Briefing on the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development
Commitment to Action
Today we celebrate that social work is a global profession. We see that when we welcome internationally qualified colleagues who come to work in our teams. We celebrate it when we go to conferences and meetings where we meet social workers from round the world. We celebrate it when we read books, articles or research written by and using knowledge from round the world.
But of course, social work is not the same across the world. This is a challenge for colleagues coming to the UK from other parts of the world to work here. BASW International Committee has done a survey of the needs of internationally qualified social workers coming to the UK and the sort of information and support they need to work effectively. We will be using this information in our work this year.
BASW is the UK representative professional association within the International Federation of Social Work. This means we meet regularly with European professional associations to plan events and activities and lobby within the Europe for social work issues. BASW International Committee leads on this part of our work.
This year we have been working with IFSW global executive to develop the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development. At a global level this has been written in conjunction with the International Schools of Social Work and the International Council on Social Welfare. We therefore made an early decision that BASW International Committee should work on this with the JUCSWEC International Committee. This partnership has led to joint events to celebrate World Social Work Day in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The Global Agenda itself will be presented to the United Nations in New York on 26 March. This agenda is a commitment for action – not just last year – but in the years to come – so join us to take part in this global journey together.
For further information: www.basw.co.uk or www.ifsw.org
Join our debates every Tuesday at 8:00 PM UK / 3:00 PM ET and every Sunday 6:00 PM UK / 1PM ET @SWSCmedia.
Join us today at on World Social Work Day (Tuesday, 20-March-2012) at 8:00 PM GMT / 4:00 PM EDT to discuss and explore the “Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development” in a rich and lively Twitter Debate @SWSCmedia.
Bridget Robb is @BASW_UK Development Manager.
