International Association of Schools of Social Work
President Report (January - June 2018)

Dear Colleagues,Greetings!!
I would like to present a global update for the period of January-June 2018. Some
important information on “hot issues” has been spread with e mails to all the Board
members during these months, but many other initiatives have been realized in this period.
Brief of some of the meetings:
A. January Meetings/visits
Zagreb Board Meeting &Capacity Building Conference
The New Year started with the Zagreb Board meeting. It was hosted by IASSW Vice
President and EASSW President Nino Zganec on 26/28 January, 2018. The meeting wasvery intense and participated as the Board took some important decisions in relation tothe problems occurred with IFSW as well as to enhance the activities and the developmentof IASSW. Minute of the meeting with action points was circulated.

On January 29 a Symposium on “Social Work Education and Practice – Dance on Wire“
was organized by Department of social work –Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb
and Croatian Chamber of social workers in cooperation with IASSW, with the patronage ofCity of Zagreb & Milan Bandić, City Mayor and Ministry for demography, family, youth andsocial policy.

IASSW Board is very thankful to Nino Zganec and the University of Zagreb for hosting us.
Pictures were posted on IASSW website, Facebook and Twitter and I hope that you haveseen those.

International Conference on Social Work and Sustainable Social Development
Shahjalal University of Science & Technology 4/6 January 2018
I was invited to give a key note speech on “Social work and sustainable social development.
Tension and challenges for Social in a Globalized World”. Mark Henrisckson also
participated presenting a very interesting paper.
We decided to use this opportunity to have a meeting with the heads of social work schoolsin Bangladesh, to present the IASSW activities and to invite them to become members of
the Association. Thanks to the contribution of Prof. Golam Matbor that for the first year
offered to pay in bulk the fees, all the schools are now members and can plan to organize
next year payments by themselves.
It was also an important occasion to visit other two schools: Dacca University where I met
colleagues and gave a speech and the State Women College.
b) Visit in Japan- 14th/21stThe visit in Japan included different initiatives:
In Kyoto: Prof .Yasu Kuroki of Doshisha University organized some meetings withdifferent colleagues and a lecture with graduate students and staff members the 16th ofJanuary on the trends of social work education in the world. This has been an interesting
opportunity both under professional and cultural side. A big thank to Prof. Kuroki forarranging a wonderful hospitality.

In Tokyo: Prof. Tatsuru Akimoto of Shukutoku University planned a meeting with Japanese
Association of Schools of Social Work the 19th of January . It was an important occasion topresent our activities and to discuss possible synergies for supporting internationalization
process of social work education in Japan. We are really grateful to Japanese schools thatare all members of IASSW and are giving an important contribution to our association.

The 20th January, the 3rd Shukutoku University International Forum, was focused on“What Should Curriculums for International Social Work Education Be?” with the aim todeepening the understanding of the concept of International Social Work, to discuss how tocreate appropriate curricula and to contribute to the promotion of the interest in“International (affairs, issues and problems, perspectives, etc.)” in the social workcommunity in Japan. Asian Research Institute for International Social Work (ARIISW)
together with Japanese Association for Social Work Education, Japanese Academic
Association for Social Work Studies, APASWE (Asian Pacific Association for Social WorkEducation) and IASSW (International Association of Schools of Social work) sponsored thisevent and facilitate the discussions between the participants.
Prof. Zulkarnain Hatta (President of APASWE) and Lynn Healey, together with other local
speakers, gave an interesting contribution to the conference.

B. February Meetings/visits
February London meetingsa) Meeting with ICSW and IFSW 8th of February
It has been an important meeting to clarify our position in relation to a trustful futurecooperation between the three organizations, starting from the problems aroused withIFSW in the definition of the 2020 conference bid.
Different topics were discussed:
Global Agenda- David Jones was invited to inform on Global Agenda 2018 report, themes
and future process. Special issue of the International Social Work Journal, will focus on theGlobal Agenda and will be ready for the Dublin Conference. Discussion followed reflecting
on how to further develop the Global Agenda and how to get the broadest set of input
possible. Additional questions were raised on: Do we involve other organizations andgroups? What is the role of international organizations, local organizations? Who will, canand should be our partners? Who should be added to the tripartite organizing group?
Should we have a service-users representative?
Despite all the problems, there was a commitment by all three organizations to continue
the collaboration.
Dublin Conference 2018. Update of different matters were given by the Irish colleagues
about the development of the conference organization
Tripartite cooperation. This has been a very sensitive part of the discussion. As for themandate of the Board we raise, together with the ICSW President, the question of “trust”
and equal partnership. All the problems were very clearly put on the table and we had anopen confrontation. We acknowledge that we need to review the tripartite agreement, thatwas due in the Vancouver meeting in January 2015, but not reached, and move forwards oninternational cooperation.
We also discussed whether we want to have a tripartite conference in 2022 and if theactual way of doing is still affordable, or if we have to find a different model.
b) Meeting with IFSW 9th of FebruaryThis was also the occasion to meet with IFSW President and Secretary to discuss therelationship between IASSW and IFSW, inform them about the decision taken by the board
not to proceed with a merging process between the IASSW and IFSW. Ruth and Rory

expressed disappointment for our decision, but we stressed the importance to maintainour autonomy and find positive ways to continue our mutual cooperation in the future.
Ethics guidelines process, global standard task force and education committee were alsodiscussed.
c) Owners meeting with Sage 9th of February
International Social Work journal is doing very well. There was a discussion related to thecall of the new editor for the Journal, because Vassilios Iokaimidis doesn’t want to continue
with this task for a second term.
The decision about the new editorial board members will be taken with the new editor/coeditor that will be selected very soon. The process now is terminated and Gurid Askeland
accepted to make interviews to candidate in name of IASSW. The Griffith University teamwas selected, composed by Patrick O’Leary and Ming-sum Tsui (Griffith University andHong-Kong Polytechnic/Caritas Institute)
C. March Meetings/visitsa)Visit in Beijing 15th /20thThe visit in Beijing was very fruitful. The 15th I participated to a meeting with the Chinese
Association of Social Workers to discuss possible cooperation with IASSW in terms ofcapacity building initiatives, using the Resource Center led by Peking and PoliYu
Universities. Past President Angie Yuen was also present.
In the afternoon there was a meeting with ACASWE. Prof Xu and Prof. Ma presented someconcerns related to the extension and the differences in the APASWE Region and also someproblems raised by schools that don’t find enough interest in IASSW association for the lackof more research oriented initiatives.
We discussed with Prof. Zulkarnain Hatta the possibilities to give more voice to theChinese group inside the APASWE.
In 17th and 18th I was invited to participate to the VI Lam Woo event, giving opening
remarks and to present a key note speech in “Conference on the Gerontological Social Work
Theory and Practice in the New Era” on Aging, ethics and social justice: a global overview

and a contribution on Social work practice with Elderly people in Italy, in a panel together
with Zulkarnain Hatta and In Young Han.

The 19th I was invited by ACASW (Association of Chinese Social Workers) to visit somesocial services in Beijing and to have a dinner with the President and the staff.
b) World Social Work Day
The World Social Work Day on the 21st of March has been celebrated all over the world.
I prepared a message in English, French, Italian and Spanish – The video links were sharedwith all IASSW members through Google groups. They were posted on IASSW website,
Facebook and Twitter.
At UN level three were the event held in Geneva, New York and Bangkok Headquarters.
This year I didn’t participated in the Geneva WSWD, organized by Annette Lavanchy andNicoline IASSW representatives, together with the IFSW representatives.
Nino Zganec was delegated as IASSW Vice President to represent also our association.
The meeting held the 20th and 21st of March was focused on the role of social work
education and practice in harnessing the potential of youth for achieving the 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development.
Social Work Day at the UN in New York has been celebrated the 26th of March and I wasinvited to open the meeting. The program, focused on Sustainable Development Goals,
Climate Change and Social Work, was rich and the panelists discussed from various
perspectives the impacts of climate change and its importance to the social work
profession. Shirley Gatenio Gabel, IASSW representative, did a wonderful job together withthe colleagues of IFSW, to prepare this day.

A side event, The Student Forum, who took place the 25th of March on Fordham University,in conjunction with the Social Work Day at UN, was planned and organized by four social
work interns from the University of Connecticut, Fordham University and MonmouthUniversity.
This year also Bangkok has invited IASSW to celebrate the SWD at UN, sponsored by theMinister of Social Development and Civil Affairs. Three panels, each focused on different
aspects of promoting Community and environmental sustainability, were organized with
contribution of speakers from Thailand and overseas.
At the end of the day it was presented a statement signed by professional, academic,welfare associations and representative of the Ministry of Social Development and Civil
Affairs with the aim to use the WSWD as an occasion to push forward a collaboration anddevelopment in social work arena as well as in welfare deliberation.

The meeting organized the previous evening to prepare the statement, has also been an
important occasion to meet colleagues from different universities and representatives ofthe profession.
I was invited to the Thammasat University to meet the staff and I discussed with the Dean
possibility to find some colleagues that can represent IASSW in the different UNcommission. Prof. Putchong who is working with a University in Vietnam was alsointerested in creating a network with our capacity building initiative in this country.

c) Faculty Roundtable at Fordham UniversityAnother very interesting initiative, led by Lynn Healey and sponsored by the Katherine A.
Kendall Institute of the Council on Social Work Education and the International Associationof Schools of Social Work, engaged faculty members from across the United States andseveral other countries, who were in New York to accompany student groups to the annualSocial Work Day at the United Nations.

“Ensuring international content and learning for all students” was the topic for a facultyroundtable discussion held simultaneously with the Student Forum on March 25th.
Participants shared good practices in a lively discussion and posed additional questions forfuture examination “What do we mean by international content and why are we adding it?”but also “Do we need to add specific courses on international topics or we have to infuse
international contents into existing courses?”.
Participants recommended another faculty group session as part of the 2019 Social WorkDay at the UN events, but also ideas for extending the conversation through international
dialogue were launched, included convening an informal interest group discussion at theDublin world conference in July 2018 and planning for a session as part of the formal
program at the IASSW/ICSW Conference in Rimini in 2020.

D. April Meetings/Visitsa) Lisbon ISCTE 8th April
I was invited to give a Doctoral lecture with students and professionals on Desafios
Colocados ao Servico Social: Presente e futuro. It was also an occasion to discuss about thedevelopment of the IASSW/IFSW relationship with some teachers of the ISCTE Universityb) Pisa 16th /17th April
I was invited to give a key lecture to a conference “Mutamenti sociali e social work:
ricadute formative per orientare il cambiamento” (Social changes and social work:
implication for the education to orient the change) and to draw the conclusions for thesecond day focused on the political action of social workers. Ana Lima President of IFSWEurope and Gay Shannon president of BASW were also presenter in each of the two days.
c) Edinburgh 18th /21st April
European Association of Social Work Research, invited me as IASSW President to welcome
the participants of the conference and I kept this occasion to inform them about therevision of the ethical guideline and global standards, but also connecting with the title ofthe conference “ Social work in transition: challenges for social work research in a changing
local and global world” to reflect about the processes of internationalization andindigenization in social work education and invite them to become members of IASSW.
d) Azerbaijan initiative 22nd /28th April
Since the Seoul Board meeting there was a request from Azerbaijan that IASSW will visit
Baku to support the development of social work education in this country. It was decided
that a Board meeting should have been too difficult and expensive, but that we could
support a capacity building initiative. So Darla Coffey, chair of the committee, was incontact with the Azerbaijan Social Work Public Union to define the program of a conference
to be financed by IASSW.
The Fourth Conference on Advancement of Social Work in Post-Soviet Countries:
Achievements and Challenges of Social Work Education was held on 26th and 27th of April
at the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts with the participation of speakers
from different countries (Moldova, Turkey, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Moldova, Vilnius,Russia and USA). I presented a speech on International social work.

This was also the occasion to meet representatives of the Azerbaijan Social Work Public
Union, Lamiya Razayeva and Khan Khanbala, to visit the Baku State University and give alecture to the students, the Azerbaijan University and the Ministry of Labor and Social
Protection of the Population .
E. June meetings/visitsa) During my stay in Goteborg, I met both the new responsible of International affairs andthe Vice Dean of the Social Work department. We discussed the possibility of the newly
created Swedish Association of Schools of Social Work to collect the fees from all theschools and participate more at the IASSW life.
b) 7th /8th Participation to a conference in Salerno University on “Sociological imaginationand social promotion: the category of “agapic action” to interpret the changes and toimagine new futures” presenting a key note speech on Social promotion in action: socialpolicies and social work. It has been an interesting context where I met representatives ofmany South American and East European Universities.
Video messages
I’ve prepared video messages for-The launch of the international master of social work in Shanghai in March 2018.
- The launch of the Social Dialogue in Spanish
Interview
I’ve participated to an interview on Skype in the context of the conference on ÉTICA,IDEOLOGIA E MÍDIA NO SERVIÇO SOCIAL E NA SOCIEDADE a la Universidade Federal dePernambuco (UFPE). I’m trying to cultivate relationships with the Brazilian schools tosolicit their participation to IASSW

Skype Meetings
We had regular alternate month Skype meetings with office bearers in February, Apriland June to discuss about activities, progress and difficulties.

Frequent Skype meetings were organized with ICSW President to monitor the processof the Rimini 2020 contract, with Vishanthie Sewpaul for the Ethical guidelines
development and with Antoinette Lombard for the education committee and with manyother past officers for the questions aroused with IFSW and relationship with IASSW.

We had telephonic conference call with IA, IC, IF and LOC of Dublin conference on 8thMarch, 31st of May, 21st June.

I also used many whatsapp calls to connect with colleagues and Rashmi in relation withthe activities of IASSW.

Updates from IASSW Committees
I am not including report from each committee in my report as they will be sending theirreports for Dublin board meeting.
I hope you find this update helpful and we will continue to provide you all the updates infuture too. I’m warmly inviting you to provide information that can be published in ourwebsite !
With best wishes,

Prof. Annamaria Campanini
President, International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW)