The IFSW European Executive met over the weekend of June 1 and 2, 2019 in Vienna. Our thanks to our colleagues at OBDS for hosting the meeting and a special thanks to Herbert Paulischin for his assistance.
Over the two days we discussed many topics, but we focused on the work program, the global report, the upcoming regional conference and planning for the delegates meeting. A report has been sent to all IFSW members.
Our important items were:
- The IFSW European Conference Vienna 2019;
- The IFSW European Conference 2021 – The executive will recommend to the members that we accept that bid of Croatia;
- The IFSW European Conference 2023 – It was decided to send out a call for bids for 2023 in the near future in order to give members more time to plan conferences as 2 years lead time is too short;
- The IFSW Delegates Meeting 2020 – It was noticed that IFSW European members accepted the BASW invitation to hold the 2020 Delegates Meeting in Birmingham (UK) in the Spring of 2020;
- The IFSW Delegates Meeting 2021;
- Planning to release media statements regarding poverty, disability and domestic violence to correspond with the UN days focusing on these issues.
- Communication between the IFSW Executive Committee and IFSW members. As a part of knowledge sharing it was decided to send a summary of each executive meeting to the membership following each meeting, highlighting decisions;
- WSWD, social workers were recognized as “defenders of social rights” and the International Labor Organization (ILO) recognized social work as a profession for the first time.
- The role of IFSW representatives and the support that the executive affords them. It was decided that we need to provide more support, both financial and professional, to the representatives and that they are the face of IFSW Europe. The budget will reflect the importance of supporting representative travel and representatives will be supported to attend the delegates meeting in order to report on their work.
The following Executive members attended the meeting:
- Ana Radulescu (Romania) President
- John Brennan (Ireland) Vice President
- Brian Auslander (Israel), Treasurer
- Maria Runarsdottir (Iceland)
- Fernanda Rodrigues (Portugal)
The following Invited guests were present for parts of the meeting:
- Rory Truell, IFSW Secretary General – Report on global issues;
- Herbert Paulischin (Austria), Regional Conference Program Committee – Report on conference preparations.
Our next IFSW European Executive Meeting will take place on 5thof September 2019.
Ana Radulescu, President of IFSW Europe, invites you to submit proposals for the agenda of the meeting with topics that you consider the executive’s decision is necessary.
The proposals for subjects on which the executive must decide should be sent by the members until September 2019 at
Ana Radulescu on behalf of IFSW Europe Executive