COSW has an elected board that aims to be representative of the diversity of the Commonwealth. COSW does not have any paid staff.
Below you will find information about the current serving board members.
COSW Board
PRESIDENT – K. S. RAMESH
Dr K. S. Ramesh has 25 years of professional social work practice experience in physical and mental healthcare, and leadership of professional associations. He has been a member of the COSW Board since 2010 and played a key role in the recent review of the COSW constitution. He represented COSW in the Commonwealth Health Professions and Partners Alliance and was its Secretary for 2 years. He was President of the Professional Social Workers’ Association of Tamilnadu 2008-2011. He was instrumental in creating the revised COSW website.
Dr Ramesh is Director – Education, Social Action and Administration at Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health. He is a member of the Steering Committee of Tamilnadu State Professional Social Work Council. He was Co-Founder & Secretary of the alumni association of Madras School of Social Work, Patron of the Journal of School Social Work and a State steering committee member of the National HIV/AIDS bill. He contributed to ‘TB-HIV’ co-infection policy and was a drafting committee member for Tamilnadu State Youth policy and Meghalaya state mental health and social care policy. He supported development of Tamilnadu state policy addressing the needs of persons experiencing homelessness and mental illness.
PAST PRESIDENT – A. Sylvia Daisy
Dr. A Sylvia Daisy is the Past President of the Commonwealth Organisation for Social Work (2020-2025). Teaching is her passion. She started her career as a teacher at Nava Nirmana Social Institute in 1999 and later taught UG and PG in Social Work at Stella Maris College. She works as an Associate Professor at Madras Christian College in the Department of Social Work, Self Financed Stream. She has associated with MCC since August 2007.
Networking with people is her strength. She enjoys working with social work practitioners and academicians. She is a Member of the Steering Committee, Rural Job Creation, South India, Confederation of Indian Industry since July 2018. Since March 2019 she has been a member of the Community Advisory Board, the National Institute for Tuberculosis Research, Indian Council for Medical Research. Recruitment of Staff for various projects being the minority representative, sharing expertise relating to research, and bringing institution and community connections are a few of her responsibilities. She is the author of the book titled “Marriage and Family”. She has been the Guest Editor of the International Journal on Social Work Management. She is interested in research and has published more than 25 research papers in national and international Journals. Her research presentations in Sweden in 2012 and Belgium in 2017 were supported by Madras Christian College and University Grants Commission, Government of India respectively.
Sylvia is affiliated with Anbaam Trust since 2007 as she loves fieldwork. she has made a remarkable contribution by leading the Tribal Children Nutrition project 2014 to 2019, Tribal women Entrepreneurship and Empowerment project 2017 to 2019, Chennai Floods Relief and Rehabilitation project 2015, Vardha Cyclone Relief and Rehabilitation Project 2017, COVID 19 relief and Rehabilitation project 2020
BOARD Members
Alamaveebea Idyorough – Nigeria
Information to come
Carlene Cornish – United Kingdom
Dr Cornish is a registered social worker with Social Work England and employed as Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of East Anglia, England. Originally from South Africa, she has both local and international experience in social work, probation and academic research. He various academic qualifications and professional experiences cover a range of disciplines, which include postgraduate and professional qualifications in social work, probation services and education. These qualifications led to specialist practice in areas of child protection, fostering and adoption, youth offending and restorative justice. Carlene is an expert in research on race, racism, and social work education and has developed SAWUBONA, a culturally sensitive framework to improve British social work assessments and student placements. She holds a range of strategic committee roles including UK Council Member and Board Member of the Commonwealth Organisation for Social Work, International Committee Member at the British Association for Social Workers (BASW) and NSPCC Policy Committee Co-opted Member.
David Keegan – Australia
David Keegan is a social work leader, educator and former CEO with more than 25 years’ experience across community services, international NGOs, higher education, and social policy. He is a qualified social worker and senior executive known for leading complex organisations, strengthening governance, and driving innovative approaches to social justice, refugee wellbeing, and community inclusion.
David was the founding Chief Executive Officer of HOST International, where he established and led multi-country operations across the Asia Pacific, securing major partnerships with governments, UN agencies and philanthropic organisations. He has an extensive background in systems design, organisational transformation, and cross-cultural leadership, and has held senior roles at Settlement Services International, Connect Settlement Services, and Marist Youth Care.
He currently serves as Senior Lecturer and Field Education Lead in the School of Social Work at Excelsia University College, where he teaches in the Master of Social Work program and contributes to curriculum development and research. His academic work focuses on refugee resilience, settlement, and the emerging role of artificial intelligence in social work, and he is undertaking a PhD exploring how AI is shaping the profession.
Gerald Okiria – Uganda
Gerald is a professional Ugandan social worker since 2015 when he offered volunteer service at the National Association of Social Workers of Uganda (NASWU) as a Programmes Officer for two years after which he was later elected in 2017 as a Board Member of NASWU up to date. Currently he works with Compassion International – Uganda where he offers support to staff working with children and youth, efforts aimed at releasing them from poverty. He has also served as the Young Carers Ambassador in East Africa under COSW since 2016 and has been editor of the COSW Newsletter since 2021. He is passionate about service, justice and family in the community and occasionally offers independent social work services to individuals who would wish to reunite with their families in the diaspora.
Jan Christianson-Wood – Canada
Janice (Jan) Christianson-Wood, MSW, RSW is a registered social worker in Canada. She is past President of the Canadian Association of Social Workers (2016-2020) and of the North America Region of IFSW (2016-2018) and is a Board Member of the Canadian Association of Social Workers. Jan’s career has focused on child welfare from front line practise to thesis research on risk assessment in child welfare, and child welfare oversight at the local and provincial level. She was the first social worker hired as a Special Investigator by Manitoba’s Chief Medical Examiner.
Mary Bastien – Trinidad & Tobago
Information to come
Nathan Chong-Nee – Aotearoa New Zealand
Nathan Chong-Nee (Te Rarawa, Samoan, Chinese, and European heritage) is Chief Executive of the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers, Te Rōpū Tauwhiro i Aotearoa (ANZASW), the national professional body for social workers. He leads the organisation’s work to strengthen the profession through advocacy, ethical practice, and workforce development grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
With over 18 years’ experience across Aotearoa and the Pacific, Nathan is a Registered Social Worker whose career spans youth work, addictions, school-based social work, and clinical and practice leadership roles. He has held positions in child protection, community development, and workforce capability; most notably as Principal Child Protection Officer for the Government of Samoa.
Nathan is deeply committed to ensuring Pacific visibility in global social work spaces and building solidarity with Pacific social workers within Aotearoa and across the region. His leadership reflects a belief in collective action, strong relationships, and transformative change to uplift communities and strengthen the social work profession
Sharon-Rose Gittens – Barbados
Sharon is a qualified social worker and a former Registered Nurse who joined Barbados Welfare Department in 1999. She holds a Masters of Educational Psychology involving a dissertation on understanding the perpetrator of domestic violence using learning theories. She was a partner on Barbados COVID 19 Mental Health Psychosocial First Aid Response, is a member of the Barbados Social Justice Committee and has been a Part-time Lecturer at University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus since 1997. She is Chair of the Barbados Association of Professional Social Workers.
Supporting the Board
Godfred Boahen – Honorary Treasurer – United Kingdom
Information to come
David N Jones – General Secretary (honorary) – United Kingdom
Dr David N Jones qualified as a social worker in 1974 and holds degrees from Oxford, Nottingham and Warwick Universities. He has extensive international, national and local government, NGO and private sector experience. David was General Secretary, British Association of Social Workers (1985-1994) and Assistant Director, Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work (1994-2000). He was President of the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) (2006-10) and Global Coordinator of The Global Agenda for Social Work (2010-2020). He is a Trustee of Children and Families Across Borders (ISS-UK).
David has been closely involved in the politics of professional organisations and also the policy and practice of regulation of social work qualifications and practice in the UK and internationally. He has published and spoken extensively on social work practice and management in the UK and internationally. David was honoured to be awarded the Andrew Mouravieff-Apostol Medal “for an outstanding contribution to international social work” by IFSW in 2018. He is an Honorary Fellow in Social Work, University of Edinburgh and received an Honorary Doctorate in Social Sciences from University of London in 2023 in recognition of his international social work achievements.
1 Jones, D. N. and R. Truell (2012). “The Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development: A place to link together and be effective in a globalized world.” International Social Work 55 (4): 454-472.
2 Jones, D. N. (2020) “The Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development. Fourth report: strengthening the importance of human relationships” Rhinefelden, Switzerland, IFSW https://www.ifsw.org/product/books/global-agenda-for-social-work-and-social-development-4th-report/
Naomi Spencer – Board Secretary – Australia
Information to come
Charles Mbugua (2026 global conference – Nairobi) – Kenya
Charles Mbugua is a front line social work practitioner with long and extensive experience having worked in my countries across Africa. He is a ast President of the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) in Africa, and former co-chair of COSW. He is the representative of IFSW at UN Habitat and is the co-chair of General Assembly of Partners (GAP) – older persons constituent group.
COSW 