VOL. 67, NO. 3 - AAFI-AFICS, Geneva - UNOG

EDITORIAL
New faces in the AAFI-AFICS Bureau
To keep up its energy, its efficiency and even its pugnacity, every Association needs, from time to time, to
renew its leadership. This time has come for the Bureau of the AAFI-AFICS Committee which will welcome
some new faces in the course of the summer.
As for me, it has been evident for some time that for all sorts of reasons - purely of a personal nature - the
moment would soon come when I should set aside the daily business of AAFI-AFICS and pass on the
responsibilities of the Chairmanship to a younger member of our team. I consulted the members of the
Committee and, enthusiastically, they agreed that Roger Eggleston, the current Vice Chairman for Health
matters, who joined the Committee in 2004, should succeed me.
At our meeting on 8 May, all our colleagues, without exception, accepted my proposal and I am especially
pleased to hand over shortly the chairmanship of the Association to Roger Eggleston, a former WHO staff
member, and, until his retirement in 2003, Director of the Geneva Office of the Chief Executives Board, the
CEB (formerly the ACC). Whilst, it is evidently an honour to be Chairman of AAFI-AFICS, it is also a heavy
burden to which, without any question, Roger will devote himself with the drive and the "joie de vivre" which
we all know of him.
The handover will take place on 31st July on our return from participating in the FAFICS Council, and, for my
part, in the Pension Board as part of the FAFICS delegation.
To replace Roger as Vice Chairman for Health matters, the Committee elected, the same day, without
hesitation, Katia Chestopalov, who is particularly well qualified to fill these functions given her former role
as Director of Human resources Management of WMO.
At the same time the Committee elected Odette Foudral as its Secretary - a post which has been vacant for
some time. A former staff member of the UN Office in Geneva, Odette, for 11 years, was the administrator in
the GPAFI - a role which will clearly help her to take charge of this key post in AAFI-AFICS.
Two members of the Committee stay in their positions and I am happy to have this occasion to thank them
for the remarkable contribution they make to AAFI-AFICS: Elisabeth Belchamber, formerly of UNECE and
Vice Chairman for Management of the Association, masterfully manages the membership records which is a
considerable and sensitive task considering that there are over 3,500 members. And Venkataraman "Nari"
Narasimhan, formerly of ILO, who remains Treasurer - a treasurer, the like of whom chairman can only
dream.
One post remains to be filled in the Bureau - that of Vice Chairman responsible for Pensions which became
vacant in the regrettable circumstances which are reported elsewhere in the Bulletin. I have every hope that
it will be filled shortly.
It is completely impossible for me to close this chapter of my professional life without expressing - to you all,
members of AAFI-AFICS, members of the Committee, of the Secretariat, and those in all the Organisations
of the UN system who help our Association with such friendship and efficiency - how much these years in the
service of retirees, first as a member of the Bureau of the ILO Section of Former Officials and then, for ten
years, as part of the AAFI-AFICS Committee , have brought me pleasure everyday and lasting joy. Thank
you for having allowed me to know the extraordinary experience, as Chairman of the Committee of working
with you all as a collective team which, I can truly say, is essential for the effective defence of the interests of
our community of former international civil servants.
Jean-Jacques Chevron
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