International symposium at the Midlands State University in Harare

As part of the DAAD-funded programme of subject-related partnerships, four universities and colleges - Midlands State University(Opens in a new tab) , Fachhochschule Dortmund, the University of Johannesburg(Opens in a new tab)  and the University of KwaZulu Natal(Opens in a new tab)  - organized an international symposium in cooperation with the International Consortium on Social Development (ICSD) Africa Branch(Opens in a new tab)  from 14 to 18 October 2024. The core of the program is to bring together young researchers to discuss global issues in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations and to draw conclusions for social work. This year's symposium focused on indigenous and local knowledge systems for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. A total of 70 researchers from countries in the "Global North" and the "Global South" came together.

Representing Fachhochschule Dortmund at the Midlands State University(Opens in a new tab)  (MSU) at the main campus in Gweru and the School of Social Work (Opens in a new tab) in Harare were project leader Prof. Dr. Michael Boecker(Opens in a new tab) , project coordinator and social work graduate Dorothée Boecker(Opens in a new tab) , Romina Maillaro(Opens in a new tab) , doctoral student at the Faculty of Applied Social Studies(Opens in a new tab) , and Sina Levenig(Opens in a new tab) , project assistant at the faculty. At the symposium, Romina Maillaro presented her doctoral thesis "Does social work have an equity problem? Why are management positions predominantly held by men?" to an international audience of experts.

The symposium focused on the influence of African indigenous knowledge systems on the decolonization of social work and social policy programmes. African Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIKS) help to shape and define the existence of societies and form the basis for the beliefs and traditional practices of African nation states. However, knowledge of how these knowledge systems can be utilized remains limited. Indigenous knowledge systems are an important prerequisite for sustainable development for the countries of the "Global South" and all indigenous peoples. The countries of the "Global South" will not be able to realize their development goals without becoming aware of their indigenous knowledge systems. Local knowledge and social development approaches have already led to positive results in combating poverty and mitigating the negative effects of climate change. These examples show what is possible when local contexts and ways of thinking are incorporated into social development policy and practice. The symposium demonstrated, among other things, how indigenous and local knowledge systems can disrupt prevailing theories and practices in social policy and social work while working towards achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

The lectures and discussions offered intensive insights into the question of how deeply colonial influences intervene in the structures of social work and how much these influences shape today's practice, thinking and language. Particularly impressive was the examination of how social work is often based on Western values that are considered universal worldwide, but take too little account of cultural diversity and different social realities. One of the key findings from the discussions was that a "decolonization" of social work requires not only the adaptation of concepts and models, but also a fundamental reflection of cultural contexts and historical backgrounds. This primarily concerns the question of the extent to which "help" and "development" are based on a Western understanding of progress and how this can reinforce paternalistic structures.

The DAAD team from the cooperating universities presented the publication of their special issue of an international journal, the Journal of Social Development in Africa. In their own article, Prof. Dr. Michael Boecker and Dorothée Boecker addressed the importance of international social work as a human rights profession in a global society. "In an increasingly globalized world, we are interconnected in many ways and interdependent in a complex geopolitical (dis)order". This also applies to those who work in social work as a human rights profession. For a long time, the idea prevailed that social workers had to act exclusively on a national level and that looking beyond one's own country could be refreshing, but was not absolutely necessary. Today, we know how important international relationships, networks and scientific exchange are. Geopolitical decisions often affect social work and its target groups at their core. Existential poverty and unemployment in countries of the Global South lead to flight and migration to the countries of the Global North. Crises such as wars or natural disasters have a wide range of effects on global value chains. The unequal distribution of poverty and wealth leads to asymmetrical power relations, which are not least the legacy of colonial and apartheid influences. This makes the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) all the more important.