Abstract
Joint Conference on Social Work, Education & Social Development Melbourne, July 2014
The International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), with partner organizations the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) and the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), organized the Joint Conference on Social Work, Education & Social Development in Melbourne from July 9-12, 2014. The conference theme was ‘Promoting Social and Economic Equality: Responses from Social Work and Social Development’. The focus was on the intersection of the many factors that promote equality for all people within our diverse contexts around the world.
The conference was attended by more than 1500 social work and social development practitioners, researchers, educators and consumers from all over the world. E-posters are available on the website: http://eposters.swsd2014.org/posters/
IASSW heartily congratulate both Lynne Healy who received the prestigious Katherine Kendall Memorial Award 2014 and Vishanthie Sewpaul who delivered Eileen Younghusband Lecture 2014, during the conference.
IASSW held the General Assembly in Melbourne, Australia, on July 10th, 2014. The Nominating Committee announced election results for three vacancies on the IASSW Board of Directors from July 2014: one position for Treasurer and two positions for Member at Large of the Board of Directors (2014–2018).
Two major landmark decisions passed in the General Assembly were the adoption of the new International Definition of Social Work and approval of the amendments in the Constitution of IASSW.
The next world conference will be in Seoul, Korea, from the 27th to the 30th June, 2016. The main theme of the conference will be ‘Promoting the Dignity and Worth of People’. More details can be found at http://www.swsd2016.org/
International Association of Schools of Social Work signs the Memorandum of Understanding with UNAIDS in Geneva, 21 October 2014
Adopted by the UNAIDS Programme Committee Board in December 2010, the UNAIDS strategy 2011–2015, better known as a Zero Strategy, is aimed at advancing global progress in achieving country set targets for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support, halting and reversing the spread of HIV, and contributing to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
The magnitude of the AIDS response to HIV requires vigorous leadership and action from all groups and levels of society. As the global lead advocate on the HIV epidemic, the Joint United Nations Program on AIDS aims to mobilize key constituencies towards Zero New HIV infections, Zero discrimination and Zero AIDS Related Deaths.
Similarly, the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) – a worldwide association of schools of social work, tertiary level educational institutions and social work educators, whose mission is to promote worldwide excellence in social work – recognizes the social-economic impact of HIV on academia and the critical role of schools of social work in shaping public policy to ensure AIDS responses leave no one behind.
Both parties recognize:
In spite of remarkable progress of the AIDS response, more needs to be done to reach the most vulnerable and excluded
That social protection aims to empower the most vulnerable and excluded to defend and advance their dignity and that this aim is closely aligned with the AIDS movement’s goals and presents new programming opportunities
UNAIDS on the one part, and the IASSW on the other, with its worldwide networks of schools of social work and other institutions, hereby agree to join efforts to cooperate, within their respective mandates.
The international theme for World AIDS Day from 2011 to 2015 is ‘Getting to zero’, namely to zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.
Professor Vimla Nadkarni, President of the International Association of Schools of Social Work, and Luiz Loures, Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS and Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, signed the Memorandum of Understanding signalling the beginning of a joint plan of work between the two organisations on October 21, 2014. Since a first meeting in March 2014, members of IASSW and UNAIDS have been in fruitful discussions leading to today’s historic events. The values and mission statements of the two organisations have synergies that enable both parties to benefit from cooperation in the realisation of their aims. As a first joint event, World Social Work Day will be celebrated at the Kofi Annan Conference Room in the UNAIDS Building in Geneva on 17 March 2015 with one hundred and fifty invited guests from the UN, IASSW, IFSW and ICSW and their regional European Associations. Susan Lawrence, President of EASSW and Klaus Kuhn of IFSW joined the event and began a joint work plan with Mariangela Simao and David Chipanta of UNAIDS.