High Level Political Forum 2017, United Nations, New YorkWorkshop to promote Social Workers Role for reaching theSustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Members of IFSW Representative to the UN in New York and Geneva organized a Workshop
which took place during the High Level Political Forum at the UN Headquarters in New York.
The SDGs are the Agenda 2030 of theUnited Nations. They conduct each member
state to develop partnership from Civil
Society, Business and (local) government to“transform our world’’.
This workshop aimed to promote Social
Worker’s Role for reaching the SustainableDevelopment Goals on local, subnational,
national and international level.
For the introduction we started to explain IFSW and its Special Consultative Status to the
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations and the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and is also on the International Labour Organization’s Special Listof Non-Governmental Organizations.
Proudly we introduced the Global Agenda and the World Social Work Day and continued
with Presentation on specific themes on which we focus as Professors, at work or as IFSW
Representatives to the UN.
Elaine Congress (SDG 3 and SDG 5)
Good health and well-being for women and girls of all ages.
SDG 3 and SDG 5 are interconnected and social workers continually address these SDGs intheir work around the world. In contrast to the Millenium Development Goals, the SDGs
apply to developed countries, as well as developing countries. Health risks for women andgirls that occur across the life cycle include maternal and infant mortality, rape, violence,
diminished educational opportunities, substance abuse, suicide, childhood marriage, lower
pay, microaggressions, intimate partner violence, sexual and work trafficking, early mortality
from noncommunicable diseases, and elder abuse. Social workers are actively engaged inproviding counseling, support, education, and advocacy in prenatal, well baby clinics, inhospitals, in outpatient clinics, and in the community. The IFSW policy on health and theIFSW policy on women are references.
Michael Cronin (SDG 1 and 9)
Poverty, Social Innovation & Development
This section discussed how social innovation development projects have contributed topoverty eradication. Several measures of poverty were reviewed, noting that in 2015 theWorld Bank has updated the definition of extreme poverty as living on less than US$1.90 per
day and moderate poverty as less than $3.10 a day. A social innovation is a market-based
solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable, or just than current
solutions. The value created accrues primarily to society rather than to private individuals.
Several innovation examples from Bangladesh, India, and Canada were presented. In
conclusion, specific recommendations for SDGs 1 & 9 from the NGO Major Group were also
shared.
Robin Mama (SDG 2)
Community Gardening. Food insecurity: limited or uncertain availability of nutritionallyadequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in sociallyacceptable ways. Globally, this translates into 925 million people who will not have sufficient
food to eat. The majority of the people who are food insecure globally are in the developing
regions of the world. The triggers of food insecurity include income, health of adultcaregiver, marital status, child care arrangements, certain populations are more vulnerable.
An example of an initiative that can help decrease the impact of food insecurity arecommunity gardens. The community garden at Monmouth University, New Jersey washighlighted. Some community gardens today often have multiple agendas, which caninclude education, social needs, as well as economic concerns.
Priska Fleischlin (All SDGs)
Transdisciplinary teamwork‘Trans’ is used for describing the vision of the SDGs ‘transforming our world’ and ‘stop
thinking in silos’. A clear distinction to multidisciplinarity in necessary. This heterogeneous
teams include members of civil society, NGOs, government and business. With this broadview, they are able to find sustainable solutions. However, it is also challenging to handle
different opinions. Some results of the research show what helps to build a successful
teamwork.
At the end of the event we have taken the chance to promote the latest book: Social Work
Promoting Community and Environmental Sustainability, available on the www.ifsw.org
website.

Elaine Congress, Priska Fleischlin, Robin Mama, Michael Cronin