The ICSD Board calls for individual and institutional members to submit expressions of interest to host the 26^th Biennial Symposium to be held in 2029. The symposium will take place at a critical time as the UN Agenda 2030 comes to an end and new agreements are negotiated to give effect to the Doha Declaration adopted at the Second World Summit for Social Development in 2025.

Potential convenors are expected to cooperate with host cities to develop their proposals for hosting the symposium. The ICSD wishes to encourage ICSD members to consider regions where the ICSD has not had a symposium previously to encourage wider participation and grow the ICSD’s footprint around the world.

All proposals will be reviewed and ranked by a sub-committee appointed by the President. After proposals are reviewed, the Executive Board votes and approves the proposal/location of next symposium and the theme.

The guidelines for hosting biennial events are contained in the manual.

The host institution, city and theme of the 2029 biennial conference will be announced at the 25^th Biennial Symposium in Atlanta Georgia in July 2027.

Expressions of interest should be submitted 30 July 2026 and emailed to Dr Mahesh Chougule, ICSD Secretary General 

The International Consortium for Social Development (ICSD) is deeply saddened by the passing of Professor James Midgley.  James  was one of the world’s foremost scholars in social welfare and social development.  His work shaped the field over more than five decades. Through his groundbreaking scholarship, influential books and extensive body of research, he helped establish social development as a recognised field of social enquiry and practice internationally.

Professor Midgley was among the most prolific scholars in social work and social development, authoring and editing over 40 books, publishing over a hundred and fifty chapters in books and  more than one hundred peer-reviewed journal articles, and contributing extensively to international debates on poverty, inequality, social protection, social policy and social justice in the Global South. He also showed through his writings how the lessons learnt from the Global South were pertinent to finding solutions in the Global North. Professor Midgely was a mentor to many and a thought-leader.  His work influenced generations of scholars, practitioners and policymakers across the world and will continue to guide the field for years to come.

For more than 40 years, Professor Midgley was a dedicated member of the ICSD community. He served with distinction on the Management Board of the ICSD’s journal, Social Development Issues   and was one of its longest serving book editors. His wisdom, leadership, intellectual generosity, and unwavering commitment to social development will be deeply missed.

We extend our heartfelt condolences to his wife, Khadija Midgley, his family, friends, colleagues, former students, and all who were privileged to know and work with him.

ICSD is honoured to announce an estate gift of $84,111 from the Christobel C. Sanders Trust. The gift will sustain the biennial Dan Sanders Peace and Social Justice Memorial Lecture in perpetuity and reflects the lifelong commitment of Dr. Daniel S. Sanders and Christobel C. Sanders to peace, human rights, social justice, and international social development.

 Dr. Daniel S. Sanders (1928–1989) was ICSD’s founding president and one of the principal architects of the organisation. Born in Sri Lanka, he helped build social work education in his home country before continuing his academic career in the United States. As ICSD’s first president, he played a central role in transforming a regional North American initiative into a global multidisciplinary consortium, expanding international partnerships and shaping the organisation’s long-standing commitment to peace, multiculturalism, and social development. Christobel C. Sanders carried forward this commitment after Daniel’s death in 1989. Born in Sri Lanka in 1933, she was a partner in Daniel’s work and a dedicated supporter of social work education and international collaboration. Through fellowships, lectureships, and scholarships, the Sanders family has supported institutions and communities across the world.

The Sanders Endowment will support the Dan Sanders Peace and Social Justice Memorial Lecture, a central feature of ICSD’s biennial symposium since 1989. In line with the terms of the trust, the fund will support the lecture in perpetuity, including a lecturer stipend and, where funds allow, travel, dissemination, and related scholarly activities. At its meeting on 20 April, the ICSD Board of Directors approved formal guidelines for the stewardship and use of the Sanders Endowment. These guidelines are intended to ensure responsible management of the fund, alignment with donor intent, and preservation of the principal of care for future generations.

ICSD expresses its deep gratitude for the enduring legacy of Daniel and Christobel Sanders. Their shared vision of international collaboration, human rights, and social development continues to guide ICSD and inspire scholars and practitioners around the world.

ICSD announcement

As ICSD moves from strategic reflection to implementation, the organisation is now inviting members to help shape its engagement with the United Nations in a more structured and sustained way.

Following the adoption of preliminary guidelines for ICSD-UN engagement, ICSD will appoint representatives to support its work with UN social development processes, particularly the Commission for Social Development (CSocD) and the NGO Committee for Social Development. This marks an important next step in strengthening ICSD’s contribution to global policy dialogue after the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha.

ICSD will appoint six representatives entitled to UN passes: the President or nominee, one focal point coordinator, one NGO CSocD representative, and three regional focal point representatives. Together, they will form an ICSD-UN Engagement Sub-Committee responsible for coordinating participation, monitoring UN developments, building partnerships and coalitions, facilitating regional engagement, reporting to the Board, and communicating relevant opportunities to members and branches.

Members interested in serving in one of these roles are invited to submit an expression of interest. Applicants should demonstrate relevant expertise in social development, knowledge of the Doha Declaration, some experience with UN processes, coalition-building and networking skills, and the ability to support or fund their participation where in-person attendance is required.

Applications should include a short letter of motivation, an updated CV, and a brief funding plan for participation.

Deadline for submissions: Friday, 19 June 2026
Please submit via email to: Dr Mahesh Chagoule, Secretary General.

This call is an invitation for members to contribute actively to ICSD’s growing global engagement and to help ensure that the organisation’s UN work remains transparent, inclusive, evidence-informed and connected to its regional and scholarly communities.

Term of appointment

• Appointments are for three years, renewable based on performance. Performance indicators include:
  • Meeting attendance
  • Reporting and communication with members
  • Leadership and networking
  • Active engagement
  • Collaboration with partners

The President, after consultation with the Executive Council, is satisfied that the election was conducted in keeping with good electoral practice, and has requested the Chair of the Nominations Committee, Prof Roar Sundby to release the results. Congratulations to the five candidates who were duly elected. We look forward to working with you. 

Leila Patel, President, ICSD   

Announcement by Prof Roar Sundby

The Nominations Committee wishes to announce the election results for five new Members at Large who will serve on the ICSD Board.

The following members were elected

1. Gordana Berc
2. Hannae Kanno
3. Wassie Kebede
4. Jo Ann Regan
5. Eric Schade

The ranked voting system on the Balotilo platform was used. The Condorcet method was used to calculate the outcome. Balotilo calculates the winner by counting the number of times one candidate is selected over other candidates. No weighting is applied. Balotilo recommends that if there are more than two candidates, the ranked voting system is the fairest approach. Congratulations to the newly elected representatives, and thank you to every person who put themselves forward for nomination.

Issued by:

Prof Roar Sundby (Chairperson)

Prof Lauren Graham (Vice President, Special Projects)

Prof Asok Kumar Sarkar (Chairperson of the ICSD Asia Pacific Branch)

As the global community gathered in Doha for the Second World Summit for Social Development (WSSD2), one message resonated clearly across sectors and regions: the world is at a critical inflection point for social development. Three decades after the adoption of the Copenhagen Declaration, the promises of poverty eradication, decent work, and social inclusion remain both urgent and unfinished. Against a backdrop of overlapping crises—from the long-tail impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic to rising living costs, conflicts, climate disruptions, and democratic backsliding—the need to reassert shared values, renew political will, and scale evidence-based solutions has never been greater.

It was within this context that the International Consortium for Social Development (ICSD), together with UNRISD, the Centre for Social Development at Washington University, UNESCAP, and Development Pathways, convened a focused solution-driven session at WSSD2. Building on decades of research, advocacy, and cross-sector collaboration, the session highlighted innovative approaches that are already advancing the goals of economic inclusion, universal social protection, decent work, and social integration. Partners shared insights on what works, where progress is lagging, and how collective action—grounded in human rights and strengthened by technological and institutional innovation—can accelerate meaningful change.

What followed was a rich discussion that not only addressed key global challenges but also offered practical, evidence-backed recommendations to help countries translate social development commitments into real gains for people and communities. The session’s key issues and recommendations are summarised below.

Key issues
1.Significance and relevance of cash transfers + livelihood strategies to promote economic inclusion. How do people use cash transfers? What are their motivations: Strong desire for self-efficacy; and desire to work.
2. Should cash transfers be conditional or unconditional?
3. Key global issues identified in the UNRISD global survey: growing inequality, climate change, lack of access to basic services, universal social protection and decent work; gender inequality, poor governance, democratic backsliding and erosion of human rights.
4. Innovative use of research/knowledge infrastructure, policy implementation infrastructure and professional training infrastructure for financial capacity building and child development accounts.
5. The global poverty issue and the approaches found in the Asia-Pacific region
6. Is universal social protectional feasible and what percentage of GDP can achieve it? What are the political economy issues relating to implementing universal social protection?

Key recommendations for action
1. Research evidence suggests that universal social protection is feasible. By carefully addressing taxpayers’ concerns and with proper design and implementation – and by building systems over a period of 10-20 years – all low- and middle-income countries could build universal social security systems at a global average maximum cost of 1.6% of GDP. In most countries, the annual increase in expenditure would be no more than 0.1% of GDP, which is well within the resources of most countries. There is no need for international donor funding for countries to achieve universal social security.

2. To eradicate poverty, human capital formation across the life course focusing on nutrition, education and health, and on women and girls needs to be promoted; creation of decent jobs and inclusive employment strategies, access to social protection and community-based initiatives and participatory governance models, such as cooperatives are necessary.

3. Countries should invest in active labour market programmes to support families, in combination with tax-financed social security schemes.

4. Strategically integrate research, policy implementation and professional social work training infrastructure to develop financial capacity of households and child development accounts to prevent people falling into poverty and remaining behind.

5. Labour protection, fair wages, investment in clean energy, focus on wellbeing economy, tax reforms, fair trade, climate finance and disaster risk reduction, civil society and trust building, recognition of Indigenous knowledge, and rejection of means testing for core lifecycle social security schemes.

6. Combining cash transfers with livelihoods support strategies are needed to strengthen the agency and human capabilities of recipients to improve income, employment and related social development outcomes.

7. End exploitation of countries, tax havens and debt burdens and improve governance systems and policy implementation.

8. Promote global cooperation and collaboration among all the sectors—government, nongovernment, business, civil society and university for peer learning, capacity building, policy innovation, and advocacy to ensure inclusive social development.

9. Strengthen democratic governance, accountability and evidence-based policy making that focuses on improving the lives of people and marginalized groups, safeguards the environment, and fosters global cooperation, peace and solidarity. Co-creation and inclusive decision-making emerge as a way forward to fix our broken social contracts.

A strategic global partnership between four leading international organisations — the International Consortium for Social Development (ICSD), the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW), and the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) — delivered a joint intervention from the floor at the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha on 5 November 2025. The statement was presented by Prof. Antoinette Lombard, representing the collective voice of these four organisations.

Together, the partners bring a rich history in promoting welfare and social development spanning close to a century, with a footprint that “covers all corners of the globe incorporating local, regional and national formations in communities, professions, academia and workspaces.

The statement highlighted how this strategic alliance links global policy to local action and provides renewed momentum to accelerate the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the welfare and development field.

Affirming Global Commitments

Aligned with the theme of Round Table 2, the submission reaffirmed the partners’ “commitment to the implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration, Agenda 2030 and the Doha Declaration.”

It further called for “closing the gap in making smart investments in human capital development and in the design of integrated multidimensional and multi-sectoral policies across the priorities and cross-cutting themes.”

The organisations also “affirmed the importance of the inclusion of a pillar of social care and support to promote gender equality and social inclusion,” and “suggested pointers for strengthening social services and community-based development programs as a vital component of the care and support pillar.”

Collective Work and Global Impact

In the lead-up to the Summit, “our partners have held consultative forums, conferences, work sessions and preparatory meetings in different regions of the world.” As accredited members of ECOSOC, “these insights were shared by our respective representatives at various UN forums to shape the Doha Declaration.”

The submission emphasised that the partners’ collective contribution:
• “Provides a bridge between global policy commitments and the search for actionable solutions in different societal contexts that have deep roots in people-centered development at local levels.”
• “Is informed by research and contributes to education and professional practice.”
• “Offers groundbreaking integrated evidence-based innovation in reducing poverty, overcoming systemic inequalities, linking social protection, employment, social integration and ensuring just technological and energy transitions.”
• “Stems from research and practice in promoting the inclusion of left behind groups by delivering protection, care and psychosocial support, developing human capabilities, asset building and financial capabilities, navigating life transitions, promoting resilience, empowerment, strengthening livelihoods, transforming unjust social systems and improving human relations.”

The statement also reaffirmed the partnership’s ongoing efforts to “foster social integration through inclusive social policies and intergenerational initiatives, advance gender equality through education and advocacy, and ensure access to quality education and healthcare by supporting evidence-based policy and service innovation.”

Finally, it underscored the organizations’ shared mission to “mobilize international cooperation by connecting global research and local practice, fostering partnerships that enhance the social dimension of sustainable development.”

A Shared Vision for the Future

The intervention highlighted the enduring value of collaboration among social development actors in shaping a more equitable, just, and sustainable future. Through research, advocacy, and people-centered practice, ICSD, IASSW, ICSW, and IFSW reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring that social development remains at the heart of global progress.