Joint World Conference on Social Work and Social Development: Wednesday 11 July

5.54pm: Jessica Fuhl writes

If you’re following coverge of the conference outside of Stockholm, then you might it useful to take a look at the #SWSD2012 hashtag on Twitter for the latest responses from attendees at the event.

In the meantime, here’s an overview of some tweets form the conference this afternoon.

5.27pm: Jessica Fuhl writes

Bert Alberg is press officer at the Joint World Conference on Social Work and Social Development. He explains why events like the one this week are so important.He was also involved in the organisation of the conference. Read more about it online here.

3.26pm: Clare Horton writes

Earlier today I grabbed a quick interview with Prof Gary Bailey, president of the International Federation of Social Workers, who will give a speech during the conference closing ceremony tomorrow. He spoke about paperwork, social work’s status, morale, and sitcom Everyone Loves Raymond.

What’s the benefit of an event like this?
The ability for people to come together in dialogue, to discuss, debate – in the most positive definition of that word. People have been afraid to come to places with differing views because of the way we observe our leaders not behaving well.
The ability to disagree respectfully, to be informed, to challenge preconceived ideas and notions.
To have those “ah-ha” moments is what a conference or this sort of meeting is for; to take you away from your day to day, to put you in an environment of thinking and learning.
So much of our day to day routine is meeting someone else’s timeline. The ability to think and process is often limited to the hours between 10pm and midnight.
The ablity to meet people from different countries, regions, cities and towns – or different organisations that don’t always have the time to be together in a sharing community.
Part of the job from academia to practice is paperwork. It is part of the bane of everyone’s existence, you are always being challenged to stay on top of the paperwork, to respond to emails. All of those things are part of the day to day and have really changed the nature of the work from when I started 30 years ago.

 Form filling: a necessary evil. Photograph: Camerique/Archive PhotosIs there anything that can be done to ease the problem of too much paperwork?
You cannot escape the paperwork – it is attached to funding, it is attached to the evidence. If you work in a hospital, you can’t not do a client chart. If you are doing care in the community, you have to make sure your records are done. It is a necessary evil.

What are the commonalities between social workers around the world?
It is about understanding the humanity of the individuals and the communities we are there to work with.

Does social work have an image problem?
We are made fun of in the media. If there is a social worker character on a show, they are the butt of a joke. There are a few exceptions – in Everybody Loves Raymond, there was a wonderful example of a couple talking about going into therapy and seeing a clinical social worker; Mariah Carey in the film Precious was a welfare worker; and there was a show called East Side/West Side with George C Scott that was way ahead of its time. But we have to work to change the preceptions of social workers.

What does social work mean to you?
It means a caring, competent, confident human being who practises through a human rights and social justice perspective.

12.36pm: Jessica Fuhl writes

John Halloran, director of the European Social Network, has been speaking this morning on managing the transformation of services from institutional to community care.

He explained that his role with the Network is to “bridge the gap between European policy-making and local care practice and management”, and talked about some of the challenges he faced in closing down institions in countries in Europe and moving care elsewhere.

He explained that, in his view, care in large institutions is not compatible with his vision for a system where service users are listened to. Halloran explained that there is a huge “hidden population” in Europe of people living in long-stay institutions, including:

• 1.2 million people with disabilities
• 300,000 persons with mental health problems
• 150,000 children

The director of the Network explained that “institutions may provide physical security, but they also foster dependancy and over-protection”. He said that it was up to social workers to contribute toward making a powerful case for non-institutionalised care, through inherent social work principles and international human rights. A quote from the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) ended the presentation:

Social work promotes social change, problem solving in human realtionships as well as the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance wellbeing.

In solidarity with those who are disadvantaged, the profession needs to… promote social inclusion.

10.50am: Jessica Fuhl writes

There was quite a big response on Twitter to this morning’s plenary speakers at the Joint World Conference on Social Work and Social Development here in Stockholm, so here’s a short overview that we’ve put together.

We’re retweeting people’s reactions to the speakers – both here at the conference and those following elsewhere – so do let us know your thoughts by using the#SWSD2012 hashtag.

9.58am: Clare Horton writes

Martin Luther King award winner Mehdi Gharbi, citizen journalist and founder of the Tunisnews newsletter, is discussing the role social media played in the Arab Spring. He has replaced planned speaker Rabeb Othmani, who was not able to get a visa to come to Sweden.

Gharbi says:

We chose the non-violence way to change

He describes new technology as an e-weapon, an alternative to violence. His newsletter has the goals of fighting injustice, corruption, nepotism and torture.

With humour he describes how he combined his full-time job and role as a father of four with editing the newsletter. He tells how on 1 December 2008, with 16-hour days taking their toll, he decided to end the newsletter, but he relented just two days later after supporters urged him to reconsider the decision.

He concludes:

Change begins from the people and non-violence is the best way to change, the only way.
His speech receives a standing ovation from delegates and Gharbi takes a photograph of the audience from the platform.

You can follow tweets from the conference via the hashtag #SWSD2012

9.42am: Clare Horton writes

Chakib Benmoussa, president of the economic and social council of Morocco, is discussing the social policy consequences of the Arab Spring. He says the conference is timely, as the world is facing a number economic and social crises, and getting out of the crisis will take time and will leave its mark. He says:

A year on we have to ask: to what extent have the people’s economic, political and social demands been met?
The cost paid by a large part of society has been particularly high … People must remain vigilant lest the original aims be diverted

Only time will tell whether the necessary structural reforms can be introduced, he adds, and the countries of the region must find a way of finding a more inclusive form of government.

In Morocco, the reform pace has picked up speed, he says – thanks to the 2011 movements – culminating in a new constitution. The country is finding its own path to democracy and social inclusion. In addition to the political sector, Morocco has paid attention to economic and social development, with both top-down and bottom-up initiatives. Morocco has more than 40,000 active civil society organisations, he says.

He summarises:
• In an increasingly complex and uncertain world in which the pace of change is extremely fast, we must realise that we have to constantly reinvent the future.
• The current development model has shown limitations, a new social pact around the social welfare floor would be one way of building trust
• Globalisation transcends borders in allowing international social development but it raises many concerns due to excesses and gains are unfairly distributed

9.17am: Clare Horton writes

Malcolm Payne concludes his presentation by saying:

Commitments to rights and social justice is not enough … social work is about achieving social solidarity.

He says social work should not be about specifiying problems, but should aim to specify positive action, and “disrupt” negative behaviour.

8.54am: Clare Horton writes

Good morning from the third full day of the Joint World Conference on Social Work and Social Development in Stockholm. The Guardian social care network is international media partner for the convention, which brings together frontline professionals, students and social work tutors from around the world.

You can see our coverage before and during the event on our Stockholm 2012 hub; and here’s our account of what happened yesterday at the conference.

Today’s event is getting underway with a session on global social development and social action.

Writer, blogger and social work consultant Malcolm Payne, who wrote a piece for the network about the role of social justice in social work, is discussing human solidarity in global relationships. He says:

The job of social work is about being there for people like brothers and sisters are.
Social work is human, it is about human relationships, even if it is working with communities and groups, what we need to try to work towards is being brothers and sisters with each other.
There is a distinctive aim in social work. We are trying to hep people achieve social solidarity. In order to do that, we have to respond positively to the differences between us – the differences between men and women, people of different ethicities, people with disabilities. We have to translate between people of different cultures.

The economic system is going through a period of change, he says, and
we need a new strategy for social wellbeing and to make a case for social work in any new economic order.