Social work rises to a new level

Social Work Day at the United Nations is part of a global campaign to reposition the profession, say David Jones and Rory Truell

The social work profession has risen to a new level of global influence and recognition during the week of world social work activity culminating in Social Work Day at the United Nations on 26 March. In a co-ordinated series of events at UN offices in New York, Geneva, Nairobi, Santiago de Chile and Bangkok and at the Commonwealth headquarters in London, representatives of the three global professional bodies will celebrate the worldwide contribution of social work and social development professionals to tackling the social challenges of individuals and communities.

A new joint statement, launched today The Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development: the Commitments, will be received in New York, Geneva and London.

The week has seen a coordinated programme of events in social work agencies, universities and voluntary organisations around the world. In the UK there have been events in Belfast, Perth, Cardiff and Stoke-on-Trent with a parliamentary reception in Westminster.

This week of hectic activity is the outcome of a determined global programme designed to raise the self-confidence, morale and influence of the social work profession around the world in a decade-long strategy lead by the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) and International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW). These bodies shared the frustration of social workers and social development professionals all around the world that their work often went unrecognised and the profession lacked the respect of politicians. This will seem a familiar scenario to UK social workers.

Almost 10 years ago the three organisations recognised their responsibility not only to provide visible global leadership but also to reposition the social work profession as making a visible and strategic contribution to addressing the growing world social crisis. They decided to hold joint, biannual world conferences and agreed to link these events to a global agenda-building process.

Consultation through member organisations and on the web was launched in 2008 leading up to the Hong Kong conference in 2010, attended by 3,000 participants. The outcome of the consultation and the conference was the first iteration of the agenda highlighting four key themes: social and economic inequalities within countries and between regions; dignity and worth of the person; environmental sustainability and the importance of human relationships.

A further round of open consultation culminated in a meeting in Ghana in November 2011, resulting in the document launched this week. The 2012 world conference on social work and social development being held in Stockholm in July, supported by the Guardian, is entitled The Global Agenda: Action and Impact, turning the focus on implementation and action.

In 2010, Helen Clark, the third most senior official in the United Nations and former prime minister of New Zealand, called on social workers to speak up, get involved with the UN agendas and to challenge inequality and injustice.

“There are so many complementarities and synergies between the UN agenda and the work of social workers; we must find better ways to work together,” she said. Two years later, the challenge has been met. The global bodies are speaking up not only for social justice but also for social workers themselves.

• David Jones is immediate past president and Rory Truell is secretary general of the International Federation of Social Workers