As the Philippines hosts the 2nd ASEAN Social Work Consortium (ASWC) Conference on December 11 to 12, 2012, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman pushes for the increased cooperation and strong networking of ASEAN member-states for an improved public service delivery.

The conference will be held at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City and will gather various social work educators and professionals from government and recognized non-government agencies in the Asian region.

Delegates from the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand will share their respective country presentations on best practices focusing on major developments in social welfare and protection policy, social work education and social work practice.

Aside from the sharing, delegates will be divided into three groups for the breakout session that will be engaged on the discussion of issues on 1) professionalization of social work; 2) disaster risk reduction and management; and 3) outcome-based education.

The Philippines is currently the lead coordinator of the ASWC for the 2011-2012 while Thailand will chair the ASWC for 2013-2014.  ### 10 December 2012 (DSWD-Social Marketing Service)