Global Agenda on Social Work and Social Development
08 February 2012
EASSW urges all members to become engaged and active in participating in dialogue and action outlined in the Global Agenda on Social Work and Social Development (www.globalsocialagenda.org). A new version of the Global Agenda will be published in March 2012 outlining more specific actions, but in the meantime, please plan to hold events during the Week of Action – 19-26 March 2012. Celebrate World Social Work Day on 20 March 2012 and UN Social Work Day on 26 March 2012 by staging joint events with social work educators, students, service users and carers and social workers. Hand the Global Agenda to local, national, regional and international politicians, organisations and press and discuss with them how social work has a big part to play in creating a better and more sustainable tomorrow.
Susan Lawrence,
President
EASSW
Extract from the website….
STRATEGIC ACTION TO DEVELOP THE AGENDA
We recommend that the following become the focus for our beginning action in the process of achieving our Global Agenda:
Developing Common Objectives
• Strengthen collaboration between social work organisations, their leaders and their members to pursue shared advocacy goals in relation to practice, education and policy development.
Inspiring Practitioners and Educators
• Mobilise social workers and the global social work profession actively to engage in politics, policy development and social action, emphasising the strategic use of power.
Demonstrating Competence and Value
• Empirically demonstrate the competence and value of social work and social policy professionals to society.
Strengthening Influence
• Strengthen the ability of international social work and social development organisations to identify and clearly articulate, with a unified voice, issues of importance to the profession
• Address the impact of racism, other forms of oppression, social injustice, and other human rights violations through social work education, social development and practice.
• Promote development of more culturally relevant social work interventions and research methodologies in the areas of social justice and social well-being, and identify and articulate cost-benefit outcomes.
• Strengthen the ability of social work and social development to influence the corporate and political landscape at the local, national and global levels.
• Assure excellence in skills and competencies at all levels of social work education, practice, research and social development, especially in ageing.
Integrating Technologies
• Integrate technologies that serve social work practice and education and social development in an ethical, practical and responsible manner.
Enriching Practice in Social Work and Social Development
• Develop models of ethical, sustainable business and management practices in social work and social policy making environments.
• Adopt the Social Protection Floor Initiative as part of a common vision in social policy development.
• Build the capacity of civil society to engage actively with national governments.
Sustaining Education and Continuous Personal Development
• Ensure the sustainability of the profession through high quality education and training, strong mentoring, career progression and succession programs.
• Develop capacity and leadership among social work educators, practitioners and social development workers.
• Advocate for and demonstrate the value of the social work profession to students, potential employees and policy makers at the highest levels.
• Embed the value of social work education in the professions and in the global community.
