Facilitator Ms. Ismay Griffith facilitating a session on “Working with the Abusive Partner” during the Pre-Conference.

The 9th Biennial Conference of Caribbean and International Social Work Educators got underway Sunday at the Pegasus in Georgetown, with Chair of the Conference Planning Committee, Ms. Barbara Thomas-Holder, charging delegates to spend the next five days examining best practices and engaging in meaningful dialogue that will raise the image of Social Work Education and Practice, so that their social economic and physical environments can be more responsive to the needs of people.

In a message presented to the Conference at the opening ceremony, Ms. Thomas-Holder admonished delegates to let their discussions, at the end of the day, “serve to bridge gaps and build bridges that reflect their interests and concern for people whose hopes and dreams for a good life are too often derailed because of their inability to mediate social systems.”

Held under the theme: “Social Work and Development: The Synergy for Realising People-centred Change,” the workshop, scheduled to conclude on Friday, brings together a gathering of long-standing, as well as new conference participants, educators, practitioners, students and others from around the Caribbean and USA.

The forum is organised by the Social Work Unit of the University of Guyana, in collaboration with the Association of Caribbean Social Work Educators and the Guyana Association of Professional Social Workers.

Key-note speaker at the opening ceremony was Mr. Peter Martinez, Minister of Human Development and Social Transformation in Belize.

Also on the programme were messages from the President of the Association of Caribbean Social Workers and Educators, Peta-Anne Baker, PhD; and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Guyana – Michael E. Scott , PhD.

Taking place ahead of the formal opening ceremony were Pre-Conference workshops in the morning, which addressed key and ground breaking issues namely:

– “A Transnational Dialogue: Linking Caribbean Diasporas” by Dr Annette Maloney, Dr Anthony De Jesus, and Dr Yolanda Quinones Mayo of Hunter College of Social Work, USA.

– “Working with the Abusive Partner: One Size does not fit all” , by Ms. Ismay Griffith and Elsa Kum of the Caribbean American Social Workers’ Association.

– “Gender, Sexuality and Social Work Education in the 21st Century Caribbean and the Scholarship of Teaching” by Dr Janet Jackson and Mr. V. Kissoon of the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination.

– “Strategies for Success in the Social Work Education” by Dr Deborah P. Valentine; and Valerie Thompson-Ebanks, Doctoral student.

The Conference over the next few days will also work on joint projects that will energise and inform its work, while identifying the synergistic links between social work and human development in the Caribbean.