Adoption of Social Work Technology in Africa: Possibilities and Realities

The introduction of new technologies has changed the face of social work practice and education around the world. African social work practitioners and education perceive the use of technology as a threat that might replace the usual traditional practice and there are very social work institutions and agencies utilizing technology in the provision of social services in the region. Therefore, the paper explores the possibilities and realities of social work technology in the African region. The paper presents the possibility of social work technology in the African region with the advent of different technological applications in the region and can meet the needs of the hard-to-reach populations. A realistic social work technology in the African region needs to start from simple use of electronic social case management system to the level of online social services like (e-mental health services, podcast, online education, video-chat- interview sessions and electronic data management techniques) at all levels of ecological model of social work practice.