From the Strengthening Social Work Across Europe IFSW E Members Project Steering Group
Celebrating Social Work
On World Social Work Day 2026, IFSW Europe celebrates social workers across our region and globally. We wish you all a wonderful day!
Social Work’s Vital Role in Society
Reflecting the #WSWD2026 theme, we celebrate social work’s vital role in promoting hope and harmony, and uniting societies through our professional commitment to promoting equal rights and social justice for all people and ‘leaving no one behind.’ This is at the core of our international ethics and values.
One of the strengths of IFSW is in upholding and promoting these principles in every corner of the globe, and to support social workers to work according to these in the most difficult circumstances such as during war, under political repression and when resources diminish or dry up.
Challenges in wider Europe
These difficult circumstances exist here in Europe. We have war and the threat of military or ‘hybrid’ attacks. We also live in a time of dangerous backsliding on democracy, human rights and the rule of law in many countries. With the shocks and risks of military conflict present and threatened, the advancing impact of climate change, the risks and benefits of AI and politicization and roll back on human rights for people in migration, the core purpose, principles and practices of social work are challenged.
These pressures require social work to respond, to evolve skills and professional capabilities and to continue to act as human rights defenders – safeguarding dignity, promoting social justice, strengthening community resilience even in major crises, dealing with contexts of political hostility – in the face of changing threats and challenges.
Collective Strength and Solidarity
In this context, collective strength, solidarity and being united around our shared values is more important than ever. In Europe we want to ensure we have the right structures and approaches in place to meet this challenge of better support and to keep developing social work as a human rights profession even when under duress.
If social workers are to fulfil our social justice and human rights mission in our communities, we need to look after each other locally and internationally, and we need to continue to lead on developing our practice and evidence base.
Strengthening Social Work Across Europe (SSWAE) Project
The Strengthening Social Work Across Europe (SSWAE) project is a project within IFSW Europe, funded by IFSW global and works to co-create new and improved approaches to mutual support with and between members, and to promote the further development of ethical, values-led, responsive and inclusive practice afcross our continent.
There are 50 countries in the IFSW Europe (IFSWE) region. They are highly variable in size, demography, geography, political profile, language, environmental risk, GDP and many other variables. Currently, 29 countries are full members of IFSW Europe Member associations, ranging in size from a handful to over 40,000 individual members. They have different levels of resources to participate in IFSW activities in person, although online working is a great leveller.
Social work is also differently developed, governed and resourced in each country, and each has its own history of the profession. Yet, through IFSW, fundamental commitment to liberating and enabling approaches and ethics bind social workers together in common purpose across all this diversity.
Through SSWAE we are reaching out to all countries to encourage full membership and involvement where this is absent, and to ensure that IFSW Europe is useful, valued and welcoming to all, to build support and to ensure the unity around common values and ethics in practice is sustained for the future of our profession.
Trauma-Informed Approach and Guiding Principles
One of the project’s ambitions is to take a trauma-informed approach, taking into account the importance of confidentiality and sensitivity of developing actions of solidarity in contexts with political and other risks. In commencing the work, the following considerations to inform future work have been developed as a framework by the project steering group:
- Safety and recognition of emotional labour
- Trustworthiness, transparency and proportionality
- Peer and intergenerational support
- Collaboration, mutuality, solidarity and impact
- Contextualizing structural inequalities i.e gender, race,
- Poverty & disability.
- Historical, political, decolonial and anti-racist positionality
Upcoming Events and Outreach
We will be working with colleagues from all regions of IFSW to deliver a symposium at the IFSW global conference in Nairobi, Kenya in June 2026. And we will be holding webinars and other online activities, accessible to all, for social workers and stakeholders to hear more about and shape SSWAE over coming months.