Report from the Executive Council of the I.F.B.D.O.
at Holnon, France, Saturday 30 September, 2000,
Present : The President: Martin Manceñido-Fuertes, Spain, the Vice-president: Ezzedine Riahi, Tunisia, the Vice-president: Francis Ferrua, France, the Secretary General: Niels Mikkelsen, the Treasurer General: Robert Labadie, the Netherlands, the Special Counselor to the President: Peter Heimer, German Red Cross, and the Continental Delegate from Africa: Farid Belouafi, Marocco.
Marc Ibars I Badia, Espagne, Daniele Peramezza, Italie and Claude Piotton, Suisse, members of the Control Commission were also present.
The Continental delegates from Europe: Pasquale Colamartino, Italy, from South America: Márcia Tedesco Dalcceco, Brazil, and from North America: Jean Guy Lorrain, Québec, were absent, as were Mr. George Simigiatos, Greece, with special assignment for the Balkans, Amadou Ba, Sénégal, with special assignment for West-africa, and Joaquim Moreira Alves, Portugal, with special assigment for the Lusiphone countries, who was represented by the President.
The Report from the General Assembly in Sao Paulo was approved.
1 . Agreement on the agenda : The proposed agenda was approved.
2. Finances: The Treasurer distributed the corrected accounts for fiscal 1999 (FIODS COMPTE DE RESULTAT AU 31 Décembre 1999 (annex 1), which shows a final loss in 1999 of FF. 54.427. This is due to a necessary down-writing of the stock of medals (MIS) and of the outstanding membershipdues from before 1998.
The regular accounts for 1999 (annex 2) show an income of 92.722 FF and expenses of 49.415 FF, so there was a net surplus on the ordinary activity of 43.307 FF
All actual expenses, made in 1999, were attributed to that financial year, so that we could get a fresh start in the year 2000.
The balance of the accounts on 31. December 1999 was 309.167 FF, made up as follows:
(see annex 3: "Bilan au 31 Decembre 1999")
| Assets : |
|
Debts: |
|
|
| Outstanding debtors: |
51.500 FF |
Net capital: |
280.800 FF |
|
| Financial assets: |
257.667 FF |
Outstanding Debts |
28.367 FF |
|
| Total: |
309.167 FF |
Total: |
309.167 FF |
3. Status of our accounts
2000.
The status has not changed much in 2000 so far, but the budget (as approved in Sao Paulo)
shows a substantial deficit:
| Expenses in 2000 were foreseen as follows: |
|
| Bulletin for the Mahgreb Association |
10.000 FF |
| Website for FIODS |
36.000 FF |
| Latin American programs |
10.000 FF |
| FIODS Revue |
60.000 FF |
| Postage |
8.000 FF |
| Administration |
60.000 FF |
| Expenses total: |
184.000 FF |
The first three items were one-time expenses, but the FIODS Revue and the administrative costs were annual expenses,
so if expenses should meet income, we would have to find additional income.
The President informed that it was most unlikely, that the next issue of FIODS Revue should be paid for in 2000.
The Secretary General informed, that there would be very small expenses for the web-site.
It was agreed, that 10.000 FF should be transferred to the Mahgreb Association, when an invoice was received by the Treasurer with indication of the Mahgreb Association account (which is different from the account of the Tunisian Donors Association).
It was also agreed to accept an offer to Spain to co-finance a project in Brazil, so that the Spanish Organisation transfers 10.000 FF to the project, and has 5.000 re-imbursed from the IFBDO after sending an invoice.
The African delegate asked that copies of all invoices to African members for membership-contribution should be sent to him.
The Vice-president from Tunisia asked, that an official letter was sent to the Tunisian Central Bank to facilitate payments from that country.
In the coming accounts, administrative expenses should be split into administration and travels:
Budget 2001.
FIODS Revue
It was decided that all member organisations of the IFBDO will receive ONE issue free of charge (approx. 70). A copy will also be sent to all the known big media (approx. 75) as well as to the International Organizations (approx. 50).
This way about 200 copies will be in charge of the IFBDO and additional issues should be paid by each country (the number that they want to receive). These should be prepaid to the Treasurer by electronic wirement to the Federations bank Account with 6 Euros for each additional issue of the FIODS revue.
Medals, M.I.S.
It was also decided a new stock of one single medal shall be produced on the initiative of the President, and that revised bylaws for the distribution of the medals shall be proposed to the next General Assembly.
Special IFBDO-pins will be produced and sold by the Spanish organization (FENADOSE)
4. Membership status
Membership-ship contribution in 2002
It was decided to recommend to the General Assembly, that the annual payments in 2002 shall be the same as in 2000 and 2001 (4000 FF as the normal contribution equal to 609,80 Euros)
Other membership-questions:
A list with updated information on payments from the member organizations was distributed (Annex 4). Of the newly admitted members, only Lithuania had paid its contribution for 2000, and Estonia had paid up for 1999 and 2000 (with payments in accordance with its status as an organization in a difficult situation) .
It was decided to recommend to the General Assembly, that no member states should be excluded at this stage, even if they had not paid contributions for a while. But if they showed no action upon the invoices, they should be given a status as observers without voting rights etc.
It would also be suggested, that a member-organizations took upon them to pay for a number of other member organizations in a difficult situation.
To answer a specific demand from the West-Benghali Association the Executive Council confirmed, that the minimum contribution continues to be 1.000 FF (152,45 Euros) as there is no provision in the Statutes or the Rules of Procedure to allow for lower or partial payments for regional organizations.
The Executive Council was informed, that a new national organization had been created in Luxembourg , "l’Entente des Associations des Donneurs de Sang Bénévoles du Grand Duché, which would replace the present representation from Luxembourg.
Follow up on our decisions in Sao Paulo
Activities:
New issue of the FIODS revue
The president had sent a letter to all member organizations to send their demands for subsciptions for FIODS Revue number 2 before October 31, 2000, and to send their possible contributions to the Revue at the same date. Francis Ferua took upon him to review the French translations in the next edition, and Niels Mikkelsen promised to review the English translations.
As mentioned before, the payments for the next issue should be sent directly my electronic wirement to the IFBDO-account in the Netherlands before December 15, 2000.
European Youth Forum
Information was distributed about the very succesfull European Youth Forum in Montesilvano in Italy from 14.-18. September 2000
North African Youth Forums
Information was also given about the four meetings for young blood donors in Tunisia, where other North African donors were invited.
International Youth Forum
Niels Mikkelsen gave a tentative invitation for an International Youth Forum 16.-20. August 2001 in Denmark. For economical reasons the setting would be more modest than the setting in Montesilvano, and the structure and content would be different – based on experiences from Montesilvano. Special emphasis would be made on the age of the participants, which should be between 18 and 32. It would also be recommended, that participants mastered at least one of the IFBDO working languages.
Web-site.
The Secretary General informed, that a IFBDO web-site was underway at the internet adresses : www.fiods.com and www.fiods.org.
The site would be based on the three working languages, but as costs should be kept to a minimum, certain items would be the same in all three language versions.
Spreading donor organizations to new countries.
It was proposed, that letters should be sent to important political persons to promote the spreading of donor organizations to new countries and to obtain additional financial resources for the IFBDO. Others suggested, that initiatives should be made to contact interested individuals in new countries with offers of advice and economical and personal support for the establishing of new donor organizations. No conclusion was made on this point.
Medical counselor
The Secretary General asked member organizations to forward the names of their medical counselors to the Secretariat.
New guidelines:
Peter Heimer reported, that he had written to member organizations indicating 7 points of reference for the possible guidelines, but no answers had been received. The guidelines should be based on common recommendations from the Council of Europe, the WHO, and the ISBT.
Because of the move of the German Red Cross Headquarters to Berlin, he had had little time to continue the work, but he would continue, since there was no specific time limit set.
It was suggested, that the guidelines were published i. a. on the FIODS web-site, and that the medical counselors were asked for guidance on the guidelines.
Cooperation with other international organizations:
The European Union.
The President referred to the meeting with Commission President Romano Prodi, and he would
take the initiative to continue the process with meetings with Commissioners Diamantopolou and Byrne. The IFBDO should pursue specific goals and present coherent information.
The Secretary General promised to forward projects proposals for establishing new donor organizations in Latvia and Lithuania for inspiration for other projects to be presented o the Commission.
The Secretary General would continue to follow the possible development of EU Directives in the Blood Field.
It was discussed, how the IFBDO could establish a permanent presence with the European Institutions, and an offer to establish a permanent secretariat, which could establish permanent liasons with the European Institutions, from the French Donors Federation (FFDSB) was graciously accepted. The Secretary general will follow up with practical consultations with the French Federation.
The Council of Europe.
The Secretary General referred to his letter to the Council of Europe, which had asked for IFBDO comments to the draft 7th Guide to the preparation, use and quality assurance of blood components. Ha had asked, that a draft donor-questionnaire for multiple donors was included in the 7th Guide. The content of Secretary Generals letter was accepted by the Executive Council.
The European Blood Alliance:
The Secretary General was asked to contact the EBA in order to obtain close coordination with that Alliance, especially in the work vis-a-vis the European Union.
Communication:
The Association of the Comores , the ACDSB, has asked for support from the IFBDO for obtaining government support to the Association – and for understading of the difficulties for payment of the membership dues. This, and the presidents answer, was graciously noted..
Next IFBDO General Assembly
Plans for the General Assembly in Tunisia will be distributed directly from Tunisia.
Upcoming meetings of the Executive Council
Spain invited the Executive Council to have its next meeting in Spain in the autumn of 2001
Plans for the IFBDO General assembly in 2002 and 2003
Quebec has presented its interest in hosting the Congress and General Assembly in the spring of 2002.
The Netherlands have presented their interest in hosting the General Assembly in 2003.
Niels Mikkelsen
Secretary General