Abstract
IASSW creates spaces for strengthening of social work education particularly where professional social work is newly emerging and needs support from an international forum. One strategy is to organize seminars/workshops/faculty development programmes in partnership with the school/department of social work that hosts the IASSW Board meeting.
In this section of News and Views, we focus on the initiative in Vietnam where we organized the Third Executive Committee and Board meetings hosted by School of Social Work, Thang Long University, Hanoi, Vietnam, 20–21 January 2014.
International conference on ‘Social Work Capacity Building: Response of Social Work Education to Social Issues in Vietnam: International Perspectives and Indigenous Response’
The meetings were preceded by a joint international conference on ‘Social Work Capacity Building: Response of Social Work Education to Social Issues in Vietnam: International Perspectives and Indigenous Response’. This workshop was organized by International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), Asia & Pacific Association of Social Work Education (APASWE) and Thang Long University, Vietnam Federation of Vocational Training & Social Work, University of Labour and Social Affairs, Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University of Education, Hanoi, Vietnam. The workshop was supported by IASSW, UNICEF Vietnam and Thang Long University.
The participants of the workshop included 32 professors (IASSW Board members from different continents) and 250 others from universities, colleges, social work centers in Vietnam. Representatives of the Ministries of Training and Education, of Labor, Invalid and Social Affair (MOLISA) and the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism, also participated. The workshop consisted of two plenary sessions and four parallel sessions. Most of the Board members made presentations along with social work faculty from Vietnam.
In the inaugural address, President of IASSW Professor Vimla Nadkarni stressed that the training of social work is facing many challenges at the global scale. The world today is full of fluctuations in economic, political, social, climate change; conflicts within and between countries deeply affecting the lives of poor and vulnerable people. This requires huge involvement of social workers.
The conference highlighted that the profession of social work in Vietnam in recent years has focused on the major issues of ensuring social security and human security that contribute to the stability and development of society. Social work provides support and help to disadvantaged and marginalized groups to facilitate their integration into society. The International Conference on Social Work in Vietnam created a favorable environment to share experiences on research, training and practice of social work among social work professionals in Vietnam.
The workshop participants also shared experiences of training, research and social work practice, discussed coordination and cooperation between countries to support the development of social work opportunities and collaborations with Vietnam.
International collaborations
The IASSW President and Board members are actively networking and collaborating with other international organizations. Some of the long-term collaborations where MOUs have been signed are as follows.
Institute on Disaster Management and Reconstruction (IDMR) in Chengdu
The IDMR was launched on 8 May 2013 and an agreement to collaborate with IDMR in capacity building programs in disaster management and reconstruction was signed by the IASSW President Professor Vimla Nadkarni on behalf of the IASSW. The Institute is jointly established by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and Sichuan University (Sichuan U). The other partnering organizations include the International Federation of Occupational Therapy and Earthquakes Without Borders.
The Sichuan University–Hong Kong Polytechnic University Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction (IDMR) is the first of its kind on ‘disaster preparedness, disaster risk reduction and disaster reconstruction’ on the Chinese mainland. Not only will it provide training in healthcare, rehabilitation and disaster management, it aspires to become a world-class disaster management research centre and educational platform serving the whole nation.
Professor Nadkarni is a member of the Advisory Board (2014–2016) of one of its associated centers, namely the National Training Base for Professional Social Worker, Ministry of Civil Affair, PRC. To comply with the national policy in accelerating the process of vocationalization and professionalization of the social work profession, the training base has a legitimized role to support the training needs of governmental departments, community officials, non-government organizations, social work educators and frontline practitioners.
Global Institute of Social Work (GISW)
Professor Nadkarni is member of the International Advisory Board of the Global Institute of Social Work initiated by Professor Tan Ngoh Tiong, Dean, School of Human Development and Social Services, SIM University, Singapore. Professor Terry Hokenstad, Distinguished University Professor, Case Western Reserve University, and one of our active US-based UN representatives is the President of GISW.
The vision of the Global Institute of Social Work is to deliver quality social work training where needed; provide culturally appropriate training, in various fields of social work, for social workers from all over the world. It is essentially a virtual institute but there are a number of global training centers to enhance its operations. Proposed centers are: London, Moscow, Singapore, Bombay and San Francisco. There could also be other satellite training centers established.
General Assembly of IASSW at Joint Conference on Social Work, Education & Social Development, Melbourne, July 2014
IASSW is pleased to announce the 2014 General Assembly to be held in Melbourne, Australia on 9 July 2014.
IASSW Nominating Committee will announce election results for three vacancies on the IASSW Board of Directors from July 2014: one position for Treasurer (2014–2018), and two positions for Member at Large of the Board of Directors (2014–2018).
Translations of the proposed Global Definition of Social Work
The proposed new Global Definition of Social Work, which will be presented at the IASSW General Assembly and IFSW General Meeting in July 2014, has now been translated into Arabic, Bosnian, Croatian, Greek, French, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and many more in process. Both organizations posted it their websites respectively.