The Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development started in 2010 when 3000 social work representatives and social development professionals came together to set the priorities for the profession until 2020. This significantly successful period of the Global Agenda has been an essential voice in proactively setting and fulfilling the Sustainable Developmental Goals, working towards more peaceful and just societies and strengthening the voice of the social work profession.
Now, the social work profession needs to examine new themes and processes to expand the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development for the years 2020 to 2030. From IFSW, we are launching a consultation process, where your input is essential to build a robust and inclusive Global Agenda that meets the real needs of all people. The consultation period will end in July 2020.
Please make your contributions to the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development 2020 – 2030 by filling in the comments box at the bottom of this page.
To see the reports of the Global Agenda from 2010 to 2018 please visit the IFSW Bookstore where you can download the reports for free. Below is a video message from the IFSW President Silvana Martinez and Secretary-General Rory Truell providing some examples of the success of the Global Agenda and inviting all people interested in the development of social work to participate in the consultation process. The video is subtitled in both Spanish and English.
Comments Section
Please leave any comments on your proposed Global Agenda themes for 2020 to 2030 and any suggestions for how to integrate the themes across the decade which also allows the Global Agenda process to effectively respond to any unforeseen social issues that may arise.
We are students of social work at the “Fliedner Fachhochschule” in Dusseldorf/Germany. In our seminar “international social work and development” we discussed about the IFSW and the Global Agenda of social work. We paid attention to social work in different regions and countries and simulated a Global Agenda. We decided to represent the social work in England. We developed three aims for the upcoming agenda and discussed the following subjects:
– (youth) homelessness
– drug abuse & preventing drug overdoses
– child poverty
We are students from Germany. In our Seminar „International Social Work“ we pay attention to school work in different regions. Our study group grapple closer with Finnland.
One point for Finnland to adress in the upcoming agenda should be the education. The social work is slow an big with difficulty to recognition of the profession. The financing of sociaal work is questionable, because people have high demands. The quality has a big influrence. It is clear that finnland is one oft he best countires in conjunction to education. Many people graduate from high school. In the are of education at afternoon care it should worked out. These are provisional solutions in this area that are not uniform.
Futhermore it is important to take attention to women´s rights in Finnland, too. As well Finnland is a good example for education compared to the other countries from Europe, there is a deficit to the equality between women and mens. On the one hand the wages from womens are marginalyy lower than the wages from mens. Afterwards on the other hands females in Finnland have no opinion to work on executive positions. The reason is that mens border this postions and so the women are barred. In conclusion there the salary differentials must be annul. Also it is important to mange the balance between family and career. One point which is important too ist the abolishment from sterotypes general. Therefor sarting points can use in content from school. In this case the occupational career from women has a chance. At least the top priority must be the protections from women´s right. It is important to focus on the violence from mens to women in Finnland. So many women are vicitms from violence in conection with men. Approch to solving this problem there must create a place where women can go,to advise themselves and clear up their rights.
Next we want to say something to the poverty in Finnland. It is a big progress that the poverty from homeless people are reduced to the absolute minimum. In comparison to the other countries from Europe, Finnland has the most measures in this case. Therfor the finnish parlament build appartments for homeless and old people to work aganist this problem. Also they create a emergency accommodation where the people can have a meal. In this case Finnland is the market leader because it is the first country which import the basic income.
All in all we were interested to argue with finnland and the social work there. We learn a lot of new things. All of it, it cristallizes that Finnland is a country which is advenced in case of the school work. The finnish goverment is efforts to remove the residues of the community. In some case the other countries can take a example to Finnland. But also Finnland must work on the equality between women and men´s.
Thank you for your attention,
one study group from Germany.
Hello everybody,
to introduce ourselves; we are are a group of eight social work students applying for a bachelor’s degree. As part of our studies we treated the topic “Global Agenda 2030” where every group had to pick a country and point out certain problems that are characteristic and from high importance regarding upcoming hurdles for the country itself and the agenda 2030. Subsequently, every group shared its outcomes and as a result of the upcoming discussion all groups agreed on the three most important topics;
1) poverty
2) education
3) women´s rights
We decided to base our discussion on the Netherlands and to present the status quo and solving approaches acording the three topics from above:
1) poverty
Poverty and espacially the accompanying homelessness is a rising problem in the dutch society. The aftermath of the economic crisis and changes in health care left many people on the streets. Poverty is a result and center of a big vivious circle. People that are trapped here loose faith in politics and society. To help those people getting back on their feets the Netherlands has to recreate trust and have to search direct contact to those who where left behind. They have to discuss and find solutions together with affected people. They also should rewind some of the health care changes, creat new affordable space to live in bigger cities, give psychological assistance and rise money to help people to get out of the neverending downstream.
2) education
The Netherlands are doing very well in terms of education but as a result of the refugee crisis The Netherlands have a problem with lots of uneducated foreigners. Many refugees have no or very low education and can’t compete at the labour market. To give those people the chance to build up a good life and to become a profit for the Netherlands it’s important to invest in education. There are plenty ways to do this; 1) offer more language courses for refugees 2) invest in specialized education for foreigners 3) create space for people in need to give them room for education and lower training costs.
3) women´s rights
Women´s rights are still a big topic in our wolrd. Some countries had made some big steps forward, others are still slowly crawling. The Netherlands are far ahead compared to other countries but there is still plenty to do. In the Netherlands way more women than man work in part time jobs. For leading positions it’s the other way around. But they are already doing a lot to get the statistics right. Bigger companies have to occupy leading positions with at least 30% females. If they miss it they have to pay.
All in all, it was very hard to find things the Netherlands aren’t doing right according this topic. We have no doubts that they will accomplish a lot more for the equality of opportunities. But there is one thing to make clear; the equality of outcomes doens’t indicate that the system is free from discrimination.
Hello everyone,
I am a member of a German social work student group who attended a Seminar called “International Social Work”Along this Seminar we have been given the task to analyze and adapt the position of Social Workers from different regions. Our group has chosen Syria as the country to work with.
As most of you are aware this country is currently torn in a civil war and provides many challenges, that need to be overcome to stabilize and resume “order” in this country.
However this didn’t stop us to propose and introduce many approaches on how to help out this country from the perspective of a social worker. In our own workgroup we developed these three subjects that -in our opinion- are the most urgent that need to be addressed in Syria.
1.Establishment of secure-zones and expansion of those over time.
2.Rebuild and repair of infrastructure.
3.Establishing and enforcing law and order of a sovereign government.
We are happy to say that we have developed some Ideas on how to roll out most of the subjects we had included in our “Social Work Agenda 2020”.
In class we managed to agree on three key subjects, that should be part of this Agenda.
1. Improve the existing and create more Institutions for education (E.g. Schools, Universities, etc.)
2. Increase priority in handling the refugee crisis and the main problem that is causing it. As improving the procedure of processing refugees .
3. Create more positions for social workers and related personal as improving the profession itself and its standards.
Thank you for the refreshing insight of global social work and we hope this Seminar will be offered as well to the next Students who come after us.
Regards,
A group of German students.
We are four social work students from Germany, our College is based in Dusseldorf. In our seminar “International Social Work” we have paid attention to social work in different regions and countries. We decided to deal with the country Great Britain and the social work in Great Britain.
In regard to Great Britain, one point which needs to be addressed in the upcoming agenda for the next ten years is the economic growth or lack thereof. A consequence of the upcoming Brexit could be an economic decline, which could lead to more poverty and unemployment. Social workers could help support those who will be affected the most by the Brexit and its consequences.
Immigration is a topic which is often mentioned in connection to the Brexit. Over the last dec-ades people have sought to emigrate to Great Britain and if Great Britain leaves the European Union, it will be more difficult for immigrants, to live in the country. The social workers have to deal with xenophobia. They also have to take care of the immigrants and help them in different situations, for example with applications at different offices.
We could also imagine that social workers have to explain the effect of internet and media in general to teenagers because media will become even more important to teenagers in the future. Especially, the social workers have to explain the effect of sexualisation of young children through internet and media. Drugs and alcohol are also a topic, which social workers always have to deal with, because many young people are addicted to drugs and alcohol.
Wir sind eine Gruppe Studentinnen der Fliedner Fachhochschule in Düsseldorf (Deutschland), die sich im Rahmen des Seminars “internationale Soziale Arbeit” mit der Global Agenda of social work auseinander gesetzt hat.
Wir haben Südafrika als unser Land gewählt und folgende drei Ziele herausgearbeitet:
Zum einen empfinden wir das Thema des Umweltschutzes als besonders wichtig. Projekte wie zum Beispiel “i am water” sollen den Südafrikanern und Südafrikanerinnen den Schutz des Meeres näher bringen und es soll ihnen dabei ein umweltbewusstes Denken und Handeln vermittelt werden. Denn trotz zahlreicher Projekte bleibt die Plastikbelastung der Meere ein akutes Problem, besonders an den südafrikanischen Küsten.
Ein weiteres Ziel ist die soziale Gleichheit, denn Südafrika gilt trotz Ende der Apartheid als eines der ungleichsten Länder weltweit. Besonders in Kapstadt sortiert sich die extreme soziale Ungleichheit immer noch stark nach der Hautfarbe der Menschen.
Das dritte Ziel ist die internationale Netzwerkarbeit, um Probleme auf internationaler Ebene zu diskutieren und zu bearbeiten. Letztendlich profitiert nicht nur Südafrika von diesem Austausch, sondern alle beteiligten Länder.
Wir sind eine Gruppe Studentinnen der Fliedner Fachhochschule in Düsseldorf (Deutschland), die sich im Rahmen des Seminars “internationale Soziale Arbeit” mit der Global Agenda of social work auseinander gesetzt hat.
Wir haben Südafrika als unser Land gewählt und folgende drei Ziele herausgearbeitet:
Zum einen empfinden wir das Thema des Umweltschutzes als besonders wichtig. Projekte wie zum Beispiel “i am water” sollen den Südafrikanern und Südafrikanerinnen den Schutz des Meeres näher bringen und es soll ihnen dabei ein umweltbewusstes Denken und Handeln vermittelt werden. Denn trotz zahlreicher Projekte bleibt die Plastikbelastung der Meere ein akutes Problem, besonders an den südafrikanischen Küsten.
Ein weiteres Ziel ist die soziale Gleichheit, denn Südafrika gilt trotz Ende der Apartheid als eines der ungleichsten Länder weltweit. Besonders in Kapstadt sortiert sich die extreme soziale Ungleichheit immer noch stark nach der Hautfarbe der Menschen.
Das dritte Ziel ist die internationale Netzwerkarbeit, um Probleme auf internationaler Ebene zu diskutieren und zu bearbeiten. Letztendlich profitiert nicht nur Südafrika von diesem Austausch, sondern alle beteiligten Länder.