pensions - AAFI-AFICS, Geneva - UNOG

ASSOCIATION OF FORMER WHO STAFF – AFSMA new Committee for 2008-2010Following elections held on 21 October 2008, AFSM’s hardworking Roger Fontana had reached thestatutory “retirement age” for Presidents and became an honorary President (see also the PS below).Dev Ray is the Association’s new President. In a message in the “Quarterly News”, Ray mentionedthat the AFSM had done remarkably well in the defending the interests of former staff, for example inthe improvement of Staff Health Insurance and the maintenance of Pension benefits, but he regrettedthat it had been less successful in “strengthening links with WHO as an institution”. Having tried toelicit the views of retirees as to how they would like to be involved in the work of the Organization, theBureau got very few responses to a questionnaire it had issued a few years ago. On the other hand,an “Oral History” project involving personal interviews in the Bulletin and “Remembering the Past” hadbeen successfully resuscitated. He mentioned the very successful annual AFSM receptions and theheart-warming experience of seeing old friends and many new ones. He said that the Bureau wouldagain promote some other social activities to provide a focus where retirees can meet occasionallyand have a forum for exchange of views.PS One retiree association’s loss has become a sister association’s gain: following his obligatoryretirement from the AFSM Presidency, Roger Fontana has become a regular volunteer in the AAFI-AFICS offices, providing advice and guidance for visiting retirees and future pensioners.AFICS-ADDIS ABABAOn the occasion of his association’s tenth anniversary, the President of AFICS-Addis Ababa, TedlaTeshome, wrote about its beginnings in an anniversary edition of the Association’s Newsletter: “Tenyears ago, a group of individuals, who returned home to Ethiopia after retirement from different UnitedNations System organizations, forged a union with the existing group of retirees from the UnitedNations Economic Commission for Africa, to establish an all-inclusive association that would qualify foradmission to membership of the Federation of Associations of Former International Civil Servants(FAFICS). The Assembly of founding members, at its meeting in January 1999, ratified the by-lawsprepared accordingly and formally established AFICS (AA). In July of the same year, the Associationwas admitted to the membership of FAFICS.”Over the past ten years, the Association has paid a key role in FAFICS as the first Africa-basedmember association. It has since been joined by other African retiree associations, from Mali in 2001,Egypt in 2002, Burkina Faso, Congo (Brazzaville) in 2003, Tanzania in 2005, the Democratic Republicof Congo (Kinshasa) in 2006 and Kenya in 2007.It is currently assisting a new Association in Zambia with the drafting of its by-laws. Thanks to agenerous logistical support provided by the management of the UN Economic Commission for Africa(ECA), AFICS-Addis Ababa can function effectively and efficiently. It has been able to secureagreement for retirees to access the ECA premises; retirees and their dependants have also gotspecial access to the facilities of the ECA health centre. It has solved a long-standing problem for agroup of 60 retirees who had lost their After-Service Health Insurance coverage. It assists ECA andother Addis Ababa based UN organizations in the preparation and conduct of pre-retirementworkshops.In addition, the Association, with financial support from UNICEF, undertook a study on the role of theelderly in Addis Ababa as providers of care to orphans and other vulnerable children and submitted aproposal to the Addis Ababa Municipal Administration, suggesting strategies for addressing theseissues. It has also undertaken a study with financial support from the Woodward CharitableFoundation in the USA on the “Needs and Rights of Out-of-school and at Risk-Adolescent Girls inAddis Ababa”. Suggestions for an appropriate strategy and action plan were submitted to thecompetent government bodies. Growing steadily since its inception, AFICS-Addis Ababa has now got380 registered members (AFICS-AA Newsletter – February 2009).Anders Tholle28