Across the world

Across the world, bassac joins hands with other neighbourhood centres and movements for local action through the International Federation of Settlements and Neighbourhood Centres (IFS). With official consultative status at the United Nations and the Council of Europe, the IFS is a global network of centres and their networks expressing the values and vision of a world built from the bottom-up.

A global movement

Through the IFS, we are able to link up with movements in nations such as Israel, Hungary, Romania, Sweden and across North America as well as with centres in China, India and Venezuela.

The movement connects community organisations that represent and respond to the different needs, strengths and aspirations of families and communities. Its mission is to build an inclusive global community by empowering, inspiring and connecting people who are working locally for social justice.

bassac has a proud history – as a founder member since 1922 - of support for the IFS, including hosting the secretariat in the 1990s. More recently, we have hosted UK visits from groups from the Finnish Federation of Settlements and have sent staff to Finland and Russia to the international IFS conference. We have also offered members the chance to participate in an exchange visit to a Finnish organisation. The IFS staff and board members engage in collaborative partnerships with the International Council of Social Work and the International Association for Community Development.

Find out more about the international dimensions of our work at www.ifsnetwork.org.