| Abstract [eng] |
Ugnė Kumparskaitė. Professional social work in Uganda: development, status and challenges. Master’s thesis in social work/Scientific supervisor doc. dr. Eglė Šumskienė: / Vilnius University, Faculty of Philosophy, Institute of Sociology and Social work, Department of Social Work and Social Welfare. Vilnius, 2021. – 74 p. Nowadays we live in a globalized world and we, other countries and continents are connected by social, political and economic ties. Social contacts and systems in today’s world are of great significance. More and more of students and practitioners in social disciplines select a number of remote regions and seek to familiarize with the history, style of work and models and methods used in these areas. It is no exception in social work discipline. We are increasingly talking about international social work, social workers working in different parts of the world, thus constantly learning and transferring their experience and knowledge of local colleagues, institutions and organizations. This work is the first in Lithuania reviewing the development of social work in Uganda, one of the countries of the African continent. This Master’s work reviews the development, status and challenges of social work in Uganda. After Uganda regained its independence in 1962, social work practices and disciplines started to develop, but until these days the social workers face very little appreciation of social work as a profession seeking social welfare. The aim of this work is to review the development of professional social work in Uganda and to disclose obstacles to the establishment of the social work profession in society from the perspective of social workers. Objectives: (1) to review the development of social work discipline and profession in Uganda by analyzing the literature; (2) to identify obstacles (difficulties) to the establishment of the social work profession in Ugandan society, based on a model of Adaptive Leadership (AL) theory and the outcomes of the research; (3) The results of the research are compared with the factors discussed in the scientific literature that determine the status of social work in society. The methodology of qualitative research was chosen for the empirical research. The participants of the study were selected using a pre-thought-out sample. The study involved social workers from Uganda with different social work experiences. A total of 6 interviews were used in this work. The research revealed challenges (obstacles) influencing the recognition of social work and the creation of an appropriate legal environment, public attitudes to social work, these challenges are related to the development trends of social work discussed in the scientific literature and the concept of AL to achieve changes in a social work field. |
