THE RWANDAN society has different social practices which can serve as solutions to different challenges, social workers have said. They were speaking on Wednesday during a one-day workshop that brought together various stakeholders involved in a project seeking to document local social practices, preserve Rwandan culture, and values and needs, and see to it that the practices are incorporated in university curricula. The project, dubbed; “Synthesising Indigenous and international Social Work Theory and Practice in Rwanda”, is a joint venture between social work researchers and professionals from the University of Rwanda’s College of Arts and Social Sciences (CASS), and three Canadian universities – York University, Manitoba and St. Thomas. As part of the project, new research seeking to document various local practices that are helping to tackle local challenges was recently conducted in Huye District. The workshop discussed the survey’s preliminary results and officials say final findings will be made public later this year and shared with policymakers, academia, and other stakeholders. Susan McGrath, a social work professor at the University of York, and one of the researchers involved in the project, said the project and the study are aimed at contributing towards making people’s lives better. “The university trains social workers who go out there and support vulnerable people as well as those suffering from HIV/Aids. We want to comprehend the practice of social workers in Rwanda because we believe it inculcates the cultural values of Rwanda,” she said. “We want to document it and share with policy makers, practitioners and teachers,” she added, noting that social workers are “responsible for promoting justice, equality and fairness in society.” Charles Kalinganire, a lecturer at the CASS, said though there had been so much efforts to raise awareness about social work, many people were still ignorant about the profession. He said some practitioners tend to forget local practices that could help address local challenges in favour of classroom theories which are mainly drawn from experiences of others. “Documenting will help promote local practices and push for their maximum exploitation,” he said.
