GLOBAL COOPERATION NEWSLETTER
February 2012
In this edition
Joint world conference Stockholm
ICSW at the UN Commission for Social Development (CSocD)
MSc Social Policy and Development: NGOs
UNRISD News
Social Watch Report 2012
Global Population Ageing: Peril or Promise?

Joint world conference Stockholm July 2012
The conference programme committee is reviewing two thousand abstracts. Authors will be notifiedof the acceptance of their abstract by email in the middle of March. Guidelines for scholarships arebeing developed and will be posted on the conference website. For those planning to attend theconference and who will need a visa to Sweden the organisers urge you to start your registrationand visa application process very soon to avoid last minute panic.
In the 2012 conference, we will advance the work on the Agenda developed for the 2010conference. We will address and demonstrate the actions that might be required to develop andaccomplish the Agenda through practice and research, through social policy and social work
educationand in abroader discourseofglobalcommitmentandcooperation.
The conference will provide opportunities to discuss issues which the social work and social welfare
sectors face every day. This will be linked to evidence-based practice, policy objectives and social
development goals. (www.globalsocialagenda.org) We particularly want to leave visible signs forthe future in three areas: human rights and social equality; environmental change and sustainablesocial development; global social transformation and social action. For registration go to
http://www.swsd-stockholm-2012.org/

ICSW at the UN Commission for Social Development (CSocD)ICSW President Christian Rollet, South East Asia and the Pacific Regional President Braema
Mathiaparanam and European Regional President Eva Holmberg-Herrström represented ICSW thismonth at the UN Commission. ICSW submitted a statement on the major theme of poverty
eradication.
In our conclusions we said “Basic social protection for all is a must in an era of regular global crisis,increased economic insecurity and accompanying informalisation and casualization trends in thelabour market. The current global crises and the impact on workers in developed and developing
countries alike further underscore the importance of providing a social protection floor for poor
people as well as for the non-poor. For people living in poverty, the extension of some form of basicsocial protection will help avert their falling deeper into poverty; for the non-poor, such protection
will reduce their vulnerability to poverty.
Social protection is about preventing, supporting and promoting. Therefore, it is not only aboutprotection, but also about empowerment. It is not to create dependency, but to unlock thePage 1 of 4

productive capacity of women and men to participate in the economic, social and political lives, asworkers, employers, consumers and citizens.
The concept of social protection floor addresses essential rights and embraces all these elements:
policy coherence, gradualism starting from the basics, sustainability and empowerment.
ICSW identified five factors that are needed to take the social protection agenda forward:
Firstly, it is a matter of political will: to give the vision, to set the principles, to define the groundrules for the societies that we want; to be prepared to overcome fiscal constraints; to make thehard decisions and push forward.
Secondly, it requires finding resources to finance, on a sustainable basis, the implementation of thefloor. Mr Juan Somavia, the ILO director general, rightly says: “the world does not lack theresources to eradicate poverty, it lacks the right priorities.”
Thirdly, it demands a major effort in social dialogue. Dialogue is essential to shape common
objectives and strategies that respond to national specificity and to make the necessary
compromises. Empowerment of citizens and civil society organisations to take responsibility andinitiative in programmes to relieve poverty is essential. ICSW is assisting in this process and boththe Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and the Commonwealth Foundationhave assisted ICSW to conduct programmes to strengthen civil society’s engagement with theirgovernments on social protection.
Fourthly, while adopted as a universal concept, the social protection floor should be nationallyshaped within a framework of national-specific institutional structures, economic constraints,political dynamics and social aspirations. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.
Finally, increase in the level of protection should be envisaged as economies grow and financial andfiscal space widens. The floor cannot become a ceiling. But it should be understood as the first step
towards higher levels of protection, as well as creating the conditions for successful insertion of thepoor and disadvantaged in the labour market.
The United Nations Millennium Declaration recognised that poverty eradication ultimately rests withindividual countries. Poverty eradication is a shared responsibility and the Declaration urged for’strong partnerships’ to promote a more open and equitable system of international finance andtrade, to increase development assistance and to enhance international commitment to good
governance, development and poverty reduction. International partners can and must support andenhance individual country’s commitments to the above-mentioned pursuits. In this regard,international donors and institutions must continue to honour their development-aid commitments.
And multilateral institutions, such as the United Nations’ bodies and regional commissions; theWorld Bank and regional development banks, have to heed the criticisms of their poverty-reductionoperations, the resources they consume, and the impact of their programmes on poverty. These
institutions should remain at the front line in international development efforts but theirinternational, regional, and bilateral assistance must be better coordinated, less competitive andmore committed to narrow the gap between words and institutional action.
The full ICSW statement is at http://www.icsw.org/un/un.htm. The statement in UN languages is at
http://social.un.org/index/CommissionforSocialDevelopment/Sessions/2012/NGOsStatements.aspx
Before the Commission meeting Braema Mathiaparanam presented to the Civil Society Forum an
excellent paper on Bridging the Gap to Poverty Eradication – The Social Protection Floor Initiative.
This can also be found at http://www.icsw.org/un/un.htm.

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MSc Social Policy and Development: Non-Governmental Organisations
The course is aimed at students who want to know more about how NGOs work in international
development, who are you interested in issues of civil society, global social transformation,
development and social justice and want to know how to improve their own NGO's performance.
Since 1995, the London School of Economics (LSE) has provided innovative postgraduate training
for those working with or interested in, the world of NGOs and development.
Today, the NGO sector needs to be able to assess and develop its roles and it requires a new levelof expertise to meet the increasingly complex goals of development and relief work. NGOs are
now being expected to deliver projects and programmes more and more effectively as well as tocontribute to a healthy 'civil society'.
From 2012-13, the LSE is upgrading its provision with the launch of the new MSc Social Policy andDevelopment: Non-Governmental Organisations. The degree is taught by a team of leading
researchers in the field, each of whom has both research and hands on policy experience.
Located in the LSE's Department of Social Policy (rated the UK's top department in the ResearchAssessment Exercise), the new MSc Degree focuses on key issues such as the changing context ofdevelopment policy, NGO organisational issues and the theory and practice of civil society.
For further information please contact: Programme Administrator: Dianne Josephs,
d.e.josephs@lse.ac.uk Programme Director: Armine Ishkanian, a.ishkanian@lse.ac.uk
http://www2.lse.ac.uk/socialPolicy/Study/masters/mscNGOsAndDevelopment.aspx

UNRISD News
Business Regulation and Non-State Actors: Whose Standards? Whose Development?
This volume assesses the achievements and limitations of a new set of non-state ormultistakeholder institutions that are concerned with improving the social and environmental recordof business, and holding corporations to account.
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BF3C2/setLanguageCookie?OpenAgent&langcode=en&url=/80
256B3C005BCCF9/search/A387BDB9E46E7158C12579A400562AF6?OpenDocument&utm_campaign=email_alerts_weekly_20_2_2012&utm_medium=email_text&utm_source=en&utm_content=conte
nt_link
Maureen O’Neil Appointed Chair of the UNRISD Board
UNRISD announced that the Secretary-General of the UN has appointed
Maureen O’Neil of Canada as Chair of the UNRISD Board. Ms O’Neil willhold the position for a term of four years. Ms. O’Neil is President of theCanadian Health Services Research Foundation. On learning of her
appointment, Ms. O’Neil said “I am honoured to have been appointed by
the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Chair the UNRISD Board.
UNRISD has always put people at the centre of global policy research.
Fifty years of excellent work by researchers from every corner of theworld is a wonderful beginning for the next fifty. The struggle for humandignity and fairer societies needs ideas based on UNRISD’s solidevidence.”
Green Economy and Sustainable Development: Bringing Back the Social is the first of six
films in the series "Bringing the Social to Rio+20".
The film uses footage from recordings and interviews from the 2011 UNRISD conference, "GreenEconomy and Sustainable Development: Bringing Back the Social Dimension". It explores green
economy's potential as a path to inclusive, sustainable development and poverty eradication.
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BF3C2/setLanguageCookie?OpenAgent&langcode=en&url=/80
256B3C005BE6B5/search/1174A5D9EBF76836C125797C0039F31E?OpenDocument&utm_campaign=email_alerts_weekly_6_2_2012&utm_medium=email_text&utm_source=en&utm_content=content_link

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Social Watch Report 2012
The world’s most vulnerable groups in its poorest countries, such as women, poor farmers andindigenous populations, have been affected in multiple ways by the global financial and economiccrisis, including through retraction of credit availability, recession and by reduced official
development assistance from countries seeking to protect their own budgets. The Social Watch
report 2012 demonstrates that countries including Brazil, China and India, in which anti-crisis
policies were basically directed to support the poor in different ways, have recovered faster fromthe crisis than industrialized countries, which bailed out banks and rich people.
The stimulus in these countries focused on protecting jobs and wages, expanding social services or,in Brazil’s case, direct cash transfers to the poor. Where stimulus money reached the poor, it wasspent because poor people had no other choice. Stimulus packages given to banks or to the richand upper-middle class were saved, as a natural response to excess money — the fear of continued
crisis and a lack of confidence in recovery.
The report concludes that growing inequalities and unregulated finances are expropriating people
everywhere from their fair share in the benefits of global prosperity. Our children will inherit theburden of deforestation, desertification, erosion of biodiversity and climate change. To reverse thistrend, the promise of universal dignity brought by human rights has to be enforced and the rightsoffuture
generations
needtoberecognizedandproperlydefended.
The Report can be found at http://www.socialwatch.org/report2012

Global Population Ageing: Peril or Promise?
This report is the first product of the World Economic Forum’s(WEF) Council on the Ageing Society. The free “big picture” eBookcovers why, and how, our societies, policies and systems will need
updating in order to better manage global population ageing.
Global ageing, in developed and developing countries will dramatically alter the way that societies and economies work. The issues
covered include how individuals find fulfillment, at what age theyretire, their quality of life once they do retire; how governments
devise social contracts to provide financial security; how the older
and younger generations interact as they divide up the economicpie; how businesses manage staffing to compensate for shrinking
workforces; and how health systems respond to the altered needsof those living longer. To download the eBook
click http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GAC_GlobalPopulationAgeing_Report_2012.pdf
The content of this Global Newsletter may be freely reproduced or cited provided the source isacknowledged. Views do not necessarily represent policies of ICSW.
Newsletter Editor: Denys Correll Executive Director
ICSW, Plot 4, Berkeley Lane, Off Lugard Avenue,Entebbe, Uganda
Phone: +256 414 32 11 50
Website www.icsw.org Email: icsw@icsw.org
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