DR. WAIRIRE GIDRAPH G

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;

    The respective countries’ poverty reduction strategies,
    The social development approach as a theoretical framework,
    Local and culturally relevant knowledge, and
    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.