Social Work & Bamboo 

Around the world, professional social workers collaborate and innovate to address critical issues of social and environmental justice, poverty alleviation and economic empowerment, conflict resolution, and sustainable community development. In doing so, related education, research, and field practices contribute to advancing structural and systemic changes to underlying causes of persistent social issues.

Pacific Bamboo Resources and B4G aims to support and advance professional Social Work purposes.  In compliment to our international programs, PBR actively networks and collaborates with international social workers involved in mission consistent research, education, and practice pursuits.  Connecting bamboo resources with social work and social welfare makes sense, and PBR staff join international social work colleagues to apply many decades of combined social work education, research, and international fieldwork experience. 

Within the past few years, social work professionals and scholars have articulated ways and means of advancing collective efforts to amplify awareness and optimize best social work practices. For example:

• American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASW) published its Grand Challenges for Social Work, and so articulated a call to action for all social workers “to champion social progress powered by science … and work together to tackle our nation’s toughest social problems”.

• The International Federation of Social Work (IFSW) published its Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development, offering new perspectives and pragmatic urgency for collaboration, professional capacity-building, and coordinated actions to “meet our joint aspirations for social justice and social development”.  Here at PBR we are honored to announce that our Bamboo for Good (B4G) program was included in the agenda as a case study for promoting community and environmental stability in Africa.  

• The International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW), founded in 1928, represents international, national, and local organizations dedicated to social welfare, social development, and social justice. Its international headquarters are in Utrecht, Netherlands, and Kampala, Uganda. ICSW publishes Global Social Policy Journal and International Social Work.

• The International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) publishes its free journal Social Dialogue, highlighting topics and tactics of social work practice around the world. Its Global Definition of the Social Work Profession conveys that: