Social work is such a broad field that definition is complicated. Many different definitions of social work have evolved over time. Most of them include the dual aims of helping individuals fit better into their environment and changing the environment so that it works better for individuals. Social work has been described as the profession that helps society work better for people and helps people function better within society (Segal, Gerdes, & Steiner 2004). Nevertheless, social work is distinct among the helping professions.
The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Social work as a profession has been practised in many developed countries for a long time. It. utilises theories of human behaviour and social systems, to intervene at the points where people interact with their environments. According to Zastrow (2004) social work profession grew out of humanitarian and democratic ideals, and its values are based on respect for the equality, worth, and dignity of all people. Since its beginnings over a century ago, social work practice has focused on meeting human needs and developing human potential.
Social workers are professionals who help support and protect people who are vulnerable and at risk. They work with people who are experiencing social and emotional problems and their families if they are affected. Social workers help people with day to day problems which affect their mental and physical wellbeing (Dubois and Miley 2002).
They may help people who use services to claim benefits, plan budgets, obtain legal advice or deal with other local authority departments. Social workers undertake assessment in relation to child care, mental health and criminal justice and may arrange services such as home care assistance or hospitals (Morales and Sheafor, 2004). In summary one can say that social workers are one of those human service professions that render social services to people. One may then ask what are social services?
According to European Union report (2010) social services are those services that make a right effective. They went further to assert that social services is not limited to assistance to the most vulnerable groups but concern the social protection of the whole population and that these services also play a preventive role. Social services should also address the whole population (individuals or families) and should be related to the realization of social policy goals and objectives. Social services can often include elements of advocacy in order to defend the interests of the beneficiaries and to work for social justice in society. It is important to note that social services are provided according to the wishes and the personal choice of the beneficiaries
Based on the foregoing, one can deduce that for social service to be effective, the needs of the people must be borne in mind and also known to the providers. Among the human service professions, social workers are the ones that are better placed to organise and provide social services to the people. They are suppose to be a key component of national and social development as well as the provision of social services. They are expected to provide counselling, assist individuals in accessing social services and other benefits and engage in actions designed to influence social policies (Onokeraye, 2011).
However in Nigeria, the way in which social work is taught and practiced have made it difficult for social workers to play this role adequately. This is because according to Anucha (2008), social work education and practice need to develop new methods of intervention which differ from those used in Western countries and reflect the realities and challenges facing social development in the country. This then bring us to the issue of indigenization of social work.
Indigenization of social work: An overview
Indigenization of social work which is a frequently invoked concept in social work means different things to different people. For Osei-Hwedie (1993), indigenization is concerned with the use of appropriate theories and practice methods, as well as values, norms, and philosophies which underlie social work practice. For Osie-Hwedie therefore indigenisation refers to the idea that the theories, values and philosophies that underlie social work practice must be influenced by local factors including local cultures. For Gray (2005) indigenisation essentially refers to the extent to which social work practice fits local contexts. Walton and Abo El Nasr, (1988) see indigenization as a process through which a recipient country experiences discontent with the imported western model of social work in the context of the local political, economic, social and cultural structures. Subsequently, the social work profession in the recipient country identifies incongruous components of the western model and work to adapt, adjust or modify them in order to improve the model's fit to the local country and culture. Gray and Allegritti (2002) believe that indigenisation is essentially about culture, whether it be articulating local cultures and the way in which they differed from Western cultures or reclaiming culture and possibly also tradition. What all these views by different authors point to is that professional social work roles must be made to be appropriate to the needs of the particular country where it is being practiced and also social work education must be made to be appropriate to the demands of social work practice in a particular country. In other words, social work practice and social work education must be country specific because different countries have different cultures, values and orientation. These differences must also be taken into account in the way and method social services are provided because, if the provision of social services are not made to be people specific, then it may not be effective. Social workers cannot provide social services in a vacuum. Rather they must be mindful of the culture and peculiar circumstances and needs of the people.
In Nigeria as in many countries of the world, Social Work has been moulded and shaped by colonial influences. According to Osei-Hwedie, Ntseane, Jacques (2006) through the efforts of international development agencies aided by private organisations and western schools of social work, social work education in African countries are based on the Western professional and scientific model of social work. This usually involve academic training of several years duration but which is widely divergent with the social, political, historical, economic and cultural contexts in Africa.
In Nigeria, the number of universities offering social work programs has increased drastically in the past two decades. Social services provided by government organizations and NGOs have also proliferated as a response to rising social problems and needs but it does appear as if there is a lack of well trained professionals that can adequately provide solutions to these social problems. Therefore the following issues need to be considered:
Change in the method of teaching/curriculum development
This is because despite the increased establishment of schools of social work, most social work programmes leave much to be desired, especially in terms of their relevance to the African situation and local content. The curriculum and other vital components of instruction remain largely conservative and underdeveloped (Mupedziswa, 2005). It is common knowledge that many of the social workers teaching in African universities were trained in Europe and North America. They have internalised values and norms of social work education and practice obtaining in the West. Because of the colonial legacy and the resource constraints, attempts to reverse this Eurocentric bias in social work training have not been successful.
Another requirement in the indigenisation process for social work educators is to develop a curriculum which is relevant and appropriate to the needs of the community, which means relinquishing a deficit model (Rankopo and Osei-Hwedie 2011). This process will require time, commitment, and resources. The partnership with various constituencies involves a dialogue and consultation with social work educators, students and interested university staff, and representatives of the profession, welfare, NGOs and CBOs. Capacity building of social work educators is part of this enterprise. The process requires a revisit to the vision, mission, objectives and programmes of social work education and training.
A social work curriculum should not be neutral.. In order to best meet the community's needs, the curriculum requires a reorientation for the entire four years of the social work training.. The introduction of indigenous issues into the curriculum is one step in helping a school of social work address local issues and realities, and freeing its curriculum from dependence on a literature produced in a different context.
Earle (2007) believes that students should be taught to understand the nuances and communication patterns of Africans, including the preponderance of idioms and proverbs, the avoidance of taboo topics, and the use of circumlocution whereby clients do not communicate directly regarding a problem and the social worker may need to be adept at probing. One way of encouraging indigenization according to Osei-Hwedie, Ntseane, and Jacques (2006)) is to facilitate students receiving a learning experience enriched by exposure to local content and understandings. To achieve this, Osei-Hwedie, Ntseane and Jacques (2006) believes that lecturers need to promote this through the organization of lectures and assessment that encouraged students to reflect and broaden their appreciation of their identity by developing critical thinking and learning skills applicable to local communities. This can be achieved by requiring students to locate, discuss, analyse and evaluate information from a range of sources as they related to local issues; carry out research assignments with an local component and analyse the cultural construction of knowledge and cross-cultural practices (Earle, 2007).
Mupedziswa (1992) and Osei-Hwedie (1993) argue that social work practice must capture issues and problems which traditionally have been conceptualised as being outside the domain of social work. It is important therefore that social work education and curriculum of today should capture and emphasise such issues and problems related to unemployment, armed robbery, kidnapping, terrorism, refugees, HIV/AIDS, ethnic relations, environmental degradation, resource control, and all other issues that are peculiar to Nigeria. In other words, social work education today should tilt towards the ecosystems theory which is seen as providing the integrative framework which places the person in its immediate environment. To be able to handle these and other problems, social workers must have the necessary skills through proper education which also prepares practitioners to anticipate and respond effectively to future problems and demands
Patel (2005) states that the profession of social work must adapt to changing social conditions to become more relevant and appropriate in the local context. To strengthen and support communities requires skills that enable communities and facilitators to get to know one another, decide what changes need to be made, carry out the project/programme, monitor and evaluate the project/programme and to empower communities to sustain the project/programme. This being the case, social work graduates will be required to have basic, or generalist skills as community developers, researchers, advocates, service brokers, educators, policy analysts and group facilitators. All these can only be achieved through curriculum change (Darkwa, 2007; Rankopo, and Osei-Hwedie, 2011). Providing culturally relevant education in curriculum and program delivery to students according to Ives, Aitken, Loft and Phillips (2007) is also critical in the restoration of autonomy in social service provision. Therefore it is essential to transform educational opportunities for social work students by developing different approaches to learning that will be relevant to our local realities.
The need to take cognizance of the cultural milieu in which people live has been highlighted as one of the major issues that must be addressed if indigenisation is to be achieved (O'Brien and Pace, 2010). Gray (2005) is of the view that social work curriculum should address the historical and cultural experiences and realities of their people and be respectful of the cultural beliefs and practices of a country. Social work educators need to attend to the human needs, beliefs, myths, values, traditions, goals, roles and aspirations of the people. It has been argued by Chitereka (2009) that one of the major ways to achieve indigenisation is if social workers are taught to understand and appreciate the customs and value systems of the people with whom they work with. This opinion has been supported by many scholar and professionals in the field of social work and other related professions. This means that Western education which lacks relevance to the African situation needs adaptation and domestication, in terms of the cultural context of a specific community.
Theory Development
Healy (2004) and Gray & Coates (2010) believe that by developing culturally relevant theories makes service delivery and social work education culturally relevant. Social work practice and training should take into account, the environmental, cultural and ideological variability of a people. It is necessary that indigenisation should focus on skills, outlook, philosophies, theories and models that are local in content. That is they must start from within and then go on to determine the problems and their solutions, resources and skills available, processes and procedures to use and what help may be required or borrowed from outsiders. Thus, social work knowledge and practice must emerge from local initiatives which should then sustain it. It also follows that the rightful basis of social work training must be knowledge from practice. It is through this process that training and practice will become consistent with and responsive to the environmental, cultural and ideological variability of a people. There is need to develop indigenous theories that will assist social workers in providing the kind of services and support systems that are derived from the their clients values, beliefs and culture. They need to modify and develop conceptual frameworks and methodologies rooted in their own socio-cultural practice contexts
In addition to sound theoretical knowledge, social workers must have a broad range of skills. Earle (2007) observed that the ability to listen actively and communicate clearly and effectively was essential. She went further in saying that not only should social workers be able to communicate verbally in at least a couple of the national/regional languages, but also non-verbally through gesture and posture.
Linked to the above is the unavailability of well researched textbooks with local contents. Virtually all the available social work textbooks have been written by scholars who live and were trained in Western Europe and North America. Most of these scholars are writing for their societies and any example relating to Africa is basically armchair scholarship in the sense that they have not been to the Third World. The theories and models contained in the books in question are derived from Western values and experience and are therefore of limited relevance to African and other developing societies (Chiteraka, 2009). Given the above, the need to reform and radicalise the social work curriculum cannot be over-emphasised
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