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At 2pm CET today The International Council on Social Welfare, International Associations of Schools of Social Work along with IFSW and other partners announced the conclusion of a two-year consultation process that sets the framework for the 2020 to 2030 Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, some partner organisations were not able to complete their consultation processes resulting in the announcement of only the first theme for the period 2020 to 2022. The remaining four themes covering the period 2022 to 2030 will be released in 2021. All the partner organisations express their greatest thanks to the many thousands of people who contributed to the consultation process.
The Global Agenda for Social Work & Social Development Framework for 2020-2030 is ´Co-building Inclusive Social Transformation´.
Describing this Framework, the partner organisations announced: Globally, nationally and regionally the professions of social work and social development together with our partners, will actively work with people, communities and social movements to advance a 10-year agenda of:
‘Co-building inclusive social transformation’
As global bodies with active membership in all countries, we recognize and commit to celebrating the strengths of all people and promoting their active role in leading sustainable development. We commit to working together to co-design and co-build thriving communities and societies for people and the environment.
Fostering the active participation of all voices, particularly those often marginalized, is at the core for the profession of social work and social development and is essential to co-design and co-build inclusive social transformation. This would include the development of new social agreements between governments and the populations they serve that facilitate universal rights, opportunities, freedom and sustainable well-being for all people nationally and globally. The role of the social work and social development in advancing and creating new platforms and spaces for all peoples, is of paramount importance for these new social agreements to emerge. The Global Agenda 2020-2030 is anchored in these commitments.
The partners further announced the first theme, ´Ubuntu: Strengthening Social Solidarity and Global Connectedness´ will run from 2020 to 2022:
´Ubuntu: Strengthening Social Solidarity and Global Connectedness´
Guided by ethical principles, social work and social development practitioners and educators have an essential role to connect people, communities and systems; to co-design and co-build sustainable communities and to promote inclusive social transformation.
Ubuntu as a principle for enhancing social solidarity and recognizing global connectedness is central to shared and sustainable futures that highlight responsibility between all peoples and the environment. It lays the foundation for the promotion of an inclusive process of developing new social agreements between governments and the populations they serve. The new social agreement to emerge is aimed at facilitating universal rights, opportunities, freedom and sustainable well-being for all people nationally, regionally and globally.
Ubuntu has been popularised across the world by Nelson Mandela and is generally interpreted as meaning ‘I am because we are’. A word, concept and philosophy that resonates with the social work and social development perspectives of the interconnectedness of all peoples and their environments. Ubuntu also highlights indigenous knowledge and wisdom and we invite all nations and populations to use an equivalent word or concept that speaks to your culture in promoting this theme: ‘Ubuntu: I am because we are’.
Upon the announcement the Presidents of IASSW, ICSW and IFSW commented:
Annamaria Campanini, President of IASSW, said that: “IASSW is committed to the ongoing partnership into the next phase of the Global Agenda by connecting schools of social work, social work education and research in co-building inclusive social transformation that embodies a new global social contract”.Eva Holmberg-Herrström, President of ICSW, said that “The pandemic has shown us that this is the time for a New Social Contract for public health and welfare in a sustainable world. The Global Agenda is a core contribution from us in this process.” President of IFSW, Silvana Martinez further commented that: “For the past ten years, the Global Agenda has acted as a unifying force for the profession of social work. It has united us to act according to our principles: Social and economic equality, recognizing the dignity and value of all people, promoting community and environmental sustainability and the importance of human relationships. As we move into the second decade, our commitment is based on these principles. Long-time partners and new IFSW partners have identified that the overarching framework for 2020-2030 will be “Co-building an inclusive social transformation.” This framework recognizes the need for important changes to take place in the world, a vision for a new social construction, in which all people are treated equally and can be protagonists of history and their future. The first theme from 2020 to 2022 lays the foundation for this framework: “Ubuntu, I am because we are.” This recognizes that the lives and futures of all people are intertwined and our destiny is linked. By launching this framework, we are committing ourselves to actions for the next ten years, with which we hope that all communities identify and can play their role in the joint construction of a just and socially just new world.”
The 2021 World Social Work Day Poster highlighting the theme ´Ubuntu World Social Work Day Poster will be available for all organisations download and co-brand this December.
Click here to access the original press release
Click here to access the IFSW conference partners consultation outcomes.