33rd Global
Conference of ICSW
Tours, France, June 30th to July 4th
The dynamics of social welfare in globalization:
Lessons from the past, challenges for today and tomorrow
Print this pageProvisional programme of the conference
The 80th Anniversary of the International Council on Social Welfare will be held in Tours, France from the 30th of June to the 4th of July. It is a great opportunity to look back, to reflect on the current situation and to look forward.
2008 is also the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Social welfare, in the first decades of ICSW, was mainly restricted to social services and social work. Gradually, the domain was broadened to macro socio-economic issues, with an emphasis on social protection, and fighting poverty. In the last decades social development and globalization became important issues within ICSW.
Therefore, the ICSW Global Conference will focus on three domains of social welfare: social work, social protection and social development.
Speakers will be asked to reflect on where we have come from in each of the three areas then predict and speculate where we are heading.
- Main themes
Social work
Social Work refers nowadays to a broad field of social actions, social professions and social services. The change from welfare state to “workfare” state is challenging social work to move from just providing activities and services. Civil society and individual citizens are expected to be responsible for their own employability and looking for their own work. But in a society that rewards individualism the state needs to guarantee civil, human and social rights. We are not predicting the end of the welfare state. The state still needs to be responsible for guaranteeing equal opportunities. An unfettered market does not provide nor can it guarantee opportunities for all.
The operating rules of social welfare are not self-sufficient, especially in order to meet the needs of the most vulnerable.
Social protection
Social protection protects people from the great hazards of life and it requires a reallocation of means to some extent. Social protection systems are under pressure all over the world. The global economy has increased social costs. Social protection systems are under strain because of the deficiencies in global regulation, high unemployment, “indecent” or unacceptable labour conditions, massive migrations from poor to rich countries, and migration from rural to urban areas. Demographic trends, like the ageing of societies, are threatening the financial viability of many social protection systems. New risks are emerging, such as dependence and the need for long term care, sanitary crises or environmental issues. Social protection will have to be re-oriented. It is intolerable that less than a quarter of the world population has access to social protection. Reliable social protection can help families and societies to prevent irreversible losses of human and social capital and break the inter-generational cycle of poverty and exclusion. Universal policies, expanding coverage of social services, health insurance and social pensions are a crucial priority in achieving socially sustainable development.
Social development
Social development can be defined as the process of planned social change, designed to improve the welfare of the population as a whole, in conjunction with economic development and environmental protection. A distortion of the concept of social development has emerged. Some governments and international financial institutions have focused on poverty reduction rather than on social development. Poverty is only part of the problem. This has led to the implementation of policies oriented towards a part of the society instead of the society as a whole. Most experts in social development advocate more comprehensive strategies, including: community development, corporate social responsibility, strengthening civil society and guaranteeing human and social rights, all along the life course and whatever the vagaries of life. An index of human development has set up to include in the measure of growth a number of non economic ratios such as the average level of education, equity, non discrimination and child mortality rates.- Structure
Each day of the conference will begin with a plenary session. It will raise issues that will be explored further in three symposiums held simultaneously. In the afternoon, workshops will provide a further opportunity to examine the themes of the conference in-depth.
BELOW IS THE GENERAL FRAMEWORK OF THE CONFERENCE'S PROGRAMME. ACCESS THE DETAILED PROGRAMME FOR EACH DAY OF THE CONFERENCE THROUGH THE SUBDIVISIONS OF THE "Programme" RUBRIC
MONDAY JULY 30th16h-18h: opening session- Jean GERMAIN (France), Mayor of Tours
- Claude ROIRON (France), President of the County Council of Indre-et-Loire
- Solveig ASKJEM (Norway), President of the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW)
- Christian ROLLET (France), President of the French Committee on Social Welfare (CNAS)
- Michael RAPER (Australia), Vice-President of ICSW, Chair of the 33rd Conference of ICSW
- Opening speech, "Lessons of the past", by Patrice BOURDELAIS (France), Research Director at the French School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences
- Official of the French Government
The ceremony will be followed by a welcome cocktail reception hosted by the City of Tours
TUESDAY JULY 1st9h-10h30: first plenary sessionSOCIAL WORK: from providing activities to activating civil society and promoting human and social rights10h30-11h: coffee break
11h-12h30: symposiums- Symposium 1: The growing role of civil society, NGOs, empowerment of citizens
- Symposium 2: The role of social workers in the struggle against inequalities and discriminations
- Symposium 3: Individuals, families, communities…What are the targets for social work and social policies?
12h30-14h: working lunch
14h-15h30: 1st series of workshops
15h30-16h: coffee break
16h-17h30: 2nd series of workshops
Evening: dinner of the conference
WEDNESDAY JULY 2nd9h-10h30: second plenary sessionSOCIAL PROTECTION: under demographic and financial pressure, leading to workfare and challenging new risks10h30-11h: coffee break
11h-12h30: symposiums- Symposium 4: The demographic and financial pressure: the ageing of societies, clashes/solidarity between generations, public policies for families
- Symposium 5: Work and employment in a global world: decent work, migrations and workfare
- Symposium 6: Challenging new risks: dependence, long term care, occurrence of crises in humanitarian, sanitarian and environmental fields
12h30-14h: working lunch
14h-15h30: 3rd series of workshops
15h30-16h: coffee break
16h-17h30: 4th series of workshops
Evening: gala of the conference
THURSDAY JULY 3rd9h-10h30: third plenary sessionSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: from targeted policies on poverty reduction to human development10h30-11h: coffee break
11h-12h30: symposiums- Symposium 7: Poverty reduction and minimum income policies: results and limits
- Symposium 8: Human development: sustainable development, human rights, social policies and multiculturalism, basic education
- Symposium 9: How to finance human development: taxes, private funds, private-public partnerships, international assistance, “codevelopment”
12h30-14h: working lunch
14h-15h30: 5th series of workshops
15h30-16h: coffee break
16h-17h30: Closing session
- Denys CORRELL (Australia), Executive Director of ICSW
- Solveig ASKJEM (Norway), outgoing President of ICSW
- Christian ROLLET (France), President of CNAS and incoming ICSW President
- Christine FANG (Hong Kong), Chair, Organizing Committee of the 2010 Joint World Social Work and Social Development Conference
FRIDAY JULY 4th
FIELD VISITSMore than 15 visits of Social Welfare institutions are proposed. Registration for the visits will take place at the Conference venue during the welcoming of delegates.
- Email: contact@cnas-icsw.org © Copyright 2006 CNAS - Tous droits réservés - Crédits