The Role of Malawi’s Indigenous Knowledge and Practices in Social Work Practice

Abstract

Before the advent of modern social work practice, Malawi like most African countries had strong kinship and community practices that provided support to the vulnerable members of the society. Malawi had several indigenous practices that helped in the provision of social welfare services, these were both curative and preventive  of social dysfunction measures. In the recent past, some practices have been discontinued while most practices have been side-lined in preference to modern social work practice and procedures. This chapter reviews some of the indigenous pieces of knowledge and practices that were used or are minimally used in Malawi’s communities in social welfare provision. It explores factors contributing to their minimal utilisation and also offers ways of strengthening the utilisation and incorporation of such indigenous knowledge (IK) and practices into modern social work practice in Malawi. We used a systematic review methodology of 2 case studies, one in childcare provision and the other in mental health service provision. The studye stablished that there are several practices that utilise the effects of strong kinship ties and values of reciprocity that can still be relevant to modern social work practice in Malawi. Lack of mechanisms for incorporation of the indigenous knowledge into modern practices and loosened community ties are key factors hampering adequate utilisation of indigenous knowledge. Deliberate mechanism to promote indigenous knowledge stands out as a key solution to the effective utilisation of knowledge in modern social work practice.