CSWE’s Commission on Global Social Work Education and the Katherine A. Kendall Institute collaborate to offer the International Social Work Leader Review. Each quarter the Review features an individual who has made significant contributions to international social work education with ties to the United States. In the spirit of Katherine A. Kendall’s life and work, these highlighted leaders are recognized as influencers in the global social work community whose efforts have made important advancements in social work education and practice.
Featured Leader
María B. Cerda, AM (1934–2020)
María B. Cerda was a trailblazer who made significant impact in the areas of public policy, economic development, and education in the city of Chicago, Illinois. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico and moved to Chicago after she completed her bachelor’s in social work (BSW). In 1969 she was the first Latina appointed to the Chicago Board of Education and led the advocacy for bilingual education to the Chicago Public Schools. She was the founding executive director of the Latino Institute, the first national policy institute for Latinos and was an integral part of Harold Washington’s mayoral campaign, transition team, and agency leadership. Her legacy lives on through the impact of her policy work, the institutions she helped build, and the many leaders whom she mentored.
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By Leticia Villarreal Sosa, PhD, LCSW; Ada Nivia López, MA; Marta Cerda, JD
Recently Featured Leaders
Daniel Selvarajah Sanders (1928–1989)
Dr. Daniel Selvarajah Sanders was the first President and one of the founders of the Inter-University Consortium for International Social Development, now known as the International Consortium for Social Development (ICSD). Under his dynamic leadership, the ICSD expanded its membership beyond the United States, initiated international biennial symposiums, and played a crucial role in establishing the European branch of the ICSD. Dr. Sanders was a well-known educator globally recognized for his leadership in promoting world peace, human rights, and social justice. Dr. Sanders was one of the major proponents of the social development perspective within social work.Read Full Review
By Vijayan K Pillai, PhD (University of Texas at Arlington)
Alberto Godenzi (1952–2019)
Dr. Alberto Godenzi was a visionary leader and strategic thinker well known for his promotion of globalization in higher education and his long-term advocacy efforts against violence toward women and children. For decades, he advocated for social workers to become globally literate indicating the need for three essential skills including global awareness, versatility with language, and cultural humility. He was named as one of the most influential social workers based on merit, scholastic study, and political activism in 2014.
Anna Maria Cavallone (1927–2020)
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Anna Maria Cavallone played an important role in the consolidation of Italian social work, particularly regarding its international dimension. After taking a degree in Foreign Languages and Literature, she qualified as a social worker in 1952. These experiences instilled a firm conviction that professional practice must be guided by scientific rigor, hence her unflagging commitment to the process that led in 1987 to Italy’s legal recognition of the social work profession, which mandated that practitioners must have university qualifications. Even after her retirement in the early 1990s, Cavallone continued to participate actively in the world of Italian social work, open as always to international dialog as her publications from this decade testify.
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By Marilena Dellavalle (Turin University, Italy)
The Detained and Disappeared Social Workers of Chile
2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the military coup in Chile. The coup unleased incredible violence in Chile particularly focused on those people who were involved in activities meant to improve the quality of life for the majority. These people were tortured, killed, exiled, and disappeared. This entry discusses some of the disappeared social workers of Chile. Across the world social workers are committed to defending human rights. But social workers themselves have also been victims and survivors of human rights abuses. This review will examine the stories of social workers in Chile who were detained and disappeared by the military-civic dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet beginning in 1973 and will provide a brief summary of and context for social work and human rights in Chile at that time.
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By Rosemary A. Barbera, PhD, MSS (La Salle University)
Advocate Eknath Awad (1956–2015)
Coming from one of the most downtrodden communities in India, the “ex-untouchable” caste, he rose to fight against caste and class-based inequities and injustices. He continued the legacy and inspiration from great social movement leaders Jotiba Phule, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Martin Luther King Jr., and Annabhau Sathe. He studied MSW, got a law degree, and instituted a social movement called the “Manav Hakk Abhiyan” Human Rights Campaign. His work has significantly contributed to contemporary social work and human rights curricula.
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By Lalit Khandare, PhD, MPhil, MSW (Pacific University)
For a list of previously featured leaders, click here.