Photo: Minister of Labour And Social Affairs, Mullah Abdul Manan Omari, source Wikipedia.
This week the Minister of Labour And Social Affairs issued a press release after meeting the Afghanistan of Social Workers Organisation (ASO) and IFSW. The following press release is very encouraging as it recognises social work’s key role in building trust and cooperation for sustainable development after 4 decades of war. The Minister has also issued an invitation to ASO to facilitate the beginnings of an inclusive strategic planning process. The role of ASO in establishing and maintaining the cooperation relationship with the government and local administrations is commended by IFSW.
An auto-translated version of the Ministry’s press release follows:
The Meeting Of The Acting Minister Of Labour And Social Affairs With The Secretary General Of The International Federation Of Social Workers (IFSW)
Sun, Feb 05 2023 9:43 AM
https://tinyurl.com/26cpdw3r
Mullah Abdul Manan Omari; Acting Minister of Labour and Social Affairs met Rory Truell, Secretary General of the International Federation of Social Workers. Also present were Maulavi Sharafuddin Sharaf, the head of the official office of the ministry, Mrs. Ana Radulescu, Vice President of the International Federation of Social Workers, Bashir Ahmad Basharat, an employee of the UNICEF office, and Masoud Ayubi, the head of the Afghanistan Institute of Social Workers (ASO) and the representative of the Iranian Institute of Social Workers.
First, the Acting Minister of Labour and Social Affairs welcomed the guests and spoke about the importance of social work and said that the principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and mutual respect in social work play an essential role in society according to the guidelines of Islamic Sharia.
The Acting Minister of Labour and Social Affairs added: Four decades of war have affected almost all sectors and we want to solve social problems from the root through social work, get the support of the international community, identify vulnerabilities and find suitable solutions for them. He empathised the need to show and adapt the activities with full transparency in an effective and efficient way in cooperation with partner institutions.
Then, Rory Truell, the Secretary General of the International Federation of Social Workers said: The International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) is a global organization and comprises 150 national associations of social work. He added that the Federation and its national members strive for social justice, human rights and inclusive and sustainable social development through promoting the best social practices and participation in international cooperation, and their milestones are promoting social work to achieve social development, litigation for social justice at the global level and facilitating international cooperation.
Later, Masoud Ayubi, head of the Afghanistan Social Workers Institute, said: This institution was registered in the Ministry of Economy in 2018 and provides social services in a professional manner. Mr. Ayubi added that one of the conditions of membership in the International Federation of Social Workers is the visit of the high-ranking delegation of the International Federation of Social Workers, and now the guests have come to Afghanistan for this purpose, to see the internal structure of the institution, and to share their observations of Afghanistan with others.
In the end, both sides talked about mutual cooperation to strengthen social work and exchanged views. The Acting Minister of Labour and Social Affairs emphasized the need to develop and implement guidelines for NGOs to better regulate affairs according to the policy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. By developing transparency, through building trust between the emirate departments, national and international institutions will increase. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is ready for any cooperation in this regard.