The IFSW 2026 General Meeting (GM) will be held as a hybrid gathering on 23 and 24 June 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya. Details will be published on this page as documents become available.
The General Meeting is the supreme governing body of the Federation and during these two days, member organisations will discuss and approve the policies of the Federation, elect the Executive Committee, and if required approve amendments or additions to the Constitution.
The IFSW Secretariat hopes that all members organisations will actively participate in this General Meeting, either in person or through online participation. More information about registering to participate and how the voting platform will work will be published closer to the event.
Draft Minutes General Meeting 2024
Please note the following submission deadlines and key dates:
Submission deadlines
- Motions for Constitutional Changes: 25 March 2026
- Nominations for Executive Positions: 4 May 2026
- Membership Applications, Policies, and other Motions: 24 May 2026
Key dates
- Call for Nominations opens: 23 February 2026
- Registration opens: 14 May 2026
- General meeting: 23 – 24 June 2026
Date and Venue
The venue will be announced here once closer to the event.
Day one: 23 June 2026, 09h00 to 18h00 Nairobi time (06h00 to 15h00 UTC)
Day two: 24 June 2026, 09h00 to 18h00 Nairobi time (06h00 to 15h00 UTC)
Each IFSW member organization is entitled to have 1 Main Representative who cast their votes and 2 Delegates to participate in the General Meeting. The 3 Representatives of each member organization will have the opportunity to discuss, make comments, raise questions and motions, and it is expected that they will work together as a team. With regards to coordinating bodies, the number of delegates can be extended by written request to the President and Secretary-General, but only one person in a coordinating body can cast the votes on behalf of the body.
All discussions will take place live, either in person or via the online Zoom platform. All voting will take place live on the voting platform, both for in person and online participants.
Draft Agenda
Download the Draft Agenda here: English (links updated on 12 June)
Please find all the reports linked to the agenda items in the relevant containers further down on this page.
Voting
All votes have to be casted through the online voting platform. Please note that only IFSW member organizations in good standing can participate. All votes will be submitted to the committee of tellers who will count the votes. This committee will comprise regional nominated representatives, who are not themselves allowed to vote.
Instructions on how to cast your votes will be posted here on or before 8 June 2026.
Please register using the button below:
It would be appreciated if all participants can register before 2 June 2026 to help IFSW Secretariat with the logistics.
Each IFSW member organisation is entitled to appoint 1 Main Representative who will cast their votes and 2 Delegates in the General Meeting.
With regards to coordinating bodies, the number of delegates can be extended by written request to the President and Secretary-General, but only one person in a coordinating body can cast the votes on behalf of the body.
Only member organizations in good standing shall be entitled to full participation in the Federation elections in accordance with the Constitution and the By-Laws.
Introduction
The positions on the IFSW Global Executive listed below are open for election and will be voted upon during the General Meeting on 23 and 24 June 2026. To nominate for one of these positions, nominations should be received no later than 4 May 2026 and be submitted to the IFSW Elections Officer David Jones () and the IFSW Interim Secretary-General Pascal Rudin ().
Please note that the deadline for late nominations is 12 June 2026.
Required documentation
It is important that nominations comply fully with the IFSW Bylaws and, hence, they should include the following documentation:
- Signed and dated Profile and Curriculum Vitae of the Nominee of a maximum of five (5) pages.
- Letter of support from the nominating association, signed by the President and one other person of the executive on an association letterhead.
- Proof of a motion supporting the nomination carried by the national association.
Further documents submitted by the Nominee or Candidate can also be included providing the information is consistent with the IFSW Statement of Ethical Principles. The documentation must be sent by email. All documentation needs to be received no later than 4 May 2026. Please note that the Constitution / By-Laws only allow for late nominations by a vote of the General Meeting with the support of at least 75% of voting members.
If you have any questions please contact the IFSW Elections Officer David Jones () or the IFSW Interim Secretary-General Pascal Rudin ().
Open positions
Positions in 2026 open for election with links to the Job Description:
The following nominations have been confirmed by the Nominations Committee as meeting the constitutional requirements. All nominations received before the closing date and meeting the constitutional requirements are listed below. Those nominations below identified with ** and labelled as ‘late nominations’ were submitted after the closing date; the General Meeting has to vote whether or not to allow the late nominations to be accepted on the ballot paper (By-Law 10 i). A 75% majority is required by the General Meeting as a whole to accept the late nominations.
Please note that the deadline for late nominations is 12 June 2026.
Report by the Elections Officer
Supplementary Report by the Elections Officer
Positions
IFSW President
Eva Ponce de Leon – Profile | Letter of Support | Proof of Motion
Ana Radulescu – Profile | Letter of Support | Proof of Motion
Sharyn Roberts – Profile | Letters of Support | Proof of Motion
IFSW Africa Regional Vice President
Joseph Kalelo – Profile | Letter of Support | Proof of Motion
Msekiwa Makwanya – Profile | Letter of Support & Proof of Motion
Abib Ndiaye – Profile | Letter of Support | Proof of Motion
IFSW Asia-Pacific Regional President
Machiko Ohara – Profile | Letter of Support | Proof of Motion
Puji Pujiono – Profile | Letter of Support | Proof of Motion ** late nomination
IFSW Europe Regional Vice President
Andreas Pedersen Kikvik – Profile | Letter of Support | Proof of Motion
IFSW Latin America and Caribbean Regional President
Alejandro López Evangelista – Profile | Letter of Support | Proof of Motions
Jorge Arturo Sáenz Fonseca – Profile | Letter of Support | Proof of Motion
IFSW North America Regional President
Barb Whitenect – Profile | Letter of Support & Proof of Motion ** late nomination
IFSW North America Regional Vice President
Nomination will be published here soon
A member organization may act as proxy for another member organization not in attendance. An appointment of a proxy is valid if both the organisation giving and the organisation exercising the proxy are in good financial standing at the commencement of the General Meeting. The proxy must be received by IFSW Interim Secretary-General Pascal Rudin () not later than the commencement of the General Meeting.
New membership applications will be posted here provided they have been examined and deemed valid and in line with the IFSW Constitution and the Global Social Work Statement of Ethical Principles.
A Social Work Approach to Co-creating Human Rights-Based Care and Support Systems
Proposed new policies will be added when received by the Secretariat. Proposed policies should be sent to the IFSW Interim Secretary-General Pascal Rudin () no later than 24 May 2026.
Finance Report 2024-2025: English | Spanish (machine translation) | French (machine translation)
Please note that, for reasons of confidentiality, we do not publish the detailed audited reports on our website, but instead share them directly with our members. If you are the main representative of one of our member organisations and have not yet received a copy, please contact .
Report on the Good Governance Review
Informe sobre la Revisión para la Buena Gobernanza (traducción automática al español)
All reports received by the Secretariat will be posted here. Please send your report to Lucia Gandolfi, .
All reports received by the Secretariat will be posted here.
UN Commission global report 2024-2026
IFSW Indigenous Commission 2025-2026 report
IFSW Global Education Commission Report 2026
Commonwealth Organisation for Social Work (COSW) Report
All reports received by the Secretariat will be posted here. Please send your report to Lucia Gandolfi, .
Motion from Brazil to include Portuguese as official language (Portuguese)
Motion from Brazil to include Portuguese as official language (machine translation)
Proposed motions to amend the IFSW Constitution will be published here. Proposals must be sent to the IFSW Interim Secretary-General Pascal Rudin () no later than 25 March 2026.
For proposals to amend the IFSW By-Laws, please refer to ‘other motions’ below.
Motion from Brazil – Repudiation Against the Death Sentence of Social Worker Pakhshan Azizi
Motion from Brazil – Solidarity with Palestinian Social Workers: English | Português
Motion from Ireland – Review of Governance Documents Regarding Membership Sanctions: English | Español
Motion from Ireland – Review of Professional Integrity and Mandatory Military Service: English | Español
Motion from Norway – Review of the Global Social Work Statement of Ethical Principles
Motion from Hungary – Strengthening Social Work – Hungarian Association of Social Workers
Proposed other motions (not affecting the IFSW constitution) will be published here. Proposals must be sent to the IFSW Interim Secretary-General Pascal Rudin () no later than 24 May 2026.