Here's a short speech by the president of IFSW:
World Social Work Day 2011: Message from IFSW President Gary Bailey, MSW, ACSW from IFSW on Vimeo.
The theme for this year's Social Work Day 2011 was “Social Work voices responding to global crises: Together we develop the Agenda!“
And this challenge was taken up here in Rotterdam within our School of Social Work.
The mission of the social work profession and the development of social policy are rooted in a set of core values. These core values, embraced by social workers, social work educators and policy practitioners and developers the world over, are the foundation of social work’s unique purpose and perspective.
In June 2010, at the global social work conference in Hong Kong, three key social work organisations at the global level initiated a discussion to develop a Global Agenda for social work and social development, a common Global Agenda for years to come, articulating a set of common goals. The challenges which are collectively faced at present are so enormous that there is an overwhelming need for a united voice and solidarity.
What started in Hong Kong was the beginning of a process of shared engagement among social work and social development practitioners and social work educators the world over.
With this in mind we planned to have the kick-off for the joint social work module for all year 1 students on today's World Social Work Day.
From many sides an appeal had been made to encourage all classes in schools of social work around the world, service agencies, other sites where social work and social development organisations are involved and communities linked to social work and social development to discuss and comment on the Global Agenda. And this opportunity was seized by a number of people within our university, not only by way of a big event for all year 1 students, but also by stimulating all lecturers to pay attention to the issue in their lessons. A learning package with tips and suggestions was developed specifically for that purpose, with a focus on poverty as the main issue. Now it's time to harvest and analyse all the tips and suggestions for the Global Agenda.
A great and unifying initiative that will remind all involved that social work is truly an international profession practised all over the world and rooted in a common set of core values. Here are some images of the event which took place in the Scottish church in Rotterdam:
And here's a link to how World Social Work Day was celebrated in other countries.
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