Summary

Oxford Brookes University has introduced an innovative buddying system for social work students with those at Hope Africa University, Burundi, which is in East Central Africa. The mutual aims of the system are for students from both institutions to learn about social work in another culture, develop their communication skills, and increase their experience of diversity and inclusion. Students meet virtually once a month in small groups to co-produce a resource for future social work trainees to understand cultural differences. The project evaluation is based on the Burundian principle ‘Ikibiri’ (working together) and the African principle ‘Ubuntu’ (I am because we are) (Mutsonziwa, 2020). This talk will share lessons learned from decolonising teaching and research, and equip and inspire others to do the same. 

Keywords (separate with commas)

Decolonisation, Ubuntu, Ikibiri, buddying,

Summary

The overrepresentation of First Nations youth in provincial child protection systems in Canada, including in Quebec, is well known. Research has revealed the harmful consequences of the undifferentiated application of child welfare systems to Indigenous children and families, including the loss of cultural identity. Even though Quebec’s Youth Protection Act (YPA) has been amended several times so that any intervention takes into consideration the preservation of children’s cultural identity, this legislation remains unsuited to Indigenous realities and continues to have discriminatory effects. In Quebec, the recognition of First Nations' cultural and family practices as well as the right of Indigenous peoples to self-determination have for a long time been the subject of significant controversy and resistance by the legislature.To counter systemic discrimination, federal legislation (An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families) was introduced in 2020, allowing Indigenous communities to implement their own child welfare law. It is in this context of legislative changes that the Atikamekw Nation of Opitciwan adopted their own law in 2022 and has initiated a research-action to document its implementation. After presenting the new principles of the law, we will see how the establishment of an Atikamekw governance fosters the development of original community approaches that ensure not only the safety and well-being of Atikamekw children, but also the preservation of their cultural identity and the decolonization of social practices. 

Keywords (separate with commas)

Governance, child welfare services, Indigenous laws, social practices

Summary

This abstracts details the work of an established international project exploring partnership working and collaboration across the United Kingdom and East Africa. Using the backdrop of decolonisation of the curriculum and embedding indigenous wisdom, this project undertook some learning on indigenous wisdom and how this can be applied to social work practice and the curriculum, with a move towards the internationalisation of the profession. This project focused on decolonising what international collaboration means and how this is practiced through responding to and addressing colonial influences to repair and rebalance partnerships. This included utilising key indigenous concepts and methods around mediation and community consultation. The learning from this project enables a start to build an evidence base for the position of indigenous knowledge and the value this brings to a global perspective for social work curricula and to increase global learning through a lens of social justice

Keywords (separate with commas)

Decolonisation, indigenous, social work education, international collaboration