Abstract
A climate that respects and protects basic civil, political, socio-economic and cultural rights is fundamental to well-functioning and healthy societies.
Without the security and freedom provided by these rights, it is very difficult to maintain a high level of emotional and social functioning. Globally people are confronted daily by issues of poverty, a lack of access to quality education, unaffordable and or inadequate housing, and a lack of needed health and mental health services.
For over 100 years the social work profession has been instrumental in achieving increased civil and human rights advances in all parts of the globe. A key aspect of social works primary mission is that of enhancing human well-being and working to ensure that people are able to meet their basic needs, especially the most vulnerable among us. We do this through our many different roles in society and in our varied fields of practice, and now we must work to ensure that those who are the most vulnerable amongst us are at the front of all of our efforts as we work for a more just social system to be put into place.
The current global economic situation calls for us raise our collective voices and to increase in our professional unity and engagement, so that as a profession we can be more influential and relevant in the international political and economic arenas. We must work to ensure that those who are the most vulnerable amongst us are at the front of all of our efforts as we work for a more just economic system to be put into place.
Existing global situations call for more social work unity and even more engagement. To that end in 2010 in Hong Kong, our three global social work organizations collectively agreed that the field of social work, social work practice and education, were often marginalized in our many of our own countries and in relevant international organizations and in some areas of social development. The decision of organizing that common “Congress” with our sister organizations was a ‘political’ decision to organize social work, social development practitioners and social work educators who wanted to work together to articulate a set of common goals. The challenges we collectively faced were many and called for a united voice and even more solidarity. Beyond the shared understanding of the necessity to be organized and of being relevant in the international arena, we have developed more clear and effective ways of promoting strategies and actions which we believed would influence the setting of an international agenda.
The Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development was initially envisioned as the start of a larger movement that the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) and the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) as three international organizations aimed to lead in response to: Economic inequalities within countries and among regions; the growing inequalities and their implication for marginalized populations; the prevention and management of Man-made and natural disasters and their implication for the social work profession and the environment; increasing global political instabilities, violence, dominations, the erosion of peace building processes, increased terrorism and responses by states and their ways of handling global conflicts; Human right issues and violations in relation to global social, political and economic situations; migration refugees, immigrants, immigration and the handling these issues and their future implications; as well as family issues and life challenges across lifespan. All these issues emerged as major areas of focus, as they related to the transformation of the world.
As a consequence of the work associated with the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development, a Global Observatory was established by the three to capture and report activity taken as part of the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development. The work of Global Observatory is intended to monitor the implementation of the Global Agenda and to gather evidence about the activities of social workers, educators and social development practitioners, which support its implementation; to give visibility and credibility to member contributions; and to promote further action.
This joint work between International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), and the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) has resulted in our organizations becoming stronger, with a shared belief that the world can be changed for the better if the profession stands together, advocating for the dignity and worth of the person; a more just world; and celebrate the importance of human relationships through the creation of more healthy environments and promoting social and economic equalities amongst people and societies.