IFSW Europe held is biannual regional conference in Iceland at the end of last month with the theme: Marginalization and Social Work in Changing Society.
More than 550 social workers and people that use social work services attended the conference from across world to share ideas and participate in discussions that enable the profession to meet the challenges of global social problems that effect all countries. Frequent comments from both speakers and participants was to reinforce and further build the political identity of the social work profession as it is ideally placed in contribute to social policy solutions.
María Rúnarsdóttir, the conference organiser said:“ It’s really important for social workers to get governments attentions so that the welfare policies can be proactive rather than reactive. We need to be thinking 20 years ahead when the aim is to build a sustainable society”
Ana I. Lima Fernández, IFSW Regional President said, “This conference has contributed to improving professional practice through the exchange and visibility of social work. It has also served to analyze progress on the global social development agenda and how social work contributes to sustainability. In the Conference, we have analyzed our contribution to compliance with the SDGs. We have shared practices for overcoming the crisis of the welfare state and the construction of social, political and cultural rights. And we have emphasised our role in the defence of human rights and social justice, and in the recovery of State responsibility and citizen participation.”
Other speakers and participants have made short video recordings of there impressions of the conference and future of social work here: https://www.facebook.com/pg/ifsweurope2017iceland/videos/?ref=page_internal
For information about the IFSW African Regional Conference to be held later this month click here. For information on the Latin American and Caribbean Regional Conference in July click here. For information on the Asia-Pacific conference to be held this September please click here.
IFSW Secretary-General, Rory Truell said, ‘These regional conferences are critical for sharing information and learning from the realities of social workers and people that use social work services from across the world. The conferences are also an opportunity to bring together the experiences, analysis and strategic focus of the profession. All this information is collected into the bi-annual reports of the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development, which are used as a policy and practice guidance tool – steering the profession forward and making significant contributions to governments and other international bodies. The European conference in Iceland was a great success in further building the ongoing unity, relationships and common strategic focus of the region and profession. The outcomes of this conference will be presented and shared in the forthcoming 2017 conferences in Africa, Latin America and Asia-Pacific”, he said.
For information on the 2018 World Social Work and Social Development Conference to be held in Dublin, Ireland click here.