2010 WSWD News from different countries

The Singapore Association of Social Workers will be celebrating Social Workers Day on 16/3/10 in a big way by having a symposium and a grand dinner where the Minister of Community Development, Youth and Sports will be the Guest of Honour.

We will be honoring two veteran Social Workers with Fellowship Awards at the dinner.

The activities outlined in this tool kit help the social work community, bring together other community members, raise awareness and promote social justice within the local, national and global community.

Activities to Pursue Social Justice

Activities to Strenghten the Profession


Press release from the Canadian Association of Social Workers - Communiqué de presse de la Association Canadienne des travailleuses et travailleur sociaux

News stories:

March is National Professional Social Work Month

Schools celebrate social workers

Social workers provide wide range of services

Covenant Hospice and National Association of Social Workers celebrate National Social Work Month


Annual Northeast Arkansas Social Work Month conference and awards ceremony scheduled for April 2


Social work profession one of most valuable, but overlooked

March honors the work of social workers


Social Workers Honored at Social Work Month - Fox 28: South Bend, Elkhart IN News, Weather, Sports


Pizarro: Good choice for social work honor

Times Journal: Time to celebrate our social workers

U.S. Congress Recognizes Contributions of Professional Social Workers

Please find the news item on the NASW homepage.


Social work much more than child protection

The Sri Lanka Association of Professional Social Workers will held a national conference on Family Social Work:Towards Evidence Based Practice to mark the WSWD to be held on 16.03.2010.

Please find the Conference program here.

Information from IFSW Europe related to the WSWD 2010

Videomessage

IFSW Europe Blog

On facebook

BASW is supporting WSWD with several events around the country and has called on local authorities which employ social workers to support the day.

BASW, IFSW urges UK local authorities to back World Social Work Day on 16 March

BASW Scotland is hosting its annual Social Worker of the Year Awards event on 16 March to coincide with WSWD. The event will be hosted by the Minister in the Scottish parliament and will take place in the grand surroundings of Edinburgh Castle’s Great Hall.

A motion recognising World Social Work Day has been tabled in the Scottish Parliament
BASW, Scottish Parliament offers social work endorsement

BASW Cymru (Wales) is hosting a conference in Cardiff on WSWD, 'Challenges and Opportunities for Social Work in Wales'

The Northern Ireland Association of Social Work (NIASW), part of BASW, held its awards event on 9 March which was linked to WSWD.

BASW members are being offered free access to a selection of online articles from Practice: Social Work in Action.

UK media coverage of WSWD

Saving lives and other surprises | Society | guardian.co.uk

From the Phillipines to Wales: Asuncion Oabel-Sael - 15/03/2010 - Community Care

Backing World Social Worker Day in West Sussex

The following 3 events were organised to celebrate WSWD 2010

in Porto a Seminar organized by Students, in Coimbra a Social and Cultural event (dinner with music) and in Funchal, Madeira a Conference with a dinner.

The World Social Work Day 2010 will be jointly celebrated in Nepal by

Department of social work, Kadambari College ( purbanchal University), Nepal College of Development Studies ( Tribhuwan University) and Tulsi Mehar College ( pokhara University)

In partnership with

Fr. P.T Augustine Resource Centre, Sutra Centre for Development Education,and other NGO and INGO partners

Please find the full program here!

The Philippine Association of Social Workers, Inc. (PASWI)
a non-stock, non-profit organization of professional social workers in the
Philippines duly accredited by and registered at the Securities and Exchange
Commission and the Professional Regulation Commission, will conduct a

World Social Work Day Conference
on March 16, 2010 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
at Bayview Park Hotel, Roxas Blvd. Manila.


The
conference theme is “Making Human Rights Real: The Social Work Agenda”. Our guest speaker is Hon. Leila M. De Lima,
Chairperson of Commission on Human Rights.

Relative to this, we cordially invite you and your social workers to attend this very important and highly relevant activity, and to know about the current human rights issues, concerns and development in the Philippines.

Registration fee is Php1,000.00 per participants to cover conference materials, foods and venue expenses. Please confirm your attendance not later than March 12, 2010.
For confirmation and reservation, please contact our secretariat office at the Room 210 PSSC Commonwealth Ave., Diliman Quezon City and look for Ms. Josephine Cruz for further inquiries. Telephone number 453-8250; mobile number 0920-461-0933 or email at paswi_1948@yahoo.com.

IFSW Press Release in Polish (as pdf) and on the website

Please find the WSWD activities in Switzerland here (in German and French)

Please find WSWD activities in Finland here!

WSWD activities in Finland included:

Radio program announcing World Social Work Day focusing on the struggle against racism

Exhibition on social work from March 15 - 19, 2010

e-card sent out to all Talentia members (the Finish animation of the e-card can also be found on the IFSW front-page)

coverage in different journals and national publications

Brian Auslander

The Israel Association of Social Workers held their annual meeting in Nazareth, Israel on March 16 and 17. In honor of World Social Work Day, we held a special session to discuss “Social Workers Are Agents of Change for Social Rights”. The meeting of 155 members of the General Assembly of the Association heard from Prof. Idit Weiss-Gal of Tel Aviv University, Mr. Nachum Itzkovitz, Secretary General of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Dr. Itzhak Brick, chair of the Social Work Council and Mr. Itzik Peri, president of the Israel Association of Social Workers.

Prof. Weiss-Gal described several of her research studies looking at how social workers define their activities and to what extent social change is a part of their job description. Not surprisingly, most social workers described their job activities in terms of direct service. But many also saw advocacy for their clients as an important role. One of the major issues that all the speakers raised was the client's lack of knowledge of rights that are already available. According to Mr. Peri, the association clearly sees its role as raising awareness for social change and representing the profession and, by extension, the clients, in the Knesset (parliament) when laws are being discussed.

The major newspapers in the country all had articles on World Social Work Day and interviews with social workers around the country. Most of the articles described the large caseloads and low salaries of social workers in the public service and in NGO’s and connected their articles to the association’s current fight to improve social work salaries and arrive at a measure of maximum caseloads in the different practice areas.

In 2010, the World Social Work Day was celebrated for the first time in Tanzania with an advocacy meeting. The aim of the meeting was to create awareness to the public about social work roles and how to take responsibility for the community. Part of the discussions at the meeting were also human rights issues. The Tanzania association of Social Work provided an award to Mr. Relginald Mengi for his contributions in helping people with disability.

Please find the 2010 WSWD activities here:

www.socialworkday.org.hk/2010/index.html