International
Association of
Schools ofSocial Work(IASSW)

IASSW
ANNUALREPORT
2014
IASSW President's office: Room No. 212,
School of Social Work, Tata Institute ofSocial Sciences Post Box 8313, V.N.Purav
Marg Opposite Deonar Depot Mumbai 400
088., Tel: 91-22-25525446

Foreword
It is my pleasure to present the IASSW Annual Report-2014; time to reflect on our
accomplishments over the past one year, as well as get a glimpse of where we areheaded in the coming months. This report gives an insight into the range ofactivities undertaken by our members in different parts of the world.
2014 was a very important year for the field of social work development. IASSW
along with its partners IFSW and ICSW organized the third conference on social
work and social development in Melbourne during July 9-12, 2014. We worked hardto enhance communication with our members through our website, Facebook,
Twitter pages and Google groups.
Your contribution of high quality articles in the online Social Dialogue magazine
enabled us to put out nine very interesting issues on contemporary themes.
It is our hope that you will find this report informative and you will share pride in
the achievements of YOUR association.

Prof. Vimla V. Nadkarni, Ph.D.
President, International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW)
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India
October 14, 2015

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Introduction
The International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) is the worldwide
association of schools of social work, other tertiary level social work educational
programmes, and social work educators. The IASSW promotes the development ofsocial work education throughout the world, develops standards to enhance qualityof social work education, encourages international exchange, provides forums forsharing social work research and scholarship, and promotes human rights andsocial development through policy and advocacy activities.
IASSW holds consultative status with the United Nations and participates as an
NGO in UN activities in Geneva, Vienna and New York. Through its work at the UN
and with other international organizations, IASSW represents social work education
at the international level.
IASSW was founded in 1928 at the First International Conference of Social Work,
held in Paris. It started with 51 schools, mostly in Europe, and was known as theInternational Committee. Revitalized after World War II, the organization expanded
its membership to include a wider range of countries and was renamed theInternational Association of Schools of Social Work.
The association has member schools in all parts of the world. Five regionalorganizations based in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North
America and the Caribbean are affiliate members and their Presidents are the VicePresidents on the IASSW Board of Directors.
IASSW is governed by the Board of Directors under a constitution approved by thebiennial General Assembly. The mission of the association emphasizes thepromotion of worldwide excellence in social work education and engagement of acommunity of social work educators in international exchange of information andexpertise.
IASSW carries out its purposes through:
1. A biennial world conference of social work educators.
2. Publication of an online Social Dialogue magazine.
2 | Page3. Representation at the United Nations.
4. Co-sponsorship, with IFSW and ICSW of the journal International Social Workpublished by SAGE.
5. Funding of small cross-national projects in social work education.
6. Important policy documents include the Definition of Social Work, Global
Standards for Social Work and Social Development and Ethics in Social Work
Statement of Principles (all developed along with the International Federationof Social Workers) and the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social
Development.
7. Capacity building and other activities of Committees and Tasks Forces of theassociation.
8. Setting up IASSW Regional Resource Centres in collaboration with social workcolleges/departments.

International Collaborations
IASSW President and Board members are actively networking and collaboratingwith other international organizations. Some of the long-term collaborations where
MOUs have been signed are as follows:
1.

Institute on Disaster Management and Reconstruction (IDMR) in
ChengduProf. Nadkarni is a member of the Advisory Board (2014-16) of one of its
associated centers -- the “National Training Base for Professional Social Worker,
Ministry of Civil Affair, PRC”.

The Sichuan University-The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Institute for Disaster
Management and Reconstruction (IDMR) is the first of its kind on ” disaster
preparedness, disaster risk reduction and disaster reconstruction” in the Chinese
mainland.

3 | PageCollaboration with UNAIDS
IASSW signs Memorandum of Understanding with
UNAIDS in Geneva, 21 October 2014
IASSW President and Luiz Loures, Deputy
Executive Director of UNAIDS and Assistant
Secretary General of the United Nations signed a
Memorandum of Understanding on October 21,
2014 at UNAIDS Headquarters in Geneva. It was
the culmination of discussions held between the
President, IASSW accompanied by Sue Lawrence,then President, EASSW, and Mariangela Simao,
Director, Rights, Gender and Community
Mobilization in March 2014. It was agreed that the Figure 1: Luiz Loures and Vimla Nadkarni sign the
joint UNAIDS-IASSW MOU
values and mission statements of the twoorganisations have synergies that enable bothparties to benefit from cooperation in achieving “Zero New HIV infections, Zerodiscrimination and Zero AIDS-related deaths. In a first joint event, World Social
Work Day was celebrated at the Kofi Annan Conference Room in the UNAIDS
Building in Geneva on 17th March 2015 with one hundred and fifty invited guests
from the UN, IASSW, IFSW and ICSW and their regional European
Associations. Susan Lawrence, Klaus Kuehne representing IFSW, and David
Chipanta, Senior Advisor Social Protection of UNAIDS worked together toconceptualize the programme.
UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
Your President and EASSW President met with UNISDR Chief, Margareta Wahlstromon 20 October 2014 in Geneva. Margareta Wahlstrom acknowledged the role ofsocial work in disaster risk reduction globally. Representatives from IASSW and
EASSW have been invited to attend future meetings and nominate social workers
with expertise for a social work task force to inform the UNISDR Office in Geneva.
UNISDR’s mandate has been defined by a number of United Nations General
Assembly Resolutions, the most notable of which is “to serve as the focal point in
the United Nations system for the coordination of disaster reduction and to ensure
synergies among the disaster reduction activities of the United Nations system and
4 | Pageregional organizations and activities in socio-economic and humanitarian fields”(UN General Assembly Resolution 56/195) http://www.unisdr.org/).

IASSW Board meetings in 2014

Hanoi Board Meeting-January 20-21, 2014
This board meeting was held in School of Social Work, Thang Long University,
Hanoi. It was attended by 24 board members whereas three had joined via Skype.
The meeting was very much successful. Lot of important decisions’ were taken;
amendment in IASSW constitution was one of that.

Figure 2: IASSW Board meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam (January, 2014)

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Melbourne Board Meeting-July 8-9 &12, 2014
This board meeting was held in Melbourne Convention Centre, Melbourne,
Australia. This meeting was attended by 31 board members and two observers.
The board meeting was chaired by Treasurer Julia Watkins, in the absence of the
President.

Figure 3: IASSW Board Meeting in Melbourne, Australia, July 2014

The board meeting was followed by the General Assembly on July 10, 2014. The
General Assembly approved several resolutions on the Constitutional (Bylaws)
Amendments and Global Definition of Social Work.
IASSW election results for 2014 were announced in the General Assembly: Mark
Henrickson was elected to a 4 year term as Treasurer while Hernando Muñoz
Sánchez and Linda Kreitzer were elected as Members at Large, each to serve a 4
year term.
The new nominating committee for subsequent elections was announced andaccepted by the General Assembly.
IASSW presented souvenirs to all the outgoing board members, who hadcompleted their terms and appreciated their contribution to the association.
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Figure 4: General Assembly in Melbourne, Australia

Seminars organized in collaboration with Universities hosting IASSW
Board meetings
IASSW creates spaces for strengthening of social work education particularly where
professional social work is newly emerging and needs support from an international
forum. One strategy is to organize seminars, workshops and faculty development
programmes in partnership with the school or department of social work that hosts
the IASSW Board meeting.
A brief description of the international conference held in Vietnam is presented
below.
International conference on “Social work capacity building: Response ofSocial Work Education to Social issues in Vietnam: international Perspectives
and Indigenous Response; January 18 -19, 2014 – Thang Long University,
Hanoi, Vietnam
This workshop was organized by International Association of Schools of Social Work(IASSW), Asia & Pacific Association of Social Work Education (APASWE) and ThangLong University, Vietnam Federation of Vocational Training & Social Work,
University of Labour and Social Affairs, Hanoi University of Social Sciences and
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Humanities, National University of Education, Hanoi, Vietnam. The workshop was
supported by IASSW, UNICEF Vietnam and Thang Long University.
The participants of the workshop included 32 professors (IASSW Board members
from different continents) and 250 faculty and social workers from universities,
colleges, social work centres in Vietnam.

Figure 5: IASSW Board of Directors and delegates from Vietnam

Representatives of several Ministries namely of Training and Education, of Labor,
Invalid and Social Affairs (MOLISA), Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism, also
participated. The workshop consisted of two plenary sessions and four parallelsessions.
Most of the Board members made presentations along with social work faculty from
Vietnam.
In the inaugural address, President IASSW Prof. Vimla Nadkarni stressed that “thetraining of social work is facing many challenges at the global scale. The world
today is full of fluctuations in economic, political, social, climate change; conflicts
within and between countries deeply affected the lives of the poor and thevulnerable people. That requires huge involvement of social workers. "The conference highlighted that the profession of Social work in Vietnam in recent
years has focused on the major issues of ensuring social security and humansecurity that contribute to the stability and development of society. Social work
8 | Pageprovides support and help to disadvantaged and marginalized groups, to facilitate
their integration into society.
The conference created a favorable environment to share experiences on research,training and practice of social work among social work professionals in Vietnam.
The workshop participants also shared experiences of training, research and social
work practice, discussed coordination and cooperation between countries tosupport the development of social work opportunities and collaborations with
Vietnam.
Programmes/Activities of the Regional and Sub-regional Associations
Association of Schools of Social Work in Africa (ASSWA)ASSWA is currently working on obtaining status as a non-profit organization.
Registration will be in South Africa. ASSWA has resuscitated the ASSWA Forum,
which connects colleagues across the continent and beyond.
ASSWA participated actively in the PROSOWO conference in March 2014 in
Kampala, Uganda, with the theme “Professional Social Work in East Africa: Towards
social development and poverty reduction”.
Professor Vishanthie Sewpaul delivered a keynote address on World Social Work
day on 18 March 2014 and participated in a round table discussion on: Recruitment
and Retention of Faculty in Institutions of Higher Learning in Africa. Professor
Antoinette Lombard, who has been involved in PROSOWO since its inception, did
the conference summary. Professor Vimla Nadkarni, President of IASSW, sent a
special video message, in celebration of the World Social Work Day. Prof. Helmut
Spitzer, a member of ASSWA and Dr Janestic Twikirize, Vice-President of ASSWA
was the conference organisers and hosts. The organisers had to balance the safety
and security of delegates, and delicately manage the possible threats of the closureof the conference on account of Uganda’s anti-homosexuality legislation; they used
the opportunity to confront and challenge homophobia.
The team that leads the Global Agenda in the African region include Antoinette
Lombard (South Africa) and Janestic Twikirize (Uganda) for IASSW; Judith Kaulen
9 | Page(Zimbabwe) for ICSW and Charles Mbugua (Kenya) for IFSW. Abye Tasse (IASSW)
and Charles Abbey (IFSW) are the Global coordinators of the Africa region andrepresent the Global Coordinator Group of the Global Agenda. In addition to theirglobal role, both have dedicated themselves to support and connect the African
region to the Global Agenda.

ASSWA in partnership with IFSW, Africa and Association of South African Social
Work Education Institutions will be hosting an international conference in October
2015. The theme of the conference is: “Social work and social development: Local
realities and global transformations”
Asian & Pacific Association of Social Work Education-(APASWE)
APASWE along with Thai Association of Social Work and Social Welfare Education
planned to host 23rd APASWE Regional Conference, which would be held in 2015 in
Bangkok, Thailand. The main theme of the conference will be “Growth and Crises:
Social Work and Policy Discourses”.
APASWE’s online newsletter “Check it Out” was being published regularly.
The association Published a book titled “Social Work Education and Practice:
Scholarship and Innovations in the Asia Pacific”. The editors are Bala Nikku andZulkarnain Hatta.
European Association of Schools of Social Work (EASSW)EASSW was very active for the entire year. Activities that promote the values andobjectives of EASSW (national and cross-regional are as follows:● ENSACT Meetings in May & September 2014 – PowerUs, a service usergroup funded by EU Leonardo funding has joined the ENSACT group. A mission
statement has been agreed by all member organsiations. All member
associations are cooperating in attending and sharing information on WSWD andon all conference information.
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●

●

●

●

●

Members of ENSACT are: EASSW – www.eassw.org, European association oftraining centres for socio-educational care work FESET – www.feset.org ,International Federation of Educative Communities FICE Europe – www.ficeeurope.org, International Council on Social Welfare ICSW Europe –www.icsw.org, International Federation of Social Workers IFSW Europe –www.ifsw.org, PowerUs, service users in social work learning partnership –www.powerus.info
Regional conference in Murcia, Spain: EASSW Executive attended theconference organised by the Spanish Association of Social Work in Murcia Spain
23-25 April 2014. The conference hosted by the University of Murcia was titled‘El trabajo social ante el reto de la crisis y la educacion superior.’ The conference
was attended by over 500 participants: delegates were present from other
Spanish speaking countries like Mexico and South Americas.
Social Work Action Network Conference (SWAN), Durham University (1112 April): Vasilios Ioakimidis was the main conference organizer andrepresented EASSW. The main theme of the conference was “Social Work in a
Cold Climate: Fighting for good practice in times of austerity”. The conference
attracted 350 delegates from 17 different countries. During the conference
EASSW shared a stall with the International Social Work Journal. The conference
concluded with a march “in defense of social work and social welfare” throughthe streets of Durham.
Participation in NOUSA (NASSW) EC meeting in Nuuk, Greenland, 26 March(Anke Beuck via skype), informed about EC meeting in Tirana and subsequent
electronic EC debate regarding a campaign in support of social work education
as it is challenged across Europe. The NOUSA EC expressed full support for the
campaign.
Translations of Global Definition. Members of EASSW have suppliedtranslations in Bosnian, Croatian, Estonian, French, German, Italian, Portuguese,
Russian, and Spanish. (See www.eassw.org).
Supporting colleagues involved in the disaster operations following
flooding in Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia. May 2014. A message was posted on
the EASSW website and Vasilios Ioakimidis is coordinating the EASSW response.
Lena Dominelli provided IASSW documents to assist colleagues working in thearea.

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● Global Agenda – EASSW has been active in the tripartite European Global
Agenda group, following the launch of the European Observatory. The EASSWEuropean Observatory report has been compiled and accepted. ENSACT has
agreed to assist with the European Observatory in future.
● EASSW Social Networking: The EASSW Facebook pages are gaining ‘friends’
and the EC is working to develop both the website (www.eassw.org) and theFacebook site.
● Next EASSW Conference: Work is progressing on staging the next
EASSW/AIDOSS (Italian Association) conference in Milan from 29 June to 2 July
2015. PowerUs are partnering with EASSW in organizing the conference andpresenting a film made by service users and carers during the conference. See
www.eassw.org for details. A call for expressions of interest in hosting the 2017
EASSW conference was issued on 1 June 2014. Professor Walter Lorenz will
deliver the first EASSW Honorary Lecture on 2 July 2015 at the Milan
conference. The European Journal of Social Work is sponsoring the lecture.
● Symposium Athens, Greece November 2014-Several EASSW Executive
Committee members gave papers at the first national Greek social work
conference held since the financial crisis in 2008. Over 700 participants attended
this landmark event. A full report will shortly be available on the EASSW website(www.eassw.org).
● During the visit to Athens, EASSW President and secretary made personal
representations to the Greek Ministry of Education, stating concerns regarding
the threat to continuance of social work education in Greece and the importanceof providing adequate resources to social work courses to maintain thestandards of quality provision outlined in the Global Standards on Education andTraining in Social Work (http://www.iassw-aiets.org/global-standards-for-socialwork-education-and-training ). A press release on this meeting will shortly
appear on the EASSW website.

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East European sub-regional Association of the Schools of Social Work
(EEsrASSW)● IASSW Regional seminar of the East European sub-region was held in June
2013, during the IASSW meeting, supported by the EASSW; The title of theseminar was “Against Social Suffering: Social Work in alliance with People with
Disabilities” . Several speakers from different schools of social work fromdifferent countries, from East and West presented papers. In spring 2014 a
special issue of the Journal of Social Work was published on disability in Eastern
Europe. During the regional seminar EEsrASSW organised sub-regional meetingsand discussed the issues related to the region (economic crises, social work
education, research issues).
● The EEsrASSW contributed towards the Definition of Social Work; the proposal
was sent to Vishanthie and the committee colleagues. Darja Zaviršek presidentof EEsrASSW visited schools of social work in the Czech Republic in
September; a conference on Crippling Development was organised in Prague.
● The EEsrASSW created a new web site and got a new domain. The work remains
voluntary and no fees are charged. Members sent interesting articles, either inEnglish or in local language, for the website. The web site intends to serve as
many people as possible from the region.
Nordic Association of Schools of Social Work● The Executive Committee had its meeting in Nuuk, Greenland in March 2014
and a skype meeting in June 2014. A one day seminar was organised together
with local teachers and practitioners on child welfare issues.
● Contributing to Nordic and European conferences- NASSW organized
together with the South Sweden Association for Social Work Research a joint
conference in Malmö, Sweden 8˗10 October 2014.
● Next general meeting of NASSW will be held in 2016 in connection with thefollowing joint Nordic conference and correspondingly a new chair and working
committee will be elected in this general meeting.
● The theme of the joint FORSA and NASSW symposium in Malmö was culture insocial work. NASSW organized a seminar on “Away from the culture of silence insocial work: challenges for social work education.” It is worth mentioning that13 | Pagesocial workers and social work academics in Finland have opened a national blog
https://sosiaalinentekija.wordpress.com/in-english/and also many regional blogs
to discuss social work and societal issues. It has got a lot of attention andfollowers. Nordic teacher award was delivered in the symposium to Frank Ebsen
from Denmark for his pioneering, committed work in promoting practiceresearch, research together with practitioners and practice organisations.
● Nordic schools are contributing to the European social work research conferencein Ljubljana in April 2015 and in the EASSW conference in Milan in July 2015.
● Preparing the strategic plan together with the member schools
NASSW executive committee continued discussion on the updating of the strategicplan of NASSW in Malmö meeting. The member schools in each country will be
involved in the discussions in the period before the following executive board
meeting in Copenhagen March 5–6, 2015.
● Keeping NASSW active in social media
Materials from NASSW meetings and discussions have been published on NASSW
Facebook site and in twitter, and documents and information have been publishedon the website.
● Contacts with and support to Nordic social work schools
The executive committee will maintain and develop contacts with and support tosocial work schools in the Nordic countries via emails to contact persons, Facebook
and website activities.
North American and Caribbean Association of Schools of Social Work
(NACASSW)● The North America and Caribbean Association of Schools of Social Work
(NACASSW) held two meetings during 2014. The first meeting was held inconjunction with the Joint World Conference in Melbourne, Australia in July andthe second meeting was held during the 2014 Council on Social Work Education(CSWE) Annual Program Meeting (APM) in Tampa, Florida (USA).
● A more recent attempt was made to initiate a joint initiative with colleagues in
the US and Caribbean through the NACASSW Executive Committee. The aim of
the initiative was to develop a searchable inventory of international (teaching,research/scholarship and practice) activities of colleagues in the region. The
initiative will help to foster sharing, networking and collaboration amongcolleagues, as well as revealing activities aimed at promotion of social andeconomic qualities. The work was conducted within Canada alone through the
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International Affairs Committee of the CASWE. In the first year (2013-2014)
there was peer response to the effort in the region. This year (2014-2015) a
committee was made for the USA.
● NACASSW gave a partnership presentation at the 2014 APM addressing the
Global Agenda and the construction of social work with the following
representatives: Mark Rodgers (USA), Dixon Sookraj (Canada), and Akilah Riley(Trinidad and Tobago)
Activities of IASSW Committees
The clustering of committees under broader themes and issues was an innovationthat was implemented this year. This ensured that each thematic cluster washeaded by a voting board member to ensure synergy across the various activities
as well as follow up of the activities. The committees were thus grouped as follows:
Theme: Education
Capacity building
Capacity building is a sub-committee of the Education Committee
Workshops/Conference in Hanoi, Vietnam
During 2014 the committee was engaged in several capacity building events.
IASSW was invited in one location for Board meetings with linked workshops. This
arrangement enabled Board members, local educators and practitioners to organisea collaborative international workshop/ conference for the region or country. The
Executive engaged with the university, local and government policy makers to raise
the profile of social work where this was requested. The 2014 meetings and linked
workshops were held in Hanoi, Vietnam in January and Ljubljana in June
respectively. (Details are provided in the previous section on Seminars).
International projects
IASSW provides grants of up to US $4000 for international projects, which
contribute to the implementation of the IASSW Mission Statement, and to the
15 | Pageenhancement of cooperation among schools of social work world-wide. In 2014 thecommittee received 10 proposals and selected five proposals after a thoroughreview. The IASSW Board of Directors approved four projects for 2014.
The list of completed projects in 2014 is presented below.
1. Strangers At Home And Abroad: Teaching About Migration In Social Work.
Coordinator Mimi V. Chapman, University of North Carolina, USA (2011‒2014, USA,
China two schools)
2. A comparative study on perspectives on non-suicidal self-injurious behaviors ofsocial work students in USA, Cyprus, & Jordan. Implications for social work practiceand curriculum, Efrosine Kokaliari, School of Social Work, Springfield College, USA(2011‒2014, USA, Cyprus, Jordan)
3. Rights practice in the biosphere, Susan Bailey, School of Population Health,
University of Western Australia (2011‒2014, Australia, Hong Kong, Qatar)
4. Building Social Work Education Capacity in Ethiopia through an International
Travel and Study, Alice K. Butterfield, University of Illinois at Chicago, Jane
Addams College of Social Work, USA (2011‒2014, USA, Ethiopia)
5. Social work development through North/South dialogue in teaching and practiceresearch, Aina Lian Flem, Sør Trøndelag University college, Faculty of Health
Education and Social Work, Norway (2013–2014, Zambia, Sweden, Norway)
Research
The research committee has developed “IASSW statement on Research”, which
was accepted by the IASSW Board of directors and General Assembly meeting at
Melbourne, Australia in July, 2014.
The IASSW Statement on social work research is “In accordance with its coremandate of promoting and enhancing social work education and training on a
global level, IASSW is committed to strengthening social work research (SWR).
This research statement is aligned with the social development aims highlighted in
the new 2014 IASSW/IFSW Global Definition of Social Work”.

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Theme: Advocacy and Policy
Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development
The three organizations (IASSW, ICSW and IFSW) have implemented one of thefour pillars of the Global Agenda a flagship theme for their activities over a periodof two years. The first theme selected for the period 2012-2014 within thisunderstanding was “Promoting Social and Economic Equalities” which would
continue until the joint conference of Melbourne. The theme was being promoted
globally and addressed through various innovative activities.
A Special Issue of International Social Work journal on the theme of “Promoting
Social and Economic Equalities” was prepared by a team of social work educatorsfrom IASSW and IFSW and was launched at the Melbourne Joint World Conference,along with a consolidated report of the implementation of the Global Agenda.
IASSW representation at the United Nations
Several members of IASSW have developed expertise on UN based themes andissues and work closely with the NGO committee in New York and Geneva. Some of
the areas of intervention by the respective committees and task forces aredescribed below.
Human rights
IASSW sponsored a workshop in Curacao at the Caribbean Regional Conference(The Conference of Caribbean and International Social Work Educators). The
workshop was led by Letnie Rock, President of the Caribbean Subregion, and Lynne
Healy, Chair, IASSW Human Rights Committee. In preparation for the workshop,
additional teaching materials and discussion vignettes were prepared and shared.
These are posted on the IASSW website. The workshop was well received.
Sustainability, Climate Change, Disaster Intervention
IASSW provided assistance to the victim-survivors of Hurricane Haiyan in thePhilippines by the Chair of the Committee through the good offices of the Instituteof Hazards, Risk and Resilience Research at Durham University.
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The Committee had submitted a proposal to UNFCCC for the COP19 Meeting in
Warsaw, aiming to have an exhibition stall and a side event.
Bala Raju Nikku, Lena Dominelli and Vimla Nadkarni were also involved insupporting the Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garwal University during the
Uttarakhand floods in India during June-July 2013. Lena Dominelli and Vimla
Nadkarni also presented at training seminars in Yingxiu and Chengdu during theformal opening of the Sichuan University’s Institute for Disaster Management andReconstruction, an ambitious project led by Prof Angie Yuen. Lena’s Humanitarian
Aid Toolkit and Ethical Guidelines were also distributed in both the Uttarakhand
floods and the Lushan 2013 Earthquake in China.
IASSW Representation at the United Nations, New York
Janice Wood Wetzel has been the main representative at UN NY office for many
years. Janice retired in December 2014, and the Board of Directors thanks her forher sterling work over several decades.
Dr. Janice Wood Wetzel, represented IASSW, which is one of two New York based
NGOs engaged in the work of the International Nominating Committee for the
Conference of NGOs (CoNGO). The former chair and continuing member of the
NGO Committee on Mental Health, Dr. Wetzel is now focusing her main efforts on
the NGO Committee on the Status of Women. She is on the Planning Committee ofthe 58th International Commission on the Status of Women, one of the two mostwell attended conferences at the United Nations in New York. More than 6000
people have registered to date. Held under the aegis of UN Women, the theme thisyear is “Challenges and Achievements in the Implementation of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) for Women and Girls.” Janice is organizing
Conversation Circles on Health and Mental Health, a component of the CSW
agenda. She will moderate the gathering, with facilitators coordinating subgroups
on selected topics.
President appointed Lynne Healy as main representative at UN NY. She will be
18 | Pageactive by January, 2015. Dr. Lynne Healy has been actively engaged in the work of
the NGO Social Development Committee, including their Survey Report on
Strategies for Empowerment: Lessons from the Grassroots. She collaborated withanother member to analyze the data and wrote the report. Lynne also served on apanel focusing on the same topic at the 52nd Session of the Commission on Social
Development (CSocD), an annual international conference held at the UN. A second
event that she and Sergei Zelenev of ICSW organized was Addressing Inequalities,
Promoting Empowerment, sponsored by IASSW and IC SW. Additional speakers
were from the ILO and the government of Finland. A representative of UN Women
moderated the session. Both events were well attended. The theme of the CSocD
conference was “Promoting Empowerment of People in Achieving Poverty
Eradication, Social Integration and Full Employment and Decent Work for All."
Lynne Healy was awarded IASSW’s Katherine A. Kendall Memorial Award for 2014.
Her commitment and contributions to international social work education makes
her a most deserved recipient.
Other IASSW members active in UN work in New York include:
Ms. Moira Curtain has attended selected UNICEF (Children's Rights & Emergency
Relief Organization) meetings and is focusing her efforts as co-chair of Social WorkDay at the UN.
Dr. Rebecca Davis has worked for both UNICEF and AID (the U.S. Agency forInternational Development),on women and girls in Nigeria.
Dr. Rosita (Rosa) Resnick is an active member of the International Network for thePrevention of Elder Abuse and the chair of the NGO Committee on Aging’s
Subcommittee on Intergenerational Relationships. She is the former chair and acontinuing member of the NGO Committee on Migration.
Theme: Member Services
Communications and Publications (Website, Social Dialogue magazine)
IASSW launched the book “Global Social Work Education: Crossing borders andblurring boundaries” at Melbourne World Conference in July 2014. Editors of thebook are Carolyn Noble, Helle Strauss and Brian Littlechild.
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The next publication of IASSW planned is “Social work education across the world:
evidence from the Katherine Kendall awardees”.
IASSW Publications committee had published nine issues of Social Dialogue online
magazine by end of 2014. Issue 8 was launched in September. The focus for thisedition was Gender and Social Work. In this issue there is a mixture of articles,
poems, projects concerning women and social work. Jude Irwin worked with
Carolyn Noble as guest editor. Issue 9 was launched in November with Darja
Zaviresk as guest editor and its focus was Disability and Social Work. Again thisissue has articles and research into disability from across the globe. This issue also
included reports from IASSW committees.
Language Committee
There are 5 official languages: English, French, Japanese, Spanish and simple
Chinese. These are the languages of the majority of IASSW members.
IASSW Language Policy was circulated to all partner organizations and localorganizers for Melbourne world conference. The committee also looks after thetranslations which are done by translators on a professional or voluntary-base, forthe documents such as election materials, and definition of social work. The
language committee coordinates with website committee for translation of website
in IASSW official languages.
The Committee is highly appreciative and most thankful to colleagues who responded positively
and voluntarily helped with translations of the Global definition of Social Work on request. It was
thus possible to have the definition translated into many languages including: Afrikaans, Arabic,
Bosnian, Croatian, French, German, Greek, Indonesian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian,
Spanish, Ukrainian, Chinese and Hindi.
World Census
The first IASSW census was completed by Alice Saloman in 1937. She identified
179 schools in 29 countries. In the mid-1990s, Dr. Ralph Garber assumed
responsibility for the 2000 Census and in 2006. The role of Principal Investigator
20 | Page

for the 2010 Census Project was to update the directory and conduct a survey ofsocial work programs. The four members of the 2010 Census Project included
Brian Littlechild, Patrick Leung, Henry Parada and Gidraph Wairire. The directory ofdegree granting institutions included 2110 in 125 countries. The survey, distributedon the web and in print in seven languages, elicited 473 responses providing
descriptive data on social work programs.
Theme: Budget and FinanceBudget and FinanceThe committee is responsible to manage and monitor the financial control of theorganization.
Solidarity Fund: The B&F committee has streamlined the guidelines for the
Solidarity Fund to encourage increased participation of Board members in the board
meetings of IASSW.
Theme: Administrative
Nominating Committee
The Nominating Committee was constituted in May 2013. There were threevacancies on the IASSW Board of Directors from July 2014
● Treasurer● Two members at large of the Board of Directors
The IASSW Election was held in between April and July 2014. Results wereannounced at the General Assembly in Melbourne, Australia in July 2014.
The Nominating Committee was committed to prepare a quality slate and has madeall efforts possible in achieving that. The Committee ensured that the process takes
place according to the bylaws and procedures and has done so by keeping theprocess highly confidential.

21 | Page

Katherine Kendall Awards
The Katherine A. Kendall Award was introduced in 1992 to honor the IASSW
Honorary President, Dr. Katherine A. Kendall. She served as voluntary secretaryfrom 1954 to 1971 and Secretary-General of IASSW from 197 1 to 1978. Dr.
Kendall remained an active board member for more than five decades until her
demise in 2010. The intention of the award, which is made biennially, is toacknowledge significant contributions to the development of social work education
at the international level.
Katherine Kendall Memorial Award Committee received eight nominations in 2013.
A selection grid was prepared by the chairperson of the committee on the basis ofwhich the nominees were scored and graded. Prof. Lynne Healy was declared theKK Awardee and she received the award in the Melbourne World conference in July
2014.

Eileen Younghusband Lecture
In 1984, to commemorate Eileen Younghusband (UK) who was an IASSW President
from 1961 to 1968, the biennial Eileen Younghusband Memorial Lecture Series wasinaugurated. The Eileen Younghusband speaker must be a distinguished social work
educator, who has an international reputation and recognition. The Younghusband
lecturer is selected by vote of the Board of Directors in the year preceding theCongress.
Prof. Vishanthie Sewpaul delivered Eileen Younghusband lecture in the Melbourne
World conference in July 2014
Task Force on Definition of Social WorkIASSW Board and the Executive Committee of IFSW agreed that the review of
Global Definition of Social Work was completed and a new proposed definition waspresented to members of both organisations at the General Meeting/Assembly in
Melbourne July, 2014. General Assemblies of IASSW and IFSW accepted the Global
definition of Social Work.
22 | Page

Task Force on IASSW Constitution
The Task Force on IASSW Constitution was set up during the board meeting in Los
Angeles in 2013 and the amendments were approved by General Assembly in
Melbourne World Conference in July 2014
Task Force on Manual of Policies and Procedures
Based on the amendments in IASSW Constitution, the Manual of Policy andProcedures of IASSW was revised in 2014 and accepted by the Board in Melbourne
Board meeting in July 2014.

Social Networking
IASSW provides updates and networks with its members through various Social
Networking sites.
IASSW is very active on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/ IASSW.AIETS). The
membership of the Facebook site is growing with more than 1000 followers/
members using that site. This has enabled us to continuously upload and share
information on our activities, events, pictures and links of IASSW memberswith ourfollowers. IASSW also welcomes and uploads information from its members on its
Facebook page.
IASSW is also present at Twitter: @IASSW_AIETS (having around 400 followers)
and at LinkedIn as ‘International Association of Schools of Social Work’ (group)'.
Communicating within the Association among IASSW members
Two Google groups were created for facilitating and enhancing communication
amongst IASSW members as follows:●

Individual members●

Institutional members

23 | Page

1.

Annex-1 ; IASSW Board of Directors

IASSW Board of Directors and Executive Committee (February, 2014)
Sl. Position
Name
Details
Email ID
No.
Executive Committee
1

President

Vimla
Nadkarni

2

Immediate Past
President

Angelina
Yuen

3

Secretary

TetyanaSemigina

4

Treasurer

Julia
Watkins

5

Vice President,
President of
Association of
Schools ofSocial Work in
Africa (ASSWA),

Vishanthie
Sewpaul

24 | Page

Former Professor andFounder Dean, School ofSocial Work, Tata Instituteof Social Sciences, India
Vice-President, The Hong
Kong Polytechnic
University (Hong Kong);
and Professor, The Hong
Kong Polytechnic
University (Hong Kong)
Professor, School of Social
Work, National University,'Kyiv-Mohyla Academy'
UkraineRetired, Former Executive
Director, Council on Social
Work Education (USA)Professor, School ofApplied Human Sciences ,College of Humanities,
University of KwaZulaNatal (South Africa)

vimla@iassw.net

angie.yuen@polyu.
edu.hkiassw.secretary@g
mail.com

jwatkins0924@gma
il.com
Sewpaul@ukzn.ac.
za

6

7

8

9

10

Vice-President,
President,
Asociación
LatinoAmericana deEscuelas deTrabajo Social
Vice-President,
President of
Asian & Pacific
Association forSocial Work
Education
Vice-President,
President ofEuropean
Association of
Schools ofSocial Work

Patricia Ac
evedo

Profesora, Universidad
Nacional de Córdoba(Argentina)

pacevedo@coop5.
com.arFentiny
NugrohoChair of Expert Board,
Indonesian Association ofSocial Work Education(Indonesia)

fentiny@yahoo.comSusan
Lawrencepresident@eassw.org

Vice-President,
President ofNorth,
American/Caribb
ean Associan of
Schools ofSocial Work
Member At
Large

Mark
Rodgers

President European
Association of Schools ofSocial Work, Former
Head of Social Work,
Faculty of Social Sciences& Humanities, London
Metropolitan University(UK)
Dean and Professor,
College of Health & Human
Services, Marywood
University in PA(Pennsylvania), USA

Professor, Department ofSocial Studies, Faculty ofSocial Sciences, University
of Helsinki (Finland)

synnove.karvinen@
helsinki.fi

25 | Page

Synnöve
KarvinenNiinikoski

mrodgers@marywo
od.edu

11

12

13

14

15

16

Member At
Large

Professor of Social Work
School, Dean of College ofSocial Policy and Public
Administration, East China
University of Sciences &Technology (China)
Member At
Bala Raju
Director, Nepal School of
Large
Nikku
Social Work, Kathmandu(Nepal), Sr. Visiting
Lecturer , Social Worksection, Universiti Sains
Malaysia
Member At
BarbaraDean and Professor School
Large
Shank
of Social Work, Universityof St. Thomas and St.
Catherine University(USA)
Regional, Sub regional & National Representatives
Regional
Anna Metteri President of the Nordic
Representative
Association of Schools of(Representative
Social Work, Professorof Nordic
in International Social
Region ofWork, University ofEurope)Eastern Finland
Regional
Darja
Chair of the Department
Representative Zavirsekof Social Justice and(President of
Inclusion, Faculty of
East European
Social Work, University
Regionalof Ljubljana ( Slovenia)
Association)
Representative Vasilios
Lecturer- Masters inof European
Ioakimidis
Social Work, Durham
Association of
University (UK)26 | Page

YongxiangXu

yongxiangxu@hot
mail.com
yongxiangxu@ecus
t.edu.cn

nikku21@yahoo.com,balarajunikku@yahoo.combwshank@stthomas.edu

anna.metteri@uta.fi

darja.zavirsek@fsd.
uni-lj.si

vas.ioakimidis@dur.
ac.uk

Schools ofSocial Work
17

Regional
Representative(Representativeof Africa, Vice
President of
ASSWA)
Regional
Representative,
Representativeof Africa
Regional
Representative(Representativeof Asia Pacific)

Janestic
MwendeTwikirize

20

National
Representative(Canada)Dixon
Sookraj21

National
Representative(Israel)Faisal Azaiza

22

National
Representative(South Korea)

In Young
Han

18

19

27 | Page

WassieKebedeMark
Henrickson

University Lecturer,
Department of Social
Work and Social
Administration,
Makerere University
Ugandaprofessor in School ofSocial Work at Addis
Ababa University(Ethiopia)
Associate Professor,
School of Health andSocial Services, Massey
University (New
Zealand)
Associate Professor,
School of Social Work,
Faculty of Health &Social Development,
The University of British
Columbia (Canada)
Professor and Head of
the School of Social
Work, University of
Haifa (Israel)
Professor, School ofSocial Welfare, Ewha
Women's University(South Korea)

jtwikirize@ss.mak.
ac.ug

wassiek7@gmail.comm.henrickson@mas
sey.ac.nz

dixon.sookraj@ubc.
caazaiza@univ.haifa.ac.ilyhan@ewha.ac.kr

23

National
Representative(South Africa)

Antoinette
Lombard24

National
Representative(USA)

Darla Spence
Coffey25

National
Representative(Japan)Mie Ohwa

26

National
Representative(UK) &
Assistant
Secretary
National
Representative(Indonesia)

Linda DeChenu

Dr. Soni
Nulhaqim

Department of Science
Faculty of Social andPolitical Sciences,
Padjadjaran University,

soninulhaqim@yahoo.com

National
Representative(China)Prof. Zhang
Li-Xi

China Association forSocial Work Education(CASWE)

mxx100@263.net

27

28

28 | Page

Professor, Department
of Social Work andCriminology, Universityof Pretoria (South
Africa)President
Council on Social Work
Education
Professor
Department of Social
Work
School of Human
Welfare Studies
Kwansei Gakuin
University
Senior Lecturer Social
Work, University of
Hertfordshire

antoinette.lombard@up.ac.za

DCoffey@cswe.org

ohwami1@kwansei.
ac.jp

L.DeChenu@herts.ac.uk

29Committees
Chairperson of
Women’s
Interest Group

Jude Irwin,

30

Chairperson of
Global Agenda
Committee

Abye Tasse

31

Chairperson of
Climate Change
Committee andDisasterManagement
Standing
Committee on
World Census

Lena
Dominelli

Co-chair
Publications
Committee
Co-chair
Publications
Committee

Brian
Littlechild

Chairperson of
Human Rights

Lynne Healy

32

33

34

35

29 | Page

Angeline
BarrettaHerman

Carolyn
Noble

Professor, Social Workand Policy Studies,
Faculty of Education andSocial Work, University
of Sydney (Australia)
Advisor to the President
and Chief of Project,
University of Nouakchott(Mauritania)
Professor and Head of
Subject, School ofApplied Social Sciences,
Durham University (UK)jude.irwin@sydney.
edu.auProfessor Emerita,
School of Social Work,
University of St. Thomas(USA)
Professor, University of
Hertfordshire (UK)a9barrettahe@stthomas.eduChief Editor Social
Dialogue, Editor IASSW
Newsletter, Inaugural
Professor of Social Work
(ACAP, Sydney),
Professor Emerita,
Victoria University
Melbourne, (Australia)
Professor of Social
Work, University ofConnecticut (USA)

Carolyn.Noble@vu.e
du.au

abyetasse@yahoo.fr

lena.dominelli@dur
ham.ac.uk

b.littlechild@herts.ac.uk

lynne.healy@uconn.
edu

36

Main UN
Representativefor IASSW

Janice Wood
Wetzel37

IASSW
representativefor UN SW Day
in New YorkMoira Curtain

38

Chairperson of
Task Force on
IASSWConstitution

TatsuruAkimoto39

Chairperson
Capacity
Building(Education)

Janet
Williams

30 | Page

Main UN Representativeat International
Association of Schools ofSocial Work, Former
Dean and Professor
Emerita, Adelphi
University School ofSocial Work (USA)
Director, office ofAdvising, Columbia
University school ofSocial Work (USA)janicewetzel@gmail.
com

Director & Professor,
Asian Center for Welfare
in Society in Japan
College of Social Work
(Japan)Faculty Health andWellbeing - Sheffield
Hallam University

tatsru.akimoto@nifty.com

MAC17@columbia.eduj.e.williams@shu.ac.ukAnnex. 2: List of Committees and Task Forces
Committee

Chair/Co-chair

Members

Theme: Education (Chairperson: Angelina Yuen)
Capacity building

Chair: Janet Williams
Co-chair : Darla
Spence CoffeyInternational projects

Chair: Anna Metteri
Co-chair: Darja
Zavirsek

Research

Chair: Anna Metteri
Co-chair: Dixon
Sookraj

Wassie Kebede, In Young
Han, Janestic Mwende
Twikirize, Linda Kreitzer
Letnie Rock , Linda Kreitzer,
Janestic Mwende Twikirize,
David McNabb
Darja Zavirsek, Faisal
Azaiza, Brian Littlechild,
Linda De Chenu, Soni A.
Nulhaqim, Surinder Guru,
Synnöve Karvinen-Niinikoski

Theme: Advocacy and Policy (Chairperson – Vimla Nadkarni)
Global Agenda

Chair: Antoinette
LombardCo-chair: Lena
Dominelli

Human rights

Chair: Vasilios
Ioakimidis
Co-chair: Hernando
Muñoz Sanchez

31 | Page

Regional observatories
Prof Zulkarnain Hatta(APASWE)
Letnie Rock , Antoinette
Lombard, Surinder Guru,
Mark Henrickson

Sustainability,
Climate Change,
Disaster Intervention

Chair: Lena Dominelli
Co-chair: Bala Raju
Nikku

Letnie Rock , Mark Rodgers,
Antoinette Lombard,
Surinder Guru

Theme: Member Services (Chairperson - Tetyana Semigina)
Membership
Recruitment andRetention

Chair: Tetyana
Semigina

Communications andPublications (Social
Dialogue magazine
and book
publications)

Chair: Carolyn Noble,

Website Committee

Chair: Susan Lawrence(by July Dixon)

Co-chair: Darla
Spence Coffey

Co-chair: Linda K.

Mark Rodgers, Vishanthie
Sewpaul, Fentiny Nugroho,
Vasilios Ioakimidis,
Hernando Muñoz Sanchez,Mark HenricksonAngelina Yuen , Helle
Strauss, Vimla Nadkarni,
Janet Williams, Anna
Metteri, Vasilios Ioakimidis,
Brian Littlechild
Angelina Yuen, Vimla
Nadkarni

Co-chair: Dixon
SookraLanguage Committee

Chair: : Janestic
Mwende Twikirize
Co-chair: David

Review of World
Census committee

Chair:
Nikku

Bala Raju

Co-chair: Linda
Kreitzer

32 | Page

Anna Metteri, Angelina
Yuen , Tetyana Semigina,
Mie Ohwa (Mimi)

Brian Littlechild, Tetyana
Semigina , Angelina BH,
Vasilios Ioakimidis

Theme: Budget and Finance (Chairperson - Mark Henrickson )Budget and Finance

Chair: Mark
Henrickson

Faisal Azaiza, Yongxiang
Xu, Dixon Sookraj, Darla
Spence Coffey

Solidarity Fund

Chair: Mark
Henrickson

Dixon Sookraj, MarkRodgers, Janet Williams

Theme: Administrative (Chairperson - Vimla Nadkarni)
Nominating
Committee

Chair: Helle Strauss

Vimla Nadkarni, Tetyana,Mark Henrickson

Tripartite Committee

Katherine Kendall
AwardsChair: Wassie Kebede

Eileen Younghusband
LectureChair: Tetyana
Semigina

Co-chair: MarkRodgers

Co-chair:SewpaulDefinition of Social
33 | Page

Abye Tasse, Angelina Yuen ,Hernando Muñoz Sanchez,
Linda De Chenu, Lynne
Healy, Synnove KarvinenNiinikoski

Vishanthie

Chair: Vishanthie

Vishanthie Sewpaul,
Patricia Acevedo, Vasilios
Ioakimidis
Mark Rodgers,
Patricia Acevedo , Vasilios
Ioakimidis

Dixon Sookraj, Bala Raju

Work Monitoring
Committee

SewpaulNikku, Mark Henrickson,
Vasilios Ioakimidis

International
Collaboration
Committee

Chair: Vimla Nadkarni

Dixon Sookraj, Angelina
Yuen, Mark Henrickson,
Hernando Muñoz Sanchez,
Vasilios Ioakimidis

Task force on Archiveof IASSW

Chair: Lynne Healy

Abye Tasse, Angelina Yuen

Task force on World
Social Work Day

Chair: Vishanthie
SewpaulCo-chair: Vasilios
Ioakimidis
Wassie Kebede , Vasilios
Ioakimidis

Co-chair: Linda de
Chenu
IASSW-UN
International
Committee ( UNAIDS
MOU)

Chair: Lena Dominelli
Co-chair: Sungkawan
Decha
United Nations, New
York; Main
representative- Lynne
Healy

Surinder Guru, Bala Raju
Nikku, Antoinette Lombard,
Mark Henrickson, Vasilios
Ioakimidis, Lynne, Tetyana
Semigina, Vimla Nadkarni

Task group on
financial management

Mark Henrickson

Darla Spence Coffey, Dixon
Sookraj, Vasilios Ioakimidis

Task force on
Strategic PlanningMark Rodgers

Surinder Guru, Hernando
Muñoz Sanchez, Janestic
Mwende Twikirize, Tatsuru
Akimoto, Sungkawan Decha

34 | Page

35 | Page