500 researchers, educators, practitioners, policy-makers and students came together at the International Social Work Conference from March 19th to 22nd 2018. They met in order to discuss key challenges of African societies in the 21st century, to deliberate on the role of social work, and to establish national, regional and international network.
Among them was our current APPEAR scholarship holder Leah Mwaisango Kalemela. She presented her PhD research on “Everyday lives experiences of children living in child headed households in Tanzania: A case of Sukumaland”. Globally, the creation of Child Headed Households (CHH) is associated with labor migration, war and conflicts, epidemics, natural disaster etc. In Tanzania CHH has been associated with the emergence of HIV and AIDS in 1984 which resulted in the death of many parents and as a result orphans had to take care of themselves and their siblings. Studies in Tanzania on CHH concentrated on AIDS-related orphans by studying the needs and challenges which children in CHH encounter in their day to day lives. This study goes beyond that and studies other factors which facilitate the creation of CHH in Tanzania. The goal is to understand how these children have been able to meet their needs, the skills which they employ in their day to day lives and rationale towards their doing.
Leah Mwaisango KALEMELA was a Lecturer at the Institute of Social work Tanzania (ISW) before joining the University of Vienna for her PhD in Development Studies in October 2016 within the APPEAR project PROSOWO. Leah´s PhD research interest is on “Everyday Lives Experiences of Children Living in Child Headed Households in Sukumaland- Tanzania”. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from the Open University of Tanzania and an Advanced Diploma in Social Work from the National Social Welfare Training Institute (Currently Known as Institute of Social Work Tanzania). Working as Lecturer at ISW, Leah was also Head of Examinations committee of the Social Work department, member of the Institute curriculum development committee and a facilitator of the Healing Families programme, a partnership of ISW and International Rescue Team (IRC). Before joining ISW, Leah worked with the Tanzania Gender and Network Program (TGNP) as facilitator in different socio-political matters related to gender issues. She also worked at the Selian Lutheran Hospital as HIV and AIDS counsellor, trainer and counsellor on Adolescents Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) and Youth Livelihood Skills. Moreover, she has participated in many social work-related conferences and activities nationally and internationally.