What are our Recent Activities? 
 
ICSW has concentrated in recent years on the fundamental social issues of social development, poverty, employment and social exclusion. Some of our recent activities in these areas are summarised below.
 
Global Meetings
 
ICSW’s Global Conference is held every two years and covers a wide range of social development and social welfare issues. It usually attracts a thousand participants. Recent and future venues include Kuala Lumpur 2004, Brazil 2006, France 2008 and Hong-Kong 2010.

A Global Civil Society Forum is convened every year in New York immediately before the meeting of the UN Commission for Social Development. It is addressed by leading governmental and civil society experts from around the world.

Regional Meetings
 
ICSW conducts conferences in some regions. In other regions the focus has moved away from conferences as resources are now spent on bringing leaders together for training on issues such as building national councils and influencing government budgets and policy.
 
Publications
 
Global Social Policy Journal (GSP)
ICSW has entered into an agreement to support the Global Social Policy Journal. In particular, ICSW is sponsoring a the section Observatory on the Global South. “What''s NEW?” brings you the latest issue.

ICSW acknowledges that this sponsorship of Global Social Policy has been made possible through grants from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
 
International Social Work (ISW)
International Social Work is the official journal of the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) and the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW.) Together these bodies represent the interests of individuals concerned with social work, social welfare and development across the world.
 
Other recent publications
Other recent publications include Globalisation and Social Development and briefing papers on Civil Society and regional groupings of governments including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC). Each publication focuses on creating and enhancing the interface between civil society and regional intergovernmental groupings. Future editions will include a guide to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation.

In addition to this there are Annual Reports and monthly newsletters for members at both global and regional levels.

Our website, www.icsw.org, carries a wide range of information and references in relation to social development and social welfare.
 
Advocacy
 
Each year ICSW prepares a well researched statement on the main theme of the United Nations Commission for Social Development. The statement is sent to all members of ICSW with the request that they submit it to their government. Recent themes have been "Review of the first UN Decade for the Eradication of Poverty 1997-2006" and "Promoting full employment and decent work for all". Copies of the statements are on this website.

The policies advocated at these meetings have been published in widely-distributed policy statements.
 
ICSW delegations meet with senior Ministers around the world, officials of the UN, key international organisations and other people with responsibility for making or implementing policies in our areas of interest.
 
Training and Support
 
Capacity-building workshops have been conducted for our members and other civil society organisations in Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Black Sea Countries. They include topics such building national councils and influencing government budgets.
 
In recent years, ICSW has obtained funding to provide training to members and to enable members from the Global South to represent issues as ICSW delegates at international and regional conferences.