International Association of Schools of Social Work
Asia Pacific Regional Report to IASSW Board and IASSW General Assembly
April 2024

1. Regional APASWE Board
The last elections were completed in in November 2023 and the APASWE Board currently
includes the following members:
A/Prof David Rose- President (Australia)
A/Prof Masaki Soeta- Treasurer (Japan)
A/Prof Jowima Reyes- Secretary (Philippines)
A/Prof Kana Matsuo (Japan)
Dr Mohd Haizzan Yahaya (Malaysia)
Prof Adi Fahrudin (Indonesia)
Dr Zarina Mat Saad (Malaysia)
Prof Zulkarnain Hatta – Immediate Past President (Malaysia)

A special thank you to all Board members for the significant contribution they make to APASWE
and social work education in our Asia Pacific region. A particular thank you to Prof TakashiFujioka- Treasurer (Japan) and Prof Tulshi Kumar Das (Bangladesh) whose terms as board
members finished in November 2023.

2. 2023 Asia Pacific Social Work Conference- Cebu Philippines
The 27th Asia Pacific Regional Social Work Conference was to take place in Iran in 2023 as wasselected by the joint IFSW-AP and APASWE conference selection committee in Bengarulu, Indiain 2019. However, unfortunately it was decided by the Iran local hosts and regional partners
that it would not be viable to continue with the conference in Iran due to a range of issues. Thiswas very disappointing for the Iranian local hosts, and I am sure all social work colleagues
1across the region. We are grateful though that at short notice the Philippine Association ofSocial Workers Inc. (PASWI) along with academic partner University of Cebu agreed to be thelocal organizer for the conference which took place from 5th to 7th November, 2023 in Cebu
City, Philippines. The conference theme was: The Sustainable Development Goals Halfway
Point: Social Work’s Contributions to Social Development”. The AP regional conference is a joint
conference of IFSW Asia Pacific and APASWE and targets both social work educators andpractitioners across the region. We thank IFSW-AP for the continued collaborations on theconference and other regional events.

3. Bidding for 2025 AP Regional ConferenceDavid Rose and Jowima Reyes have represented APASWE on a joint committee with IFSW-AP
to select a country to host the 28th Asia Pacific Regional Social Work Conference in 2025. SriLanka was the successful bidder so the next regional conference will be held in Sri Lanka in2025.

4. Membership
Institutional membership of APASWE continues to be steady with key issues being getting
existing members to renew membership and keeping membership lists updated. Similarly, acore group of institutional members continue to maintain IAASW membership although likeAPASWE membership this tends to be concentrated in particular countries with some countries
in the region having very low membership levels. As always, the key challenge continues to be
growing membership numbers and articulating benefits of membership, particularly incountries with very low membership rates for APASWE & IASSW. We thank our regional
members of both APASWE and IASSW for the contribution they make to strengthening bothorganizations.

5. Representation at Events
Over the last 2 years the President or other Board members represented APASWE/IASSW withpresentations/representation at several regional events with some highlights being:2▪

Presentation on the “Global Standards for Social Work Education and Training” at theAssociation of Indonesian Social Welfare and Social Work Education (ASPEKSI) workshop
on Reviewing the Core Curriculum for Professional Social Work Education in Indonesia28th to 29th June, 2022.

▪

Presentation on “Social Work Education: New Frontiers in Asia Pacific” at the Thailand
Association of Social Work Education (TASWE) workshop New Directions of Social Work
Education in Asia and the Pacific, 9th June, 2022.

▪

Online Roundtable: Asian Perspectives for Social Work Education- 9th September 2022
organized by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University- respondent to presentations.

▪

9th International Conference on Community Development (ICCD-9)- Bangkok 28thOctober 2022 Association of Muslim Community in ASEAN- keynote presentation onsocial work and community development in the AP region.

▪

Thailand Ministry of Social Development and Human Security World Social Work Day
2023 Event for Asia Pacific Region- presentation on “Roles of Social Work Education
Institutions in Promoting Coexistence in Diverse Communities”.

▪

ASEAN Training Centre for Social Work and Social Welfare (ATCSW) World Social WorkDay International Symposium (Thailand) 2023- two presentations on social work
education role in sustainable development and social work role in income security forpeople experiencing disabilities.

▪

China Association for Social Work Education Symposium on Social Work Education
Standards (8th May, 2023)- video presentation on development of social work
education across Asia Pacific and opportunities for regional collaboration.

▪

Presentation for the 69th Anniversary Seminar of the Faculty of Social Administration
Thammasat University Thailand, January 2023.

▪

APASWE also co-sponsored several other World Social Work Day and other events in theregion.

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6. ASEAN Social Work Education and Social Development 2023 Conference- Hanoi Vietnam
This conference with the theme of “Make a Difference- Social Work Without Barriers: In
response to Sustainable Development and Public Emergency” took place in Hanoi from 1st to2nd August, 2023. Organized by Vietnam National University and The Hong Kong Polytechnic,
APASWE and IASSW are among several co-organisers/sponsors of this key regional event.

7. Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development Theme One
IASSW/APASWE and IFSW-AP jointly worked on gathering feedback from the region on progress
towards the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development Theme One for the Global
Taskforce. Written submissions were invited from social work practitioner and educator peakorganisations and individual universities. A regional webinar was also held on 10th August 2022with 8 presentations from across the region on the Ubuntu theme with 65 attendees.

8. Key Focus Areas Going Forward
Key focus areas for the coming year continue to be further development of strategies to engage
student social workers, development of strategies to increase and maintain membershipparticularly in countries with low membership and further activities and research generation
around indigenizing social work practice in the Asia Pacific Region.

A/Prof David Rose
President- APASWE & Vice President IASSW
April 20244