Webinar participants with Oluwatoni Adeleke, Sylvia Daisy Romanus, Joachim Mumba, Mustapha Mashood & David N Jones
Progress in establishing recognition and regulation of social work across Africa was reported in a webinar on 20th March 2025, jointly organised by International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) Africa and the Commonwealth Organisation for Social Work (COSW) (View video here).
Introduced by Sylvia Daisy Romanus (COSW President) and Oluwatoni Adeleke (IFSW Africa President), the webinar featured contributions about recent legislation in Zambia and Nigeria. David N Jones presented key questions and challenges to be resolved when setting up regulation.
Joachim Mumba (IFSW Global President, COSW Board Member and Chief Executive of the Zambian Association) described the successful campaign by the Association of Social Workers in Zambia which resulted in The Social Workers’ Association of Zambia Act 2022 , creating a national regulatory framework for social work.
Alhaji Mashood Mustapha (President, Nigerian Association of Social Workers) spoke about the successful campaign to achieve The Nigerian Council for Social Work (Establishment) Act 2 02 2 but highlighted the delays in its inauguration which are undermining the effectiveness of the social work profession in Nigeria.
The webinar heard that regulation of social work is well established in South Africa and Zimbabwe and progress is being made in other countries, including Kenya, Senegal and The Gambia.
Concluding the webinar, Sylvia Daisy Romanus commented that COSW is promoting a webinar series on regulation of social work across the Commonwealth. Oluwatoni Adeleke said that this subject would be on the IFSW Africa agenda until the objectives were achieved across the continent.
Contact
Oluwatoni Adeleke (IFSW Africa President), africa@i fsw.org
David N Jones (COSW Representative to the Commonwealth),