Bethlehem, Palestine, 23-24 April 2025
About the Forum
Social Work in Palestine is considered an integral part of the liberation process from colonialism. Palestinian academic institutions and community organizations, since their establishment, have sought to create local social structures that contribute to the steadfastness and liberation of society through various interventions.
Social Work in Palestine is considered one of the ways to organize the community to respond and cope with the difficult circumstances experienced by Palestinians due to living under colonialism. Social Work is not limited to providing social and psychological services to families and individuals, but also works to create alternative methods for community-based action to enhance steadfastness and community resilience against occupation policies.
Social work in Palestine does not separate colonialism from the socio-economic realities which are manifested through on-the-ground structural and daily challenges, such as policies, laws and procedures imposed by the occupation. These challenges affect the structure and cohesion of Palestinian families and the pressures they endure. These also include economic dependence on the labor pattern, wages and consumption limitations, and even choices related to where they live and interact, while the struggle over Palestinian land and space continues – affecting homes, neighborhoods, the scene and the broader community.
Colonial policies have escalated, seeking to dismantle the social fabric of Palestinian society through a number of policies and practices of spatial and social cleansing, leading to the genocidal war that is still being waged against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and to a lesser extent in the West Bank and Lebanon. These policies manifest as a clear embodiment of the core colonial ideology of annihilation and erasure, targeting Palestinians wherever they may be, and extending to every aspect of their life and survival, and include social, economic, and health institutions, housing and infrastructure, specialized cadres, public spaces, and historical and cultural structures. This reflects a continuation and deepening of the Nakba of 1948, with the goal of complete ethnic cleansing from Palestine.
Several measures were imposed, including the policy of collective punishment and apartheid policies, land confiscation, and the besieging, criminalization and dismantling of institutional collective work, in an attempt to dismantle the Palestinian society on the collective and individual levels, and adopt daily practices that “normalize” with the goals of social fabrication and reshape awareness in a manner consistent with the objectives of colonialism.
These practices have made Social Work a dynamic discipline for coping and steadfast adaptation, as the Palestinian cannot resist without the ability to cope with and respond to all the painful and exhausting losses on the human, material and practical levels. Social Work thus becomes a critical tool that transcends the individual to the collective, allowing accumulated experiences of social work to transition from working with individuals to addressing community and societal needs, as the scale of human losses is vast and painful.
This raises a uniquely Palestinian question about how to view Social Work as an attempt at Palestinian steadfastness and resistance, rooted in a profound understanding of social relationships—of the self, family, community, and society—while directly addressing the accumulated losses and aiming for continuous resilience, emancipation and liberation. This gives a broader meaning than the sacrifice and loss, opening the door to a different future for the Palestinian.
The social worker is part of Palestinian society, involved in the process of conflict and confrontation, often finding themselves in the dual position of both service providers and victims. Social workers are often exposed to a set of obstacles resulting from colonial policies and procedures, such as arrest, mobility restrictions, direct assault, closure of social institutions, and the legal framework regulating the profession. These challenges complicate social workers’ ability to promote a more just and resilient society, and increases the intersection of social action and political resistance action.
Hence, fieldwork within the Palestinian society seeks to create on-the-ground local alternatives and practices that operate within the principles of Social Work, expanding the scope of practice to encompass opportunities for action within a colonial context that addresses the individual and society at the same time. This requires expanding and developing the concepts and perspective of social work in Palestine and globally.
It is significant to note that there is a shortage of documentation regarding the development of Social Work in Palestine, and that the predominant focus is on practical applications and development while neglecting the theoretical exploration. The focus on confronting the existing political circumstances surpasses documenting the experience, building on it, and learning from it.
From this standpoint, and in light of the rich and diverse experiences and professional expertise practiced in the Palestinian society, the idea of developing and documenting the experience of Social Work in the context of Israeli colonialism emerged. This is to transform practice into theory and intellectual material that can serve as a reference for other contexts. This would give value and richness for the various roles that Social Work plays in confronting the different challenges experienced by Palestinians.
Through this forum, we aim to document and analyze the theories being used, and how they are utilized, and the practical interventions in the colonial context. We will also explore Social Work interventions that seek to liberate the individual and the community at the same time. As such, we will be inviting a range of academic papers as well as testimonies and experiences from active social work practitioners in the field.
Speakers at the Conference
Khrystyna Kovtsun
Khrystyna Kovtsun, director of UCU Legal Clinic, board member of the NGO Association of Legal Clinics of Ukraine, lawyer and attorney specializing in the field of military law; human rights activist (documenting war crimes for the initiative “Tribunal for Putin” (T4P). Research interests: war crimes, documentation, protection of the rights of servicemen.
Ivanna Andrusechko
Ivanna Andrusechko, MSc (Economics), Program and Projects Manager of the Centre for Teaching and Learning Excellence at Ukrainian Catholic University. Responsible for the Core Curriculum Program and facilitation of using the SL method in the program. Research interests: curriculum development, network activities.
Yuliia Vintoniv
Yuliia Vintoniv, a Ph.D. student at the Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv, Ukraine), Lecturer of the Department of Pastoral Theology, and Project and Program Manager at the Center for Teaching and Learning. Coordinator of the SL project “Me – the Other” – winning Uniservitate Global Award 2022.
Jan Kamiński, PhD
A Landscape architect, Department of Landscape Planning and Design at The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, coordinator of Uniservitate project at KUL and Laboratory of Service Learning – Centre for the Education Support KUL. He work by SL method with students of Landscape architecture. Research interests: city landscape, sustainable urbanism and public participation.
Iwona Pietrzak
Works in Office for Education at The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, project manager with 12 years of experience in managing projects financed by the European Union. Managing and accounting for projects under Erasmus + (Key Action 1 and 2), EEA, Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, European Social Fund. Certified in PRINCE2, Agile.
Marta Tychenko
Marta Tychenko, Head of the Student Career Office at Ukrainian Catholic University. She is also a lecturer in the Department of Psychology and Psychotherapy at UCU. Marta is a specialist in organizational psychology and a member of the Ukrainian Association of Organizational and Labor psychology. Research interests: psychological features of organizational development. Psychological readiness for a professional career, psychological factors of professional career development. Career guidance.
Christiane Hoth de Olano
Coordinator of the Hub for Central & Eastern Europe and the Middle East, Uniservitate project. She worked as a lecture for Latin American History at Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany. Now she is responsible for the institutionalization of Service Learning at KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt.
Olha Mykhailyshyn
Project assistant of the Uniservitate project at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany. Was a Head of Service Learning Centre at Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv) and Deputy Head of the Emmaus Centre at UCU. Has almost 20 years of experience as legal advisor and barrister-at-law.
Małgorzata Łysiak, PhD
Psychologist, assistant professor at The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Department of Clinical Psychology. Her main scientific interests concern personality, dialogicality, and psychotherapeutic methods, especially the cognitive-behavioral approach. From pandemic times, she accomplish SL projects with students, with the main aim: Youths Help.
Olha Matiychuk, PhD
Olha Matiychuk, PhD in Economics, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, PhD in Economics: 15+ years of professional experience in teaching, management, and research; 3 years of mentoring the implementation of Service Learning at UCU. Research interests: education, motivation and labor remuneration, rural development, and corporate social responsibility; active citizenship skills, a member of the NGO “Center for Social Innovation”.
Anna Badora, PhD
Pedagogist, Department of Didactic, School of Education and Pedeutology at The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. Coordinator of the project “Preschool and early childhood pedagogy students’ response to current educational difficulties and problems: covid pandemic and war in Ukraine” – honourable mention in Uniservitate Award 2022. Research interests: creative activity, network activity, ecological education of younger school-age children, abilities, art therapy, issues of tutoring and mentoring.
Eman Abu Sa'adeh, PhD
Eman was born in Beit Sahour, Palestine. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work with a minor in Psychology from Bethlehem University in 1989, and a Master’s degree in Social Work with a specialization in working with families and children from the University of Minnesota in the United States. Iman worked in Palestine at the Rehabilitation program of the victims of the Intifada run by the YMCA, and supervised the social and psychological specialist team in the program, in addition to her work as a part-time lecturer in the Department of Social Sciences at Bethlehem University.
In 2003, she obtained a PhD in Social Work from Ohio State University. Her research interests are focused on mechanisms and strategies for strengthening the capacity of local communities and raising awareness for community participation in addressing social issues that affect individuals and communities.
Currently, Iman is a part-time lecturer at the Catholic University of Social Sciences in Cologne, Germany. She also works with the Family Counseling Program for Children and Youth in Caritas in Bonn, Germany, working with refugees by strengthening their resources and developing programs, workshops, and lectures to help them adapt to the challenges of their new lives. She is also a part-time lecturer in the Master in Social Work program at Bethlehem University.
Brother Peter Iorlano, FSC
Brother Peter Iorlano, FSC is a member of the De La Salle Christian Brothers. Brother Peter has a BS in Biology and Religious Studies, a Masters in Social Work, and a Masters in Human Development.
Brother Peter came to Bethlehem University in August 2004 serving as the Coordinator of Institutional Values and as a teacher. Until May 2020 he taught students in the Intensive English program and Developmental Psychology to nursing students. He was then appointed to the position of Vice President for Human Resources.
Immediately prior to coming to Bethlehem University, Brother Peter served on the Leadership team of the Long Island-New England Province of the Brothers. His other professional experiences include counseling at-risk adolescents and their families, teaching and providing student services in a K-12 school, school administration, and work with young adults (university students and graduates) in career counseling and faith formation.
Day One
Day Two
Opening Session
Working Groups
Bilal Salameh (No Abstract)
Partners
