outcomes of the research can be used for policy related measures to strengthen and promote social work in the region.
There is also a possibility of having two additional representatives from Burundi and Ethiopia even though the two countries are not part of PROSOWO Project but the project outcomes are envisaged to impact on East Africa. The key deliberations for the meeting on 27th includes the way forward with regard to the research data at hand, the possibilities of producing a field work manual for social work and a country specific book using the data at hand. The discussions will also examine the possibilities of incorporating the recommendations derived from the recently completed research in our social work curriculum etc.
Post Regional Consortium activities
Plans are underway to have a departmental workshop in which we can examine possibilities of reviewing the social work curriculum in line with the outcomes of the research amongst other factors.
In addition there will be a PROSOWO International Conference in Uganda in February 2014 which will coincide with the World Social Work Day. PROSOWO Team is in the process of constituting the conference organizing committee and the broad themes for the conference after which the call for conference papers will be done. The book ‘Professional Social Work In East Africa: Towards Social Development and Poverty Reduction’ edited by Helmut Spitzer, Janestic Twikiriza and Gidraph Wairire will be officially launched in this conference.
Conference link
http://www.appear.at/appear/project_portfolio/academic_partnerships/prosowo_project26_prep13/international_social_work_conference/
Photos – Prosowo Kenya Country coordinator receiving books from the UoN librarian in charge of requisition. List of the books attached as PDF document
Photos – Dissemination workshop
Photos – Nairobi Symposium as indicated on page 2 above.
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