Council on Global Social Issues

• To educate CSWE membership on emerging and existing global and international social issues and their relevance to social work practice through CSWE newsletters and other publications
• Explore policy implications and identifying teaching issues
• To contextualize global macro issues, guidelines for local communities, promotion of community guidelines, nontraditional issues
• Contextualizing global and international issues for global practice and their relevance for local practice

Current Projects 

Panel on Migration as a Social Determinant of Health 

Social Work PhD student, Passion Ilea, hosted a panel discussion where migrant and refugee scholars discussed migration as a social determinant of health, and the implications of this lens for practitioners, researchers, and students.

Speakers included: Dr. Marciana Popescu, Dr. Megan Berthold, and Dr. Mitra Naseh

To access the full recording, click here. 


Below are a list resources discussed in the panel, additional readings, and Class discussion prompts. 

Resources Discussed: 

• Berthold, S. M. (in press) “Clinical social work practice with forcibly displaced persons grounded in human rights and social justice principles” In: N. Murakami & M. Akilova (Eds.), Integrative Social Work Practice with Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Forcibly Displaced Persons. Springer.
• Berthold, S. M. (2015). Human rights-based approaches to clinical social work. Springer. 
• Potocky, M. & Naseh, M. (2019). Best Practices for Social Work with Refugees and Immigrants. Columbia University Press.
• Her Migrant Hub
• Merging Knowledge by All Together in Dignity Fourth World International 
• United Nations Global Compact for Migration
• United Nations Global Compact on Refugees
• The Initiative for Social Work and Forced Migration (contact [email protected] for listserv)
• CSWE Center for Diversity Educator l Resource
  • Center Library
• Words Without Borders Resources

Additional Readings

• Berthold, S. M., & Fischman, Y. (2014). Social work with trauma survivors: Collaboration with interpreters. Social Work, 59(2), 103-110.
• Castañeda, H., Holmes, S. M., Madrigal, D. S., Young, M. E. D., Beyeler, N., & Quesada, J. (2015). Immigration as a social determinant of health. Annual Review of Public Health, 36(1). doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032013-182419
• Popescu, M., & Libal, K. (2018). Social work with migrants and refugees: Challenges, best practices, and future directions. Advances In Social Work, 18(3), i-x.
• World Health Organization (WHO) report on social determinants of health

Suggested Class Discussion Prompts: 

1. What challenges might you run into in your work with migrants and refugees?
2. How can institutional policies in your workplace be changed to better serve migrant participants? 
3. How can you prioritize participant voice and choice in your practice with migrants and refugees? 
4. How can you imagine social institutions changing in reaction to global migration? How should these changes affect social work practice? 
5. What is something you feel you need to learn more about after watching his panel? How would you learn about it? 

2021–2022 Student Competition

CGSI has awarded two $500 grants to encourage social work students to use their macro social work skills. The two winning projects provide  opportunities to distribute global social work content. In their projects, students were encouraged to share their ideas and educate social work programs on emerging and existing global and international social issues and their relevance to social work practice.

Award Winners

Passion Ilea
Passion Ilea is a PhD student at Portland State University's School of Social Work. Her research interests include equity, health care, migration, and pedagogy. She aims to reduce inequity and promote wellness in health care systems at a structural, socioeconomic level.

Autumn Henry

Autumn Rae Henry is junior year student at Texas Christian University completing her Bachelor of Social Work (BSW)  Degree.

Past Projects

2018–2019 Joint Special Project

The Global Commission and the Council on Global Social Issues received CSWE special project funding to support the development of Transforming Community, an online educational platform for social workers, policy makers, and community-based service providers about the relevance of social work practice in working with refugees. Using a human rights perspective and a relational-cultural lens, the website offers 12 curriculum modules, videos, photographs, and classroom activities focused on current refugee resettlement practices in Germany.

Visit Transforming Community for more information.

Refugee Summit (2017)

Through CSWE special project funding, the Council on Global Social Issues organized a meeting to enhance social workers’ understanding of the ongoing refugee crisis and strategies to prevent such crises from occurring. Project activities included creating a video and organizing a meeting involving leading experts in the field. The meeting, titled Seeking a Safe Haven: Refugee Summit, was held October 2, 2017, at the University of North Texas. The event brought together refugee-assisting agencies, individuals with refugee experience, student organizations, and prominent scholars from various disciplines to develop a critical understanding of the conditions of global refugee populations. The Refugee Summit is an exemplary model of community organizing for refugees, and the video can be used to explore themes such as school social work’s role in the integration of refugee children, sustainable resettlement, and factors that contribute to cultural humility and community receptibility to refugees. 

Informational Briefs

• Early School Leaving in Romania (2017)
• ​​Solitary Confinement (2016)

International Post Disaster Recovery and Relief: Why Social Work Matters (2016)

In 2016 the Council on Global Social Issues organized a forum on international postdisaster recovery and relief, held at the Sri Lanka Permanent Mission to the United Nations. The forum, titled International Post Disaster Recovery and Relief: Why Social Work Matters, brought together not only leading policy experts on disaster management, but also social work educators and practitioners who were specialized in disaster risk reduction measures. The forum provided participants opportunities for in-depth discussions. These discussions helped social work students understand international disaster recovery and relief management and why social work response is vital to long-term efforts to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity. Click here to view the video from the forum.