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BJSW Advance Access originally published online on September 20, 2006
British Journal of Social Work 2008 38(1):135-151; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcl087
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

Social Work Practice to Support Survival Strategies in Sub-Saharan Africa

Siobhan E. Laird

Dr. Siobhan E. Laird qualified as a social worker in 1994 with a background in mental health and child protection. She was employed for several years in a community care team in Belfast. Dr. Laird moved to Ghana in 1997 where she lived for four years and worked as the Co-ordinator of Social Work at the University of Ghana. She is presently a lecturer in Social Work at the University of Sheffield.

Correspondence to Dr. Siobhan E. Laird, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, Northumberland Road, Sheffield S10 2TU, South Yorkshire. E-mail: s.laird{at}sheffield.ac.uk


  Abstract

The high levels of absolute poverty, malnutrition and illiteracy across the sub-Saharan region require African social workers to develop new methods of intervention which differ from those used in Western countries. Identifying, augmenting and enhancing the strengths of disadvantaged people lie at the core of all social work practice. This paper adumbrates the range of survival strategies used by African households and concludes that these require buttressing through alternative approaches to orthodox social work methods.

Keywords: social work, Africa, coping strategies, survival strategies, social development


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