President’s Report Highlights: 2014 – 2016 Vimla V. Nadkarni President, IASSW June 28, 2016 Seoul

Highlights Strategic Review Democratic and Participatory Governance IASSW Committees Capacity Building Collaboration with UNAIDS Strengthening International Collaboration Global Agenda Social Dialogue Upgrading Website

Strategic Review of IASSW-2016 Strategic Review of IASSW which will provide us future direction of how to become a more effective association. Our Secretary conducted a survey to get feedback on our association. Most of the responses came from the US. We have already conducted two workshops so far during our board meetings. We hope to receive your approval of the new vision and mission developed in these workshops. When our Strategic document draft is ready, we will circulate it to all our members for feedback

Democratic and Participatory Governance IASSW continues to strengthen democratic and participatory forms of governance through: Bi-annual board meetings Committees chaired by board/non-board members Bi-monthly office bearers meetings Collaboration in all activities with Regional Associations Continuous communication through Googlegroups with board members and IA members.

Education: Capacity Building, Research, International projects IASSW COMMITTEES Education: Capacity Building, Research, International projects Advocacy and International Collaborations: IASSW-UN International; Sustainability, Climate Change, Disaster Intervention; IASSW-UNAIDS; Global Agenda Communications and Publications: Website; Social Dialogue online, International Social Work journal, Book publications; World Census Administrative: Budget and Finance (includes Solidarity Fund); Nominating Committee; Language Committee

Capacity Building Besides our other committees, the CB committee has been involved with a range of activities: Faculty development through seminars/workshops/conferences Peer consultations Regional Resource Centres

Faculty development through seminars and workshops Seminars, workshops and faculty development programmes are developed in partnership with the school or department of social work that hosts the IASSW Board meeting.

Vietnam International conference on “Social work capacity building: Response of Social Work Education to Social issues in Vietnam: international Perspectives and Indigenous Response; January 18 -19, 2014 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.

Colombia Conference on “Social Movements” on August 1, 2015. It was attended by board members, colleagues and students from The Universidad de Antioquia. Several board members along with Faculty of the Department of Social Sciences and Humanities of the University made presentations. . Colombia

China Several board members, practitioners and faculty presented at the “Specialization Training of International and Domestic Oriented Medical Social Work and Mental Health Social Work”, organised by IASSW in collaboration with the Social and Public Administration School of East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST, in Shanghai, China) on January 17, 2015

Conducting Peer Curriculum Reviews for Social Work Programs Peer consultations in Sri Lanka and UAE Another School from UAE has approached IASSW for Peer consultation. Conducting Peer Curriculum Reviews for Social Work Programs

First ‘IASSW Regional Resource Centre’ in Beijing, China In March 2016 the first IASSW RRC was launched in the China Social Work Research Centre, a collaboration between Peking and Hong Kong Polytechnic Universities in collaboration with the China Association of Social Work Education. Established in 2008, the Centre’s activities are devoted to building highly trained social work educators, practitioners and researchers who are committed to social change.

Strengthening collaboration with UN agencies IASSW has an active MoU with UNAIDS which led to a very successful joint WSWD program at UNAIDS, Geneva in March 2015. A joint book publication focusing on the theme of Zero Discrimination is being worked on and will be released in December 2016. Meetings with Margareta Wahlstromm, The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). She was keynote speaker at the EASSW conference. New faculty reps. from Geneva and Germany have been identified to represent IASSW in future.

Strengthening International Collaboration IASSW works closely with the International Federation of Social Workers and International Council of Social Welfare on the Global Agenda and organising of the Bi-Annual World Conferences. IFSW and IASSW have a long standing collaboration on celebrating the Social Work Day at the UN in New York. Relationship problems have been resolved with the formation of a new committee of representatives in New York. Lynne Healy is our Main Rep at the UN in NY. She has rallied together an active group of IA reps who attend the committees meetings on various social issues.

Global Agenda The Global Agenda themes have been followed in our bi-ennial world conferences. Several of our regions have actively participated in collating materials for the global report. IASSW has played a lead role so far in the tripartite arrangements between our three international organisations.

The Social Dialogue Magazine Thirteen issues of the “Social Dialogue” an open access free global e-magazine have been so far completed since Spring 2011 launched as a successful initiative by Prof. Angie Yuen our Immediate Past President. Each issue includes sections on: President’s desk, special features, social work around the globe, people, campus, & seminars & conferences. Carolyn Noble, Chief Editor works closely with Guest Editors and IA members for contributions. 19

Upgrading the IASSW Website IASSW has revamped the website to make it more comprehensive and user friendly with an easy payment gateway. The new website was launched in November, 2015. We cover regular news and updates about the various committees as well as regional associations’ programmes, and highlights of UN based activities by our UN representatives. Resources and campaign statements on contemporary issues and happenings are uploaded regularly. IASSW is also active on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. 21

We welcome your feedback…. Thank you!!