ICSD

30 June 2025

Dear ICSD Members and Friends,

We are pleased to present the ICSD Newsletter, June 2025.

As this is the final newsletter under my presidency, I am beginning with universal prayer from the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad.

Om asato ma sadgamaya — lead us from untruth to truth
Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya — lead us from darkness to light
Mrtyor ma amrtam gamaya -lead us from mortality to immortality
Om Shanti Shanti Shantii! –  Peace, peace, peace!

ॐ असतो मा सद् गमय

तमसो मा ज्योतिर् गमय

मृत्योर् माम्रतं गमय

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः

The conflicts, wars, destruction, and violence against innocent people and the environment that we see so disturbingly are deeply troubling manifestations of ignorance, darkness. Social development is about truth seeking, overcoming ignorance, discovering knowledge, lighting dark areas, and evolving toward immortality. The consciousness of the pioneers of this consortium has evolved into the International Consortium for Social Development (ICSD) for over 50 years. A remarkable milestone in any organization’s life! Their efforts in the form of ICSD and the consortium’s deeds are and will remain immortal.

At the outset, we would like to pay rich tributes to Frank Paiva, whose initiative, along with his colleagues, gave birth to the Mid-West University Consortium for International Social Development. Later changed to Inter University Consortium for International Social Development and now known as ICSD.  Please see a brief memorial note on Frank Paiva on p. 20.

Unlike the lull that typically follows the biennial international conferences, the ICSD has kept us actively engaged. We have much to report to you.

Welcome to Members

I would like to thank and welcome all the following new individual and institutional members as well as the existing members who have renewed their memberships.

Institutional Membership

• Univerza v Ljubljani Fakulteta za socialno delo

Individual Membership

Note: Apologies if we have missed your name.

If your membership has expired, I would appreciate if you renew the same. Many colleagues are interested in ICSD; it is a matter of reaching out to them. Please encourage interested colleagues and institutions to take membership. 

Golden Jubilee of the ICSD

Celebrating ICSD’s 50th Anniversary at the 24th ICSD Biennial International Conference organised at the Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Kochi, Kerala, India, was a proud moment and movement for all of us.

As part of the 50th Anniversary, we remembered and honoured all the pioneers and presidents of the ICSD and presented a specially designed 50th Anniversary Plaque to them (see pages 8 and 9). Their kind and generous messages were read at the conference. Thank you. We also presented plaques to all the previous and current office bearers of the ICSD to recognize their services (see pages 16–19).  Significant effort and time went in designing and plaques. I would like to thank Prof. Ram Ramanathan and Mr. Jeetendra J., who worked hard with me to produce and deliver these plaques at the conference.

ICSD 50th Anniversary Special Edition of Social Development Issues (SDI) was released, and print copy was distributed to all conference participants.

The 24th ICSD Biennial Conference

The 24th ICSD Biennial International Conference themed Innovations in Social Work and Social Development: Uniting Communities across the Globe for Sustainable Change was successfully organized at the Rajagiri College of Social Sciences (RCSS), Kochi, Kerala, India, from 8 to10 January 2025. See photo on pages 7 and 22 to 25.

One of the highlights of this conference was that the ICSD’s 50th anniversary was inaugurated by the Honourable Chief Minister of Kerala, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan  (see page 5). I had an opportunity to thank the Chief Minister for sparing his time to attend this event. It was extensively covered in the media. See sample clippings on pages 5 and 6.

The other highlights included: Shanti Khniduka Social Development Lecture delivered by Hon. Member of the Parliament Manoj Jha and Dan Sanders Peace and Social Justice Lecture delivered by former Hon. Member of the Parliament Jawahar Sircar. See photos on page 7.

James Billups International Social Development Leadership Award was presented to founding member and former president of the ICSD, Shanti K. Khinduka and former editor of SDI, Brij Mohan (see page 9).

I would like to thank the RCSS, Fr. Saju M. D., Dr. Kiran Thampi and Dr. George P., organizing committee members and volunteers for their leadership in organizing the 24th ICSD Conference.

The Second World Summit for Social Development

As the Second World Summit for Social Development is a significant global event and it is relevant to the ICSD to participate and contribute, ICSD has initiated the following activities:

1. The ICSD Board appointed a committee comprising Profs. Leila Patel, Ram Ramanathan, Bipin Jojo, Ben Lough, and Manohar Pawar (Chair). 
2. The committee finalized a set of draft questions to be discussed during the forum/workshop at the 24th ICSD Conference.
3. The forum was organised at the 24th ICSD conference to seek input from the conference participants, including ICSD members. Prof. Lauren Graham volunteered to become a point-of-contact if members want to give further feedback through email. Participants were asked to submit their ideas either to Prof. Lauren Graham or Manohar Pawar.
4. The summary of points discussed was communicated to the committee and reported on page 10 of this newsletter.
5. Working in collaboration with other organizations such as IAASSW/IFSW, is in progress. As a result, Prof. Pawar attended the 63rd session of the Commission for Social Development in New York, and the ICSD became a member of the NGO Committee for Social Development, which is actively engaged with the United Nations.
6. The Committee members attempted a draft statement and framework for the statement and considering developing a brief ICSD statement supporting the Second World Summit for Social Development.
7. The ICSD has registered interest for participating in the Second World Summit for Social Development, but the application outcome is not known at this stage.
8. The Draft Political Declaration to be adopted at the Second Summit is circulated to all ICSD members for their comments and feedback. You can visit the following website to submit your comments online (see page 10):

      https://www.socialdevelopment.net/invitation-for-comments-on-draft-political-declaration/

9. The ICSD committee will draft an ICSD statement supporting the Second World Summit for Social Development and disseminate it through ICSD website and Social Development Issues.

ECOSOC Consultative Status for the ICSD is Anticipated

While at the UN Headquarters in New York, I visited the Chief of the UN Nongovernment Organizations (NGO) branch to follow up the ICSD application, which I had submitted in 2023, to seek special consultative status with the ECOSOC.

I am pleased to inform you that the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations at its 2025 Resumed Session decided to recommend special consultative status with the ECOSOC to ICSD. This recommendation is waiting for further endorsement, which is expected, in the UN system.  

Social Development Issues (SDI)

The SDI Board of managers and, the SDI Editor are working hard to further improve the status of SDI. They are also managing transition issues as SDI is moving to a new publishing platform. More details are provided in their respective reports. Although somewhat delayed, the first issue of Volume 47 of SDI is under preparation and expected to be published as soon as possible.  Please also see the details of call for submission of articles for the special issue of SDI.

ICSD Branches

I am in touch with the leaders of three ICSD branches: Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. They are planning and active at regional levels and they do need ICSD support. Their respective reports are presented on page 11.

Governance

• The ICSD Board met thrice (23 October 2024; 7 January 2025; and 22 June 2025) to attend governance matters. See photographs on page 21.
• The Board approved $2,500 grant for a proposal submitted by Profs. Ben Lough and Leila Patel to increase ICSD membership.
• Vikash Kumar is appointed Acting Associate Secretary General for membership, and I welcome him in this role.
• Our Treasurer, Dr. Ben Lough, has settled the accounts of both 10th ICSD Asia-Pacific Conference and 24th ICSD Conference.
• The budget report for the financial year 2024-2025 shows that we have a surplus budget.
• The board discussed amendments to the ICSD constitution, and these amendments will be submitted to the ICSD General Body for its consideration and approval.
• The Executive Council approved an extension of the term of the ICSD Secretary-General, Dr. Francis Ogojo Okello, up to 15 July 2025. I thank Dr. Okello for his service to the ICSD.
• New board members have been introduced, and transition to new leadership is currently underway.

Reflecting on My Presidency: Key Achievements

As this is my final Update, I would like to present a summary of the main achievements during my presidency.

• Conducted a survey of ICSD members’ views and suggestions with the help of colleagues in 2016–2017.
• Organized a preconference workshop to discuss the survey findings to develop future strategies for the ICSD at the 20th ICSD Biennial International Symposium held in Croatia, Zagreb.
• Using the survey data, coauthored an article, “ICSD: Members’ Views and Future Directions” (published in SDI, 41 (1), 2021), to disseminate the findings for ICSD members and the wider public.
• The ICSD’s annual registration had lapsed for several years, but with the help of colleagues, its delinquency status was rectified and the registration of the ICSD was updated.
• A special committee was formed to draft a Statement of Ethics for the International Consortium for Social Development, and it is published in SDI 2021; 43(1).
• The ICSD’s democratic governance system was enhanced, reflecting transparency and inclusiveness.
• By using the findings of the ICSD members’ survey, a strategic plan was developed with the help of our treasurer, Ben Lough.
• A new website was developed for the ICSD with the help of colleagues (Sampath Seshadri, Ram Ramanathan, Vikash Kumar, Srinivasan and Iyshwariya) to facilitate recruitment of membership and communication with members and the wider public.
• Since 2020, the new ICSD website has attracted nearly one million (982,636) visits and over one million (1,089,543) views (as of 11 July 2025).
• Increased the institutional and individual membership of ICSD from less than 40 in 2017 to over 100 in 2025.
• I revived the ICSD Newsletter and published regularly since 2018. Thanks to all newsletter editors and contributors.
• Successfully organized four ICSD biennial international conferences in collaboration with leading universities and social development scholars in Indonesia, South Africa, Sweden, and India).
• Established an Africa branch of the ICSD with the help of colleagues (Ram Ramanathan, Francis Okello, Leila Patel and Lauren graham).
• Supported and participated in ICSD branch conferences held in Bangladesh, India, Thailand, the Philippines, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Austria (online).
• Restructured the financial management of Social Development Issues journal to ensure that it is published in a self-reliant manner. The annual cost of its production was reduced from around US$20,000 to about US$4000.
• Digitized all 46 volumes of SDI for free availability on the ICSD website for social development scholars and practitioners across the world. In a specially dedicated online program, digitized issues were launched on 11 December 2021.
• Submitted twice the ICSD application to the UN to seek special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). As stated earlier, I am pleased that the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations at its 2025 Resumed Session decided to recommend special consultative status with the ECOSOC to ICSD. The final endorsement by the UN is expected soon.
• ICSD’s 50th Anniversary was successfully observed by writing 50 years history of the ICSD (Pawar, 2024: https://doi.org/10.3998/sdi.6766) and by presenting a specially designed plaque to honour ICSD presidents and other leaders at the 24th ICSD Biennial Conference (see pages, 8, 9, 16–19).
• Being mindful of historical leadership and contributions to social development, leading social development scholars were appropriately recognised by presenting ICSD awards.
• Introduced ICSD Best Student awards. Thanks to Dr. Vikash Kumar and the committee members, Drs.Jitti, M., Nurhadi, and George, P., for finalizing and implementing it.
• Explored a commercial publisher for SDI.
• Ensured participation of scholars from global South and North in governance and editorial matters.
• Formed and led a committee and organized the forum at the 24th ICSD Conference to contribute for the Second World Summit for Social development.
• During my presidency, I did not claim any expenses from the ICSD, and its budget is healthy. Thanks to donors and members for regularly renewing their membership.

The above list of achievements is not to boost what I have done, but these are factual details to report as part of my accountability to members. These achievements would not have been possible without the help and cooperation of my team and the time volunteered by team members. The team included ICSD Board members, individual and institutional members, friends, and a range of collaborators from other universities and organizations in different countries. I am immensely grateful to all for having trust in me and supporting my role. I always believe that there are better people than me and they would have done a better job than me. Along with colleagues, I have tried my best under the given circumstances. At this concluding juncture of my presidency, I am confident that the future leaders of the ICSD elevate the organization to greater heights, as it has entered its 51st year. It is a significant milestone to honour the past, reflect and optimistically look ahead.

I sincerely welcome president-elect Prof. Leila Patel and her energetic, talented new team as they take on the leadership of ICSD, and I warmly wish them every success in their endeavours.

Finally, if you have any suggestions, comments, and ideas regarding my leadership and role and or further development of ICSD, please email at: mpawar@csu.edu.au I will forward them to the board.

Warm greetings from Australia and best wishes!

Yours sincerely,

Manohar Pawar,

President, ICSD

******

December 2024

Dear ICSD Members and Friends,

Season’s greetings and best wishes for the New Year, 2025.        

We are pleased to present the December 2024 ICSD Newsletter. You may be aware that in November 2025, the United Nations will convene the Second World Summit for Social Development (WSSD) in Qatar. Many government, nongovernment and multi-lateral organizations are engaged in background preparation of WSSD. It will look at the 1995 Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and Program of Action, and reaffirm the values and principles enshrined in the declaration. About 30 years ago, the declaration focused on poverty reduction, full employment, decent work and social integration. Significant social, economic, environmental, and technological achievements notwithstanding, the contemporary world facing major global issues – increase in relative poverty and lack of security, inequality, climate change and disasters, jobless growth, new nationalism and populism and conflicts and wars — desperately need social development thinking, and action.  That perhaps explains the need for the Second World Summit for Social Development.

This is a great opportunity for social development thinkers and practitioners to contribute to the preparation of the WSSD and the declaration it is going to
make. One way to engage in this process is to participate in the survey conducted by the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development. For
details please visit here: https://www.unrisd.org/en/activities/news-items/paving-the-road-to-the-second-world-summit-for-social-development We encourage social development scholars and practitioners to participate in this process by engaging with their respective governments having access to WSSD.

Welcome to Members

I would like to thank and welcome all the following new individual and institutional members as well as existing members who have renewed their memberships.

Institutional Membership

    Tata Institute of Social Sciences

    Rajagiri College of Social Sciences

Individual Membership

Golden Jubilee of the ICSD

We observed the ICSD, 1974-2024, Golden Jubilee celebrations at ICSD Africa and ICSD Asia-Pacific branch conferences held in Harare and Manila, respectively.
This was a proud moment for all ICSD members and friends! Our final and formal celebrations will be organized at the 24th ICSD Biennial Conference in Kochi,
India. As part of the celebrations, tributes will be paid to ICSD founders, leaders and members; over 40 awards will be presented; and ICSD 50^th Anniversary Special edition of Social Development Issues (SDI) will be released. I thank all those who are contributing to celebrating this event, in particular the award committee and graphic designers.

The 24th ICSD Biennial International Conference, Kochi (Cochin), Kerala, India, 8–10 January 2025

The organizers of the 24th ICSD Biennial International Conference, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Kochi, Kerala, India, is working hard to organize this and
its final preparations are underway, as dates of the conference are approaching fast. I attended a few planning meetings and am regularly in touch with the organizers.
The momentum for the conference and the 50th anniversary celebrations is building up! I am looking forward to meeting some of you in person.  

ICSD elections and welcome to new board members

I am pleased to inform you that this year ICSD elections were successfully conducted, and the following new board members were elected and appointed, respectively. I
am sure that you will join me in congratulating and welcoming them to the ICSD Board.

Dr. Leila Patel, President Elect

Dr. Lauren Graham, Vice President for Special Projects

Dr. Ram Ramanathan, Vice President for Planning and Organization Evaluation

Dr Fr Saju M D., Vice President for Public Relations and Communication 

Dr. Marianna Colvin, Associate Secretary General for Communication

Dr. Bipin Jojo, Associate Secretary General for Branches 

Members at Large: 

Dr. David Ansong; Dr Joachim Vogt Isaksen; Dr. Justin Francis Leon V. Nicolas; Dr. Rong Xiang

I would like to thank chairperson of the nomination committee, Dr. Roar Sundby, and nominating committee members, Dr. Lorraine Graham, Dr. M Tineshowri Devi, and Dr. Eric Schade, for successfully conducting the elections.

Social Development Issues (SDI)

The ICSD Executive Council has appointed the following SDI board of managers and I have appointed the Chairperson and Treasurer of SDI board of managers. The
other important appointments are the SDI Editor, Dr. Philip Hong, and SDI Associate Editor, Harold E. Briggs. Please join me in congratulating and welcoming them.

Dr. Alice K. Butterfield, Chairperson and Treasurer of SDI Board of Managers

Dr. Marsela Dauti, Philip Hong, Melody Kshetrimayum, and Dr. Tanusha Raniga, SDI Board of Managers.

ICSD and SDI are fortunate to have their voluntary services and I am sure, under their new leadership, SDI will grow further. Under the leadership of Prof. Brij Mohan, Editor of SDI, the third number of the 46th volume, i. e., the ICSD 50th anniversary special edition is published. As stated above, it will be released at the 24th ICSD conference. To view this special issue,  I welcome you to visit the ICSD website: https://www.socialdevelopment.net/volume-46-issue-3/

or https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/sdi/

As Prof. Brij Mohan will finish his role as the Editor of SDI on 31 December 2024, I would like to thank him for voluntarily serving the SDI and ICSD. I am also grateful to previous SDI board of managers: Profs. Antoinette Lombard, James Midgley, Brij Mohan, Ram Ramanathan, and Tejaswini Patil (Chair and Treasurer of the SDI Board) for ensuring the quality and regular production of the journal. If your membership has expired, I would appreciate if you renewed it. Many colleagues are interested in ICSD; it is a matter of reaching out to them. Please encourage interested colleagues and institutions to take membership. 

ICSD Branches

ICSD Africa branch successfully organized its second conference: “De-colonization of social work and social development through African Indigenous Knowledge Systems,” 14–15 October 2024, Harare, Zimbabwe. More details are available under the branch news. I delivered the opening address at this conference and marked the ICSD’s 50th anniversary.

Similarly, I attended the 10th ICSD Asia-Pacific branch conference: “The Fifth Industrial Revolution Amidst Multifaceted Disruptions: Harnessing the Power of
Social Development”, 23-25 October 2024, which was successfully organized by the College of Social Work and Community Development, University of the Philippines, Manila. More details are included in this newsletter. I delivered the welcome address and noted the ICSD’s 50th anniversary.

I have been communicating with the ICSD Europe branch and it is looking at its plans and activities. 

Governance

An ICSD board online meeting was held on 23 November 2024 to introduce board members, explain ICSD governance processes, and discuss relevant governance
matters. Action items have been circulated to the board. The next ICSD board meeting will be held on 7 January 2025 in person at Rajagiri College of Social
Sciences, Kochi, Kerala, India. An SDI board of managers meeting was held on 18 November 2024 to introduce the board members, important partners involved in producing the journal and discuss roles and responsibilities of the board. 

The ICSD Executive Council (EC) has attended to several operational matters through emails and contributed to decision-making. I thank all EC members for their
participation and prompt responses.

As reported above, ICSD elections and most of the appointments have been completed as per the protocols.

Our Secretary General, Dr. Francis O. Okello, is leading the work relating to review and amendments to the ICSD constitution.

I would like to sincerely thank the following previous ICSD board members for serving the ICSD in respective capacities and contributing to further building
ICSD.

Dr. Heather Walter-McCabe, Vice President for Special Projects

Dr. Komalsingh Rambaree, Vice President for Planning and Organization Evaluation

Dr. Mithun Mostafizur R., Vice President for Public Relations and Communication

Dr. Chathapuram S. Ramanathan, Associate Secretary-General for Regional Branches

Dr. Sharvari Karandikar, Associate Secretary-General for Membership

Members at Large: Dr. Sarath Gamlath; Dr. Lakshmana G,; Dr. Brij Mohan; and Dr. Eleni Papouli

Appreciation

I would like to thank all members of the ICSD Executive Council and Board for their contributions to ICSD, particularly hosts of ICSD conferences, conference
conveners, organizing committee members, and a wide range of local and international partners and collaborators.

Finally, if you have any suggestions, comments, and ideas regarding further development of ICSD, please email me: mpawar@csu.edu.au

Once again, greetings from Australia and best wishes!

Yours sincerely,

Manohar Pawar,

President, ICSD

******

June 2024

Dear ICSD Members and Friends,

Hope you are having a wonderful midyear break wherever you are!

We are pleased to present to you the June 2024 ICSD Newsletter.

The year 2024 is dubbed as year of elections as 64 countries are scheduled for polls, and some have already completed. For scholars of social development, this is significant as participation is essence of democracy and essence of social development. It is critical to think about who participates, and how and why do they participate, and who do not
participate. We have been hearing often about artificial intelligence, but not artificial democracy. Artificial intelligence has both pros and cons, in terms of efficiency, productivity, speed and abuse, unemployment and inequality within and between nation-states. Artificial democracy has only cons. Often gaining votes and winning elections based on freebies (legitimate and illegitimate and direct and indirect), misinformation, donations and provocative populism, give rise to artificial democracy that is antithesis of genuine participation of all people. Some countries have cultivated the culture of donating millions of dollars for election campaigns. Does genuine democracy and
participation of people need such donations/practices, which can result in artificial democracy?  Opposing such practices, one of the Australian states, South Australia is proposing a bill to ban all political donations with a hope to make decisions as ‘it is right thing to do’ rather than reciprocation for donations. Like how most of us are
thinking about artificial intelligence with curiosity and concern, social development scholars need to think about dangers of artificial democracy dominated by vested interests and preventing it.

Welcome to Members

I would like to thank and welcome all the following new individual and institutional members as well as existing members who have renewed their membership.

If your membership has expired, I would appreciate it if you renewed it. Many colleagues are interested in ICSD; it is a matter of reaching out to them. Please encourage interested colleagues and institutions to take membership. 

Institutional Membership

    SETU, NGO, Bangladesh (Md. Abdul Quader)

    Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za Socialno delo, Slovenia

Individual Membership

If your membership has expired, I would appreciate it if you renewed it. Many colleagues are interested in ICSD; it is a matter of reaching out to them. Please encourage interested colleagues and institutions to take membership. 

Golden Jubilee of the ICSD

This year, 2024, the ICSD completes its 50th  Anniversary. The ICSD’s history and achievements are nostalgic and exciting for all of us! This is a proud moment for all ICSD members and friends! We will be formally celebrating the Golden Jubilee of the ICSD at the 24^th ICSD Biennial conference in Kochi. See more details later and the ICSD website: https://www.socialdevelopment.net/ With the help of his colleagues, Dr. Mithun Mostafizur R., Vice President for Public Relations and Communications, has organized the above and below 50th anniversary logos, which are being uploaded on the ICSD website. I thank Dr. Mithun for his communication strategies. I

completed writing an article entitled ‘Celebrating 50 Years of International Consortium for Social Development: Honoring Our Legacy, Shaping Our Future’, to
be published in the 50^th anniversary special issue of  SDI, More details below. I am grateful to ICSD colleagues who kindly provided missing information to me and offered
comments on the article.

The 24th ICSD Biennial Conference, Kochi (Cochin), Kerala, India, 8-10 January 2025

As announced earlier, the 24th ICSD Biennial international conference will be organized by the Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Kochi, Kerala, India, from 8 to 10 January 2025. I attended a few preparatory meetings with the organizers and they are working the details of organizing the conference. For details, visit he conference I hope you are able to submit an abstract and attend the conference and join us to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the ICSD. I look forward to meeting you there.

ICSD Best Student Awards

We invited ICSD institutional members to submit nominations for ICSD Best Student Awards. Recently, Dr. Vikash Kumar emailed a ICSD Best Student award certificate to Faculty of Social Work, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, to present the award to a student. If you wish to use this award scheme for your students, I invite you to take ICSD
institutional membership so that you can recognize and reward your students.  For details, please contact Dr. Vikash Kumar ().

Visits to the ICSD Website

In 2020 we launched a new and updated               
ICSD website (https://www.socialdevelopment.net/)

Since then, the ICSD website has recorded over 700,000 views. In the last six months (January to June 2024) alone, the website had over 100,000 visits and views. I hope some of them will be able to join ICSD.

Open Access to Archived Social Development Issues

I welcome you to take advantage of the 46 volumes of Social Development Issues freely available on the ICSD website https://www.socialdevelopment.net/full-article-access-for-members/ for your research, teaching, and training. This is a great resource, and I encourage you to read and cite as many relevant articles as possible in your
writing and publications. 

Social Development Issues

The ICSD’s journal, Social   Development Issues (SDI), has published first two issues of the 46th volume. Under the leadership of Prof. Brij Mohan, Editor of SDI, the second issue of the 46^th volume is a special issue in honor of Prof. Shanti Khinduka. To look at at the issue, I welcome you to visit ICSD website https://www.socialdevelopment.net/full-article-access-for-members/ or https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/sdi/issue/255/info/  The third issue of the 46^th
volume is also a special issue, which is being published to mark the 50^th anniversary of the ICSD.

ICSD Branches

ICSD branches are busy organizing their biennial conferences in their respective regions. ICSD Africa branch is organisng its second conference – De-colonisation of social work and social development through African Indigenous Knowledge Systems, 14-15 October 2024, Harare, Zimbabwe. More details under the branch news. I am looking forward to welcoming the delegates and learning from Indigenous knowledge in Africa, along with introducing ICSD 50^th anniversary. The 10th ICSD Asia Pacific branch conference – The Fifth Industrial Revolution Amidst Multifaceted Disruptions: Harnessing the Power of Social Development -.  will be organized by the College of Social

Work and Community Development, University of the Philippines, Manila, 22-25 October 2024. For details visit:  https://www.socialdevelopment.net/icsdap2024conference/ I attended a few preparatory meetings for this conference. Abstracts have been reviewed and acceptance and invitation letters have been mailed to participants. I am going with a colleague and a few students of mine and looking forward to participating in this conference. We will also observe 50^th anniversary of the ICSD at this conference.

Recently, I was in touch with ICSD Europe branch members to collect a few historical details of the branch activities and they were kind enough to provide available information. They have published proceedings of their previous branch conference. More of details of this are under the branch news.

ICSD in LinkedIn

Please visit and follow ICSD on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-consortium-for-social-development?trk=public_profile_topcard-current-company
You can also read this newsletter on the ICSD Linkedin website.

Governance

ICSD Executive Council online meeting was held on 13 April 2024 to discuss several matters relating to the governance as well as celebrating 50^th Anniversary of the ICSD.  This meeting was following by emails to ICSD EC to seek its advice take decisions. As sub-committee comprising of Vikash Kumar, Gordana Berc, Asok Kumar Sarkar and I has been constituted to increase the membership of the ICSD. Dr. Philip Hong, Associate Editor of SDI, has been appointed as Editor of SDI with effect from 1 January 2025, for a four-year term. Prof. Hong has accepted the appointment, and I am sure you all join me in warmly welcoming him in that role. The current Editor of the SDI, Prof. Brij

Mohan and Prof. Hong will work together to ensure continuity of the issues and smooth transition of the roles. SDI board of managers is being constituted with due

process. 

Dr. Vikash Kumar has been reappointed as ICSD Technical Director for another four-year term with effect from 17 June 2024 and Dr. Kumar is already working in that role, ensuring safety and update of the website and attending to related matters. I am sure, you will join me in warmly welcoming Dr. Kumar as our IT Director.

Considering cost and office access issues in California, ICSD EC has decided to reincorporate ICSD in Illinois and this decision will be presented to the ICSD Board and implemented by Prof. Benn Lough, Treasurer, ICSD. We are grateful to Benn for his diligent advice and initiative to complete this process. We are planning to organize ICSD elections as per the protocols and a nominating committee is being constituted for that purpose.

Appreciation

I would like to thank all members of the ICSD Executive Council and Board for their contributions to ICSD, particularly, hosts of the ICSD conferences, conference conveners, organizing committee members and wide ranging local and international partners and collaborators. Finally, if you have any suggestions, comments, and

ideas regarding further development of ICSD, please email me: mpawar@csu.edu.au

Once again, greetings from Australia and best wishes!

Yours sincerely,

Manohar Pawar,

President, ICSD

 ******

30 December 2023

Dear ICSD Members and Friends,

Season’s greetings and best wishes for the New Year!

We are pleased to present to you the December 2023 ICSD Newsletter.

Overshadowed by crises, 2023 is behind us. Dealing with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is unfortunately accompanied by the economic crisis in terms of rising interest rates and cost of living (inflation), though recent figures suggest declining trends; fueling conflicts, wars  and regional tensions rather than focusing on peace building and maintaining; environmental disasters and relatively incremental steps in addressing climate change issues (e.g., the debate over phase out verses phase down fossil fuels); and mass movement of people seeking safety and security. The message from the G20, ‘One earth, one family and one future, is worth reflecting upon and acting on.

Cutting across all fields, generative artificial intelligence has raised hopes and fears, presenting challenges to humanity, the economy, politics, law and ethics. In 2024, we need to remain curious and optimistic, notwithstanding some anticipated dangers. The phrase, ‘threat to democracy’ or ‘threat to basic human values’ is no longer merely academic. As we embrace 2024, these and similar developments in an increasingly polarized world, whether related to poverty, power, or politics, call for new thinking and renewed action by social development thinkers and practitioners.

Welcome to Members

I would like to thank and welcome all the following new individual and institutional members as well as existing members who have renewed their membership.

Institutional Membership

• Social Development Study Program, Mulawarman University, Indonesia
• Department of Social Work, University of Edinburgh
• School of Social Work, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign

Individual Membership

If your membership has expired, I would appreciate it if you renewed it.  Members are the foundation of ICSD. Many colleagues are interested in ICSD; it is a matter of reaching out to them. Over 500 members have registered in the ICSD online system. Please encourage interested colleagues and institutions to take paid membership. 

Golden Jubilee of the ICSD

As announced earlier, in 2024, the ICSD completes its 50th Anniversary. The ICSD’s history and achievements are exciting for all of us! This is a proud moment for all ICSD members and friends! If you have any innovative ways of observing and celebrating the Golden Jubilee of ICSD in 2024-2025, please email me (mpawar@csu.edu.au). 

The 23rd ICSD Biennial International Conference – Social Development in Times of Crisis: Challenges and Responses – University of Gavle, Gavle, Sweden, August 23 – 25, 2023

I am pleased to inform you that I was able to attend and welcome the participants of the above conference. The Department of Social Work and Criminology, the University of Gavle, and its staff members, under the leadership of its head, Dr. Josefin Westerberg Jacobson and the conference coordinator, Dr. Komal Singh Rambaree, ICSD Vice President for Planning and Organization Evaluation, did an outstanding job in putting together this conference. I attended a few presentations and chaired a session, and I was impressed with the quality of papers presented at the conference. During the conference, I presented the prestigious James Billups International Social Development Leadership Award to Leila Patel, a distinguished Professor at Johannesburg University in South Africa, and James Midgley from the University of California, Berkeley in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the field of social development. I have returned with good memories of this conference and colleagues from Gavle. Details of this conference with photos are included in this newsletter. The link to my welcome address is: https://doi.org/10.3998/sdi.5292

The 24th ICSD Biennial Conference, Kochi (Cochin), Kerala, India, 8-10 January 2025

The 24th ICSD Biennial international conference will be organized by the Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Kochi, Kerala, India, from 8 to 10 January 2025. Look for further announcements and details. We are planning for a preparatory meeting soon. I have already blocked these dates in my diary and preparing to attend. 

ICSD Best Student Awards

We invited ICSD institutional members to submit nominations for ICSD Best Student Awards. The inaugural ICSD Best Student award was conferred by the Department of Social Work, University of Edinburgh (see details in this newsletter). Another award will be conferred on a student at the   Faculty of Social Work, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia in early 2024. I would like to thank Dr. Vikash Kumar for helping in the award conferring process.

Visits to the ICSD Website

In 2020 we launched a new and updated ICSD website (https://www.socialdevelopment.net/)

Since then, the ICSD website has recorded over a half million visits (579,000+) and views (570,000). I hope some of them will be able to join ICSD.

Open Access to Archived Social Development Issues

I welcome you to take advantage of the 45 volumes of Social Development Issues freely available on the ICSD website https://www.socialdevelopment.net/full-article-access-for-members/ for your research, teaching, and training. This is a great resource, and I encourage you to read and cite as many relevant articles as possible in your writing and publications. 

Social Development Issues

The ICSD’s journal, Social Development Issues (SDI), has entered its 46th year of publication. Under the leadership of Prof. Brij Mohan, Editor of SDI, the 46^th volume will include two special issues: one in honor of Prof. Shanti Khinduka and another to mark the 50^th year of the ICSD. 

ICSD Branches

Having organized the inaugural colloquium successfully, the ICSD Africa branch under the leadership of Prof. Lauren Graham and her team is exploring a host organization for the second branch conference in 2024. Watch for further announcements.

The 10th ICSD Asia Pacific branch conference – The Fifth Industrial Revolution Amidst Multifaceted Disruptions: Harnessing the Power of Social Development -.  will be organized by the College of Social Work and Community Development, University of the Philippines, Manila, 22-25 October 2024. For details visit:  https://www.socialdevelopment.net/icsdap2024conference/ I encourage you to submit your abstracts and come to Manila.

Under the leadership of branch president, Dr. Gordana Berc, the ICSD European Branch is in the process of planning activities in 2024.

ICSD in LinkedIn

Please visit and follow ICSD on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-consortium-for-social-development?trk=public_profile_topcard-current-company You can also read this newsletter on the ICSD Linkedin website.

Governance

As suggested by members, an ICSD Executive Council (EC) and Board meeting was held online on 15 July 2024, and the listed agenda items were discussed. 

During the 23rd ICSD biennial conference, an ICSD General Body meeting was held on 24 August 2023, the University of Gavle, and usual business was conducted. Among other things, it was suggested to focus on implementing the ISD strategic plan.

As a follow up of these meetings, on the initiative of Prof. Leila Patel, an ICSD Board member, and her diligent advice – “a strategic plan has to be championed, capacitated and continuously monitored to achieve the key deliverables identified” – a special meeting was organized among Prof. Patel, Prof. Ben Lough, Treasurer of the ICSD, and me on 25 September 2023. Towards implementing the strategic plan, we prepared seven questions for the ICSD EC and Board members to reflect on and share their ideas. I circulated those questions to ICSD EC and Board members and received two responses. We are hoping to follow up on this work in February 2024.

Our Treasurer, Prof. Ben Lough, submitted the ICSD annual registration renewal fee report to the Attorney General of California on 12 July 2023, and our registration requirements are up to date.

Appreciation

I would like to thank all members of the ICSD Executive Council and Board for their contributions to ICSD, particularly, the ICSD website, the SDI, budget matters, membership, branches, conference planning, media, and governance.

My special thanks to Prof. Leila Patel, who has generously donated $700 to the ICSD.

Finally, if you have any suggestions, comments, and ideas regarding the further development of ICSD, please email me: mpawar@csu.edu.au

Once again, season’s greetings and best wishes for the New Year!

Yours sincerely,

Manohar Pawar, President, ICSD

*****

30 June 2023

Dear ICSD Members and Friends,

I hope you are all doing well.

We are pleased to present the ICSD Newsletter, June 2023.

At the time of drafting this newsletter, leaders from seven countries in Africa (Comoros, Egypt, Republic of Congo, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia) visited Kyiv, Ukraine and Moscow, Russia (16 –18 June 2023), pleading for ending the war and bringing peace to the world. The continuing conflicts and wars in the world, though occurring at a few places, impact most of the peaceful countries and peace-loving people and communities. The majority of the world is peaceful, and I hope it will be able to influence a small number of countries caught up in conflicts and wars. However, that seems to be not the case. Unfortunately, a small number of war-fueling countries and countries in conflicts and wars are causing death and destruction of innocent lives, reducing the quality of life everywhere. I hope the message of the peace delegation from Africa is taken seriously beyond the two countries.

Welcome to members

I would like to thank and welcome all the following new individual and institutional as well as existing members who have renewed their membership.

Institutional Membership

    Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za Socialno delo, Slovenia

    College of Social Work and Community Development, University of the Philippines, the Philippines

    Dept. of Social Development and Welfare, University of Gadjah Mada, Indonesia

    Association of Indonesian Social Development

Individual Membership

If your membership has expired, I would appreciate if you renewed it.  Members are the foundation of ICSD. Many colleagues could be interested in ICSD; it is a matter of reaching out to them. I earnestly request you to approach interested colleagues and institutions and recruit new members.

Golden Jubilee of the ICSD

In 2024, the ICSD completes its 50th Anniversary. The ICSD’s history and achievements are exciting for all of us!  I welcome your suggestions to observe and celebrate the Golden Jubilee of ICSD in 2024—2025.  This is a proud moment for all ICSD members and friends!

Visits and Views: the ICSD Website

In the last five and half months, the ICSD website has attracted nearly 65,000 visits and views, which shows colleagues’ interest in the activities of ICSD. I hope some of you will be able to join the ICSD as paid members.

The 23rd ICSD Biennial Conference – 23 – 25 August 2023

We are just about seven weeks away from the 23rd ICSD biennial conference. Preparations for the conference are in progress. The conference details, including keynote speakers, may be viewed at the conference website: https://hig.se/Ext/En/University-of-Gavle/About-the-University/Evenemang/Konferenser/ICSD-2023-Biennial-Conference/Key-Note-Speakers.html

I reviewed a few abstracts and was impressed by them. I would like to thank colleagues for reviewing abstracts, and I look forward to the presentation of these papers and meeting some of you during the conference.

If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Komal Singh Rambaree (Komal.Singh.Rambaree@hig.se), ICSD Vice President for Planning, Organization and Evaluation and coordinator of the 23rd ICSD conference.

Social Development Issues (SDI)

The ICSD’s journal, Social Development Issues is in its 45th year of publication. Thanks to the leadership of Prof. Brij Mohan, Editor of SDI, for regularly brining out all the issues, and contributors to the journal. Please check in this newsletter Prof. Mohan’s announcement regarding the special issues of SDI in 2024; I invite you to contribute your articles for the special issues.

I would also like to thank Dr. Tejaswini Patil, Chair of the SDI board of managers, as well as all the members of the SDI board, for managing the journal.  Michigan Publishing Services has improved the SDI website and is planning to enhance its indexing on a range of platforms, including Scopus. Please visit SDI open access at: https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/sdi/

Open Access to Archived Social Development Issues

I welcome you to take advantage of the 45 volumes of Social Development Issues, available free, on the ICSD website: https://www.socialdevelopment.net/full-article-access-for-members/, for your research, teaching, and training. This is a great resource, and I encourage you to read and cite as many relevant articles as possible in your writings and publications, and share the same with interested social development researchers and practitioners. 

ICSD Branches

The ICSD Africa branch successfully held its inaugural colloquium, under the leadership of Prof. Lauren Graham and her team, on “When crises collide—social development responses to intersecting crises in Africa”, 14 –15 March, 2023, at the Centre for Social Development in Africa, the University of Johannesburg. I was pleased to attend the colloquium, deliver the welcome address, and meet some of the participants. For further details of the colloquium, please check this newsletter.

The ICSD Asia-Pacific branch is pleased to inform you that the 10th ICSD AP conference will be organised by the College of Social Work and Community Development, University of the Philippines, Manila, in 2024. I attended a few planning meetings with Prof. Sarkar and Prof. Yolanda Ealdama, Chair and Deputy Chair of the ICSD AP, respectively, and other colleagues. Further details of the conference will be announced soon.

The ICSD European Branch has joined hands with the organisers of the 23rd ICSD conference under the leadership of branch president, Dr. Gordana Berc.                                 

Governance

I submitted an ICSD application for the United Nations ECOSOC consultative status, and UN office has confirmed its receipt. Thanks to Prof. Benjamin Lough, Treasurer and Dr. Vikas Kumar, Technical Director, for promptly providing needed information for the application.

The ICSD Executive Council and Board examined and approved the proposal presented by the Rajagiri College of Social Science to host the 24th ICSD biennial conference in Cochin, India in 2025. The college will make this announcement at the end of 23rd biennial conference in Sweden.

I constituted a committee comprising of Dr. Vikash Kumar, Chair, and Dr. Jitti, M., Dr. George, P. and Dr. Nurhadi, members, who met several times to develop guidelines to confer ICSD best student awards at our institutional member institutions. The guidelines developed by the committee will be discussed in the next ICSD Executive Council meeting to be finalised.

The next ICSD Executive Council and Board meeting will be held around mid of July 2023.

Other Professional Activities

My other professional activities include:

I attended the 2023 ECOSOC Partnership Forum held at the United Nations Headquarters, New York, on 31 January 2023. Further details are available under the members’ news.

Other Professional Activities (continued)

Delivered a special address at an international conference on “Social Work Education, Social Equity & Social Development”, during the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Madras School of Social Work (it is the 4th best school in the country and the first in South India), 2 and 3 March 2023, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.

A keynote address was delivered at the international symposium on “Community Development: Addressing Social Justice, Resilience and Climate Change”, 25 May 2023, organised by the Department of Sociology, Social Work and African Women Studies, University of Nairobi; Association of Community Development Practitioners Kenya; and the Directorate of Social Development, Government of Kenya.

ICSD in Linkedin

Please visit and follow ICSD in Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-consortium-for-social-development?trk=public_profile_topcard-current-company You can also read this newsletter on the ICSD Linkedin website.

Appreciation

I would like to thank all members of the ICSD Executive Council and Board for their contributions to ICSD, particularly, the ICSD website, the SDI, budget matters, membership, branches, conference planning, media, and the governance.

Finally, if you have any suggestions, comments, and ideas regarding the further development of ICSD, please email me: mpawar@csu.edu.au

Have a good read.

Yours sincerely,

Manohar Pawar, President, ICSD

******

30 December 2022

Dear ICSD Members and Friends,

We are pleased to present to you December 2022 ICSD Newsletter.

As we say goodbye to 2022, my reflections on it suggest that it has been a tough year in many respects. The 2021-2022 Human Development Report shows that in 2020, 87 countries, and in 2021, 51 countries, experienced drop in their Human Development Index value because of the impact of overlapping crises, the pandemic, natural disasters, wars and conflicts, and variegated governments’ responses. While some developed countries were able to bounce back, many developing, and the least developed countries were struggling.  Rising interest rates and inflation are further contributing to it, questioning the role of institutions. To control energy inflation, as coal and gas prices were capped in Australia, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese argued the necessity of government intervention on failure of free market. The fast-changing economic situations and fear of recession are impacting the poor and vulnerable groups in many countries. We all need to think what social development practitioners can and should do in terms of policies and provisions, and their implementation.

Welcome to members

I would like to thank and welcome all new individual and institutional as well as existing members who have renewed their membership.

If your membership has expired, I would appreciate if you renewed it.  Members are the foundation of ICSD. Many colleagues are interested in ICSD; it is a matter of reaching out to them. I earnestly request you to approach interested colleagues and institutions and recruit new members.

Visits to the ICSD Website

In the last six months, the ICSD website has attracted nearly 75,000 visits, which shows colleagues’ interest in ICSD. I hope some of you will be able to join ICSD as paid members.

Open Access to Archived Social Development Issues

I welcome you to take advantage of the 44 volumes of Social Development Issues freely available on the ICSD website https://www.socialdevelopment.net/full-article-access-for-members/ for your research, teaching, and training. This is a great resource, and I encourage you to read and cite as many relevant articles as possible in your writing and publications.  

Social Development Issues

The ICSD’s journal, Social Development Issues (SDI), has entered the 45th year of publication. Thanks to the leadership of Prof. Brij Mohan, Editor of SDI, for regularly brining out all the issues and contributors to the journal.

Also, I would like to thank Dr. Tejaswini Patil, Chair of the SDI board of managers, and all the members on the SDI board for managing the journal. I am sorry for a few typos on the journal’s landing page. Dr. Patil is working with the Michigan Publishing Services to improve the journal website. Please visit: https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/sdi/

In this competitive environment, the SDI faces critical challenges. I appreciate the prompt support of contributors and consulting editors. We need more of them. Please write to Prof. Mohan, if you have new ideas and papers and if you are interested in reviewing the articles.

23rd ICSD Biennial Conference – August 23 – 25, 2023

I am pleased to inform you that in a recent ICSD board meeting, Dr. Komal Singh Rambaree, ICSD Vice President for Planning and Organization Evaluation and the coordinator of the 23rd ICSD conference, informed us that the conference preparations are progressing well. They have been successful in generating some funds for the conference and arranging keynote speakers. They also have finalized the conference registration fee. These details may be viewed at the conference website: https://hig.se/Ext/En/University-of-Gavle/About-the-University/Evenemang/Konferenser/ICSD-2023-Biennial-Conference/Key-Note-Speakers.html

If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Komal Sing Rambaree (Komal.Singh.Rambaree@hig.se)

I welcome you to submit your abstracts and participate in the conference. Please encourage your colleagues and professional networks to contribute to the conference.

ICSD Branches

The 9th ICSD Asia-Pacific branch conference on “Sustainable Development Efforts in Times of Crises” was successfully organized in collaboration with the School of Global Studies, Thammasat University, Thailand from November 29 to December  1, 2022, under leadership of Prof. Asok Sarkar, Chair of the ICSD AP branch and A/Prof. Jitti M, co-coordinator of the conference. I delivered an online keynote address at the conference. For further details, please see Prof. Sarkar’s report in this newsletter.

The ICSD Africa branch rescheduled its inaugural colloquium dates. It will be held on March 14-15, 2023, in Johannesburg. The colloquium theme is “When crises collide—social development responses to intersecting crises in Africa”.  For further details, please contact Prof. Lauren Graham (lgraham@uj.ac.za), convenor of the ICSD Africa branch.

The ICSD European Branch is working on the publication from the last regional conference under leadership of branch president, Dr. Gordana Berc.                                  

ICSD in Linkedin

Please visit and follow ICSD in Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-consortium-for-social-development?trk=public_profile_topcard-current-company You can also read this newsletter on the ICSD Linkedin website.

Governance

ICSD board meeting was held on December 10, 2022, and several agenda items were discussed.

Among other things, the board supported the idea of conferring ICSD best student awards in social development and related courses offered by ICSD institutional members. We hope to begin this award soon on a trial basis.  

We are proud to announce that the ICSD has received a certification of Gold Transparency 2022, issued by Candid (one of the major two external organizations certifying non-profits).

Appreciation

I would like to thank all members of the ICSD Executive Council and Board for their contribution to ICSD, particularly, the ICSD website, budget matters, membership, branches, conference planning, media, and the governance.  

Finally, if you have any suggestions, comments, and ideas, in order to contribute to the further development of ICSD, please email me: mpawar@csu.edu.au

Once again, season’s greetings and best wishes for the New Year!

Yours sincerely,

Manohar Pawar, President, ICSD

 *****

30 June 2022

Dear ICSD Members and Friends,

This time of the year is a mixed one as some of you are in the middle of your holidays (particularly after pandemic lockdowns), some in the beginning and end
of teaching sessions, and a few are unfortunately caught up in disasters. Wherever you are, I hope you are staying safe and doing well.

This is a very challenging time for social development practitioners and thinkers. Inter- and intra-country conflicts and war in many countries have a global
impact. Many are troubled with the way peaceful life has been compromised. Loss and suffering of innocent lives, disasters, growing regional tensions and arms
build-up and threats, energy crises, inflation, rising interest rates, violation of human rights, and freedom by those who are meant to protect them
make us contemplate about ideas of social development and their application at this critical juncture.  Many of you, I am sure, are raising these questions. Socio-economic and political events do influence social development ideas, and these social development ideas should be able to influence socioeconomic and political developments. Do they? I
think, this is the challenge for organizations such as ICSD and many social development thinkers.

Welcome
to members

At the outset, I would like to welcome all new individual, institutional as well as existing members who have renewed their membership.

If your membership has expired, I would appreciate it, if you renew it.  Members are the foundation of ICSD. Many colleagues are interested in ICSD; it is a matter of reaching out to them. I would be grateful if you approach interested colleagues and recruit new members.

Visits to the ICSD Website

This year alone, so far, the ICSD website has attracted over 70,000 visits, which shows colleagues’ interest in the ICSD. Over 300 colleagues have registered on
the ICSD website. I hope some of you will be able to join as ICSD members.

Open
Access to Archived Social Development Issues

I welcome you to take advantage of the 43 volumes of Social Development Issues freely available on the ICSD website https://www.socialdevelopment.net/full-article-access-for-members/ for your research, teaching and training. This is a great resource, and I encourage you to read and cite as many relevant articles as possible in your
writing and publications.

Social Development Issues

I am pleased to inform you that the ICSD Executive Council has appointed Prof. Philip Hong, Dean, the University of Georgia, USA, as the Associate Editor of Social Development Issues. I am sure, you will join me in warm welcoming of Prof. Hong to ICSD in the capacity of journal’s Associate Editor.

Despite challenges, Prof. Brij Mohan Editor of Social Development Issues, is working hard to bring out its issues on time. Publication of SDI is up to date, and volume 44, 2nd issue will be released soon. 

Dr. Tejaswini Patil, Chair of the SDI board of managers is liaising with the Michigan Publishing Services and facilitated the publication of the SDI on
their new platform, Janeway, including the new colour design.  For further details, please visit: https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/sdi/

In this competitive environment, there are critical challenges to the journal, but our journal managers and editors know what needs to be done and have clear
strategy to work toward it.  

ICSD Conferences

I am pleased to inform you that ICSD Africa branch is planning to have a symposium on When crises collide—social development responses to intersecting crises in Africa, 23-24 November 2022. For further dails, please contact Prof. Lauren Graham (lgraham@uj.ac.za), convenor of the Africa branch.

I attended a couple meetings with Prof. Asok Sarkar, Chair of the ICSD AP branch, to explore the possibility of organizing the ICSD AP branch symposium in
collaboration with the School of Global Studies, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand. The proposed theme of the symposium is Sustainable Development Efforts in Turbulent Times and dates are, 29 November to 1 December 2022.  For further details, please contact Prof. Asok Sarkar (asok.sarkar@visva-bharati.ac.in).

As already announced, preparations for ICSD’s 23rd biennial international conference to be undertaken by the University of Gavle and Municipality of Gavle are in progress under the leadership of Dr. Komal Singh Rambaree, ICSD Vice President for Planning and Organization Evaluation. The scheduled dates of the conference have been changed in the interest of organizers and participants of the conference. However, organizing committees of the conference are being formed and the conference work is in progress. For further details, please visit the ICSD website in due course or contact Dr. Rambaree (Komal.Singh.Rambaree@hig.se).

ICSD in Linkedin

I contacted  Linkedin  and was able to develop an ICSD page under Linkedin, which has emerged as an important social media platform for professionals. Please visit and follow: https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-consortium-for-social-development?trk=public_profile_topcard-current-company
You can also read ICSD  newsletters on the ICSD Linkedin website.

Governance

Our Treasurer, Dr. Benjamin Lough, has submitted the ICSD annual registration renewal fee report to Attorney General of California.

ICSD
Branches

I would like to congratulate and welcome newly elected ICSD Asia-Pacific branch office bearers. All ICSD branches, Africa, Asia and Europe, are active and
engaged in planning their activities. I appreciate the tasks of all leaders and members of the branches.

Members’ News

I am excited about ICSD members’ accomplishments and intellectual contributions. I would like to sincerely congratulate Prof. James Midgley, Prof. Mark
Henrickson, Ms Ann McLaughlin, Prof. Brij Mohan and other scholars on their publications and Dr. Marissa Kaloga on her new adventure. For further details,
see the ICSD newsletter, June 2022. Personally, I am sad to inform you that I have lost one of my social development Gurus, Prof. David Cox, who introduced me to the subject of social development. A brief obituary is published in the recent ICSD Newsletter.

Appreciation

I would like to thank all members of the ICSD Executive Council and Board for their contribution to ICSD, particularly, the ICSD website, budget matters,
membership, branches, conference planning, media and the governance.

I would like to thank Dr. Zhaoen (Penny) Pan, who assisted me in bringing out four ICSD newsletters as its interim editor. Due to other commitments, Penny
will discontinue this role.  I wish her well in her new assignments.

Finally, if you have any suggestions and comments, and ideas, as to how you can contribute to further develop ICSD, please email me: mpawar@csu.edu.au

Have a good read and enjoy whatever you are doing, working or holidaying.

Yours sincerely,

Manohar
Pawar, President, ICSD.

 *****

29 December 2021

Dear ICSD Members and Friends,

Season’s greetings and best wishes for the New Year 2022!

I hope you are able to stay safe and healthy in the midst of an unpredictable pandemic and the new normal. In some parts of the world, access to and the take-up rate of COVID-19 vaccines has given hope that the pandemic is behand us. However, the reemergence and spread of virus as Omicron variant has caused uncertainty, confusion and concern to most people. The pandemic has exposed global health inequities, as some are able to have boosters to protect from the virus whereas in other parts even 10% of eligible people have not received their first dose. From a social development perspective, unless all people are given vaccines, we will not be safe, and so is the case in relation to the other dimensions of development, whether it is poverty, education, unemployment, income, people’s movements, climate change and peace. It is imperative to address these issues globally to feel safe and to enhance everyone’s wellbeing.

Welcome to members

First, I would like to welcome all new individual and institutional as well as existing members who have renewed their membership. Please check their names in the given list below. May I ask you to recruit new members interested in ICSD and to renew your membership if it has expired. Members are the foundation of ICSD.

22nd ICSD Conference—A Grand Success

The first fully online 22nd ICSD conference on “Poverty, Inequality and Social Development: Innovations around the World,” was successfully organized from 13–16 July 2021 by the Centre for Social Development in Africa (CSDA), University of Johannesburg (UJ).  The conference attracted over 300 participants from 42 countries across six continents. Over 240 presentations created over 80 hours of recorded content that participants can access from the following website: https://portalapp.confsa.eventsair.com/VirtualAttendeePortal/22nd-biennial-conference-of-the-international-consortium-for-social-development/22nd-icsd-online-event-portal/

During the conference, Africa branch of ICSD was launched. Exciting! We need to focus to build the branch in order to learn from and contribute to development experiences in Africa.

It was gratifying to confer 10 ICSD presidential awards on distinguished scholars, and I am very proud of their achievements and contributions. The details of these are included in the ICSD  newsletter of December 2021 and in my concluding address.

Presidential welcome and concluding address may be viewed and downloaded from the following links.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15r5cC0AS-Mv1abCGoVaCJ02wYRh7ScLE/view

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/25166026211062307

23rd ICSD Conference

The Municipality of Gavle and Department of Social Work and Criminology, University of Gavle, Sweden, will host the 23rd ICSD conference in June–July 2023. The dates are being finalised and will be announced as soon as possible.

Social Development Issues (SDI)

I am pleased to inform you that the ICSD Executive Council has appointed Prof. Brij Mohan as the Editor of Social Development Issues. I hope you will join me in congratulating and welcoming Prof. Mohan. For further details, see page 7 of the ICSD  newsletter of December 2021.

Launch of the digitized SDI journal

All archived issues of SDI have been digitized and uploaded on the ICSD website https://www.socialdevelopment.net/full-article-access-for-members/ It was officially launched by distinguished professor and dean emeritus Shanti Khinduka on 11 December 2021. The launch was moderated by Dr. Tejaswini Patil, Chair of the SDI Board of Managers. On this occasion, several scholars were part of the panel: Ms Linnea Anderson, Professors James Midgley, David Hollister, Brij Mohan and Ram Ramanathan, and Vijayan Pillai from the floor. Interested scholars and practitioners can freely access this rich resource from any part of the world now. For further details, please see the newsletter of December 2021.

Governance

As planned and announced, to discuss ICSD matters and to report the progress, the ICSD Executive Council and Board meeting was held on 9 July 2021, and the General Body meeting was held during the conference on 13 July 2021.

As a follow-up of these meetings, a committee comprising four members (Dr. Francis Okello, Chair, and Drs. Heather Walter McCabe, Benjamin J. Lough and Chathapuram S Ramanathan) was appointed to amend the constitution in consultation with members. The committee worked hard to propose amendments to the constitution, which was discussed in the ICSD board meeting held on 25 October 2021 and a special General Body meeting held on 21 November 2021. The body unanimously approved the amended constitution. The final version of the ICSD constitution may be accessed from the ICSD website: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yNBrP4fRXKveKD3LJI902rwYDep8VIvC/view

I would like to thank the amendment committee and ICSD members for facilitating the amendments and approving the final version of the constitution.

In light of members’ feedback, Dr. Benjamin Lough has prepared draft ICSD strategic plan and circulated it to the ICSD executive committee for consideration.

I would like to thank distinguished professor and dean emeritus Shanti Khinduka and Dr. Benjamin Lough for their generous donation of $500 and $150, respectively, to the ICSD.

If you have any suggestions and comments, and ideas, as to how you can contribute to further develop ICSD, please email me: mpawar@csu.edu.au

I would like to thank Dr. Mithun Mostafiz, vice president for public relations and communications, for facilitating the media coverage of ICSD events. For details, please visit the links included in the newsletter of December 2021.

I would also like to thank our information technology director, Dr. Vikash Kumar, for promptly updating our website.

Once again, Season’s greetings and best wishes for the New Year!

Yours sincerely,

Manohar Pawar, President, ICSD

 *****

Previous update

16^th August 2021

Dear ICSD members and friends,

Greetings from Australia!

I hope you are staying safe and doing well, and able to have access to the vaccine of your choice to protect yourselves from the Corona virus.  Recently, I completed my second jab of AstraZeneca.

I am pleased to report to you that the 22^nd ICSD online biennial conference was a great success!

Prof. Leila Patel and Prof. Antoinette Lombard, Co-Chairs of the Conference, Prof. Lauren Graham, and their partners, including national and international committee members have done an outstanding job in hosting the conference. I am grateful to all of them and participants.

The conference brought together over 300 development scholars, practitioners, decision makers and development agents from 42 countries across 6 continents to share knowledge, policy and practice solutions to address the issues of our times. Over 4 days more than 240 presentations created about 80 hours of social
development focused content that you all have access to for the next year on the conference platform. – 22nd ICSD Online Event Portal

https://portalapp.confsa.eventsair.com/VirtualAttendeePortal/22nd-biennial-conference-of-the-international-consortium-for-social-development/22nd-icsd-online-event-portal/login

About the conference, Professor Michael Sherraden commented:

“…this ICSD Conference is setting a higher standard in planning, quality, and contributions.  The Launches of ICSD Africa Regional Branch and FCAB (Financial Capability and Asset Building) Africa will be lasting contributions that continue for years, maybe decades…”

During the conference, I conferred ten social development leadership awards. These details are in the following table.

Table 1. Recipients of the ICSD Presidential Social Development Leadership awards at the 22^nd ICSD conference.

At the end of the conference, I began my second four-year term. ICSD members demonstrated their trust in me by electing me again. That members’
support has really humbled me. May I take this opportunity to briefly summarise what we have achieved in the last four years and what remains to be achieved in
the next four years.

When I assumed the role of the president of the ICSD on 11 July 2017, in Zagreb, in my incoming address I stated:

“… it is natural for the ICSD members and friends, scholars and intellectuals, universities and development organisations and social development practitioners to expect more from the ICSD. Equally, it is important to contribute to the ICSD so that it keeps meeting our rising expectations.”

I also stated that we must walk our talk. Our talk is expressed through the ICSD constitution and the roles and functions of all ICSD office bearers. We must walk these roles and functions.

As the president of the ICSD, I aimed to reduce the gap between our talk and walk.  We have met the following promises we made in July 2017. 

     
1. Updated and renewed the ICSD website, which you all can see it has been done. It isfunctional and it is working well.

     
2. We promised to publish ICSD members’ survey results and share with all members to develop strategic plan for the ICSD. These results have been published in the Social Development Issues and the International Journal of Community and Social Development and uploaded on the ICSD website.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FLE2o4CANfUv85MUxHn4lfFXarIzboGx/view?usp=sharing

     
3. Statement of Ethics for the ICSD was developed and published in SDI, 43 (1). It could be accessed from ICSD website: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Qd7f1sgob4JmYEC0Y0e-fR0JD_aL0BvR/view?usp=sharing

     
4. Committed to continue with biennial conference and we have organised two wonderful conferences in Indonesia and South Africa. The 23rd ICSD conference will be held in Sweden.

     
 5. The ICSD continues to publish Social Development Issues journal

     
6. We have increased individual and institutional members and can do better.

     
7. Enhanced communication amongst members by regularly publishing ICSD newsletters and emailing announcements. All newsletters can be accessed from the website: https://www.socialdevelopment.net/news-events/

In the first term, two of the promises made have not been fulfilled in some respects. We wanted to enhance scholarly and research activities and conceptualise and

implement visionary projects. Limited organisational resources did not allow us to progress these matters. Promises made relating to the Social Development
Issues have not been fulfilled due to a range of unexpected issues we experienced. However, we have highly committed and experienced SDI board of managers and Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Brij Mohan. Under their guidance and support, SDI has maintained quality articles and timely publication of all issues. I am particularly grateful to Prof. Brij Mohan for volunteering to assume the Chief Editor role with such a short notice. The ICSD board and the Executive Council will pursue these two matters in the next term. In addition:  

• We aim to prepare an application and apply to the UN to seek the UN consultative status for the ICSD.
•  In light of members’ survey results, we will develop a strategic plan for the ICSD.
•  We will complete reforms initiated in the ICSD governance procedures and processes and amend the constitution, which is overdue.
•  We also hope to expand and strengthen ICSD branches.
•  We will complete digitalisation of all Social Development Issues and upload them on the ICSD website to freely disseminate social development knowledge to all
  countries. 
•   Along with these plans, my important goal is to develop a team of enthusiastic and committed colleagues who can take the responsibility to serve and lead the ICSD
  better than me, once my second term is completed.

All these can only be achieved with the cooperation, commitment, voluntary time and hard work of ICSD members and office bearers. I hope you will make these readily available to keep our promises and achieve our goals.

I welcome you to join and serve the ICSD.

Yours sincerely,

Manohar Pawar

President, ICSD

25 December 2020

Dear ICSD members:

Wish you a very happy Christmas and New Year!

This year, both Christmas and New Year will be celebrated differently in different parts of the world. Except that 2020 sounds good in both figures and words, it is difficult to find anything good in the year as we all are significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic in one or the other way and by incidents of injustices occurring around the world. The year is to be remembered for a long time in the human history. I hope, 2021 will bring freer and more open world. The vaccine provides us the great hope. I hope you all have safe celebrations.

Since the last newsletter, ICSD has made good progress on several fronts.

Welcome to members

At the outset, I would like to warmly welcome all new individual and institutional members and existing members who have renewed their membership. Please see their names under a separate list in the ICSD Newsletter, December 2020 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/19vx9awks-QbHrhyvWAd6hy3tZUvk-tng/view?usp=sharing ). I encourage all those who have registered their names on our website to pay their membership fees and join ICSD.

ICSD elections

I am grateful to all those who participated in the recent ICSD elections and for showing confidence in me through your votes. I am really humbled and heartened by your support. I am sure, you will join me in warmly welcoming the following elected office bearers of the ICSD.

Elected Officers of the ICSD                             

Thanks to the Nomination Committee

I would like to sincerely thank the nomination committee comprising Dr. Roar Sundby (Chair), Dr. Paramita Roy, and Freddie Wilson for conducting the elections methodically. I also thank Dr. Sharvari Karandikar and Dr. Vikash Kumar for assisting the nominating committee by providing the updated membership information.

Orientation to the ICSD

For newly elected members and interested Executive Council members, for the first time we organized an orientation session focusing on a brief history of the organization, the ICSD governance, and roles and responsibilities, on 5th December 2020. PowerPoint slides used for this session will be uploaded on the ICSD website for members’ benefit.

22nd ICSD Conference

Plans for the 22nd ICSD conference on “Poverty, Inequality and Social Development: Innovations around the World,” to be held from 13–16 July 2021 at the University of Johannesburg, are progressing well. Prof. Antoinette Lombard has kindly assumed the role of conference’s co-chair from the ICSD side. I attended a few preparatory meetings. I would like to thank members for volunteering to review the abstracts. For details of the conference, please visit https://www.socialdevelopment.net/22nd-icsd-conference/

Social Development Issues

The transition of social development issues (SDI) to Michigan Publishing has been slow. However, it is pleasing to see an SDI-dedicated page and the first issue of the 42nd volume on their website (https://www.socialdevelopmentissues.org/). The second and third issues will be uploaded in due course. Further updates are provided by the SDI chair and treasurer, Dr. Tejaswini Patil. 

Digitalization of all Issues of SDI Journal

In a recent meeting, the Executive Council has resolved to digitalize all previous Social Development issues archived in the Minnesota library. The project is expected to begin soon and once it is completed, all SDI issues will be available on the ICSD website. 

Governance

In due course, the Executive Council will appoint an independent entity to examine the governance of the ICSD and to make recommendations to further improve it. The ICSD constitution is also due for amendments. If you have any suggestion for amendments, please do not hesitate to email me.

Resignations

Dr. Kala Chakradhar, ICSD Newsletter editor, Dr. David Androff, secretary general, and Dr. Vijayan Pillai, SDI editor have resigned from their respective positions. I have accepted their resignations and thanked them for their significant services to the ICSD. Dr. Chakradhar helped to edit three newsletters. Dr. Androff served in the position for about three years and was co-chair of the 21st ICSD conference, in which a certificate for leadership for social development was presented to him. Dr. Pillai edited SDI for over a decade and in recognition of his service, James Billups International Social Development Award was presented to him in absentia in the same conference. 

Awards

As you can see later in this newsletter, several of the members have received significant awards for their outstanding achievements. I am sure, you join me in congratulating them on the receipt of those exceptional awards.

ICSD Logo

As you can see on top of this newsletter, Dr. Mithun M. Rahman, our vice president for public relations and communications, helped us update the ICSD logo to make it look clear and sharp. The logo in the background has bright rays of the rising sun spreading on the dark earth, symbolizing the spread the social development knowledge to remove ignorance and injustice from this world. The surrounding silver line is the hope to see a just, fair, peaceful, and happy world.

Network and Collaboration

In the recent orientation session, several members expressed interest in collaborations, research, and linkages. In fact, one of the goals of the ICSD is to “Sustain a process of mutual consultation and cooperative action among individual and institutional members.” I encourage you to contact members of mutual interest, develop networks, and collaborate to develop and share ideas, conduct research, and initiate social development action.

Like many other members, I was invited to speak at several international webinars organized by universities and nongovernment organizations (e.g., Doctors Reforms Society and Indonesian Association of Social Development). It was a great learning and mutual knowledge-sharing experience for me.

Finally, I am grateful to Dr. Zhaoen Pan, who has kindly helped me to edit this newsletter in the interim and publish it on time.

Once again, season’s greetings and the best wishes for better 2021!

Yours sincerely,

Manohar Pawar

President, ICSD

30 June 2020

Dear ICSD members:

Several things have happened in the International Consortium for Social Development (ICSD) and in the entire world, since my update at the end of 2019. In the down under, we were covered by thick smoke that travelled to distant places, far from bush fire disasters, which impacted many lives and houses. While the recovery and rehabilitation was occurring in Australia, we were globally hit by the coronavirus pandemic, which has been impacting several aspects of our lives, namely, social, economic, health, cultural as well as educational. In the midst of fighting the pandemic, the sudden eruption of racial attacks in the United States and anti-racism protests all over the world have awakened us to the reality of racism that we experience and live with in our daily lives. I would like to pray for all the victims and appreciate the efforts of all those who are contributing to saving the lives of people and selflessly assisting them.

A few ICSD members have expressed their views and taken action on these critical issues, and these have been included in the June 2020 ICSD Newsletter.  One of the goals of the ICSD as stated in its constitution is to: “Work toward the creation and maintenance of peace and social justice internationally, nationally and locally.” The ICSD needs to do more and contribute to realizing this goal.

There are several exciting developments in the ICSD.

ICSD portal

As you can see, our new website is up and running. Please visit our website when you have time and explore the different social development education resources. https://www.socialdevelopment.net/

I would like to immensely thank Dr. Vikash Kumar, our technical director, for successfully leading this project and liaising with web developers. I also would like to thank Mr. Sampath Seshadri from VED SOFTWARE SERVICES INC, and his colleagues, who helped the ICSD to build this website and also generously offered a significant discount. I appreciate Dr. Ram Ramanathan, Associate Secretary General for Linkages and Branches, for facilitating this linkage and negotiating a 50% discount.

Membership

By using the new website, about 36 members have joined/renewed their ICSD membership.  I warmly welcome them and thank them for joining. Their names are separately listed in the June 2020 Newsletter.

SDI online

Social Development Issues (SDI), volume 29 to volume 41 (except seven issues), have been uploaded on the ICSD website (https://www.socialdevelopment.net/full-article-access-for-members/). Members and the public can freely access these articles. ICSD is spreading knowledge of social development through this online means now, and it was long overdue.

ICSD office bearers

I would like to profusely thank Dr. Colleen Fisher for serving as the Chair and Treasurer of SDI Board of Managers and for completing a 4-year term. I appreciate Dr. Fisher’s contribution to managing the SDI and to the ICSD.

In consultation with the ICSD Executive Council, the following appointments have been made in respective positions, and I hope you would join me in warmly welcoming them in their roles.

Dr. Sharvari Karandikar, Associate Secretary General for membership

Dr. Kala Chkradhar, ICSD Newsletter editor

Dr. Vikash Kumar, ICSD Technical Director

Dr. Tejaswini Patil, SDI Chair and Treasurer of Board of Managers

Dr. Chathapuram Ramanathan, Associate Secretary General for Linkages and Branches

Prof. James Midgley, Member SDI Board of Managers

Vacant positions

There are a number of vacant positions on the ICSD board. A nominating committee will call for nominations, and ICSD hopes to conduct elections in due course.

Management of social development Issues

The board of managers of SDI has significantly contributed to reducing the cost of producing SDI. Earlier, about $20,000 was the cost of SDI production per annum. All things being equal, with the current arrangements, we will be able to produce this journal at a cost of about $2,500. If this works, ICSD will be able to publish this journal in a self-reliant manner, without depending on any partners or donations. Money saved in this way can be used for digitalizing SDI archived volumes in which ICSD seminal work is published and which can be disseminated to the public through the ICSD website.

SDI is being transitioned to Michigan Publishing Services. More details on this would be provided later.

ICSD 22nd conference in 2021

The preparation for the 22nd ICSD international conference is progressing well. At this point in time, the plan is to organize the conference on-site in Johannesburg. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, if the circumstances demand, the organizer has the capacity to move the conference to online format through webinars.

ICSD challenges

In my view, some of the challenges the organization faces are:

1. Not fully appraised of clear organizational and governance policies and procedures, as stated in the constitution.

1. Not having full accountability to and compliance with the ICSD constitution.
2. Promising action followed by slow and or no action.
3. The need to further increase visibility, profile, and prestige of the ICSD and the flagship of ICSD, the SDI Journal.
4. Decreasing financial base in terms of membership fees and reduced income generation from the SDI Journal.
5. The development of new, emerging, and committed scholars who would join the ICSD.
6. The need to further internationalize the ICSD and strengthen and expand ICSD branches.
7. Beyond all this, increase attention to our core business: creating and spreading social development knowledge.

To address these issues and challenges, it is imperative that significant decisions by adhering to the constitution followed by action are necessary. In my capacity as the president, I have taken decisions in the interest of the organization to act on these long-standing and deep-seated systemic and governance-related issues. I believe this has upset a few members of the organization. However, taking decisions in the interest of an organization following due process is not easy, and this can potentially create dissatisfaction among a few. However, I can say with confidence that we are making good progress and that we will improve further by keeping together and by promptly attending to our designated roles and functions.

To update you, the Executive Council is proposing to hold elections in due course, so that we can have all the positions filled, and have a President, Executive Council, and ICSD Board for 2021. My main priority and responsibility is to improve the governance process and ensure a smooth transition for a newly elected panel of members starting 2021.

The year 2020 has unexpectedly turned difficult and shocked us one and all, with one tragic event after another, disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic that is upending social and economic systems, and above all protests and violence related to racism!

I hope you are staying safe and that peace will prevail soon.

My best wishes to you.

Manohar Pawar

President, ICS