33^rd Global
Conference of ICSW
Tours, France, June 30th to July 4th

It is a great pleasure for me to invite you to take part in the Global Conference of the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) in Tours. 80 years ago ICSW invited researchers, politicians and people interested in social issues to the first International Conference in Paris. In celebrating our anniversary we seek to learn from our history and consider what we can do better in the future.

Social development, improved social welfare and social justice are our goals. ICSW seeks to influence global social policy and strengthen civil society organisations. We hope the 2008 conference will give our members and conference participants new knowledge to fight poverty and the capacity to build stronger NGOs. The conference will provide a rare opportunity to meet global opinion leaders in social policy with the opportunity to learn from them. It is a hard and difficult task to foster social development and fight poverty. We can enhance our ability to do this if we have support of our colleagues from all over the world.
 
The venue for the conference is ideal for the tasks we will undertake. Tours is a beautiful town in the Loire valley and is a short train trip from Paris and the Charles de Gaulle airport. The conference venue is sited just opposite the train station and with all the hotels close by it is an easy walk to the venue and its nice surroundings.

Solveig Askjem
Global president ICSW