Challenging the Profession: Voicing the Politics of Social Work Practice in Uganda

Abstract

Using triangular experience as a social work student, educator, and practitioner in Uganda, this article voices the agency of a politically attuned social work—one that directly confronts present-day practice challenges rooted in politics and social structures. Political social work is framed not as routine resistance to government, but as an ideological and practical position leveraging the interface between policy and politics to address problems underpinned by current political issues. It argues that historically individualised practice lacks potency to handle macro-social problems beyond individual realms, and offers suggestions for practice and education toward a future politics of social work in Uganda.

Social work at cross roads with central political issues

Recent years have brought sharper political questions for social work in Uganda, with politicians querying the profession’s contribution to tackling national problems (Ntanda, 2020; Tusasirwe, 2020). Macro-level challenges—endemic poverty, unemployment, violence, corruption, environmental harms, disasters, land grabs, and widening inequality—have stalled national transformation despite articulate National Development Planning. Yet practice responses often individualise rather than engage in macro and political practice (Bhangyi & Rømer, 2025). Gaps in curricula (e.g., eco-social work) and the fact that some harms are perpetuated by politics and militarism compound the problem (Bhangyi, 2023; Bhangyi & Rømer, 2025; Wilkins & Vokes, 2023).

A central confusion treats political social work as synonymous with oppositional party politics. Instead, political social work targets policy and politics to create social change rooted in social justice—protecting vulnerable and oppressed groups. It requires awareness of the impacts of politics and policy, and intentional actions to ensure that policy goods and opportunities reach those who need them—by dismantling structural, oppressive power barriers. Core skills include advocacy, mapping, coalition-building, and policy engagement, underpinned by ethical and historical mindfulness in the public interest.

Towards building political practice

From critical perspectives, many “individual” problems are rooted in structural elements of society; political social work is therefore unavoidable (Martinez, 2021). Four proposals follow to help social workers learn and practice politically:

1) Reassess history. Develop a critical understanding of the political history of social work in Uganda as practice and discipline. Examine why the profession has struggled to tackle historical and contemporary issues through political lenses; interrogate ignored knowledge, institutions, and welfare systems, and ask uncomfortable questions about programmes in government, NGOs, and external funding. Adopt a posture of insider critic to expand possibilities and explore tensions.

2) Build social forces. Mobilise numbers—client groups, formations, movements, associations—as vehicles to demand and claim welfare, not only receive it. Replace default individualisation with collective approaches. Organise communities around social issues to create a powerbase for change, using safe, community-led mobilisation framed within existing policy space (e.g., social mobilisation in the National Development Plan; National Planning Authority, 2024).

3) Work with current events. Use social, political, economic, and natural events (environmental harm, violence, refugee influx, land grabs, service failures) to educate, link to policy, and drive advocacy that addresses underlying oppressive power dynamics.

4) Self-mobilise the profession. Map who social workers are, where they are, and how to reach them; build mentorship for political social work. With non-mandatory registration, NASWU lacks a full roll, limiting critical mass. Professional self-organisation can diffuse practice knowledge and strengthen legislative influence.

Reflecting forwards for political practice

Practice. Ugandan social work’s deep community embed can be leveraged for political practice. Shift from welfare delivery alone to radical, change-oriented approaches; interrogate impacts of public/NGO work; engage election cycles to propose bold policy, shape leadership agendas, and mobilise communities to demand actionable commitments. Use emerging democratic spaces to seek office and influence manifestos.

Education. Centre political analysis as tools for teaching, learning, and problem-solving on macro issues. Make national development plans and party manifestos core texts; analyse historically and comparatively to assess delivery versus promise and differences across platforms. Use resulting evidence to mobilise accountability and formulate people-centred proposals when consulted by those in power.

References

1. Bhangyi, B. V., & Rømer, M. (2025). Political contestations, human rights violations and the human victims in Uganda: A call for social work actions through indigenous pathways. Journal of Comparative Social Work, 20(1), 271–298. https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v20i1.726
2. Bhangyi, V. B. (2023). Directions in constructing a body of knowledge in eco-social work education and practice in Uganda: Actions, channels, and implications. African Journal of Social Work, 13(2), 70–77. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ajsw.v13i2.3
3. Martinez, S. (2021). Power, politics, and social work: The need to reinvent social work around the world. In J. Boulet & L. Hawkins (Eds.), Practical and political approaches to re-contextualizing social work (pp. 229–240). IGI Global.
4. National Planning Authority. (2024). Fourth national development plan (NDPIV) 2025/2026–2029/2030. parliamentwatch.ug
5. Ntanda, M. B. (2020, January 31). Social workers are not useless, irrelevant. newvision.co.ug
6. Tusasirwe, S. (2020, July 19). Remarks that social work is ‘useless’ raises questions. monitor.co.ug
7. Wilkins, S., & Vokes, R. (2023). Transition, transformation, and the politics of the future in Uganda. Journal of Eastern African Studies, 17(1–2), 262–279. https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2023.2236848