North–South social work partnership: strengthening the development of social work in Rwanda

Abstract

Social work education in many parts of Africa is underdeveloped. Western theories dominate curricula and practices at the expense of indigenous knowledge. Canadian and Rwandan social work researchers created a partnership to strengthen social work education and practice at the University of Rwanda (UR). This paper reports the findings of a needs assessment that sought to identify the key issues facing Rwandans in the communities surrounding UR and professional needs in training competent undergraduate (Bachelor of Social Work) students. After reviewing the data, we identified collective trauma following the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, extreme poverty and substance abuse to be major issues. Professional needs included trained faculty and field supervisors and adequate means to support students’ field placement. A group of academic and community stakeholders confirmed these findings and supported the creation of a center to facilitate training, practice, and research. The study results inform social work knowledge, education and practice in Rwanda and internationally.

Keywords:

• social work education and practice
• colonial education
• North–South partnership
• post-genocide Rwanda

Additional information

Funding

Funding. This work was supported by International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada.