Skip to main content

President's Report: ICSW Global Assembly, April 2024 - Panama

| Newsletter
images/News/2024/07/2024-07_panama_2500x1500.jpg#joomlaImage://local-images/News/2024/07/2024-07_panama_2500x1500.jpg?width=4053&height=2432

Dr. Sangmok Suh, ICSW Global President 2020-2024

First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude for the support and cooperation that all ICSW members have shown to ICSW Global over the last three years. I started my term as the Global President of ICSW in November 2020 at the height of COVID-19. The world has suffered greatly from this terrible pandemic and the social welfare community in particular has been directly affected. Despite this unfortunate external environment, ICSW has taken the lead in discussing the strategies and ways forward for a post-pandemic society that social welfare sectors around the world will need to be prepared for.

Looking back, I feel fortunate that the ICSW has been active over the past three years despite the difficult external situation. Among various ICSW activities on the global and regional level, I would like to report to all ICSW members on the major activities at the ICSW Global level during the last three years.

ICSW Global Activities in 2021
After the cancellation of the 2020 Joint World Conference in Rimini due to the serous COVID-19 situation, ICSW and IASSW jointly planned an online conference “International Social Work and Development Online Conference (ISWED2021)” to utilize the knowledge and abstracts collected for the Rimini Conference. I am very grateful to Professor P.K. Shajahan and Professor Tan Ngoh Tiong for co- chairing the conference entitled “Human Relationships: Keys to Remaking Social Work for the Future” from January to April 2021. Many social workers, social development organizations and social policy practitioners came together to focus on the lives of people and society amid the amazing changes brought about by the COVID-19. The outcome of this conference was published by Springer under the title 『Remaking Social Work for the New Global Era』. The book is divided into 4 sections: ‘The New Era’, ‘Sustainable Approach for Social Intervention’, ‘Capacities of Social Work Education, Service and Research’, ‘Looking Forward: Global Challenges’ with a total of 13 chapters.

It is important to note that ICSW Global also organized 3 international seminars on various social issues that arose before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in the field of social welfare and social development sector, and even to prepare for the post COVID-19 world. The first seminar was held on May 2021 on “The Role of ICTs for Social Inclusion and Social Welfare.” The aim of this seminar was to discuss the issues and challenges such as the protection of civil rights, services, digital rights, digital intervention and digital technologies. The participants from Spain, USA, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Zimbabwe, and Korea examined the role of ICT in achieving social inclusion and social welfare in their respective countries. The proceedings of the conference were summarized in a book 『 Digital Transformation and Social Well-Being』, published by Routledge in 2023 and co-edited by Antonio Lopez Palaez, Sang-Mok Suh and Sergei Zelenev. The book consists of two parts, namely, “The Key Issues in the Role of Information and Communication Technologies for Social Inclusion and Social Welfare” and “Country Cases of Successful Information and Communication Technology Applications in the Field of Social Welfare” with 17 chapters. This book has played a pioneering role in the field of ‘digital social welfare’.

In order to better understand the multidimensional nature of food security, the second international seminar was held in September 2021 under the title “Addressing Food Security in Africa: Strategies for Ensuring Child-sensitive Social Protection”. In cooperation with the various international organizations including IASSW, UNICEF, IFAD, the seminar highlighted the perspectives on the importance of the roles and interactions of key stakeholders. The seminar also covered the conceptual and general issues related to the food insecurity in Africa region, as well as the efforts of the various stakeholders to strengthen cooperation among them. The seminar has special significance as it was held at the time of the UN Food Summit.

The third international seminar was also held in November 2021 under the title “New Issues in Social Protection in the post COVID-19 Era”. The COVID-19 pandemic and the 4th industrial revolution have created new demands in the need for a new type of service delivery and universal social protection, which requires not only the work and responsibility of governments, but also the role of the market and civil society in responding to the major changes caused by these two global phenomena. Following the keynote speech by Prof. Neil Gilbert, the 3-day conference addressed topics such as “Role of Gov’t in Building Social Safety Net” on the first day, “Social Protection and the Corporate Social Responsibility” on the second day, and “Role of the Civil Society” on the third day.

ICSW Global Activities during 2022
The most important event in 2022 was the Joint World Conference held in Seoul, Korea from 26 to 28 October. As Panama, the original host country for the 2022 Joint World Conference, was unable to hold the conference right after COVID-19, Korea suddenly became the host country for the 2022 Joint World Conference. In this regard, I would like to express my deep gratitude to the Korean conference organizers for planning and holding the Joint World Conference at such a short notice.

The 2022 Joint World Conference on “Social Work Education and Social Development” (SWESD 2022) was co-hosted by the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) and International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), and co-organized by the Korea National Council on Social Welfare, Seoul Welfare Foundation, Korea Council on Social Welfare Education and Korea Association of Social Workers. And the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Korea Social Welfare Credit Union, the Hyundai Motors Chung Mong-Koo Foundation, the Community Chest of Korea, and the JoongAng Ilbo were also sponsors of the Conference. We had face- to-face events as well as online events, using the Korea National Council on Social Welfare’s official YouTube channel and the conference’s official website www.swesd2022.com.

The first day of the Conference began with four keynote speakers. First, Gloria Kirwan, a senior lecturer at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, gave her first keynote speech on “Rhyming Hope with History: Leveraging the History of Social Welfare to Rally Hope in Difficult Times.” Julia Watkins of the United States, the second keynote speaker and winner of the Katherine A. Kendall Memorial Award, gave a presentation on "Remembering Katherine A. Kendall" through the video.

Special presentations followed. ICSW President Suh Sang-Mok, the first special speaker, delivered a lecture on “How to Achieve Growth with Equity: Lessons from Korean Experience.” The second special speaker was Neil Gilbert, a world-renowned professor of social welfare at the University of California, Berkeley, who spoke on “Challenges to the Scientific Practice of Social Work: Historical Tensions Between Cause and Function in the United States.”

The third keynote speaker was Chaime Marcuello-Servós, professor at the University of Zaragoza, Spain, who spoke on ‘‘Digital Human Rights, Metaverse and Spaceship Earth: Rethinking Social Policies and Social Work Practice after COVID- 19.’ As the last keynote speaker, Darja Zaviršek, professor at the University of Ljublanya, Slovenia, presented on “Social work's work for a future: Imagining life beyond patches of war and peace.”

On the second and last days of the conference, symposiums, workshops and oral presentations were held to address the six sub-themes of the conference, ‘Groups in Vulnerable Situations: The Quest for Social Protection,’ ‘Social Work Education and Empowerment,’ ‘Social Work Practice in Times of Crisis,’ ‘Social Transformation Community Engagement and SDGs,’ ‘Digitalization and ICTs in Social Development and Social Work Education,’ ‘New Opportunities and Challenges in Post-COVID Period." Many social welfare experts from all around the world participated online and offline to gather wisdom and discuss social policy, social welfare education and social welfare practice strategies to solve various social problems caused by COVID-19.

Meanwhile, on the 3rd day, the last day of the conference, the on-site participants visited Angels’ Haven, a social welfare institution located in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, which helps the socially disadvantaged, such as children and the disabled, to live independently in society by protecting and caring for them in the institution. There are various facilities for children and young people, people with disabilities, the elderly as well home for single mothers and children, and a home for people released from prison. Participants had time to feel the level of social welfare in Korea by visiting the actual social welfare sites in Korea.

As the first hybrid conference held by ICSW, I believe the Seoul Joint World Conference was successful and it was a great opportunity to adapt to the new-normal by establishing the new way of organizing the Joint World Conference in the post COVID-19 era. The outcome of the 2022 Joint World Conference will also be published by Routledge in 2024, co-edited by Antonio Lopez Pelaez, Annaline Keet and Moo-Sung Chung.

In the December 2022, ICSW Global Office and ICSW Europe co-organized the International Congress on Social Policies together with the University of Malaga, Spain. The theme of the Congress was “The Challenge of Social Inclusion in Future Europe.” The aim of the Congress was to provide innovative analysis and social policy solutions to emerging social development challenges, and to prepare a final paper that will guide ICSW and its partners towards greater impact on the UN Second Summit for Social Development scheduled for 2025. Many renowned experts from ICSW Europe and our Spanish colleagues addressed the main challenges for social inclusion in European welfare systems. Various good practices were also presented with a special focus on economic, social and digital inclusion, rural development and support to refugees and victims of humanitarian crises in different European countries. It was a great opportunity to explore the current and future social policy challenges especially in European region, and to get prepared for the second UN Summit for Social Development.

ICSW Global Activities since 2023
In the early February 2023, as usual, ICSW convened the virtual side-event at the 61st session of the Commission for Social Development under the theme “Addressing inequality predicament: trade- offs and the quest for decent employment, poverty reduction and social inclusion.”

Although the forms and trends of inequality vary from country to country, we can see the importance of "growth with equity" in various national cases. In particular, if we look at several successful cases in the past, we can see that narrowing the income gap has played an important role in promoting economic growth and improving the lives of the poor. Through this seminar, we were able to discuss not only the employment policies, but also multidimensional policies and perspectives that address different social sectors, such as education, social isolation, environment, health, and discrimination, and discuss possible policy efforts to halt the trend of deepening inequality.

In September 2023, ICSW Global Office hosted a special event in Windhoek, Namibia. ICSW Seminar on “Social Policy and Social Protection in Africa” was organized jointly with the Namibian Ministry of Health and Social Services, and aimed to address the main challenges facing social policy in the African region with a particular focus on the role of social policy experts, social workers and humanitarian aid professionals in the different contexts of the African continent.

With the great help of the Ministry of Health and Social Services and our ICSW officers, the Deputy Minister Hon. Dr. E.Muinjangue and I signed the ICSW Windhoek Declaration on Social Policy and Social Protection in Africa. The key points of the declaration were that the ‘Social protection is a right – not an act of charity,’ ‘Social policy and good governance are key tools to realize human rights for all,’ ‘Social policy is a necessary element in advancing sustainable development goals’ and ‘Social policies and social protection will help in reaching the African Union vision of silencing the guns by 2030 in the Region.’ And we were also able to drive 10 action points including attentions to the smart welfare, slow emergencies, gender, well-being economy, children, corporate social responsibility and so on. I would particularly thank our Regional President Petronella Masabane for her help and efforts in organizing this event and linking the Namibian Government with ICSW.

ICSW Global Office had another extraordinary performance and outcome in 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal. In mid-November, under the title “Social Emergency; Social Work and Humanitarian Action - The Role of Digital Tools to Support Complex Social Intervention in a Changing Society,” the conference was coordinated by the University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE) with our partners in Spain, Turkey, Portugal, Colombia and Brazil.

It was also very significant that the conference was a joint effort of the three sister organizations, namely International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) and ICSW. As a result of the conference, the three sister organizations and ISCTE, UNED have signed the Lisbon Declaration for the Development of Social Work and Humanitarian Action in the 21st Century.”

This declaration includes the need to strengthen humanitarian assistance, to improve the skills and competencies of social workers, to develop new training programs, and to participate in and contribute to the strategies to promote social integration. I think it is particularly significant that the three organizations, IFSW, IASSW and ICSW, together with the partners have reached a consensus on social work in the field of humanitarian aid and have jointly developed and adopted a declaration. I would like to thank our member organizations, the University Institute of Lisbon and ICSW Executive Director, Antonio Lopez Pelaez, for their efforts.

Finally, in the early February 2024, we had another side event at the 62nd Session of Commission for Social Development. This year’s theme was “Social policies to accelerate implementation of the 2030 Agenda: Promoting civic engagement and community participation.” Through this seminar, which started the discussion on the reality of the lacking social policies to achieve and deal with the Sustainable Development Goals, we were able to share and discuss the importance of the cultural perspective in the establishment of social policies and the participation of local communities, the need to include social justice and human rights as fundamental principles in the establishment of social policies, and the comprehensive and inclusive approach in the conceptualization of social policies.

This gave us an opportunity to build consensus on the need for more partnerships between government and civil society organizations, including those at the grassroots level; the need to allow those affected by policies to participate in policy design, implementation and evaluation; and the importance of community engagement for broad public support for government efforts.

This year we will be holding the 2024 Joint World Conference in Panama City from 4 to 7 April, with the theme “Respecting Diversity Through Joint Social Action”, highlighting the bottom-up change that is needed to co-build a new eco-social world. I am very pleased that the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) has now rejoined ICSW and IASSW (International Association of Schools of Social Work) in hosting the 2024 Joint World Conference in Panama. I look forward to participating in many fruitful presentations and discussions on current issues in social welfare and social development, as well as social exchanges with participants. On my way to Panama, I plan to meet several UN officials including Mr. Navid Hanif, Assistant Secretary General, along with Mr. Sergei Zelenev, the Global President-elect of ICSW, to discuss the ways to strengthen the existing close ties between ICSW and UN.

Closing Remarks
During the last three years since the beginning of my term as the Global President, I am very pleased to note that ICSW has played a leading role in the social welfare and social development sector in preparation for the COVID-19 era, and is currently leading and will continue to lead in the future.

For the rest of my term, I will endeavor to contribute with active activities as well as to strengthen partnerships at the global level to restore and strengthen the reputation and status of ICSW, one of the leading international organizations in the social welfare and social development field with a 96-year history.

Together with ICSW Global Office, I hope that nine regional offices of ICSW will also contribute towards achieving this common goal by actively supporting and strengthening the link with the ICSW Global Office.