Embedding SDGs in social work education: insights from Zimbabwe and Portugal BSW and MSW programs

Abstract

ABSTRACT Social work has positioned itself as a profession with a crucial role for attaining desired outcomes of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of this article, based on secondary literature, is to use the lens of Portuguese and Zimbabwean social work education trends and dynamics to question the embedding of SDGs in social work academic curricula. Either one of the two countries represents a unique Global South and Global North socio-economic trajectory. The article relies on document analysis focusing on reviewing applied action research studies commissioned by state and non-state actors, journal articles, and reports by governmental and non-governmental actors to establish how the conceptual underpinnings of SDGs are being grounded in these two countries’ social work education. The article’s conceptual framework is informed by how social work has been transformed to become a decolonized and global profession in scope, and in harnessing SDG themes in social work training, it becomes a fusion of Global North and Global South knowledge bases. The article concludes by proposing pathways that support social work educators and students alike to be reflective on how to guarantee that SDG themes become dominant narratives in the curricula, impacting social work practice, from interpersonal interventions to community development.