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ICSD Asia-Pacific Branch

ICSD Asia-Pacific Branch Office Bearers

Prof Asok Kumar Sarkar, Chairperson, ICSD Asia Pacific Branch
2022 - 2026

Professor Asok Kumar Sarkar presently serves as Head, Department of Social Work, Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan-731236, West Bengal, India. He is also Chairperson of the International Consortium for Social Development- Asia Pacific branch. He is an alumnus of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Formerly, he worked as Principal (Dean of Faculties), Institute of Rural Reconstruction, Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan, India & Head, Department of Social Work, Assam University, Silchar, Assam. He is the founding editor of Journal of Social Work and Social Development, a UGC-CARE listed journal (of India) and served from 2010 to 2017. His areas of research interests include maternal morbidity, reproductive health, health care, NGOs and social development.

Yolanda Germia Ealdama, Deputy Chair

Yolanda Germia Ealdama is the Deputy Chairperson of the International Consortium on Social Development – Asia Pacific (ICSD-AP). She is an Associate Professor of Social Work, College of Social Work and Community Development, University of the Philippines. She was Board Member at Large of the ICSD-AP from 2007 to 2010. She is a lifetime member of the International Association of Schools of Social Work and the Philippine Association of Social Workers, Inc. She is a member of the Asia and the Pacific Association of Social Work Educators, National Association of Social Workers, Inc. (Philippines), Association of Women in Development, and Society of Gender Professionals. She has a Master of Arts in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University, The Netherlands. 

Raj Yadav, Secretary

Raj Yadav, PhD, is a Lecturer in Social Work at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. His interest lies in the areas of social work and social development. He has published several articles in these areas in international journal, as well as he is author of the book ‘Decolonised and Developmental Social Work: A Model from Nepal’.

Srenwantee Bhattacharjee, Treasurer

Dr. Srenwantee Bhattacharjee is Assistant Professor of Social Work at St. Xavier’s University Kolkata, India. She is an alumnus from Miranda House and has an advanced degree in Social Work from University of Delhi. She has gone on to complete her Phd from Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal, India on the sexual health of the Launda dancers in India. Her interest areas are child rights, gender- sexuality and health. Her research interest lies is in documenting the experiences of LGBTQI community in India with focus on health issues and healthcare.

Members at large

Ignatius Chida

Ignatius Chida is a lecturer and a PhD candidate at Charles Sturt University, (New South Wales), in Australia. Ignatius has worked in various social work positions within government and non-governmental organisations both in Australia and overseas. Ignatius’ research interests include ageing in rural areas; settlement of skilled migrants; trans-cultural issues for refugees and migrants. His current PhD topic is: Waiting for home-based care support services: Informal and formal care experiences of rural older Australians and their caregivers. Ignatius has published peer reviewed book chapters and journal articles. 

Animesh Roy

Animesh Roy received his Doctoral Degree from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in 2015. He is presently working as an assistant professor at the Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow, India. His research interests include political economy of dispossession and development, global city-making and rural transformation, and the Khasi matrilineal society.  Many of his sole-authored research papers and critical comments have been published in refereed journals. He has also contributed chapters to two books ‘Agriculture in India: Crises and Prospects’ (2021) and ‘Land and Livelihoods in India’ (2020).  

Shyam Sundar Sarkar

Shyam Sundar Sarkar is an Assistant Professor at Department of Social Welfare, Islamic University, Kushtia-7003, Bangladesh. Currently, he is acting as the Head of the same department. Mr. Shyam earned his BSS (Honors) and MSS (Masters) degrees in Social Welfare respectively in 2015 and 2016 from the Institute of Social Welfare and Research, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He teaches Principles of Sociology, Introduction to Folklore, Criminology and Correctional Services, Community Organization and Community Development etc. courses at undergraduate level. His research interests include elderly people and their challenges, community development, migrant people, women’s violence, child welfare and disaster management. 

Yufei He

Yufei He obtained her PhD in Social Work and Social Administration from the University of Hong Kong in 2015. She is currently an associate professor in Social Work Department of Huazhong Agricultural University, China. Her research interests include political economy of development, agrarian change in China and developmental social work. She has published several SSCI and CSSCI articles,  Her research projects were supported by National Social Science Foundation of China, Humanities and Social Science Foundation of Ministry of Education of China, etc.

Suzanna Eddyono

Suzanna Eddyono obtained her PhD in Sociology from the University of Pittsburgh, USA. She is currently the Head of Master Program in Social Development and Welfare at the Department of Social Development and Welfare, the School of Social and Political Sciences (Fisipol), Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Indonesia.  She has also been the coordinator for the Curriculum Division of the Indonesian Association for Social Development since 2021. Her research interests focus on Gender, Family Policy, and Social Development; Nationalism and Memory of Development; and Citizenship and Social Inclusion/Exclusion. 

ICSD AP Background

At the 13th International Symposium of the IUCISD (previous name, Inter University Consortium for International Social Development) at Mumbai in January 2004, it was decided to constitute the regional body for the Asia-Pacific region.

The ICSD Asia Pacific Regional Branch is an operational arm of ICSD at a regional level.

The main mission of the branch is to further the aims and objectives of the ICSD within the Asia -Pacific region. It works towards achieving the following ICSD goals:

  1. Expand and refine the knowledge base of social development within the international context.
  2. Clarify the ethics, roles and skills required by social development practitioners.
  3. Assist in the development of educational programs and curriculum content based on the social development approach.
  4. Direct effort and resources to enable participation of both economically developing and developed countries in achieving social development goals.
  5. Sustain a process of mutual consultation and cooperative action among individual and institutional members.
  6. Work toward the creation and maintenance of peace and social justice internationally, nationally and locally.
  7. Assist members in economically developing and developed countries in the design, implementation and evaluation of social development projects.
  8.  

For detailed history and activities of the branch during 2004 to 2016, please visit: Please link the article in the PDF format.

 

Previous Officers

The ICSD Asia Pacific Regional Branch elects an Executive Committee to manage and guide its work, which consists of a:

Chairperson: Asok Kumar Sarkar, India 
Vice-Chairperson: Vacant 
Secretary: Sirojudin Abbas, Indonesia 
Treasurer: Mubarak Ali, Australia 
Member at Large: Swapan Garain, India 
Member at Large: Miyuki Inaba, Japan 
Member at Large: Habibur Rahman, Bangladesh 
Member at Large: Sarath Gamlath, Sri Lanka 
Member at Large: Tajeswani Patil, Australia
Two are vacant 
Executive committee members serve for four years.

The executive Committee is tasked with providing vision, engagement and monitoring of:

  1. regional ICSD aims and objectives;
  2. regional ICSD programs;
  3. building ICSD awareness and capacity in the region;
  4. building ICSD membership;
  5. ICSD networking and linkage opportunities;
  6. all administration, audit and financial oversight;
  7. capital and other ICSD Asia-Pacific Regional Branch funding requirements;

 

News and Events

  1. The branch is soliciting proposals from universities/organisations to host the  7th biennial conference  in 2018. If interested please contact Manohar Pawar (mpawar@csu.edu.au) or Asok Kumar Sarkar (asoksarkar2001@yahoo.co.uk).
  2. The branch successfully organised the sixth biennial  conference on ‘Social Work – Social Development and Sustainable Development Goals’, which was hosted by the  Dept of Sociology, University of Peradeniya, Kandy, Sri Lanka, from 29-30 September 2016. For details visit: https://arts.pdn.ac.lk/socio/events/conference.php
  3. ICSDAP Presidential awards
 

During the sixth conference, the  third ICSDAP Presidential Distinguished Senior Scholar award was conferred on Prof. Vijayan K. Pillai, School of Social Work, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, USA and  Editor, Social Development Issues, in recognition of his most outstanding contribution to the advancement of social development school of thought in social work and social welfare research, education and practice in the Asia Pacific region and beyond.

The second ICSDAP Presidential Distinguished Practitioner award was conferred on Mr. Ganesh Velautham, founder of  the Shivan Foundationand and Shivan New Labour Union, and Reverend Pastor Kumar Rasiah, Child Rights Executive Director for Fridsro,  for their outstanding contribution to welfare and social development of children and communities in Sri Lanka. 

 

Membership

Each fully paid member of the ICSD from the Asia Pacific region is a member of the branch. No additional fees, or charges will be levied by the ICSD Asia Pacific Regional Branch to its members. 
According to the option chosen, members have access to Social Development Issues journal.

Regional conferences

The branch organizes biennial regional conferences generally in even years. 
The details of previous conferences are listed below.

  1. “Globalisation, Development and Human Security in the Asia Pacific Region”,  hosted by the Faculty of Social Administration, Thammasat University, from 18-20 October 2006.
  2. “Social Development and Transition: Paths for Local and Global Partnerships”, hosted by the Department of Social Work,  Kadambari Memorial College of Science and Management. from 25-28 November 2008, at Dhilikhel Lodge Resort, Kabre, near Kathmandu, Nepal. 
  3. “Vision for Social Development in the Globalised Asia: Commonality and Diversity”. hosted by Seoul National University, Seoul, 10-12 November 2010.
  4. “Envisioning New Social Development Strategies Beyond Millennium Development Goals”, hosted by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Republic of Indonesia, Yogyakarta, from 27 -30 June 2012.
  5. “Human Development and Sustainability: Challenges and Strategies for the Asian Century”, hosted by the the Department of Social Work, Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan, West Bengal, India, January 16-18, 2015.
  6. ‘Social Work – Social Development and Sustainable Development Goals’, hosted by the  Dept of Sociology, University of Peradeniya, Kandy, Sri Lanka, from 29-30 September 2016. For details visit: https://arts.pdn.ac.lk/socio/events/conference.php

 

Branch activity related publications

Through the ICSDAP branch activities the following social development related literature has been published.

Books

Midgley, J.  and Pawar, M. (2017). Future direction in social development. Basignstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Pawar, M. (2014). Water and Social Policy. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 
Pawar, M. (2010). Community Development in Asia and the Pacific, New York: Routledge. 
Pawar, M. and Cox, D., (eds.) (2010). Social Development: Critical themes and perspectives. New York: Routledge.
Sarkar, A, K. and Ghosh, P. K (2017). Human Development and Sustainability: Challenges and Strategies (ed.). New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers.

Journal articles

Mohan, B. (2009).  Professor David Cox lecture on international social work, The entropy of developmentalism: modernity’s challenge to human dignity. Journal of Comparative Social Welfare, Vol. 25, No. 2, June 2009, pp. 173–184. 
Pawar, M. (2015). Action Research on Social Work Knowledge Creation and Dissemination from the Global South. British Journal of Social Work, 45 (4), 1357 – 1364, doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcv043 
Whitford, T. and Prunckun, H. (2017). Discreet, Not Covert: Reflections on Teaching Intelligence Analysis in a NonGovernment Setting, Salus Journal, 5 (1), p. 48-61. 

Guest edited special issue 
Pawar, M. (guest editor), (2008). Interventions in Disasters, a special issue of the Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development Vol.  18 (2).

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