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Honourable Chancellor of the Lusíada Universities and Chairman of the Minerva Foundation
Honourable Dean of the Lusíada University of Lisbon
Honourable Director of the Lisbon Higher Institute of Social Services

I congratulate the Lusíada University and the Lisbon Higher Institute of Social Services for the initiative to hold in Portugal this International Conference of Social Services.

My presence in this opening session is a testimony of the great regard I have for your work.

I also want to utter a word of thanks to the Lisbon Higher Institute of Social Services for the notable place it occupies in the history of the Portuguese Social Services.

It was a pioneer institute in the training of the higher ranking staff of the social services and, throughout its 73 years of existence, has been a reference for the professional identity of Social Welfare, and a custodian of the values and principles which guide social intervention in Portugal.

I hope that the integration of the Institute in the Lisbon Lusíada University becomes a further step in the sense of providing its courses and its trainees with the technical and scientific expertise which they have deserved for so long and is justifiable in view of the work being developed.

But more than enhancing the academic functions of the Lisbon Higher Institute of Social Services and of the Lisbon Lusíada University, I wish to address all the professional staff of the social services – technicians, teachers and researchers – my deep recognition for your work. This is an inestimable contribution for Portuguese society to continue fighting for greater fairness and social cohesion.

A society which considers inclusion and the defence of human dignity one of the pillars of its development is a society which requires itself to be more caring and harmonious.

In the current context of economic crisis the risks of exclusion arise as greater threats.

The fear for the worsening of the living conditions of thousands of Portuguese demands from us all a strengthening of the spirit of solidarity, but equally a greater regard for those whose calling is social intervention, those that, day by day, sustain that indispensable pillar of our collective being.

For this reason these words of thanks and of trust in your work, endeavour and competence are justified so that, in some way, we can equally feel a reinforced hope that the approaching difficulties will be overcome.

We all know that these difficulties are fast arriving. But we must also have no doubts that we can overcome them.

It is from the professional staff of the social services that we can expect the dream of a more humane view of the social institutions to come true: from hospitals to local authorities, from private institutions of social solidarity to community intervention, from public administration to the many private institutions which have responsibilities within the scope of social intervention.

I feel certain, from the topics I was able to identify in the Conference programme, that this initiative will be relevant for the professional valuation of the technical staff, for the development of research and for the knowledge of the issues and social dynamics which demand constant reconsideration of solutions and will provide a necessarily powerful contribution to the consolidation of the values and principles of social ethics.

To our foreign guests, to all participants and to the organizing bodies I extend my wishes for optimum results from their work.

My best wishes to you all and that you may leave this working meeting with a reinforced animus to better accomplish your mission.

Maria Cavaco Silva