Historically the development of social work in most African countries has been strongly influenced by and modelled after Western countries. This has often meant the development of social service programmes and systems that have had a traditional focus of social work (clinical, socialising, custodial, therapeutic and care-taking functions). Increasingly today, this traditional model of social work is being superseded by a model built upon human-focused or social development concepts (Osei-Hwedie, 1990). This model is based upon egalitarian principles which assume that all members of a society should have access to information, goods, services, opportunities and the decision-making process; and the assumption that there will be a special focus on the needs of disadvantaged groups. Thus, the structuring of social work activities in this model requires a corresponding reconceptualisation of education and practice. What is needed is a conceptualisation of practice that will focus on both the immediate needs of people and the larger social and economic changes necessary to prevent future individual disruption and to improve the quality of life for all (Galper, 1980). This means linking together and integrating the knowledge and skills of the micro, mezzo, and macro levels of practice. The conceptual base of education and practice that serves to best accomplish the above is that of empowerment. Empowerment is conceptualised as the discovery of individual health and strengths and the attainment of participatory competence (Kieffer, 1984). Utilising concepts taken from motivation and action theory (White, 1959; Locke, et al, 1981), the authors develop an empowerment model for social work practice. This model encompasses five dimensions of practice: personal empowerment (competency required for taking self-direction); social empowerment (comprising society's capacity for self-direction and control of community processes and resources); educational empowerment (the development of an educational system that prepares people for both their social and work life); economic empowerment (the development of the means to earn a sufficient income to live a life of dignity and to provide for the adequate fulfillment of the requisite needs of shelter, food and clothing); and political empowerment (involvement in democratic decision-making). Social work roles inherent in this model are ones that focus on that of colleague, political ally, facilitator, advocate, and mediator.
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