2020 End of Year Report - The International Federation of Social Workers - International Federation of Social ...

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2020 End of Year Report - The International Federation of Social Workers - International Federation of Social ...
2020 End of Year Report
  The International Federation of Social Workers
                                                   1
2020 End of Year Report - The International Federation of Social Workers - International Federation of Social ...
Imprint
Published by The International Federation of Social Workers
Maiengässli 4, 4310 Rheinfelden, Switzerland

Cover art: Martha Rothblum
Layout: Pascal Rudin

Web: www.ifsw.org
Email: global@ifsw.org

Copyright © 2021 by IFSW

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2020 End of Year Report - The International Federation of Social Workers - International Federation of Social ...
Contents

President and Secretary-General’s End of Year Report       5

Award of the IFSW Andrew Mouravieff-Apostol Medal          9

World Social Work Day                                     10

World Conference                                          12

General Meeting                                           16

Information on the Covid-19 Pandemic                      19

News from Members                                         24

Regions
Africa                                                    27
Asia and Pacific                                          33
Europe                                                    38
Latin America and Caribbean                               44
North America                                             48

Commissions
Education                                                 55
Ethics                                                    63
Human Rights                                              67
United Nations                                            71

Projects and Programs
2020 to 2030 Global Agenda                                77
Climate Justice Program                                   79
Free Online Courses                                       80
Study: Ethical Challenges during Covid-19 Pandemic        83

Global Standards for Social Work Education and Training   84

Partnerships                                              88

Publications                                              89

Governance                                                93

Upcoming Events                                           94

Communication                                             95

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2020 End of Year Report - The International Federation of Social Workers - International Federation of Social ...
144
National social work orga-
nisations are Members of
IFSW
                                          5
                                   Regions represent IFSW
                                   around the globe

3+ mio                       Social Workers are re-
                             presented by IFSW

                                             13
              5                    Members of the Global Executive
                                   are responsible for the strategic
                                   government of IFSW

  Commissions are advancing the
  impact and visibility of IFSW

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2020 End of Year Report - The International Federation of Social Workers - International Federation of Social ...
IFSW President and Secretary-General’s End of Year Report

«What happened is a remarkable trans-
formation of social work in leading
change in social services»

                        IFSW President Silvana Martinez and
                        IFSW Secretary General Rory Truell

Dear colleagues, greetings to all of you.        ways of making their services and values
We want to start this report by acknowl-         effective. It sparked a culture of transfor-
edging that many in parts of world social        mation in service responses, which in turn
workers are under significant pressure in        helped transform lives under the most
their continued service in the fight against     difficult of circumstances.
the pandemic. The arrival of the COVID-19        Being under such multiple pressures is a
in early 2020 prompted an unprecedented          significant burden on social workers who
global effort by social workers to re-           are often the stable rock in people´s lives.
orientate services – to meet the needs of        But we know that social workers are not
both existing clients and the millions of        made of stone, but flesh and emotion
people whose lives had suddenly been             which can only absorb so much pressure.
thrown into turmoil by the virus. This ef-       We remain fully committed to ensuring
fort was in circumstances that might, at         that IFSW continues to support social
first glance, have seemed impossible as          workers through global and local connec-
social services are often struggle to meet       tion for shared-learning and solidarity.
basic needs. However, what happened is a
remarkable transformation of social              2020 was no doubt a test on all our sys-
work in leading change in social ser-            tems        and        capacities       and
vices.                                           from the feedback circulated the Federa-
                                                 tion can confidentially say that the profes-
The rise of COVID-19 prompted social             sion has passed the tests beyond expecta-
workers to be creative, to think of new          tions. We still have a long way to go with

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2020 End of Year Report - The International Federation of Social Workers - International Federation of Social ...
IFSW President and Secretary-General’s End of Year Report

the pandemic, the deepening economic cri-      Many of you will recall that in the closing
sis as well as in our roles supporting fami-   of the IFSW online global conference, five
lies and communities and promoting social      proposed Global Agenda theme where
and environmental justice. But if one thing    presented which reflected the high-level
has been proved in 2020, it is that social     discussions within the 20´000 strong multi
work can rise to the challenges.               -partner conference. We stated at that
                                               time that these proposed themes would be
                                               submitted to IASSW and ICSW who had de-
Outcomes from 2020                             clined to join the conference and we asked
  This report provides outline on the          them if they could identify with the
main global activities during 2020. This is    themes. A task-force comprising repre-
of course supplemented by the other re-        sentatives of IASSW, ICASW and IFSW took
port throughout this document and by the       responsibly for working through this re-
weekly news reports issued by the Feder-       quest and to examine the separate consul-
ation.                                         tation processes that each of the other or-
                                               ganizations had also undertaken.We were
                                               delighted that IASSW and ICSW were able
The Global Agenda
                                               to see themselves within the results of the
The early decision to cancel the IFSW          IFSW consultation. And it was agreed that
world conference scheduled to take place       the 2020 to 2030 Global Agenda Frame-
in Canada and to replace it with an online     work would be titled: Co-building Inclusive
event has proved to be a significant turn-     Social Transformation. Further, the first
ing point in the culture of the Federa-        Global Agenda them to cover the years
tion’s operations. Going online resulted in    2020 to 2022 also was promoted through
a massive increase in participation. Nor-      our consultation:Ubuntu: Strengthening
mally we could expect 2500 people attend-      Social Solidarity and Global Connected-
ing a conference whereas we achieved           ness.
20’000 registrations in July. This enabled
                                               The remaining four themes to cover the
widespread participation from across the
                                               years 2022 to 2030 are still on hold as our
world and included representatives to
                                               longstanding partners need more time to
equally participate without the normal fi-
                                               consult their members. This, of course,
nancial and visa travel restrictions. As we
                                               also gives us more time to think and re-
move forward in the future, the Federation
                                               flect and ensure that the Global Agenda
will be committed to maintaining these
                                               can include every possible organization
barrierless events and also develop the
                                               that wants to see the impact social work
opportunity for people to participate in
                                               and its social-justice aspirations expand.
face to face groups where possible.
                                               We expect the remaining fours themes will

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2020 End of Year Report - The International Federation of Social Workers - International Federation of Social ...
IFSW President and Secretary-General’s End of Year Report

become an important point of discussion       The Commissions
again throughout 2021.                        Elsewhere in the document are separate
                                              reports from each of the Commissions. We
Future World Conferences: 2022 and 2024       would also like to note some of their high-
                                              lights in our report:
With concern about the risk of travel and
time it may take for vaccines to be widely    The UN Commission has formed a new
available, the IFSW Executive, determined     partnership with ´Local 2030´. This is a
that travel between regions should be         UN platform that promotes collaboration
avoided as the profession needs to act        and action in support of the SDGs at local
with maximum responsibility in ensuring       levels. The partnership recognizes the im-
the safety of social workers and the com-     portant contributions that social work
munities they work within. We, therefore,     makes to development.
proposed to our global conference part-       The Education Commission formally
ners that the 2022 conference be planned      launched the new Global Standards of So-
as an online event and 2024 as a hybrid       cial Work Education in partnership with
event. Our partners have agreed that 2022     IASSW. This initiative will have far-
will be online and discussion are proceed-    reaching consequences for countries
ing regarding the arrangments for 2024.       where social work education falls short of
                                              meeting minimum requirements. The
                                              Commission met recently to consider ways
The Executive                                 to support social work departments to
As we have worked through the challeng-       build better bridges with their national as-
es of coordinating and responding to the      sociations to support the achievement of
challenges of COVID, the culture of the Ex-   the minimum standards. A new partner-
ecutive has also changed. The Executive       ship has also been developed between
now meets on a more regular basis via         IFSW and the Latin American Council for
Zoom. This from our observation has ena-      Social Sciences, and we are envisaging
bled a momentum in the Executive´s gov-       high levels of cooperation as we move for-
ernance role that was not possible before     ward in our shared vision for education to
when the Executive only met once a year.      be an emancipatory process.
In an executive meeting shortly after the     The Ethics Commission has collaborated
General Meeting, an election took place for   with the Social Work Ethics Research
the position of IFSW Global Vice President.   Group and produced an Ethical Guideline
We were delighted that there where two        for social workers in the context of COVID-
strong nominations for the role. Rose Hen-    19. The Commission has further been ac-
derson, President of the Asia-Pacific re-     tive in reviewing new member applicants
gion was successful and is subsequently       Code of Ethics.
the IFSW Vice President.

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2020 End of Year Report - The International Federation of Social Workers - International Federation of Social ...
IFSW President and Secretary-General’s End of Year Report

The Human Rights Commission has com-          plexity and responding with successful ac-
menced a process where a number of            tions. A key principle that has underpinned
statements will be issued on issues of        this approach is to treat all IFSW partner
concern. They are also working with the       organizations equally and avoiding hierar-
International Social Work Action Network      chies of partnerships that limit or exclude
to bring support and visibility to social     others. Consequently, we envisage the
workers that have been imprisoned for         continued partnership expansion that was
carrying out their professional duties.       identified as a key objective in the 2016
The Indigenous Commission has asked the       IFSW constitutional review.
Executive to appoint or reappoint their re-   There are, of course, many challenges
gional representatives following the deci-    ahead. The ongoing pandemic and its neg-
sion to upgrade the committee to a Com-       ative impact on the national and global
mission. This process is nearly complet-      economies will place a number of our
ed.                                           members in financial uncertainty. The Ex-
                                              ecutive has therefore commissioned the
                                              Secretariat to review the fees policy and
Applications for new membership               examine a percentage based contribution
We are currently supporting applications      of the fees that the IFSW organizational
for full membership from Barbados, Gam-       members receive for their members, as
bia, Surinam, Ethiopia and possibly the ex-   opposed to a set amount per member. This
tension of Coordinating Bodies in Sri         we feel may lead to more consistent and
Lanka and Italy. Given the ongoing interest   transparent fees paradigm which does not
in joining IFSW, through the establishment    have different fees structures based on an
of national associations, we can expect       old concept of national Gross Domestic
that all the world´s counties will have       Product. The Secretariat will produce
membership in the coming decade.              some models and concepts for us all to
                                              review and consider before formally ta-
                                              bled a paper at the next General Meeting.
Looking forward
                                              We end this report by wishing
Over the last year, the Federation has
                                              all members tremendous success in
shown it placed itself well in actively re-
                                              2021 and thank you again for your many
sponding to the COVID crisis, leading the
                                              and significant contributions to the global
Global Agenda processes and building new
                                              profession.
partnerships. These have all been complex
processes as they have involved multiple
ethnic and organizational cultures. The       In solidarity,
stable leadership of IFSW during this peri-   Silvana and Rory
od has helped with reflecting on this com-

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2020 End of Year Report - The International Federation of Social Workers - International Federation of Social ...
Awards

Award of the IFSW Andrew Mouravieff-
Apostol Medal to Margaret Humphreys
                                             face up to past bad practices. She is de-
                                             termined to put right the wrongs of past
                                             poor practice. She lives social work valu-
                                             es and deserves our thanks’.
                                             BASW Chair, Gerry Nosowska, said:
                                             ´BASW is proud to have nominated Mar-
                                             garet for her inspirational work. She has
The International Federation of Social       made an international impact through her
Workers was pleased to announce the a-       commitment to the principles of social
ward of the highest honour of the Federa-    work’.
tion – the Andrew Mouravieff-Apostol Me-
dal – to Margaret Humpreys CBE, AO.          Chair of the BASW International Commit-
                                             tee and former IFSW President, David N
The presentation was made at the IFSW        Jones, drew attention to the citation sub-
virtual General Meeting on Saturday 11       mitted by BASW with support from AASW
July 2020. She was nominated for the a-      and CASW-ACTS.         He referred to
ward by the social work associations in      ‘Margaret’s absolute determination to
the UK (BASW), Australia (AASW) and Ca-      achieve fairness and justice for the child
nada (CASW-ACTS).                            migrants and their families and her out-
The award recognises Margaret’s out-         standing use of social work skills in
standing professional career as a proud      contact not only with the child migrants
social worker and in particular her work     but also governments, embassies, agenci-
exposing the child migrant scandal.          es and Prime Ministers. Her professional
IFSW President, Silvana Martinez, said       work embodies the true characteristics of
‘Margaret has made an outstanding con-       a social worker and she is a worthy reci-
tribution to international social work and   pient of this global award.’
she deserves our thanks’.                    In reply, Margaret Humphreys thanked
IFSW Secretary-General, Rory Truell,         the three associations for the nomination
commented: ‘Margaret has always spoken       and IFSW. She said: It is an honour and I
proudly of her social work identity. She     accept this award on behalf of all the child
has constantly upheld social work values     migrants and their families that have be-
in her practice and her global campaig-      en the focus of my work since 1987…”.
ning. She has facilitated people to tell     To see the video nomination from BASW,
their own stories & supported them to        the IFSW presentation and Margaret
shape a global campaign. She has chal-       Humphreys acceptance, please click here.
lenged large agencies & governments to       Read the BASW citation paper here.

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2020 End of Year Report - The International Federation of Social Workers - International Federation of Social ...
Events

World Social Work Day
World Social Work Day in 2020 showed that
the visibility and participation significantly
increased throughout the past years. IFSW
members celebrated the day worldwide with
peaceful protests, community meetings, and
advocacy strategies in their governments,
etc. Members also assisted with the transla-
tion of the poster which this year included
75 languages.

Furthermore, Members of IFSW from all o-
ver the world shared their WSWD stories
and images with us. .

BBC World News Covers WSWD
Updarted Poster
BBC World News covered the updated poster
as follows:

IFSW Updated the World Social Work Day
Poster to reflect the practice realities under
Covid 19 conditions. This news from the
social work profession has reached the at-
tention of the international media as the
profession quickly and responsibly adapts to
the new situation.

IFSW Secretary-General, Rory Truell com-
mented, ‘Social workers are able to work
with high levels of complexity and with
changing conditions. In this crisis the pro-
fession is critical in advocating that social
services adapt to the conditions and remain
open, offering appropriate online and tele-
phone support systems where physical
contact is not possible. This especially im-     Read more
portant for populations that are at high risk.
The World Social Work Day Poster was up-         Click here to read more about ce-
dated as the profession adjusts at all levels    lebrations around the globe.
and we are delighted there has been signifi-
cant interest from the world media”.             You may find a collage of the hash-
                                                 tag #WSWD2020 on the next page.
Read the article on BBC here

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#WSWD2020
       11
Events

IFSW World Conference

The difficult decision to cancel the IFSW     The consultation process was launched in
world conference scheduled to take place      2018 to develop the next Global Agenda
in Canada was to ensure that all partici-     themes as a strategy to advance the pro-
pants remain safe in the face of Covid-19.    fession’s focus and impact in the coming
Taking the excellent work developed in        decade. The two-year consultation com-
Calgary and translating this into online      menced with a dedicated online process
frameworks proved to be a significant         enabling all people to submit proposals,
turning point in the culture of the Federa-   followed by national and regional work-
tion’s role in bringing people together for   shops and the World Conference finale.
collaborative learning.                       The conference brought all parts of the
Going online resulted in a massive in-        social work system together: Political lea-
crease in participation. Normally we could    ders, People who have experienced care,
expect 2500 people attending a confer-        community leaders, educators, social ser-
ence whereas we achieved 20’000 regis-        vice leaders and social workers from
trations in July. This enabled widespread     throughout the world. IFSW also welco-
participation from 185 countries and in-      med new partner organizations into the
cluded representatives to equally partici-    leadership of the conference to strengthen
pate without the normal financial and visa    the process.
travel restrictions.                          The resulting IFSW themes contributing to
The conference marked the conclusion of       the 2020 to 2030 Global Agenda for Social
the two-year consultation on the 2020 to      Work are:
2030 Global Agenda themes .

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Events

IFSW World Conference
Valuing Social Work as an
Essential Service                             Transforming Social Protec-
Realising the essential role of the social    tions Systems
work profession to connect people, com-
munities and systems, to co-build             Transforming social protections systems
sustainable communities and to contribute     to secure the human dignity and rights of
to liveable futures.                          all peoples.
Resourcing the profession with legal          Strengthening connections for security
recognition, respectful working conditions,   and change. Promoting harmony in relati-
education and continuing professional de-     onships and a way of living between peop-
velopment and supporting professional         les, communities and mother earth.
associations.                                 Promoting Diversity and the
Co-building Inclusive Social                  Power of Joint Social Action
Transformation                                Celebrating the strengths of all people and
                                              their active role in leading social develop-
Co-building with people, families, commu-     ment.
nities, social movements and govern-
                                              Working together to co-design and co-
ments to achieve inclusive social transfor-
mation locally, nationally, regionally and    build thriving communities and societies
globally.                                     for people and the environment.

Promoting participatory democracy, gen-
der equality, action to address racism,       When announcing the themes, the conve-
economic sustainability and climate jus-      ners of the consultation process Rory
tice.                                         Truell and Rose Henderson said, “That the
                                              themes are not in an order of preference
                                              or importance – each theme is equally im-
                                              portant and they are integrated together
Ubuntu: ´I am because we                      as a framework” In her conference closing
are´                                          speech IFSW President Silvana Martinez
                                              said “Never before in the 92 years history
Nurturing relationships are central to the
                                              of IFSW has there been such an inclusive
social work profession in all aspects of
                                              and democratic process. The conference
our work.
                                              enabled all people to contribute to the next
Promoting indigenous knowledge and the        Global Agenda. Without a doubt, it has be-
decolonisation of the social work professi-   en a historic and successful event”.
on.

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Events

2020 IFSW World Conference

The next stage involved working with IFS-    work is essential for every country´s eco-
W’s longstanding partners – The Internati-   nomic and social development. These sig-
onal Association of Schools of Social Work   nificant outcomes and the online plat-
and the International Council on Social      forms that enabled them will have far-
Welfare that had respectfully declined to    reaching effects bringing forward a new
be partners to the IFSW conference but       era”.
continued to be engaged in the broader       See the video presentations:
Global Agenda processes. IFSW formally       Results of the conference
took these outcomes to these partners in
the hope that they coul see themselves in    Closing ceremony
and support this framework. Commenting
as IFSW Secretary-General, Rory Truell       Movie of images during the conference
said, “The World Conference, which con-
cluded the consultation strategy, confir-
med the social work role in advocating       Programme of the
that formal social protection systems
                                             Conference
need to change focus from providing ser-
vices for people in crisis to becoming       The contents of the 2020 IFSW World Con-
agencies of social transformation that       ference are available here:
prevent social crisis. The Themes Frame-
work clearly highlights the approach of co   Book of Abstracts (PDF, 15.8Mb)
-building and co-designing with communi-
                                             Programme (Website)
ties along with the message that social

                                                                                     14
Events

2020 IFSW World Conference
20‘000 Participants                                   of Social Work or Unions representing
By the end of the conference, 20‘000 parti-           social work. IFSW invited all the Con-
cipants from 185 countries were regis-                ference participants to join the conversati-
tered.                                                on in developing the Global Agenda the-
                                                      mes and share their proposals with the
“This is wonderful news”, Rory Truell said,           presenters in the more than 300 sessions,
“The unprecedented interest highlights the            the live panels and a key area to contribute
profession´s commitment and success in                is the Open Mic session. The Open Mic ses-
bringing together political leaders, com-             sion which run 24 hours a day, provided
munity leaders, representatives of people             opportunities for all participants to propo-
whom have experienced social services,                se themes and discuss other people´s
United Nations leaders with social workers            proposals. Access the Open Mic session
worldwide. Our common task in this con-               from the conference programme.
ference is to develop the 2020 to 2030 Glo-
bal Agenda Themes that will further
strengthen the profession as a key partner            Partners
in transforming the social concerns of the
world´s communities in which we work”,
he continued.
In the same week, IFSW expanded its
country level membership when 3 new Na-
tional Associations of Social Work succes-
sfully met the criteria for admission. IFSW
now comprises 144 National Associations

Conference Committee

  Silvana Martinez              Rory Truell              Linda Kreitzner       Jan Christianson-Wood

            Larry Alicea Rodríguez       Lola Casal-Sánchez           Pascal Rudin

                                                                                                 15
Events

2020 IFSW General Meeting

‘The International Federation of Social       demonstrated the power of good relati-
Workers General Meeting, which closed on      onships and the vitality of social work’, he
Monday 13 July 2020, demonstrated the         concluded.
ability of social workers to create triumph   The outcomes of this General Meeting
out of adversity’, said Silvana Martinez,     leave the Federation in a really strong po-
President of IFSW. The General Meeting        sition to advocate with even more deter-
ran as an online process starting on Sa-      mination for social justice and the recogni-
turday 11 July 08.00 UTC concluding on        tion of social workers in all countries’, said
Monday 13 July 22.00 UTC.                     Silvana Martinez.
The meeting involved 226 members from
91 countries resulting in the largest and
most inclusive General Meeting in the his-    Outcomes of elections for the
tory of the Federation. ‘Delegates adapted
quickly to this new form of General Mee-
                                              executive
ting’, said IFSW Secretary-General Rory       Silvana Martinez welcomed the following
Truell. There was an impressive range of      people onto The IFSW Global Executive:
comments and lively debate on key policy      •   Sriganesh M V, Vice-President Asia-
issues. The sense of professional com-            Pacific
mitment and unity was highly visible and

                                                                                       16
Events

2020 IFSW General Meeting
•   Mildred Joyner, Regional President        their contribution to the democratic pro-
    North American                            cess and their commitment to IFSW: Abu
•   Joan Davis-Whelan, Regional Vice Pre-     Mansaray (George), Irene Leung and Liu
    sident North American                     Jing.
•   Victor Ivan Garcia-Toro, Treasurer (Re-
    elected)
•   Noel Muridzo, Regional President Afri-
    ca (Re-elected)                           IFSW Education Commission
•   Tania Maria Ramos, Regional Vice Pre-     formalised
    sident Latin American and the Caribbe-
    an (Re-elected)                           The General Meeting decided to formalise
•   Ana Radulescu, Regional President Eu-     the Education Commission as a permanent
    rope (Re-elected)                         structure to advise the Executive and Fe-
                                              deration on matters concerning qualifica-
They join the existing members of the Exe-    tions of social workers and standards of
cutive who continue to serve for a further    education and training and to develop
two years until the next General Meeting:     partnerships with educational networks to
                                              enhance the quality of social work educa-
•   Joachim Mumba, Regional Vice Presi-
    dent, Africa Region                       tion.
•   Rose Henderson, Regional President        The Commission has worked in collabora-
    Asia-Pacific                              tion with the International Association of
•   John Brennan, Regional Vice President     Schools of Social Work over the past two
    Europe                                    years to revise the joint statement of Glo-
•   Larry Emil Alicea Rodríguez, Regional
                                              bal Standards for Social Work Education
    President Latin American and the
    Caribbean                                 and Training. The revised statement was
                                              endorsed by the General Meeting (Link)
Silvana Martinez thanked the outgoing         and sets out minimum standards for soci-
executive members:                            al work education programmes as well
                                              aspirational measures to support the
Kathy Wehrmann, Regional Vice President,
                                              achievement of high academic and profes-
North America, Jan Christianson-Wood,
                                              sional outcomes.
Regional President North America andIre-
ne Leung, Vice President, Asia-Pacific
President Martinez further thanked all the
nominees who stood in this election for

                                                                                     17
Events

2020 IFSW General Meeting

Establishment of an Indigenous               Social work and the United Na-
Commission within the structure              tion’s Sustainable Development
of IFSW                                      Goals (SDGs)
The General Meeting decided to establish     The Meeting reaffirmed its commitment to
a permanent Indigenous Commission to         the SDGs. It was agreed that a policy pa-
ensure that the contributions of indi-       per will be facilitated by the executive to
genous social workers are recognised         highlight the essential role of social work-
across the Federation. ‘This new Commis-     ers in fulfilling social development goals
sion will strengthen the voice of indi-      and supporting multilateral partnerships.
genous social workers within the Federa-
tion’, said Rory Truell, IFSW Secretary-
General, ‘and will help IFSW to learn from   Concluding Remarks
indigenous knowledges as well as enab-
ling the Federation to address the profes-   At the successful conclusion of this histo-
sion´s histories where indigenous rights     ric online Meeting, Silvana Martinez and
were denied.                                 Rory Truell commented: “The profession
                                             has achieved big leaps forward in this Ge-
                                             neral Meeting. The online environment
                                             enabling all our members to participate
New members were welcomed                    has shown that we have the ability to
National social worker organisations from    overcome timezone and language challen-
the following countries were welcomed        ges as well as building a more inclusive
into formal membership of IFSW:              democratic decision-making process”.
•  Republic of the Congo – National
   Association of Social Workers of the
   Republic of Congo.
• Jordan – Jordan Association for Social
   Work                                          Further Information
• Mexico – National Federation of Mexi-
   can Collegium of Social Work                  To read more about IFSW General
These countries join a global Federation         Meetings, please visit our General
now comprising 144 Members.                      Meetin info hub on the website.

                                                                                      18
Global

Information on the Covid-19 Pandemic

In many countries social workers were         •   as a profession, advocating for the ad-
and continue supporting communities that          vancement and strengthening of health
are affected or fearful of the Covid-19 Vi-       and social services as an essential
rus. Social work has an essential frontline       protection against the virus, inequality
role in the fight against the spread of the       and the consequent social and econo-
virus through supporting communities              mic challenges.
protect themselves and others through
physical distancing and social solidarity.
Key functions of social work at this time     Official IFSW statements
included and continue to include:
                                              relating to Covid-19
•   ensuring that the most vulnerable are
    included in planning and response.        10 November: Practising During Pandemic
                                              Conditions. Ethical Guidance for Social
•   organizing communities to ensure that     Workers
    essentials such as food and clean wa-     Link to statement
    ter are available.
                                              4 November: To the Top of the Cliff: How
•   advocating within social services and     social work changed with COVID-19
    in policy environments that services      Link to statement
    adapt, remain open and pro-active in
    supporting communities and vulnerab-      1 July: The Social Work Response to COVID
    le populations.                           -19 – Six Months On: Championing chan-
                                              ges in services and preparing for long-
•   facilitating physical distancing and      term consequences
    social solidarity.                        Link to statement

                                                                                      19
Global

Information on the Covid-19 Pandemic
19 May: COVID-19: the struggle, success        1 March: Update on the Corona Virus for
and expansion of social work – Rory Truell     IFSW Members
reflects on the profession’s global respon-    Link to statement
se, five months. English | Spanish

22 April: Weekly Report From IFSW On The
Social Work Response To COVID-19: Num-         Articles by members
ber 5
English | Spanish                              ASEAN COUNTRIES
                                               Social workers in Aseanic countries res-
9 April: Femicides: When you live with the     pond to covid-19 pandemic
murderer. A reading in times of Com-           Link to article
pulsory Social Isolation
Link to statement
                                               AUSTRALIA
8 April: It is the time to replace models of   Australian Social workers respond to the
nationalism and charity with new global        Pandemic
ethical foundations: What the World Can        Link to article
Learn from International Social Work
Link to statement
                                               CHINA
7 April: Ethical Decision-making in the face
of COVID-19
English | Spanish

1 April: Social Work Responds to Covid 19
– Report 3
Link to statement

30 March: Humaniratian request to teleco-
munication business owners
English | Spanish                              Social workers actively engaged in the
                                               fight against the corona virus
26 March: As social workers work through       Link to article
the Covid 19 crisis we work towards a bet-
ter world                                      CZECH REPUBLIC
Link to statement                              Declaration of the society of social work-
                                               ers on Covid-19
21 March: Secretary-General report on the      Link to article
Social Work Response: Link to video
                                               Statement by the association of social
                                               workers of the Czech Republic COVID-19
11 March: Statement on IFSW & Covid-19
                                               Link to article
Link to statement

                                                                                        20
Global

Information on the Covid-19 Pandemic
CHILE                                          INDIA
Social workers declaration on Covid-19         One day – one donor covid-19 programme
Link to article                                Link to article

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO.
Report of the 'SAP' proximity action strate-   ITALY
gy activity for the fight against Covid-19     Italian social workers share experiences
Link to article                                on the pandemic
                                               Link to article

EL SALVADOR                                    Professionals thanks the IFSW for their
Statement of the association of workers        support during covid-19
and social workers on the pandemic             Link to article
Link to article

                                               IRAN
GHANA
Ghanian Association calls its members to
support the government-initiated
measures against Covid-19
Link to article

GERMANY
Social workers work with food banks “a
warm soup in the morning against the
cold of the night”
                                               Social workers share report on the pan-
Link to article
                                               demic
                                               Link to article
HUNGARY
Open letter to prime minister to support       Iranian social workers research on the
social workers during Covid-19                 pandemic
Link to article                                Link to article

                                               Social workers call for lifting the trade
INDONESIA                                      sanctions on medical supplies
Social Work action in response to Covid-19     Link to article
Link to article
                                               ISRAEL
Update on response to the Covid-19 pan-
                                               Social workers promote international
demic
                                               learning from the corona pandemic
Link to article                                Link to article

                                                                                           21
Global

Information on the Covid-19 Pandemic
LUXEMBOURG                                    PUERTO RICO
ANASIG statement on the covid19 crisis        Social workers ask for social "task force"
Link to article                               to address crisis
                                              Link to article
MALAWI
Social workers statement on the covidLink     ROMANIA
to article                                    Social workers fight the pandemic
                                              Link to article
NEW ZEALAND                                   ASPROAS asks the government of Roma-
New Zealand social workers respond to         nia for financial compensation for social
corona virus pandemic                         assistance staff forced to isolate themsel-
Link to article                               ves at work
                                              Link to article
NEPAL
Provision of tele socio-psychological coun-   SLOVAKIA
selling during the pandemic                   Slovakia open letter to thank you all social
Link to article                               works
                                              Link to article
NIGERIA
Call for sober reflections and calmness       SOUTH KOREA
during the pandemic
Link to article

NORWAY
Norwegian union of social workers re-
spond to covid-19 pandemic
Link to article

PHILIPPINES
Philippines responds to the corona virus      Sharing social work activities to intervene
Link to article                               during covid-19
                                              Link to article
The campaign to connect with respect
Link to article                               Report on social work and the corona
                                              virus
                                              Link to article
POLAND
The uncertain fate of changes for social      Social workers share their experience in
workers practice                              fighting COVID-19
Link to article                               Link to article

                                                                                      22
Global

Information on the Covid-19 Pandemic
SPAIN                                        YEMEN
Campaign on the responsibility and inter-    The working paper about the role of social
vention of social workers in the fight       work to confront of COVID-19
against Covid19                              Link to article
Link to article

                                             ZAMBIA
SWEDEN                                       Social workers ready to response to
Supporting social workers in times of        COVID-19
covid-19                                     Link to article
Link to article

                                             ZIMBABWE
TANZANIA                                     Call social workers and the world to unite
                                             and escalate the fight
                                             Link to article

                                               Articles by individuals
Social workers respond to covid-19
Link to article                                There are currently almost 40 artic-
                                               les submitted by individuals which
                                               may be found on our Covid-19 info
UNITED KINGDOM
                                               hub.
Social workers open letter to Prime Minis-
ter to support their service
Link to article                                Please note that these articles may
                                               not necessarily represent the view
                                               of IFSW or its members. If you like to
UGANDA                                         submit an article, please do so by
Social workers urged on psychosocial           sending it to global@ifsw.org.
support
Link to article

                                                                                    23
Members

News From Members
Austria                                      Germany

                                             Network "Social Work In German-
                                             Speaking Regions And Amongst German-
Social Workers In Austria Went On Strike     Speaking Minorities"
Demanding A Reduction Of Working Hours
                                             Link to article
To 35-Hour/Week To Prevent Burnout
Link to article
                                             Ireland
Belarus                                      Irish Association Of Social Workers State-
                                             ment On Racism
Belarus Association Of Social Workers
                                             Link to article
Calls For The Respect Of The Principles Of
Humanity And Social Justice
                                             The Liaison Social Work Role In Nursing
Link to article                              Homes And Residential Settings: A Model
                                             For Practice
                                             Link to article
Democratic Republic Congo

                                             Cambodia, Japan, Sri Lanka

NASW-DRC Are Working In Uvira , Located
In The South-Kivu Region Of The DRC,
Which Has Recently Sustained Heavy
                                             International Workshop On Strengthening
Rains.
                                             Families: Role Of Social Workers
Link to article
                                             Link to article

                                                                                   24
Members

News From Members
Lebanon                                     USA

Social Workers In Lebanon Respond After     NASW Statement: Trump Administration’s
Explosion                                   Proposed Mass Raids On Migrant Families
Link to article                             Misguided, Harmful
                                            Link to article

Morocco, The Netherlands
                                            Zimbabwe
                                            Zimbabwe Social Workers: International
                                            Women’s Day
                                            Link to article

                                               Find more news on
                                               our Information Hub
Twinning As A Concept To Cooperate – The
                                               On the IFSW Information Hub Se-
Moroccan-Dutch Case
                                               arch, you may find more news from
Link to article                                Members, as well as all other con-
                                               tent of our website.
                                               You may use filters, such as infor-
Canada, USA                                    mation type, topic, region, langauage
                                               and commission to narrow down y-
Social Workers: We See You - Joint State-
                                               our search. Click here to access our
ment Of Solidarity
                                               Information Hub.
Link to article

                                                                                   25
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                                                                                                            26
Regions

IFSW Africa

Introduction                                   Members
The IFSW Africa region report is a summa-      •   The region now comprises of 27 IFSW
ry of activities implemented in the during         members who are working toward en-
the period under reporting. The report gi-         suring that the profession is recog-
ves a brief picture about membership to            nised. (14 active members i.e. Botswa-
the federation in the region and also high-        na, Burundi, Rwanda, Egypt, Ghana,
lights achievements, good practices as             Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Ni-
well as challenges during the period July          geria, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Zimbab-
2018 – June 2020. It also outlines a sum-          we, Guinea, Democratic Republic of
mary of strategic activities and initiatives       Congo and Morocco)
the regions seek to prioritise between now     •   New Members: 01 Democratic Re-
and June 2022. The vision for IFSW Afri-           public of Congo
can Leadership is to grow the profession
through strengthening of National Associ-      •   New Applications: there are no new
ations, enhancing the visibility of African        applications yet except for Mozam-
social workers within the region and at the        bique, the Gambia, Ethiopia, Togo and
global level as well as deliberate engage-         Ivory Coast who have expressed inte-
ments with region political and economic           rest to join IFSW
blocs such as AU, ECOWAS, SADC, EAC etc.
The report ends with a concluding state-
ment.

                                                                                     27
Regions

IFSW Africa
Activities and Achieve-                       Respective National Associations were en-
                                              couraged to share narrative reports about
ments during the period                       their activities, lessons and challenges in
in the Region                                 terms of social work response to COVID-
                                              19. In collaboration with Children and Fa-
During the period under review, IFSW Afri-
ca Region galvanized national associations    milies International Foundation, IFSW Afri-
in the region to work in collaboration with   ca Region hosted 6 zoom webinar conver-
their respective governments and other        sation series dubbed Social workers res-
key stakeholders to respond to COVID-19       ponds to COVID-19. The conversations
pandemic.     Most national associations      which featured a number of social work
within the region mobilized social workers    practitioners selected from different
to work on voluntary basis to support fa-     member countries were streamed live on
milies and children affected by COVID-19      the IFSW global Facebook page with over
pandemic. Some social workers were sup-       12,000 views globally. The Regional also
ported by respective national associations    initiated webinar series in French and was
to effectively respond to the pandemic        considering to initiate one for Portuguese
within the agency they practice through       speaking countries in Africa. It is evident
professional support on how to deal with      from the feedback received so far that we-
ethical dilemmas amidst COVID-19              binar conversations have yielded positive
response as well as how to manage own         impact and contributed immensely in rai-
stress and burnout. Individual country        sing the voices of African social workers’
campaign and share social work stories in     whist affording them platform to tell their
the media.                                    social work practice stories.

In collaboration with other stakeholders
such as UNICEF, Global Social Service
Workforce Alliance and the Alliance for
Child Protection in Humanitarian Action,
IFSW Africa region contributed to the de-
velopment of the Guidance note for care
and protection of the social service work-
force amid COVID-19. The guidance note
was shared to all the member Associa-
tions.
                                              As a response to COVID-19, members of
The IFSW Africa Region embarked on a
                                              the National Association of Social Workers
using social media to share best practices
                                              in Uganda were incorporated in the natio-
and experiences of difference countries
                                              nal technical team that developed guide-
social work responses to COVID 19.
                                              lines and tools for the operations rese-

                                                                                     28
Regions

IFSW Africa
arch, sharing of new knowledge to in-         African communities namely Kenya,
fluence policy and facilitate program lear-   Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania as well as
ning and adaptation in regard to COVID-19     Malawi. Young Careers from the UK and
prevention and response. Our member in        Canada joined in through live stream to
Uganda just as Tanzania, empowered            share their experiences.
frontline service providers that included     IFSW Africa Region notes that during the
social workers, para-social workers, vo-      period under review, a number of national
lunteers and community gate keepers           associations were involved with program-
with information for on-going prevention      mes in correctional facilities. Kenya for
and response to COVID-19 pandemic.            example worked on the ex-prisoner reuni-
                                              fication and community awareness raising
                                              programmes with families and the com-
                                              munity. This was done in collaboration
                                              with religious institutions and community
                                              awareness program. On the other hand,
                                              the association in the Democratic Republic
                                              of Congo provided food and counselling
                                              services to women and youth prisoners.
                                              During the period under review, the
                                              Association in Zambia worked in part-
                                              nership with UNICEF Zambia and the
                                              Government Ministry of Community Deve-
                                              lopment and Social Services to implement
                                              a project dubbed “Service Efficiency and
                                              Effectiveness for Vulnerable Children and
                                              Adolescents (SEEVCA)”. The project was
                                              aimed at supporting the Government in 15
                                              Districts through secondment of Social
                                              Workers to strengthen local level case
                                              management system for Vulnerable Child-
                                              ren and Adolescents through building
                                              capacities of community volunteers and
During the period under review, Kenya         para-social workers to identify vulnerable
hosted the East African young careers         children and adolescents, assess their
conference which takes place every two        needs and link them to available services.
years. The conference brought together a      On the other hand, the association in Bu-
number of young careers from the East         rundi, embarked on a project to promote

                                                                                    29
Regions

IFSW Africa
Zero tolerance for teen pregnancy in           Africa envisages to invest in building
schools. NASW Burundi embarked on sen-         capacities of national associations in set-
sitization campaigns in selected schools to    ting up Governance and financial manage-
reduce school drop out of girls due to child   ment systems and the holding of elections
pregnancies. In order to enhance               is testimony for good governance as well
sustainability and effectiveness of the pro-   as demonstration that national associa-
ject, small groups of peer educators were      tions are moving on a self-sustaining and
established in every target school.            good governance trajectory.
The region also notes that a number of
social workers in respective member
countries took part in responding to
poverty reduction initiatives and humani-
tarian crisis situations such as floods in
Burundi, Kenya and the Democratic Re-
public of Congo. Social workers have also
responded to the effects of Cyclone Ida        It was evident across Africa that social
that hit the countries of Zimbabwe, Malawi     work is not considered as a profession
and Mozambique. Due to the fact that most      and given due recognition just as the legal
countries in Africa are resource constrai-     profession, medical practitioners, tea-
ned and that social workers are not            chers, engineers etc. during the period un-
adequately prepared to respond to huge         der review, there has been a big move-
natural disaster such as foods, cyclones       ment within our member associations to
and pandemic, the regions appeals for          seek legal recognition of social work as a
cross learning and sharing of skills and       profession. A number of countries such as
knowledge with country members that ha-        Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi, Uganda and
ve experience responding to such humani-       Kenya have initiated efforts of drafting
tarian disasters.                              pieces of legislation meant for the recog-
IFSW Africa Region has been encouraging        nition of social work as a profession. It can
its members to uphold constitutionalism        be confirmed that at a time of reporting,
and ensure they hold elections within nati-    there were only three countries in the re-
onal association. During the period under      gion with laws recognizing social work as
review, a number of National Associations      a profession i.e. South Africa, Namibia and
reported to have democratically held elec-     Zimbabwe. Those countries that have
tions for their respective national associa-   commenced the process of pushing for the
tions and these include, Nigeria, Zambia,      enactment of social work legislation cur-
Zimbabwe, Botswana, Ghana, Tanzania,           rently at different stages. IFSW Africa is
Malawi and Uganda. As a strategy of            convinced that for as long as Governments
strengthening national associations, IFSW      in Africa do not recognize social work as a

                                                                                        30
Regions

IFSW Africa
profession, social workers in the region        youth forum as a preconference activity
will continue being subjected to low pay        with the view of not leaving anyone be-
and that most countries will continue side-     hind. Participants to the conference in-
lining social workers even on issues were       cluded the IFSW Global President – Dr. Sil-
the skills of social workers matter and         vana Martinez, Immediate past Presi-
should be valued. As part of the efforts        dent for IFSW Global – Ruth Stark, Dr. Ro-
to “Professionalize of Social Work in Mala-     ry Truell – IFSW Secretary General and Dr.
wi”, the national association held its 2nd      Angelo McClain – Chief Executive Officer
national conference with guest speakers         for NASW – USA
from within the region and the UK.              During the period under review, national
IFSW Africa region commends national            associations within the region commemo-
associations that have moved with the re-       rated World Social Work Day. IFSW Africa
gional strategic direction of fostering part-   region, facilitated sharing of pictures and
nerships within country settings. National      key messages for respective countries
Associations were being encouraged to           world social work day commemoration
work in close collaboration with their nati-    through the Regional WhatsApp group and
onal governments, UN agencies, Non-             the IFSW Africa Facebook page. The idea
Governmental organizations as well as           was to encourage cross learning and col-
other key stakeholders in social service        laboration within the region.
provision. It was evident that the success
of the IFSW Africa Region conference hos-
ted by our member, National Association         Challenges in the Region
of Social Workers-Uganda was largely due        Most national associations in Africa face
to the creation of strategic partnerships       challenges of lack of office space and
with different role players. The successful     equipment
hosting of the International Federation of      Lack of financial resources (limited
Social Workers (IFSW) Africa Region Con-        fundraising ventures with dependent on
ference from 28th – 31st October 2019 in        meagre membership subscription fees).
Kampala, Uganda is testimony that efforts       This affects national Associations capacity
to foster strategic alliances always yields     to remit annual subscription fees to IFSW.
better outcomes. The conference which           Lack of legal recognise social work as a
saw the participation of well over 400 de-      profession in most countries
legates from 23 countries from Africa and       Lack of resources at Regional level to sup-
across the globe was held under the the-        port strengthening of our member associ-
me: “Strengthening Human Relations for          ations
Social, Economic & Political Transformati-      The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic de-
on”. The conference commenced with a            stabilised most of the planned activities

                                                                                       31
Regions

IFSW Africa
including commemoration of World Social             area of governance, setting up of orga-
Work day which is usually used as plat-             nisational financial systems, resource
form for advocacy and engagement with               mobilisation strategy and partnership
Government of policy influence.                     creation strategy
The changing face of social work as both        •   Engage with Regional and national po-
as a profession and an integral part of civil       litical and economic bodies such as the
society activism.                                   AU, ECOWAS, SADC, EAC etc for purpo-
Social Work is not recognized or respected
                                                    ses of policy influence
as a profession in many countries in Africa
and as such social workers are oftentimes       •   Engage Portuguese and French Spea-
looked at as volunteers only needed for             king Countries to Join the IFSW family
distributing handouts.
Lack of standardization of social work
training curriculum in most countries in
                                                Conclusion
                                                IFSW Africa region is indebted to its mem-
Africa remains a going concern and this
                                                ber associations for their commitment to
negatively impacts on the quality of prac-
                                                the cause of growing the profession in Af-
tice.
                                                rica. We would also like to remember soci-
                                                al workers who lost their lives whilst wor-
                                                king on the frontline responding to COVID-
Key Planned Activities                          19. Our hearts and prayers are with the
and Events                                      family of STÉPHANE DIMOKIE SHABANTU
•   2021 IFSW AFRICA REGIONAL CON-              from the Democratic Republic of Congo
    FERENCE to be hosted by Rwanda. The         who died on June 7, 2020 to COVID-19.
    conference expectations are to enhan-       May his Soul Rest in Endless Peace.
    ce existing linkages, build new part-       Noel Muridzo, Regional President IFSW Af-
    nerships and collaborations as well as      rica and Joachim Cuthbert Mumba, Regio-
    serve as a platform for sharing our         nal Vice President IFSW Africa
    social work practice stories and skills
    development for social work practitio-
    ners in Africa
•   Continue hosting webinars to activate           News and Statements
    the voices of social workers in the re-
    gion to tell and document their practice
    stories
                                                    Please click here to read the latest
•   Provide capacity building support to            news and statements of the IFSW
    national associations within the region         Africa Region
    for purposes of strengthening in the

                                                                                           32
Regions

IFSW Asia and Pacific

Introduction                                  but also used these to generously share
                                              with each other our practice wisdom nati-
As we prepare this report for our General
                                              onally, regionally and globally. We are
Meeting in 2020, we are mindful that the
                                              undoubtedly stronger and more united as
world we knew at the time of our last
                                              a result and we now have the opportunity
meeting in India during September 2019 is
                                              to further build this solidarity and
forever changed as we face unpreceden-
                                              strengthen our professional connections
ted changes and challenges across the
                                              as we enter the post-pandemic era.
globe. We acknowledge those of you who
have lost colleagues, friends or family as    IFSW Asia Pacific Regio-
a result of the global pandemic the world
is currently experiencing. For social work-   nal Conference 2019
ers today, these are the most significant     Looking back over the time since our last
times of change we have collectively faced    General Meeting, the regional highlight
and responded to globally in our recent       was undoubtedly our regional conference
history. We are in awe and immensely          in India. From 17 - 20 September 2019,
proud of the way our profession has uni-      members of the social work profession
ted, faced and responded to the challen-      gathered in Bengaluru India to attend our
ges be that adapting the way we work with     25th Asia Pacific Joint IFSW Asia Pacific
the people in our communities, adapting       and APASWE Regional Social Work Con-
the way we have used teaching modalities      ference, for the first time ever in India. The
with our students or adapting the way         day before the Conference delegates were
social service providers have enabled         able to attend two pre-conference work-
social services to continue being deliver-    shops - ‘Indigeneity in Asia and Pacific
ed. We have embraced the use of digital       Social Work’ and ‘The Role of Social Work-
technologies not only to enable services      ers working with Female Domestic Work-
and education to continue at a local level    ers Crossing National Borders’ held at
                                              CHRIST (Deemed to be University). Follo-

                                                                                       33
Regions

IFSW Asia and Pacific
wing the conclusion of the workshop’s stu-      development opportunities including the
dents from CHRIST (Deemed to be Univer-         informal networking with colleagues from
sity) delivered a very scintillating cultural   across our region and the globe. As we
programme and the eventful day ended            concluded our gathering, Dr Rory G Truell,
with a welcome dinner at the venue. The         Secretary General, IFSW facilitated a
Conference from 18 – 20 September was           `group selfie’ to capture delegate’s solida-
hosted by the India Network of Professio-       rity with social work colleagues across the
nal Social Workers’ Associations (INPSWA)       world, in the collective action on climate
in collaboration with Dept. of Psychiatric      change.
Social Work, NIMHANS and Dept. of Socio-
logy & Social Work, CHRIST (Deemed to be
University) with the theme of ` Social
Work Partnerships towards an Equal
Society-Asia Pacific Perspective’. The Con-
ference sub themes were formulated ba-
sed on current global and local social sce-
narios of concern and which needed to be        The APSWC 2019 event undoubtedly fulfil-
visualised within the framework of ` Inclu-     led the objective of enabling exchange and
sive Partnerships and Equality’. The 10         sharing of experiences, ideas, challenges,
sub themes were : Social Work Part-             methods, and successful innovative social
nerships, Social Development, Protection        work interventions in addition to providing
and Promotion of Human Rights, Green            an ideal platform to network with peer
Social Work, Cultural Diversity and Social      professionals, experience the local culture
Work, Social Policy – Programmes for            & cuisine and hospitality, discern & live
Public Reach; Children, Youth, Women and        through a glimpse of ` Incredible India ’
Elderly, Correctional Social Work, Health &     from close quarters. A huge thanks to all
Wellbeing, and Corporate Social Responsi-       presenters, speakers and participants at
bility & Industrial Social Work.                both the preconference workshops and
The conference attended by 531 delegates        the Conference for the sharing and learn-
(165 foreign delegates from 31 countries        ing that was provided. Very sincere thanks
& 366 delegates from India) appreciated a       also for the enormous amount of work un-
number of inspirational keynote addres-         dertaken by the hosts, organisers and
ses, 213 oral presentations, 68 e-              many volunteers involved in making this
presentations and 57 poster presentations       gathering such a success. Whilst in India
on the various sub themes. Delegates very       we also held a regional meeting to attend
much enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of       to our regular business. Included in this
our hosts, valued the many opportunities        was an acknowledgement of our
for engaging in the various professional        longstanding treasurer Michiko Hirata

                                                                                        34
Regions

IFSW Asia and Pacific
who not only expertly looked after our fi-     Covid -19 Further to the above, we specifi-
nancial affairs but also very ably co-         cally acknowledge our colleagues in the
ordinated our pre-conference workshops         China Association of Social Workers
for many years. A huge thanks to all the       (CASW) for their early sharing of their ex-
work Michiko has undertaken to enhance         periences and strategies in dealing with
our region and a warm welcome to Ma-           Covid-19 from early 2020. As the rest of
chiko Ohara as our new treasurer. We also      the world began experiencing the spread
confirmed Teoh Ai Hua as our secretary         of the virus CASW was the first to provide
following Irene Leung’s election as our re-    information on how they had adapted their
gional Vice-president.                         services. In the months since we acknow-
                                               ledge the many contributions from across
                                               all parts of our region that have been
                                               shared and posted on the IFSW website as
                                               we collectively grow our practice wisdom
                                               and share this with others in the spirit of
                                               supporting each other in these unprece-
                                               dented times. Whilst the massive health
                                               and wellbeing impact of this virus has be-
                                               en devastating, the global financial impact
Global Agenda 2018-19                          continues to unfold and will undoubtedly
Whilst in India, a joint IFSW Asia Pacific     be with us for many years to come. This is
and APASWE global agenda workshop              likely to pose significant challenges where
was held showcasing how members                some governments seek to reduce social
across our region celebrated the fourth        protection systems and social service pro-
pillar “The Importance of Human Relati-        vision at the very time when the need for
onships”. A broad range of perspectives        these is heightened. It is even more im-
were presented demonstrating the myriad        portant that we maintain our connections
of ways this theme applied to the professi-    and support of each other in the coming
on across Asia Pacific. Following on from      months and years.
this our regional vice-president, Irene        We are also aware that many members
Leung together with Viktor Virag from          have hosted a range of webinars and
APASWE completed the Asia Pacific chap-        zoom meetings, education sessions and
ter for the global publication of this theme   even national conferences in the months
due to be released in July 2020. My thanks     since ‘lockdown’, ‘flattening the curve’ and
to all of you who contributed at this work-    ‘virtual meetings’ have become part of our
shop and especially to Irene for collating     everyday language. Again, we acknow-
these and co-producing our regional chap-      ledge the way the social work profession
ter.                                           has turned the challenging times into op-

                                                                                       35
You can also read