Executive Directors Report to IOI – August 2005
This report covers the year since
IOI in
Administration
The level of correspondence and
interaction between members of IOI and the office of the ED has been fairly
quiet since IOI. Some of this is seasonal, but the unfortunate events in
Despite this there has still been a fair amount of activity and there has been a steady call on the office for assistance and guidance.
Some examples include an approach
from
As in the past, the Minutes of
General Assembly and the International Committee meetings held in
Background documentation and briefing papers have been prepared for the Chairmen of IC and GA.
The amendments to the Regulations arising out of the decisions of GA have been prepared in co-operation with Richard Foster and will be discussed at GA this year.
Development
The growth and Development of IOI continues to go ahead at a steady pace. I am in regular contact with the following 15 countries who are potential participants/observers at IOI :
Bangladesh (Dr M. Kaykobad), Bolivia (Roy Espinoza), Costa Rica (Maureen
Murillo), Dominican Republic (Jose Tavares), Ecuador (Rafael Semper), Iraq (Abdulrahman Idlbi), Japan (Prof. Etsuro Moriya), Lichtenstein
(Phillipe Schauermann),
Malaysia (Martin da Silva), New Zealand (Raewyn Boersen), Nigeria (Hon
Akinlade Abiodun M.P.), Panama (Azael Barrera), Peru
(Min Hwang), Phillipines (
Some of these countries are not likely to participate for a while, but I am hopeful that at least 4 will be present at IOI 2005 as observers or participants.
Finances
The Financial position of IOI continues to remain very favourable as will be seen from the financial statements. The Income budget shows a healthy increase ($5971) and continued to grow positively because of the interest being earned on our funds. Interest earned on our funds amounted to $2468 due to the verty favourable rates of interest prevailing on the South African money market.
The windfall that IOI enjoys through its investments in South Africa have continued to strengthen during the year as the US dollar continued to weaken and real interest rates in South Africa remained stable and positive.
As a result of the responsible budgeting and prudent financial controls maintained over the years, IOI is in a position to make positive contributions towards assisting the organization to improve its services to participating countries. This year sees several initiatives towards this including Developmental Workshops and Training CD’s for participants at IOI. The ability to provide assistance and development to IOI countries (existing and new) is in line with the original thinking behind the establishment of the Registration fee3. That we are able to do this without embarking on costly and at times unproductive fundraising ventures, places IOI in a very strong position and the envy of our counterparts in other disciplines.
IC also approved assistance to all the countries that had been affected by the Tsunami disaster. Not all countries took up the offer of assistance.
IOI Newsletter
The first Newsletter was compiled and distributed after IOI 2004. At its meeting in April the International Committee decided to produce the Newsletter on a no cost basis. One Newsletter has been distributed since then.
QUANTA 2004
During November 2004 I was
fortunate enough to be invited to
I was asked to deliver the Official Opening Address and used the opportunity to tell the IOI story and invite them to aspire to participate. From the perspective of IOI many contacts were made which have been passed on to the relevant countries to follow up. Some new IOI participation could also emanate from this.
General
It has been a pleasure to serve IOI this year thanks to the positive support received from so many true friends who were able to appreciate the vision and thinking behind some of our activities. In 5 short years this organization has continued to move forward in many ways and today boasts a solid basis of operations and administrative support to the International Committee and General Assembly.
Executive Director - IOI