Who we are
Social Workers’ Syndicate in Lebanon
Authorized by Decision 41/1 of the Minister of Labor on February 1st, 1997.
Amended by Decision 111/1 of the Minister of Labor on September 1st, 2007.
Founding Committee: Enaam Farid Abou Jaoudeh, Layla Ahmed Jaber, Sana Braunt Bamoukian, Josephine Saab Saadeh, Wesal Youssef Tabbara, Hiam Adel Mucharrafiyyeh, Fadia Akl Safi.
Achievements of successive SWSL boards since its establishment until April 2016, summarized under three main tiltes:
- Unionist, administrative, professional and advisory achievements
- Informing the public opinion, through audio-visual and written media, about SWSL’s establishment, identity, objectives, statutes and bylaws, and identifying the required documents and the accredited certificates that qualify their holders for membership.
- Distributing a text about the profession and its objectives, detailing the various fields of work and clarifying the academic study, university diplomas and names of the universities that teach social work.
- Issuing membership cards and SWSL pins.
- Publishing the Code of Ethics of Social Workers in three languages: Arabic, English and French.
- Issuing the professional oath entitled “I swear by God, my Belief and my Honor…”
- Issuing an annual magazine for several years.
- Communicating directly and via e-mail with universities that teach social work, alumni associations and social, health and educational institutions in the public and private sectors to inform them about the projects, activities, jobs available and developments in the professional and university fields, and providing consultation for colleagues, institutions and authorities.
- Seeking to obtain health and pension insurance for members with private insurance companies and mutual funds without being able to achieve the desired goal.
- Suggesting and dividing work among SWSL committees and selecting the coordinating member of each committee according to the union task entrusted to him/her.
- Communicating and coordinating with the “International Federation of Social Workers” to inform them about the establishment of the SWSL and using texts issued by the Federation: the definition and ethics of social work and some professional texts compatible with the identity and objectives of the profession. SWSL started as well celebrating the International Day of Social Workers after the Federation designated it on the third Tuesday of March of every year.
- Seeking to involve and represent the SWSL in national councils, parliamentary committees and bodies concerned with the “social work” profession, i.e. “social workers”, through colleagues who are members of the syndicate, who wish to do so and who are involved in jobs, programs and activities that match the objectives of this representation. Coordinating with the Lebanese Council of Women and the Committee of the Families of the Kidnapped and Disappeared in Lebanon and providing advice to officials, authorities and colleagues.
- Communicating with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the Center for Educational Research and Development to inform them that social workers have the qualifications to teach sociology for secondary classes and civic education for all classes in public and private schools, based on General Education Curricula and “Building through Education” of 1997.
- Communicating with some faculties in the Lebanese University to make way for social work graduates under the various certification names to continue their university studies in other specialties to get diplomas and master’s degrees and pursue in-depth studies. The faculties that cooperated with us are: the Faculty of Education, the Faculty of Media and the Institute of Social Sciences.
- Organizing a day out and a lunch with SWSL members and colleagues and their families and friends in EPES (Ensemble pour l’Education Spécialisée).
- Organizing conferences and symposia gathering SWSL members, media institutions, ministries, institutions, universities, and colleagues
- 26/1/1998 Press conference at the headquarters of the Press Order to mark the first anniversary of SWSL’s establishment and announce the celebration of the National Day of Social Workers in Lebanon on the 1st of February of each year which marks as well the day the syndicate was created.
- 21/2/1998 Seminar on “The reality and challenges of the social work profession”, with the participation of Dr. Serge Duomo from the University of Laval – Quebec – Canada.
- 29/1/1999 “The meeting of universities that teach social work” at the headquarters of the Press Order.
- 1/2/2000 Conference about “Social Work between Reality and Aspirations” at the headquarters of the Press Order under the patronage and with the participation of the Minister of Social Affairs.
- 1/2/2001 Conference about “The Role of Social Workers in the Public and Private Sectors” at the Lebanese American University – Beirut under the patronage of the Minister of Labor.
- 1/2/2002 Conference about “The importance of professional organization for social workers” under the patronage of the Minister of Social Affairs.
- 31/1/2003 Conference for “Announcing a law proposal for regulating the profession and creating a mandatory syndicate” under the patronage and with the participation of the Minister of Social Affairs.
- 6/2/2004 Conference to “Support the law proposal for regulating the profession and creating a mandatory syndicate” under the patronage and with the participation of the Minister of Social Affairs. The conference included presentations of the activities and programs implemented by social, health and educational institutions and universities that teach social work, in addition to publishing houses and libraries.
- 31/1/2005 Conference about “The importance of social workers’ roles and their employment in private and public institutions to perform the work well” under the patronage and with the participation of the Minister of Social Affairs.
- 13/1/2014 Seminar on the “Professional Regulations and Ethics” given by our colleague Ranaa Aoun-Tin based on the current university program for social work.
- The profession’s organization, the mandatory obtaining of a permission to practice the profession and the mandatory syndicate:
- In 2001 and then in 2010, the Syndicate’s board submitted to the Ministry of Social Affairs the text of a draft law aimed at “organizing the profession of social work in Lebanon” and the establishment of a mandatory syndicate. These two projects failed to reach their objectives.
- In 2002 and for many consecutive years, SWSL’s board submitted to the Parliament several law proposals aimed at establishing a mandatory syndicate, organizing the profession and obtaining a mandatory permission to practice the profession. Proposals have been revised and corrected several times based on the suggestions of the head and members of the Public Health, Labor and Social Affairs Committee.
- In 2012, SWSL’s board submitted to the Parliament the first law proposal’s draft aimed at obtaining a mandatory permission to practice the social work profession in Lebanon from the Ministry of Social Affairs. In 2013 and 2014, the text was examined by the Public Health, Labor and Social Affairs Parliamentary Committee in coordination with the SWSL, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Director of Higher Education and the representatives of universities teaching this specialization. This proposed law is still being processed.
