Social Workers Across Nations

NASW initiated the Social Workers Across Nations (SWAN) Project to provide a mechanism for social workers to take part in international social work programs to offer their expertise and skills to serve humanitarian needs within the international community on a voluntary basis and to develop collaborative linkages with organizations in other countries around the world. 

International Social Work Conferences and Events

NASW sponsors and coordinates several international conferences on social work:

• Strengthening the Social Welfare Workforce in Africa:  Investing in those who care for children - NASW, in collaboration with the PEPFAR Orphans and Vulnerable Children Technical Working Group and other key stakeholders, has been asked by USAID to convene a conference focusing on strategies to strengthen the social welfare workforce in Africa with the aim of improving the well-being and welfare of children orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS (November 2010). Click here to see the conference report.
• Joint World Conference of Social Work and Social Development in Hong Kong (June 2010). NASW support for conference and conference website
• UNAIDS Forum Series – NASW moderated this Forum on HIV, Human Rights and Men Who Have Sex with Men  (2009).
• Best Practices of Psychological Oncology Summit in Hungary  - NASW coordinated a psychosocial oncology summit in Hungary to address cancer care in the region (2008).
• 2007 – International Conference of Social Workers in the Russian Far East
• 2006-  IFSW World Conference, Munich Germany - NASW Presentations
• Social Work Public Education Strategies in the U.S.A
• Social Workers as Responders to Disasters
• Social Work in the United States: 50 Years of Challenge and Change
• Making the Social Work Profession an Essential Partner in International Development

International Consultancies

NASW staff provide consultancy support to countries through NGOs and associations of social workers:

• Cuba - 2011 SWAN-SWPI Delegations to Cuba
• Tanzania – Provide input at strategic planning meetings of the Tanzania Social Workers Association (2010) and collaborate on efforts to strengthen the organizational capacity of TASWO in uniting, promoting and regulating social workers addressing HIV/AIDS and other pertinent social work practice issues (ongoing) via American International Health Alliance (AIHA)
• Ethiopia – Carried out needs assessment focusing on the social work workforce, volunteers, and psycho-social care providers (2010); identify and develop training and exchange rtestecommendations (ongoing) via Physicians for Peace
• Rwanda and Uganda - Provided a multi-site needs assessment of psycho-social care with country-level programs and provided proposals for workforce capacity building (2008) via Physicians for Peace

Professional Exchanges with Social Work Associations

NASW hosts professional social workers from other countries for time limited exchanges.  The purpose of such exchanges is to provide the exchange professionals with a close up view of the various mechanisms involved in supporting and sustaining a professional social work workforce in the U.S. 

• Korea Association of Social Workers – starting April 2010, NASW is hosting a social work exchange professional from KASW
• Tanzania Social Workers Association – NASW is developing a work plan with TASWO to support exchange visits between the two organizations

International Delegations

NASW Executive Director Betsy Clark leads annual delegations of social workers to travel to an international location

• 2012 People to People Social Work Delegation to India
• 2011 People to People Social Work Delegation to Brazil
• NASW Staff Leads Social Work Delegations to Cuba
• 2010 People to People Social Work Delegation to Moscow and St. Petersburg
• 2009 People to People Delegation of Social Workers to Egypt
• 2008 People to People Delegation of Social Workers to South Africa  
• 2007 People to People Delegation of Social Workers to Cambodia
• 2006 People to People Delegation of Social Workers to China