Featured article from Global Newsletter July 2026
Written by Sergei Zelenev, ICSW President.
Distinguished colleagues and friends,
Dear members of the International Council on Social Welfare, First of all, allow me to express my sincere gratitude to all of you for your commitment, your support, and your continued efforts in making ICSW a viable and respected international organization.
I extend my warm greetings both to those present here in Nairobi and to our colleagues joining us online from different parts of the world. One of the remarkable features of contemporary life is that technology allows us to remain connected and engaged across continents and time zones. We may be geographically distant, but we remain united in purpose and in our shared values.
I would also like to extend my special thanks to Antonio López Peláez and Maria Yepes for their indispensable contributions to the work of ICSW. Their dedication and efforts deserve our deepest appreciation.
Our meeting today is important not only because it allows us to reflect on our achievements, but also because it requires us to think seriously about our future direction. In many ways, this second part of the equation is even more important.
We are approaching a historic milestone: in 2028, ICSW will celebrate its centennial in Paris. One hundred years of engagement in advancing social welfare, social justice, and human dignity represents an extraordinary achievement.
This anniversary should not be viewed only as a ceremonial occasion or a celebration of our legacy. It is also a unique opportunity to demonstrate our continued relevance and to showcase the important work that ICSW continues to undertake today. Our studies, reports, policy contributions, and advocacy efforts are recognized internationally. We have much to be proud of.
Just two days ago, ICSW presented to this conference its 2026 Global Situation Report, based on regional submissions from ICSW member organizations. My special thanks go to Professors P.K. Shajahan and Tapio Salonen, who prepared and edited this important report. Their contribution in compiling and finalizing this document is greatly appreciated.
The roundtable discussion linked to the launch of the report, which brought together several regional presidents, addressed numerous important issues and received a very positive response from the audience. I sincerely thank all ICSW regional organizations for their valuable contributions to this collective effort.
ICSW has also organized a roundtable discussion on participatory governance in the age of AI, bringing to this conference the major conclusions of the important study we finalized following the conference in Ronda, Spain.
As you know, the forthcoming book to be published by Routledge this October will address these important emerging themes. We are a knowledge-based organization, and this report is yet another demonstration of our commitment to generating and disseminating knowledge relevant to social welfare and social development.
I would also like to report that, over the past two years, we have continued our constructive and longstanding cooperation with the United Nations.
ICSW regularly submits written statements to the annual sessions of the Commission for Social Development. We consistently contribute our perspectives through side events, policy discussions, and other forums addressing priority issues on the international social development agenda.
In 2025, we also participated actively in the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha, Qatar. Prior to the Summit, our organization prepared and presented a Manifesto that articulated a number of important ideas and recommendations based on contributions from across the entire ICSW regional structure. These ideas were submitted both to the Summit Secretariat and to the co-chairs of the process.
I am pleased to report that our work received considerable appreciation and recognition. Many of the ideas advanced by ICSW were reflected in the outcome documents of the Second World Summit for Social Development.
This demonstrates clearly that, even with limited resources, our organization can continue to make meaningful contributions to global debates on social development and human well-being.
ICSW remains an organization open to the world. Over the past period, our website has been refurbished and modernized. Our newsletter has also been redesigned and strengthened.
Our institutional capacity remains modest, but we continue to demonstrate our ability to achieve more with fewer resources. This has always been one of the defining characteristics of committed international civil society organizations. Since its establishment, ICSW has evolved into a truly global community of like-minded individuals and organizations dedicated to improving human welfare and well-being.
As I mentioned earlier, we are proud to describe ourselves as a knowledge-based organization. But we must also recognize that, in today’s rapidly changing world, relevance cannot be taken for granted. We must think carefully about how to remain visible, influential, and attractive to future generations.
Allow me, therefore, to raise several issues that I believe deserve our collective reflection.
First, membership.
We must increase and strengthen our membership base. But this will not happen automatically. Potential members must clearly see the tangible benefits of belonging to ICSW.
In today’s world, organizations and individuals are confronted with countless competing opportunities and networks. Therefore, we must become more creative, innovative, and imaginative in demonstrating the value of ICSW membership.
These benefits may take many forms: intellectual exchange, networking opportunities, greater visibility, participation in international policy discussions, joint research initiatives, youth engagement, training opportunities, and access to global expertise.
Whatever benefits we identify, they must be visible, concrete, and attractive.
This is not something that can be designed only by the leadership. We need your ideas, your creativity, and your practical suggestions. Without your active participation and input, we cannot move forward effectively.
We have increased our membership with several new members, but this process can and should be further facilitated and strengthened.
Second, youth engagement.
If ICSW is to remain relevant over the next century, we must create stronger bridges to younger generations.
We need to involve students, young professionals, and youth organizations more actively in our work. We need to be creative in this field and explore new organizational forms.
I previously suggested one possible initiative that could help attract young people—for example, organizing a competition at the regional or global level for AI-generated drawings or visual projects related to themes of social welfare, solidarity, and well-being.
Such initiatives, linking important social concepts with new possibilities created by AI, could encourage creativity while also engaging young people with emerging technologies.
Of course, this is only a tentative idea, and I am certain that our regions may have many additional and innovative proposals.
But clearly, we need to think much more broadly.
How can youth organizations become active partners of ICSW?
How can we create spaces where young people feel ownership, participation, and inspiration?
These are questions that deserve serious discussion.
The second major issue I would like to address concerns the growing importance of well-being in public policy and social development.
Around the world, there is increasing recognition that economic indicators alone cannot fully capture the quality of human life. This is why the growing interest in subjective well-being is so important.
Subjective well-being focuses on how people themselves perceive and experience their lives. It reminds us that statistics alone cannot fully describe the human condition.
Economic growth matters. Employment levels matter. Income levels matter. But these indicators do not tell the whole story.
We must also ask:
Do people feel secure?
Do they feel included?
Do they feel respected?
Do they feel hopeful about their future?
Do they experience dignity, trust, and belonging?
For this reason, I believe public policy should pay much greater attention to people’s lived experiences.
Policies should not be evaluated solely on the basis of economic efficiency or technical performance. We should also assess whether they improve people’s sense of well-being and social connectedness.
Strengthening the role of subjective well-being in policymaking represents an important step toward more human-centered governance.
Better international standards and more reliable data are certainly necessary. But even more important is the broader philosophical shift behind this approach: placing people—not abstract statistics alone—at the center of how we define progress.
This discussion naturally leads us to another important question: what is the relationship between individual well-being and social well-being?
Is society simply the sum of individual experiences, or does social well-being represent something broader—something rooted in solidarity, trust, inclusion, and social cohesion?
These questions are not merely academic. They may have implications for the future identity of our organization itself.
Indeed, perhaps we should begin discussing whether the International Council on Social Welfare might eventually be renamed the International Council on Social Well-being—while retaining the same acronym, ICSW.
This is a bold idea, and it requires careful discussion, but it could be a productive direction for reflection.
Such a change could better reflect contemporary thinking. In some countries, the word “welfare” unfortunately carries negative stereotypes or outdated connotations. The concept of “well-being” may resonate more broadly with younger generations, new partners, and wider audiences.
I fully understand that this is a complex issue requiring careful consultation across our membership and regions. I am not proposing immediate decisions. Rather, I am suggesting that this could become part of our broader strategic reflection as we move toward our centennial.
Finally, colleagues, let me conclude by looking ahead to the next two years leading toward Paris in 2028.
What should our roadmap be?
What concrete commitments should we make?
What collective vision should guide us toward our centennial?
But I believe we need something more structured and ambitious.
We need to create a clear timeline toward Paris—a roadmap with concrete objectives, visible milestones, and collective commitments.
The centennial should not simply arrive as a date on the calendar. It should become a process of renewal, reflection, outreach, and strategic repositioning.
If we work together creatively and with determination, Paris 2028 can become not only a celebration of our history, but also the beginning of a new chapter for ICSW.
Thank you very much.
