G I E D R Ė K V I E S K I E N Ė
My friendship with social work is related to my research interests, which are social economy and education policy with a focus on positive socialization, communication, social business and smart socialization. In many scientific, practical journals and monographs I have analyzed children and families welfare through positive socialization, social partnership and innovations. At the same time I am a founder of various NGOs, such as the temporary child care homes “Atsigrezk i vaikus“[1], Lithuanian Social Pedagogy Association[2], and Confederation for Children[3]. For Baccalaureate, Master and PhD degree students I am teaching social communication and mediation, smart socialization and social technologies courses in Vilnius, Lithuania.
I chose Fish net because …
… post-modern culture is a network culture. For me, fish net symbolizes connections, especially between NGOs and the public and private sectors. Fish net symbolizes sharing, teamwork, social partnership and social clustering culture. The network calls for our connections to be useful: to catch fish and seafood – in other words, to develop a senses of ‘welfare’ that is of a new quality. The possible conflicts between individualization and cooperation, and between localization and globalization are challenges for the theory and practice of contemporary social work and social pedagogy. Fostering an individual identity whilst accepting differences is a real challenge that networks can help to meet.
My experience has been gained through conflict mediation and creating network organizations to consolidate the social professions and help to resolve social problems at local, national and global levels. Building trusting and authentic relationships is very important for modern social work and social pedagogy. Through relationships we can solve social problems, show society how we can manage them, become role models of social partnership and social innovation. Each of us is a unique person and only after an assessment of this uniqueness can we find out what benefits can be received when pool our collective talents.
social work in 40 objects 