Journal Articles

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12504/184

Browse

Browsing Journal Articles by Subject "Africa"

Filter results by typing the first few letters
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    From human needs to social needs in African social work: the ubuntu perspective
    (EricksonRelational Social Work, 2025-10) Balyejjusa, Senkosi Moses; Venesio Bwambale Bhangyi
    This conceptual article argues that focusing on human needs as a guiding post for Africa’s social work mission creates a vacuum in understanding needs. Hence, human life is wrongly conceptualized as individualistic rather than a social phenomenon. Using the Ubuntu perspective, we articulate that an individuals’ humanity is embedded in relationships and connections with other people in the social environment. Thus, being human in Africa cannot be detached from the social. As such, our conceptual analysis proposes that the social work profession in Africa could reframe human needs as social needs. This reframing is based on four conceptual logics: the embedded-ness of being human in social relations; the knowledge of needs being social knowledge; the satisfaction of needs being social actions; and the resources-institutional framework that addresses needs being social. This reconceptualization contributes to new ways of thinking about needs and practice actions through which the society can tackle the needs of all people, thereby enhancing social work as a social justice profession.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Towards developing ethical capacities in social work practice in Africa: Case study and critical commentary from Uganda
    (Sage Journals, 2022-11) Venesio, Bwambale Bhangyi
    This article engages with a case study situated in a public social service system in Uganda, Africa. Through case analysis, I highlight the complexities related to professional ethics in social work practice in Africa and argue that efforts to promote ethics, human rights and social justice in this context require creativity, innovation and activism to confront structural conditions that trap people in unjust circumstances. While building ethical capabilities demands grounding practice in the global social work principles, additional infusion of ubuntu ethics and African social work platforms for sharing experiences and actions are needed.