Date Published: 15 March 2022
Today, ANZASW celebrates World Social Work Day. We join colleagues and social work employers across the globe in celebrating the unique and special contribution every social worker, social work educator and social service provider makes in the lives of the people they work with.
Social workers work in many fields and settings and are unsung heroes: from Women’s Refuge, palliative care, hospitals, community and iwi organisations, homelessness, mental health, to child protection and more. Social workers work to improve wellbeing and challenge the structures that cause inequity and injustice.
The theme for World Social Work Day is ´Co-building a New Eco-Social World: Leaving No One Behind´. Rose Henderson (ANZASW Life Member and International Federation of Social Workers Asia-Pacific Region President) explains more about the theme:
“As the world grapples with growing inequality, marginalisation, racism, fear, natural and man-made disasters and a global pandemic, ‘Co-building a New Eco-Social World: Leaving No One Behind’ invites us all to actively participate in global discussions that will develop shared values, policies and actions to advance a socially just and sustainable future for all people."
“‘Co-building’ values everyone’s diverse strengths, recognising humanities interdependencies and the need to respectfully work together in designing and planning the kind of world we want to live in and the kind of future we want for the next generations.
“‘New eco-social world’ highlights the global need to refocus our energies on ecological sustainability and preserving national resources for now and the future. Further, it promotes the need for new social relationships that provide all people with access to opportunities that will address current inequities, in order that people can achieve their full potential and be recognised as valued and thriving members of our community.
“‘Leaving no-one behind’ includes the importance of the relationships and social protection agreements between people and their governments. Such agreements should include accountability to all, dependability for all, as well as people’s responsibilities to one another and the planet. Leaving no one behind compels us to consciously value the richness of diversity and inclusivity.”
We acknowledge all social workers throughout Aotearoa and the world today – thank you for the hard mahi you do.
Today, we also acknowledge and remember those who lost their lives, those who survived, their loved ones, and our wider Muslim whānau on the 3-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks in Ōtautahi/Christchurch.
Today, we remember them.
Kia kaha, kia kotahi ra. As-salaam alaikum.
Our strength is our unity. Peace be unto you.
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