World Social Work Day 2024 | Buen Vivir in Social Work: Co-Building a Sustainable and Just Future

World Social Work Day has been celebrated around the globe since 1983. This year, UNRISD teamed up once again with the Geneva and Fribourg Schools of Social Work and its international partners to mark the Day at UN in Geneva. World Social Work Day aims not just to showcase the achievements of social work and increase its visibility, but also to highlight its synergies with social development: shared commitments to social justice, inclusive development and human rights. 

World Social Work Day 2024 (WSWD), taking place at the United Nations in Geneva and online, will explore the topic Buen Vivir in Social Work: Co-building a Sustainable and Just Future and discuss how social workers can adopt innovative, community-led approaches based on alternative value systems that emphasize a more harmonious coexistence with nature.

To celebrate social work and its potential to diffuse and embody Buen Vivir, the event will be convened with three objectives:

• Engage in a reflection on how to harness principles of Buen Vivir for social work research;
• Identify examples of how Buen Vivir can provide concrete guidance for social work professionals on how to create better relationships among people and between people and nature;
• And provide recommendations on how Buen Vivir can inspire reforms at the policy, legal, institutional and community level that pave the way toward more sustainable futures by strengthening people’s resilience in the face of climate change, conflicts and socio-economic challenges.

The celebration of WSWD 2024 will include contributions from social workers and scholars based in various regions of the world. Through keynote speeches, workshops (only for in person attendance) and a roundtable, we will explore pathways to more just and sustainable shared futures and discuss how social work can contribute to this transformative vision.

Interpretation in English, French and Spanish will be provided.