________________________________________________________________________________________________________________AJSW, Volume 9 Number 1 2019
MUGUMBATE, J & CHERENI, A.
Publisher

African Journal of Social Work
Afri. j. soc. work
© National Association of Social Workers-Zimbabwe/Author(s)ISSN Print 1563-3934
ISSN Online 2409-5605
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial 4.0 International License

Indexed & Accredited with: African Journals Online (AJOL)|University of Zimbabwe Accredited Journals (UZAJ)|SCOPUS (Elsevier’s abstract and citation
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USING AFRICAN UBUNTU THEORY IN SOCIAL WORK WITH CHILDREN IN
ZIMBABWEMUGUMBATE, Jacob and CHERENI, Admire
ABSTRACT
Using indigenous knowledge systems such as Ubuntu in social work with children empowers them, their families, communities andworkers. Yet, the potential of using frames that draw on indigenous ways of knowing, in children’s work, remain unrealised sincesocial workers prefer Western models and theories. Ubuntu inspired models of social work view children from family, community,
environmental and spiritual perspectives. In contrast, Western models are inspired by individualitic values, governmental policies
and professional viewpoints. However, as will be shown in this article, foreign models have failed to live up to expectations because
they tend to disempower and diminish the strengths of everyone involved in case situations. For example, the social worker has toadminister a model that they are not fully familiar with or which contradicts their own values. The family is forced to adopt values
that they do not know let alone believe in. The community becomes powerless in the process. This article discusses the use of
Ubuntu theory in social work with children in Africa. The discussion includes five frameworks of Ubuntu: the orature, scholarly,
liberation, practice and integrated. The Ubuntu inspired Zera model of child growth and development was used to aid thediscussion. We conclude that, given social work’s emphasis on using strengths perspectives, i.e., those broader frames that
deliberately look for and build on the strengths of clients and client systems, social work practice with children in Africa should
engage with Ubuntu, as a matter of principle..
KEY TERMS: Ubuntu; Africa; Zimbabwe; indigenous; children; social work

KEY DATES
Received: 06 September 2018
Revised: 02 January 2019
Accepted: 01 February 2019
Published: 26 February 2019
Funding: None
Conflict of Interest: None
Permission: Not applicable
Ethics approval: Not applicable
ARTICLE TYPE: Analysis

Author/s:
MUGUMBATE, Jacob, PhD, School of Health and Society, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia. Formerly at Bindura University, Zimbabwe. Email: jmugumba@uow.edu.au
CHERENI, Admire, PhD, School of Social Work, Midlands State University, Zimbabwe

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INTRODUCTION
Ubuntu philosophy, commonly represented by communal relationality, communal ideals and human excellence
forms part of the knowledge and wisdom of how African communities and families raise children. Ubuntu
represents the worldviews of indigenous black populations of Sub-Saharan Africa, transmitted from generation to
generation through observation, experience, language and art. The widely acknowledged maxims I am because
we are and A person is a person through other persons indicate that relationality is a crucial ingredient for humanexcellence. This suggests that, as with every member of the family, children “develop personhood through otherpersons,” which means that they must “prize communal and harmonious relationships with others” (Metz, 2016,p.324). One other maxim - it takes a village to raise a child - means that meaningful interactions among thechild, family members and those outside the family circle are necessary for children to realise human excellenceInterestingly, from this optic, adults play a critical role to create the relational conditions that enable children to
realise their personhood. Therefore, there is no doubt that Ubuntu informs ideal child rearing practices in African
contexts. Given social work’s emphasis on using strengths perspectives, i.e., those broader frames that deliberately
look for and build on the strengths of clients and client systems, one is more inclined to think that social work
practice with children in Africa should, as a matter of principle, engage with Ubuntu.
Surprisingly, modern day social work with children does not seem to acknowledge fully the potential of Ubuntu
to inform perspectives, theories and models that social workers use in professional practice. Social workers tend
to prefer Western models and theories (Rankopo and Osei-Hwedie, 2011). Unlike Ubuntu which represents
communitarian ideals, communal relationality, spirituality and excellence, Western perspectives, theories andmodels tend to be subjective or individualistic or both and heavily legislated by governments or standardized byprofessionals. Arguably, such perspectives fail to match the aspirations and ideals of the African communities,
within which children grow up and realise their personhood. If anything, they tend to disempower and diminish
those involved in raising children as well as the social work professionals who work as guardian ad litem(Muwanga-Zake, 2009). As Mushunje (2017, p. 108) said, ‘colonial welfare-based social work, in which the social
worker is central to the process, no longer suffices for the wellbeding of vulnerable children”. The social worker
has to use a model that he or she is not fully familiar with or which contradicts his or her own values. The family
is forced to adopt values that they do not know let alone believe in. When Western models applied in social work
encounters, the strength is diminished, making community members powerless to contribute meaningfully tochildren’s physical growth and social development. For example, in the African ubuntu, child adoption is doneby relatives without the intervention of professionals. Further, parents and communities reward and punish
children without the need for professionals, courts and juvenile jails. Uncles and aunts provide mentorship,counselling and support to children without the need for professional case workers and other professionals.
BACKGROUND TO UBUNTUHistory of Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a philosophy that originates from Sub-Saharan Africa where Bantu people live. Buntu or bantu meansa human being while Ubuntu refers to the view, process, content and quality of being a human. Human excellence
describes the quality of being human. Umhuka is the opposite of Ubuntu and it means to act like an animal andnot in ways expected of a human being.
Although the Zulu noun Ubuntu is widely used, other nouns are used in different societies. In Angola, it is
known as gimuntu, Botswana (muthu), Burkina Faso (maaya), Burundi (ubuntu), Cameroon (bato), Congo(bantu), Congo Democratic Republic (bomoto/bantu), Cote d’Ivoire (maaya), Equatorial Guinea (maaya), Guinea(maaya), Gambia (maaya), Ghana (biako ye), Kenya (utu/munto/mondo), Liberia (maaya), Malawi (umunthu),
Mali (maaya/hadama de ya), Mozambique (vumuntu), Namibia (omundu), Nigeria (mutunchi/iwa/agwa), Rwanda(bantu), Sierra Leonne (maaya), South Africa (ubuntu/botho), Tanzania (utu/obuntu/bumuntu), Uganda (obuntu),
Zambia (umunthu/ubuntu) and Zimbabwe (hunhu/unhu/botho/ubuntu). It is also found in other Bantu countries
not mentioned here. The word cloud shown in Fig. 1 illustrates the different names for Ubuntu. Ubuntu and Maaya
are the most popular nouns.
Fig 1: Names for Ubuntu in different countries

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In this discussion, more nouns and examples will be drawn from the Shona people predominant in Zimbabwe but
also in Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana. Related nouns exist in most of Sub-Saharan communities.
Ubuntu theory
Ubuntu can be viewed from four different frameworks: 1) the orature, 2) scholarly, 3), liberation and 4) practice.
These four are discussed first, before an integrated framework is suggested.
The orature framework says that Ubuntu is largely not written but is ‘tacit, sacred and embedded in practices,
relationships and rituals’ (Muwanga-Zake, 2009, p. 414). In agreement, Gikandi (2003) argued that orature ispassed through the spoken word and thrives in communities when it is practiced or lived. Ubuntu exists in African
orature (oral literature) since time immemorial. Most of it is not written, hence the use of the term orature which
was coined by Ugandan theorist Pio Zirimu (Gikandi, 2003). In Zimbabwe, Ubuntu is carried in folklore (ngano),songs (nziyo), stories (nyaya), poems (detembo), teasing (zvituko), epics, jokes or humour (comic/funnies)(nyambo), irony (dimikira) and proverbs (tsumo) and (zvirahwe). It is a rich oral tradition and a lived experience
which form part of the African culture.
The scholarly framework emanates from the work of different Ubuntu writers and scholars that can be divided
into early writers like Mbiti and Samkange and present-day writers. Mbiti and Samkange are regarded as thefathers of written Ubuntu, but not necessarily the fathers of Ubuntu because Ubuntu existed before them, only that
it was not in written format. Mbiti’s view, often termed the African view of man says: “What happens to theindividual happens to the whole group, and whatever happens to the whole group happens to the individual. The
individual can only say: ‘I am because we are; and since we are, therefore I am’, (Mbiti, 1969, p. 106). In supportof this view, Samkange and Samkange (1980) defined Hunhuism or Ubuntuism as African humanism classified
into three maxims: valuing human wellbeing, respectful relationships and people-centred leadership. For
Maphalala (2017), Ubuntu has three pillars: interpersonal values (regard for others), intrapersonal values (regard
for self) and environmental values (regard for environment). In their analysis of Ubuntu, Mugumbate andNyanguru (2013) noted that the philosophy could improve social work education, practice and research concurringwith Ramose (1999) and Chilisa (2012)’s frameworks that view Ubuntu as ontological (has philosophicalassumptions about the nature of reality), epistemological (a way of knowing) and axiological (it forms ethics andvalues). Others such as Tutu (2000) have argued that ubuntu is spiritual and theological.
The liberation framework of Ubuntu was advanced during the fight against, and transition from colonial rule.
The philosophy of Ubuntu was adopted and popularised as a social and political ideology by Africans (Dolamo,2014). Fighters, supporters and promoters of the liberation wars would always tell communities that they werefighting so that Africans ‘could become humans again’. To decolonize was to bring lost Ubuntu back. Statesmen
and liberators such as Kwameh Nkrumah of Ghana, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia,
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Nelson Mandela of South Africa were among those who used Ubuntu. Carrying
on with liberation work, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu popularised the philosophy of Ubuntu throughefforts to reconcile black and white South Africans after centuries of colonialism, dispossession and apartheid(Battle, 1997; Tutu, 2000). The liberation framework emphasise ownership of nhaka (inheritance) such as
ancestral land; possession (as opposed to dispossession or colonialism); liberty; self-determination, respect,
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recognition, justice, cohesion, forgiveness and communalism among other virtues. This framework did not end
with the coming of political independence, because from an Ubuntu perspective, it is argued that you cannot be a
person if you are dispossessed of your inheritance, land, rights or property. Present day leaders and politicians arecarrying the same argument.
Ubuntu exists in professional practice. For example, the Code of Ethics of Social Workers in Zimbabwe
produced by the CSW describes Ubuntu as humaneness. The Code says “ubuntu/unhu/humaneness includes the
stipulations of the philosophy that: ‘...places emphasis on values of human solidarity, empathy, human dignity
and the humaneness in every person, and that holds that a person is a person through others’ (CSW, 2012, p. 1).
It further states that the mission of social work includes promoting social justice, unhu/ubuntu, human rights,
positive change, problem solving and improvements in individual and community relationships and thedevelopment of society in general (CSW, 2012, p. 2). Besides adoption of Ubuntu in Zimbabwe, South Africa’s
White Paper for Social Welfare states that social development (as opposed to social welfare or social services
used in other countries in Africa) is guided by key principles such as democracy, partnership, Ubuntu, equity, andinter-sectoral collaboration, among others (Government of South Africa, 1996). The Paper describes Ubuntu as
the principle of caring for each other’s well-being and fostering the spirit of mutual support. The adoption of
Ubuntu in practice settings (as well as pedagogically) has not reached critical levels, perhaps it is still at take-off,but is definitely growing.
An integrated framework of Ubuntu
Looking at all the views on Ubuntu presented under the four different frameworks discussed, it could besummarised that Ubuntu exist at five levels: the individual, the family, the community, the environment and thespirit. Figure 1 illustrates these levels.
Figure 2: An integrated framework of Ubuntu

Individual level

Family level

Community level

Environmental level

Spiritual level

As shown in Figure 2, the individual is part of a larger system. The individual is about the body, the mind,
knowledge, inheritance, possessions and inventions. These belong to the individual but they are only meaningful
insofar as they contribute to the betterment of self together with family and community. Two ubuntu concepts canhelp with further clarity. The ukama concept, theorises that an individual belongs to a family while in ujamaa
theory, individuals and their families belong to a community, and they should respect communal relationships.
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The relationships that exist in the community are social, economic or political. The community values theenvironment and spiritual wellbeing of its people. In other words, the individual is part of a larger group, thefamily; the family is part of a larger community; the community exists in an environment that, in turn, is part of alarger spiritual world. While the individual and family levels are all important, Rankopo and Osei-Hwedie (2011,
p. 138) have argued that “Thus, in search of relevance in social work, the starting point must be the community,
the bedrock of culture”. We agree with this assessment.
The integrated framework can be used for assessing needs of children; evaluating programmes; criticalanalysis of interventions; promoting collaboration and participation; and developing ethics and research methods.
In this discussion, we will use the integrated framework of Ubuntu to explore the different roles individuals,
families, communities, environments and spirits play in child growth and development.
USING THE INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK OF UBUNTU
Ubuntu theory is about how Africans view themselves, interact with others, their environment, and their spiritual
beings and how outsiders ought to interact with them. As shown in Table 1, each of the five levels contributes tochild growth and development.
Table 1: An integrated framework of Ubuntu in social work with children
Level

Responsibilities

Contributions available at all levels

Individual(munhu)Family(ukama)Communal(ujamaa)
Environmental(nyika)Spiritual(mweya)The child is responsible for learning and personal
hygiene
The family is responsible for conception, basic
needs and socialisation
The community is responsible for socialisation
and basic needs
The environment is reponsible for basic needs

The individual family, community,
environment and spirit are all
responsible for:
SafetyIdentity
Morality
Communality
Humanity

The spirit is responsible for companionship,
comfort and advice

Individual level
In Ubuntu, children are thought to pass through different stages of physical growth and social development. Table
2 shows stages of child development in Zimbabwe. We have named this the zera (stages) model.
Table 2: The Zera Model of children growth and development in Zimbabwean culture
Zera
Zvichauya
Mhuru
Rusvava
Mucheche

Description
Future baby
FoetusBaby – from birth to few months old
Baby – upto two years

NdumurePost breastfeeding

Gondora

Exploring with independence

Pwere

Exploring with adulthood

Mhandara/Jaya

Young adult

What happens at this stage?
Marriage – parents marry and have sex
Conception – pregnancy
Birth – baby is born
Training and Learning1 – social andbiological skills
Independence – child is given room to
explore, more self-directed learning
Training and Learning2 – social andoccupational skills
Transition to adulthood – adult roles are
acquired and mentorship is provided
Maturity – accepted as an adult andmentorship is continued

In doing social work with children, it is important to acknowledge these stages and how they are conceptualised
within African contexts. At zvichauya stage, the motivation of any adult person is to get married and have children.
An adult in Ubuntu already carries a zvichauya, a future baby. Hence, a marriage that gives children is highly
valued, and marriages that do not produce children are highly stigmatised or prohibited. In rusvava and mucheche
stages, the concern is to ensure a safer birth, survival of the baby and learning of skills such as eating, walking,talking, listening and safety. At the ndumure stage, breastfeeding is stopped, and independence is promoted as theAfrican Journal of Social Work, 9(1), 201931________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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child becomes a gondora. From this stage, more occupational training and learning is expected. Skills gained
include cooking, cleaning, farming and caring. The pwere stage is the midway between being a ‘baby’ and amature child. At this stage, mentorship provided by relatives who have this role such as aunts and uncles, isprovided. The final stage that takes children to about 16-20 years is the mhandara (for girls) and jaya (for boys).
At this stage, children begin to transition into adulthood resulting in some of them being accepted as adults, butothers still considered to be children.
The implications of these stages for understanding the individual child matter for social work with children.
For example, these stages emphasise local understandings of a child’s developmental needs and parental
responsivity. During the stage of ndumure, parents and community members may encourage independence in
activities of daily living including toilet training, feeding and communication. At the stage of mhandara and jaya,
the expectation is that the child has developed talents and mastered specific life skills that potentially contributeto further economic independence. Social workers must recognise that each person exists within a cultural setting
and a community and that the individual and community shape, influence and benefit from each other (CSW,
2012, p.3). There are obvious methods of casework with children that clash with Ubuntu values. These include
fostering and adoption, institutionalisation and probation work. At each stage, the child, family, community,
environment and spiritual world have responsibilities of providing protection, identity and connectedness as
discussed earlier.
Family level
The family plays a huge role at every stage of the child. The ukama view of Ubuntu states that a child belongs to
the family, and they are bound together through blood, rules and identity. Family does not only refer to one’s
spouse and offspring, but all relatives. The concept of extended family has been very useful in offering
opportunities for care of orphans and vulnerable children in Africa. In Ubuntu, much value is placed on parents’
involvement in children’s development. For example, a lot of education, socialisation and mentoring takes place
within the home and community to protect Ubuntu values. Parents are often worried about the values their children
will obtain from the Western modelled education system (Maphalala, 2017). Often, schools ignore Ubuntu,
creating conflict. Another example is the failure of institutional approaches as well as legislated child adoption in
Africa. These failures show the discrepancies between foreign inspired models and cultural expectations (Mtetwa
and Muchacha, 2017).
Community level
The community is made up of individuals, families, leaders and knowledge holders. In Ubuntu, children belong
to the community. Social workers using community-focused approaches when working with children need to take
into account community expectations when designing and delivering programs. The community has a role to play
to protect children, for socialisation and creating an identity (Mtetwa and Muchacha, 2017). This is strengthenedby the Ubuntu belief that children become human beings through others.
Environmental level
Environment issues have gained traction in social work since they contribute to achieving sustainable communities(Dominelli, 2014). Ubuntu values the physical environment (Seehawer, 2018). The environment is the providerof food, shelter, beauty and warmth. The individual is part of a natural system comprised of the land, animals,
vegetation and other elements from which basic needs are met. Africans use Ubuntu to conserve the environmentso as to achieve a balance between current and future needs. For example, mutupo (a special animal valued byfamilies) concept is a way to protect animals while zviyera (spiritually important places) concept is a strategy toconserve mountains, valleys, forests, rivers, oceans, dams and certain plant and animal species that are considered
special. Another Ubuntu concept, nhaka, teaches that the environment is an inheritance that came from ancestors,
and it should therefore be passed on to the next generation.
Spirituality social work
Ubuntu values spirituality because it plays a huge role in the life of Africans including children (Seehawer, 2018).
The child is part of a whole, comprised of God, Ancestors, Elders, family and community. Spiritual issues areoften ignored in social work, yet they are important for achievement of holistic functioning. For example, prayer,
fasting, prophecy, healers play an important part in the life of Africans. Another example, spiritually it is expectedthat ancestors or God provide protection but for this to happen the child must be dedicated, baptised, cleansed
where necessary and learn spiritual values through prayer, song, reading, stories or dance. So social workers must
expect that children will pray before meals or sleeping; attend church on Friday, Saturday or Sunday; attend majorreligious ceremonies even in the middle of school terms; attend indigenous camps or schools; and hold very strong
religious and cultural views.

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CONCLUSION
Before concluding, we would like to provide a glossary of some of the major concepts used in this write-up.
Ubuntu refers to African knowledges, expectations and practices of how individuals, families and communities
must interact with each other, the environment and the spirits. The unhu view says that individuals should always
act in manners that enhance the wellbeing of their family and community. Ukama view of ubuntu says that theindividual belongs to the family and whatever they do, they consider the family. The ujamaa view argues that
individuals and families must always act in the best interest of their community. The nyika concept says theindividual, their family and their community belong to the environment which they must satisfy always. This isrelated to nhaka concept, which says that nyika is an inheritance that must be protected. Lastly, mweya concept
argues that above all, we have spirits that look after us, and that we should revere. The zera model or frameworkshows the stages of child growth and development in Zimbabwe. With the exception of Ubuntu (which is Zulu)
and ujamaa (which is Swahili) all the concepts are in Shona language.
African knowledge systems are often neglected because of limited written literature, underutilisation or neglect
in favour of Western approaches. In this discussion we have discussed the theory of Ubuntu and used the Zera
Model of child growth to show the usefulness of indigenous knowledge. We conclude that Ubuntu can transformand indigenise social work with children in Africa. It can empower social workers and provide solutions thataknowledge or increases the strengths of individuals, families and communities and their environmental andspiritual values. Given social work’s emphasis on using strengths perspectives, we conclude that social work
practice with children in Africa should, as a matter of principle, engage with Ubuntu.

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