Date and Time: 5 November 2025, 3:00 Qatar time
Venue: Room 10 Qatar National Convention Centre, Doha
On November 5, IASSW is sponsoring a session on universal social protection as part of the United Nations Second World Summit for Social Development in Qatar. The IASSW session will be held on Wednesday, November 5, at 3:00 Qatar time. It will be in-person only, but the organization is exploring ways to share the session with members. The plenary sessions of the Summit and the companion NGO Forum will be available on UNTV.
The Summit is organized as a review and reaffirmation of the promises of the World Social Summit held in Copenhagen in 1995. This landmark event in social development identified three pillars of social development: poverty eradication, full employment, and social integration, further explicated in a Plan of Action and 10 Commitments. These remain highly relevant today. Planners for the Second World Summit also recognize newer challenges, especially climate change and inequality. We hope that the Second Summit will be equally impactful.
IASSW, led by President Antoinette Lombard, Secretary Janestic Twikirize and Main UN Representative Lynne Healy, has been working for several months with the leadership of the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW), the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), and the International Consortium for Social Development (ICSD) to develop jointly supported proposals for the Summit. Each organization holds consultative status as an NGO with the UN.
Full IASSW Session Title: Universal Social Protection as a Pillar of Just Society: Why it Matters and What Can be Done
Lead Sponsor: International Association of Schools of Social Work
Date and Time: Wednesday, November 5. 3:00-4:15 pm.
Location: Qatar National Convention Center, Room 10
Session Speakers are:
Janestic Twikirize, IASSW Secretary, Makerere University, Uganda
Shirley Gatenio Gabel, Fordham University and IASSW UN Representative
Priska Fleischlin, IFSW Global UN Commissioner
Mahesh Chougule, Thammasat University, Thailand and ICSD
Gloria Kirwan & Kristina Brown, RCSI University of Medicine & Health Sciences, Ireland, and ICSW
Closing plea: Sergei Zelenev, President, ICSW
Moderator: Antoinette Lombard, President, IASSW
To read the concept note for the IASSW session, click here:
For more information on the SWSSD, go to https://social.desa.un.org/world-summit-2025
