Executive Directors Report to IOI – August 2005

 

This report covers the year since IOI in Athens, Greece.

 

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 Athens have undoubtedly had a negative impact on the organization.

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 Spain to assist them with a motivation to their Education authorities for financial assistance. Correspondence has also been attended to between the office and several countries enquiring about participation in IOI. I have also been in touch with all countries that had indicated an interest in hosting IOI and obtained preliminary information from them.

As in the past, the Minutes of General Assembly and the International Committee meetings held in Athens were prepared and distributed well within the time limits specified.

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 (Martin Gomez and Elmer Albacete), Sudan (Anour Dafa-Alla).  

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 Lucknow, India as Guest of Honour to QUANTA 2004. It was a fascinating experience, bringing teams of young people from many countries (but mainly India) together to participate in a variety of activities including Mathematics, Science, Astronomy and Information Technology. In addition to written tests participants were also expected to participate in model building, debates and quiz programs to test their skills. A heavy emphasis was placed on cultural activities and many opportunities were created for interaction.

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.

 

 

 

 

 

Lionel Hartmann

Executive Director - IOI