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Report from IFMSA-CIOMS World Health Organization Internship Program 2018
Imprint Executive Board 2018-2019 President Batool Wahdani (Jordan) Vice-President for Activities Nebojsa Nikolic (Serbia) Vice-President for Members Fabrizzio Canaval (Peru) Vice-President for Finance Ahmed Taha (Egypt) Vice-President for External Affairs Marián Sedlák (Slovakia)
IFMSA The International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations
(IFMSA)
is
a
of medical students worldwide. IFMSA was founded in 1951 and currently maintains 133 National Member Organizations from 123 countries across six continents, representing a network of 1.3 million medical students. IFMSA envisions a world in which medical students unite for global health and are equipped with the knowledge, skills and values to take on health leadership roles locally and globally, so to shape a sustainable and healthy future.
Vice-President for PR & Communication
IFMSA
José Chen Xu (Portugal) Layout Design Simo Gaabouri
non-
governmental organization representing associations
Vice-President for Capacity Building
Georg Schwarzl (Austria)
non-profit,
is
recognized
as
a
nongovernmental
organization within the United Nations’ system and the World Health Organization; and works in collaboration with the World Medical Association.
Publisher
International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) International Secretariat: c/o IMCC, Norre Allé 14, 2200 Kobenhavn N., Denmark
Email: gs@ifmsa.org Homepage: www.ifmsa.org
Contact Us
vpprc@ifmsa.org 22
This is an IFMSA Publication © 2019 - Only portions of this publication may be reproduced for non political and non profit purposes, provided mentioning the source. Disclaimer This publication contains the collective views of different contributors, the opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of IFMSA. The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers’ products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by the IFMSA in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.
Notice All reasonable precautions have been taken by the IFMSA to verify the information contained in this publication. However, the published material is being distributed without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. The responsibility for the interpretation and use of the material herein lies with the reader. Some of the photos and graphics used in this publication are the property of their respective authors. We have taken every consideration not to violate their rights.
Table of Contents
Click on the blue boxes to go to your desired section.
Introduction to IFMSA Page 5
Structure and leadership of IFMSA Page 6
Decision-Making in IFMSA Page 12
NMO Requirements Page 12
IFMSA Finances Page 14
Handover to the next NMO President/IFMSA contact Page 17
General Assemblies (GA) Page 20
Other IFMSA meetings
www.ifmsa.org
Page 24
Info about the Online Communication Page 25
Regional Teams Page 29
TO-NMO buddies Page 30
IFMSA Capacity Building Activities Page 31
External Representation Page 41
Timeline of the IFMSA year Page 46
Social Media Page 47
Who to Contact Page 48
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Introduction Fabrizzio Canaval IFMSA Vice-President for Members 2018-19 vpm@ifmsa.org
This document aims to support all new NMOs and new Presidents in IFMSA procedures and working fields. IFMSA is very complex, there are many abbreviations and extensive procedures. With this manual we hope NMO Presidents and National Teams can find answers to the questions they may have. We hope this can be their guidance to become an active and engaged part of IFMSA. This manual all relevant information a new NMO needs to know to become an active member of IFMSA. If anything is missing please address this to vpm@ifmsa.org Best wishes and good reading, Vice-President for Members and the Regional Directors
Made by: Monica Lauridsen Kujabi, Vice-President for Members 16/17 Magnifique Irakoze, Regional Director for Africa 16/17 Ivan Fabrizzio Canaval Diaz, Regional Director for the Americas 16/17 Satria Nur Sya’ban, Regional Director for Asia-Pacific 16/17 Sharif Ba Alawi, Regional Director for EMR 16/17 Priit Tohver, Regional Director for Europe 16/17 Marian Sedlak, Liaison Officer to Human Rights and Peace 16/17 Batool Wahdani, Liaison Officer to Students Organisations 16/17 Updated by:
Ivan Fabrizzio Canaval Diaz, Vice-President for Members 18/19
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Introduction to IFMSA
The International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) was founded in 1951 as an organization of the medical students, for the medical students, and by the medical students. For more than 60 years, IFMSA has been led and run by medical students worldwide. The Federation is not only a dynamic platform of opportunities for the future physicians but also serves as their voice at the international level. IFMSA is the world’s oldest and largest profession specific students’ organization representing associations of medical students internationally. It currently maintains more than 130 National Member Organizations from more than 120 countries across six continents with over one million students represented worldwide. We have more than 14.000 exchanges contracts signed every year, where medical students travel across to world to experience health systems and cultures very different from their own. IFMSA represents the voice of medical students at many key external conferences yearly. Through our NMOs we host 2 General Assemblies, 5 Regional Meetings, and more than 25 Subregional Trainings within a year, all around the world! Through these, IFMSA teaches medical students, what universities can’t. IFMSA creates physicians who are culturally aware and IFMSA inspires new leaders in global health. IFMSA is recognized as a non-governmental organization within the United Nations system and the World Health Organization and as well, it works with the World Medical Association. IFMSA was created to impact the world and to empower its members in taking their vision and ideas, and making them a reality. IFMSA has inspired generations of medical students to develop the leadership abilities and skills to take on challenges and to improve the world around them in an early yet crucial period of their career. Engaging in IFMSA encourages both professional and personal collaborations irrespective of geographical, social, cultural, religious, racial, sexual and political differences.
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Structure and Leadership of IFMSA
Leadership Structure The IFMSA structure consists of the following: + Team of Officials + Program Coordinators + International Assistants + Supporting Entities - Supervising Council - Secretariat - Board of Recommendation - Alumni See a description of the groups in the following chapter. 6
IFMSA Team of Officials Executive Board (7) The Executive Board is the Managing Body of IFMSA. The Executive Board is responsible for decision making between IFMSA General Assemblies. It consists of seven (7) officials.
Standing Committee Directors(6) One director for each Standing Committee (SC) is responsible for coordinating the work of that SC. Through their Assistants they have contact with National Officers from the NMOs..
Regional Directors(5) One for each of IFMSA 5 regions; Africa, Americas, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Mediterranean and Europe. Together with their assistants they support NMOs in their development internally and their engagement in IFMSA.
Liaison Officers (6) They are IFMSA’s face to the world outside. They represent IFMSA in each of their fields to meetings at WHO etc. They work closely with the SC and with members when they join their delegations to external meetings.
Standing Committees IFMSA is working in the following Standing Committees: Standing Committee on Standing Committee Standing Committee Professional Exchange on Research Exchange Public Health (SCOPH) (SCOPE) (SCORE)
on
Standing Committee on Standing Committee on Standing Committee on Sexual and Reproductive Medical Education (SCOME) Humans Rights and Peace Health and Rights including (SCORP) HIV and AIDS (SCORA) The Standing Committee Directors and their assistants are mainly working on capacity building efforts within their fields. As such, they have sessions at all General Assemblies and Regional Meetings, which can be joined freely by all NMO members attending that meeting. Furthermore, specific workshops are held by the specific Standing Committees. . Standing Committees can also be engaged in workshops related to their fields (e.g. Mental Health Workshop, Climate Change and Health (SCOPH), Maternal Health and Access to safe abortion (SCORA)). Standing Committees are the driving force behind Campaigns and Small Working Groups within their fields. See more in the chapter about Capacity Building. It is not necessary to work in these Standing Committees to become a member of IFMSA but it is a good way to get medical students in your country engaged. We highly encourage to have a designated person for each of the areas that interest the NMO, to transfer knowledge and opportunities from that field to the interested NMO members.
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This person should be subscribed to the relevant Yahoo group (E.g. The contact person for SCOME should be subscribed to ifmsa-scome@yahoogroups.com, see chapter about IFMSA servers) and be responsible to process, filter and send the information to your national channels. Furthermore, this person can help provide input to processes within that standing committee to ensure your country is represented. In IFMSA, we call this person a National Officer (NO) on a specific SC, e.g. for SCORA, the National Officer is named NORA (National Officer for Sexual and Reproductive Health). As an NMO, you can freely decide the title of such person in your NMO. IFMSA is often very far from the local members, and having an active national officer or designated representative for the SC can make a big difference!
Activating SCs If you are active in one of IFMSA’s standing committees - for example you work on projects related to sexual and reproductive health - you may want to “activate” your NMO in that standing committee. Every standing committee has its own procedures of activation, which is why you should get in touch with the relevant regional assistant to find out more about how this works (see the chapter on Regional Teams). Some SCs also have a Development Assistant to help you with the activation process. In some standing committees, all you have to do is notify the committee about your activities, in others (for example Professional Exchange) there is a lengthier process to be followed. Regardless of the procedure, activating your NMO is recommended, because that allows the regional and international teams to support you more in your activities.
Programs Programs were adopted in IFMSA in 2014, as part of a bigger reform. It was based on a wish from NMOs to work and collaborate within major fields of interest, which was sometimes challenging in the Standing Committee structure. Furthermore, IFMSA saw a big potential in trying to measure the impact that we as medical students worldwide have. Such numbers can be used to strengthen our credibility, advocacy efforts and fundraising. IFMSA Programs are addressing specific fields, e.g. “maternal health and access to safe abortion”. They affiliate all IFMSA and NMO activities within that area. Programs exist both as an ‘impact measurement’ structure for our Members, but also to promote and build capacity in their fields. They therefore involve multiple Officials and areas of work from the global to the local realities. - If your NMO has activities within a program field they can enroll it under the program. The process is as follows: - Fill out the enrollment form and have a Candidature Form signed and stamped by the NMO President - Be approved by the Program Coordinator - Conduct the Activity (already completed activities may enroll as well) - Report on the Activity As such IFMSA will be able to measure the impact our NMOs have globally. These numbers can be used both by IFMSA but also by affiliated NMOs to raise funds etc..
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Being affiliated with a program means that - You can use the IFMSA logo - You will be linked with similar activities from other countries from which you can learn and share experiences and best practises - You will receive support from the Program Coordinator in the program area or in areas as project development, evaluation and assessment methods, advocacy etc. - You can promote your activity through the program - You can use the data from IFMSA to raise funds - You will be featured in the Activities Database on IFMSA website - You can find the list of all IFMSA programs, contact information, and enrollment form on the website http://ifmsa.org/programs/ If your activity is enrolled in a program, it will be able to run for the Rex Crossley award, which is a competition carried out at each General Assembly (see chapter about the General Assemblies). You will also be able to present it during Activities Fair.
Global Priorities The Global Priorities are a group of focus areas and overarching concepts in which the internal and external work in IFMSA Standing Committees will be focused on, which will help us to have a streamlined and a strategic approach towards our deliveries on a global level, and act as a guidance to ease up our daily collaboration between the different working groups in IFMSA. IFMSA started working with this system in August Meeting 2018, by adopting the first proposal for Global Priorities for the term 2018/2019. Furthermore, the Global Priorities were officially introduced to our bylaws in March Meeting 2019, through a set of bylaws which regulates their proposal, adoption and monitoring. IFMSA Executive Board proposes the Global Priorities in August Meeting, and any NMO and official may advice the Executive Board of what Global Priorities shall be proposed. Each year, a consultation process is held prior to creating the proposal in all standing committees to determine which Global Priorities shall be proposed for the upcoming term, and IFMSA members, officials, and even partners participate in this consultation process. The Global Priorities Proposal contains a set of Global Priorities, a theme description for each Global Priority, interna and external goals with at least one Indicator for each proposed Goal. IFMSA officials are responsible for working on IFMSA Global Priorities as the following: - Standing Committee Directors coordinate IFMSA’s work on the internal goals and indicators of the relevant Global Priority. - Liaison officers coordinate IFMSA’s work on the external goals and indicators of the relevant Global Priority. - IFMSA President monitors and reports the work on IFMSA Global Priorities internally - IFMSA Vice President for External Affairs monitors and reports the work on IFMSA Global Priorities externally
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The current Global Priorities for the term 2018/2019 are as the following: - Focus Areas: Noncommunicable Diseases, Antimicrobial Resistance, Environment, Climate Change and Health, Refugees’ and Migrants’ Health and Rights, Humanitarian Action, Children’s Health and Rights, Social Accountability, Global Health Workforce, Access to Research and Research Education, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights - Overarching Concepts: Universal Health Coverage, Meaningful Youth Participation, Global Health Education Supporting Documents: 1. IFMSA Global Priorities 2018/2019 Half Annual Report (Link) 2. IFMSA Global Priorities 2018/2019 Monitoring Sheet (Link)
Supporting entities Supervising Council The Supervising Council shall consist of seven members and at no time less than three members. They are both NMO and non-NMO members and often have much knowledge and experience from IFMSA. The Supervising Council is responsible for overseeing the actions and decisions made by the Executive Board and Officials of IFMSA as well as supporting them.
Secretariat The IFMSA International Secretariat is situated in Copenhagen, Denmark, currently within the offices of IMCC-Denmark, one of our NMOs. The function of the Secretariat is maintenance of the IFMSA institutional memory and to assist the Team of Officials in various administrative and management tasks. IFMSA works on expanding the secretariat to increase the sustainability of the Federation.
Board of Recommendations The IFMSA Board of Recommendation is a board of people who agree to connect their personal name to IFMSA. The IFMSA Board of Recommendation has no duties, obligations or compulsory tasks. The IFMSA Executive Board is responsible for invitations to potential members of the Board of Recommendation and the IFMSA president is responsible for its maintenance. The status of the Board of Recommendation will be reported at the August Meeting General Assembly.
Alumni An IFMSA Alumnus is defined as an individual who was active in the past in the work of the Federation, positively influenced it and contributed to its development, sustainability and visibility. IFMSA Alumni include past officials, Honorary Life Members, any person who held an official position in IFMSA as NMO Presidents, International Team Members, Program Coordinators, Task Force members, etc. IFMSA President is responsible for updating IFMSA Alumni, maintaining contact with them and facilitating their participation in IFMSA events.
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Decision-Making in IFMSA
Decision making in IFMSA happens at several levels. The General Assembly (GA) is the highest decision-making body of IFMSA. Only NMOs have voting rights during the General Assemblies, and as such, NMOs are the ones deciding in which direction IFMSA should go. The GA is also the only place bylaw changes can be made. Decisions at the GA take precedence over everything else in IFMSA. Between the GAs the Executive Board is making all decisions. They do this by following the more than 40 pages of IFMSA Constitution and Bylaws. Apart from the IFMSA constitution and Bylaws, the Executive Board is mandated to work according to the IFMSA 3-year strategy. The current strategy was adopted at the August Meeting 2017 and focus on 4 pillars: 1. Secretariat and Financial Administration 2. Participation and Representation 3. Alignment of Work 4. Visibility and Promotion See the full IFMSA Strategy 2017-20 here. At every GA the EB will update NMOs on the progress of the strategy both through af report and during the Presidents Session or Plenary.
NMO Requirements
As an established member of the IFMSA, you are responsible to maintain your membership within the federation, which is why you are required to complete certain tasks every year, which are detailed in the IFMSA Constitution and Bylaws. As a member of IFMSA it is very important that you acquaint yourself with this document, particularly Annex II, which covers membership requirements. (ask your Regional Director if you don’t have the latest version). Here are the key points: - NMO Report: This report needs to be filled twice every year. This cannot be done at any given time: the NMO report form is sent out before every General Assembly, and you have 3 weeks to complete it. For March Meeting, the form will be sent to your @ ifmsa.org e-mail address by the 10th of January at the latest, and must be submitted by the 1st of February. For August Meeting, the form will be sent by the 10th of June, and must be submitted by the 1st of July. Please note that these deadlines are very strict. If you submit even one minute after 23:59 GMT on the 1st of February, your report will not be considered as a timely submission. If you do not submit three consecutive NMO reports on time you lose your membership. You will also lose your voting rights for every General Assembly for which you do not submit your NMO report on time. This is a very long and detailed report, and will require a collaborative effort from all of your executive team (EB, national board, or relevant), and includes questions about general governance, SC-related tasks, and other executive matters.
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- Ifmsa.org: Similarly, you need to update your NMO information on ifmsa.org twice every year. The procedure to do this is very similar to the abovementioned one. The only difference is in the deadlines: ifmsa.org needs to be updated after the 1st of February for March Meeting and after the 1st of July for August Meeting. An e-mail with detailed instructions will be sent to your @ifmsa.org address at that time. The latest deadline to update your ifmsa.org information is 2 hours before the second plenary of the General Assembly. As with the NMO report, if you do not update ifmsa.org for three consecutive General Assemblies, you will lose your membership. You will also lose voting rights for the respective General Assembly. The purpose of this is to maintain up-to-date information about your NMO on the IFMSA website. - Once a year you need to pay your membership fee. The only exception to this rule is if you are a candidate member, in which case you do not need to pay your membership until you become a full or associate member. However, if you are a candidate member from a country where IFMSA already has a full member, you will need to pay your membership fee from the very beginning of your membership (We understand this might be confusing, so please reach out to your Regional Director in case you need any clarification). Membership invoices are shared on the 10th of June at the latest every year. You must pay your membership fee by the 15th of July. If you fail to pay your membership fee your NMO will be suspended for the next financial year. You will also lose voting rights for that GA. After 2 years of suspension the NMO will lose its membership. In special circumstances NMOs can request to make an individual payment plan, if they for some reason cannot pay the membership fee in due time (see chapter about IFMSA finances). - If you are candidate member, then you need to become a full or associate member in 3 years time. This means that if you join at March Meeting 2030, you must apply for full membership no later than March Meeting 2033. We recommend that you apply for full or associate membership at least one General Assembly before the final deadline, in case something goes wrong in the application process. Please bear in mind that NMOs can only become full or associate members if the General Assembly agrees to it. To make sure that the NMOs vote in favour of your application, you should work closely with your Regional Director (RD) and Vice President for Members (VPM) to develop your NMO during the candidature period. When you apply for full membership, you will receive an assessment from both the RD and VPM, which may end up influencing the vote. - Members must always abide by the IFMSA Constitution and Bylaws. If an NMO is found to be in violation of the Constitution and Bylaws, they may be investigated, and they may lose membership. If at any point you feel like your NMO might be going against the Constitution and Bylaws, do not hesitate to reach out to your RD or the VPM to clarify the matter. We will provide all the support needed to make sure things are in control and no proceedings will be initiated further to that. - Suspension of membership: An NMO can always request to suspend its membership, they need to make such request before May 1st. This is usually done if the NMO is facing difficulties that make it difficult for them to pay their membership fees, or if they have any internal issues that they need to resolve. While being suspended, the NMO will keep their ifmsa.org account, however, they need special approval to attend IFMSA activities. Members can also be automatically suspended if they do not pay their membership fee by the deadline and haven’t contacted the IFMSA Executive Board to arrange a payment plan before the second plenary of August Meeting.
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IFMSA Finances
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IFMSA Budget and financial report
IFMSA works with a budget which is adopted by the general assembly every August Meeting. The income of IFMSA is mainly based on the membership fee, but with specific grants supporting specific projects. Majority of the budget goes to sustaining the IFMSA Secretariat and travel expenses for IFMSA Officials. The Vice-President for Finance writes an update to the NMO server 4 times a year (see annex 1 in the bylaws) and at every General Assembly NMOs can ask clarifying questions. A final financial report is adopted by the general assembly. Contact the Vice-President for Finance if you want to know more about the IFMSA Budget.
Membership Fee
An NMO’s Membership Fee (MF) is decided by the country’s, in which they are active, GNI per capita according to the Atlas method in accordance to bylaws (article 2). The data is collected from the World Bank Group in accordance with our bylaws, within the deadline stated in Annex 1 annually (currently May 1st - May 15th). This means that both the membership fee and the category the NMO belongs to may change from year to year, as the categories are set to (US$/capita): These variable are inserted in the atlas method:
The Membership Fee is invoice together with - Cost of exchange program according to the number of contracts signed - 3% of the membership fee allocated support the solidarity fund - Sometimes other taxes The maximum fee which an NMO can pay is capped at €2,330 Special circumstances to the membership fee is - Full members get 50% discount the first year - Countries with less that 1 million inhabitants get a 50% reduction - Countries with less that 1/2 million inhabitants get a 75% reduction - Candidate Members in a country where we already have an NMO should pay membership fee and keep paying it once they upgrade their membership status.
Payment procedures
NMOs receive an invoice by June 10th with the exact amount to be paid before July 15th. If the NMO is not able to pay this amount, the NMO will be suspended. After being suspended in 2 years due to not being able to pay the membership fee, the NMO will lose its membership status. The NMO does not pay any fee in the year they are suspended, and can therefore start all over again, the next term with no debts. In special circumstances NMOs can request an individual payment plan from the Executive Board. This can be because they can’t make transactions, because of governmental restrictions, political problems, a grant arriving late etc., reasons that are out of the control of the NMO. If an individual payment plan is granted and followed the NMO will not be suspended.
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Membership Fee shall preferably be transferred to IFMSA. However, upon arrival payments are possible by consulting with the Vice-President for Finance. Payments are only accounted as received once they appear in the IFMSA account.
GA registration Fees
The GA registration fees are decided by the GA Host according to the NMO category. See IFMSA bylaws annex 6. The member organizations of IFMSA are divided into six categories according to the GNI per capita of their countries: - A: below 500 - B: between 500 and 2,000 - C: between 2,000 and 5,000 - D: between 5,000 and 12,500 - E: between 12,500 and 20,000 - F: above 20,000 The GNI per capita in each state shall be obtained from the World Bank by the VicePresident for Finance and shall be revised annually, within the first two weeks of May, and will be used for IFMSA General Assembly meetings throughout the following financial year. It is important to be aware of specific taxes applied to the GA registration fee: - Travel Assistance Fund(TAF): All NMOs from category C and D pay additionally 10 € per participant and E and F pay 25€ per participant to the travel assistants fund. - Big delegation fee: All NMOs who send more than 8 delegates, pay additionally 25€ per participants exceeding the 8.
Travel Assistants Fund (TAF)
Is a fund supported by countries from category C, D, E and F. The main aim is to support NMOs who struggle with finances to attend GAs. All NMOs can apply for TAF, but there are specific criteria the Executive Board shall take into consideration when deciding who to grant the funds(i.e. Previous attendance from the NMO at IFMSA GAs). The deadline to apply is May/December 1st and the call is send on the NMO server. If an NMO has debts to a GA host they are not allowed to attend any GA before the debts are settled.
Solidarity Fund
All NMOs pay 3% of their membership fee to the solidarity fund. This means that the fund includes approximately 3000 €. All NMOs can apply for the fund, however, NMOs who have debts due to reasons outside their control, are prioritised. The Executive Board decides how the money are allocated and any leftover money are returned to the NMOs.
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Handover to the next NMO President/IFMSA contact
The NMO President, as per the IFMSA terminology, is anyone who is responsible for IFMSA in their NMO (VP for IFMSA affairs/VP for external Affairs etc. depending on the NMO). Handover is very crucial for any organization to thrive and develop. Especially when it comes to NMO presidents. For IFMSA the NMO President  is the representative of the NMO within the federation and is connecting the NMO to this huge network of medical students. The NMO President therefore has a crucial role in ensuring all the benefits that IFMSA has to offer also reaches the members at a local level.
Archiving and Institutional memory
It is crucial for any organisation to ensure proper documentation and archiving of documents, in order to make it easier for newly elected people to follow up and easily access all documents. Archiving is especially needed to ensure the institutional memory of topics that took place prior to office and may have relevance in the future. How NMOs decide to archive depends on the size and structure of the NMO. It is recommended that all NMOs have one central person that organises the archive whether it is online or physical. This person is responsible to collect all relevant documents during and especially by the end of the term, as well as, handing it over to the new team. Having handover manuals or guidelines on specific topics (as this manual) is also important to update, archive and handover. Such document can ensure all important things are handed over to the new team regardless of the predecessor (who may have disappeared before handover).
From elected until beginning of the term
This starts from the day of election of the new NMO President (NMO President-Elect) till the last day of the current term. While some NMOs conduct their elections immediately preceding the beginning of the term, it is recommended to prolong this period in order to ensure a proper handover. This period also allows the NMO president Elect to work closely with the current NMO President. As IFMSA is so complex and difficult to understand for those who are new to it, there are different recommendations on how to ease this process: - Change election date to give more time to handover - Have a handover GA, which the successor and predecessor attend an IFMSA General Assembly together before the term begins - Follow the NMO server as early as possible to understand the dynamics and get familiar with the different type of communication happening there - Be head of delegation at the Regional Meeting - Encourage them to use their NMO buddies once the GA approaches, or pair them up with someone you know is experienced - Let the Regional Director know if your successor is not very experienced. They are mandated to provide as much support as needed - Be available after the end of your term, especially when the GA comes closer if you successor is not familiar with the flow of the GA.
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What are the major remarks you should inform your successor? - Let your successor read this manual and go through it step by step, this will ensure that nothing is completely new to them and they also know where to look in the future when questions appear - Important deadlines and IFMSA timeline (Check GA section below) - NMO requirements and voting rights - NMO official email & access - NMO Server and NMO folder - Discussions between NMOs and IFMSA. This can be a lot to digest, which is why it is important to have a long handover period to allow the successor to become familiar with the current hot topics. - Discussions in IFMSA where background is needed - Region’s Internal Processes and Guidelines - Who to contact? (information provided in contact section below) - IFMSA Meetings - Transmitting information from IFMSA to NMO members nationally/locally - Delegations selection and preparation - Visa process and finances (for some NMOs)
“Always Remember how your handover was & ensure a better handover for you successor “
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GENERAL ASSEMBLIES 20
General Assemblies (GA)
Twice a year the NMOs have the opportunity to meet and shape the future of IFMSA. The General Assemblies (GA) are held in the first week of March and August. All Full and Associate members can candidate to host a GA and the final decision is made through vote at the General Assembly. During a GA, every Standing Committee as well as the Presidents have the chance to meet during daily Sessions and discuss their work, exchange ideas and make plans for the future. Additionally, there is a plenary every day, where all official decisions are made. This includes voting on policy statements, members of the Executive board (March Meeting), the Team of Officials (August Meeting), admission of new members, adoption of new programs and much more.
Attending the GA
From experience, we know that attendance can be a challenge for your members, especially when it comes to finances and visa requirement. Therefore, we encourage you to work on these early. IFMSA has a visa guide, ask your Regional Director/VP for Members for it. As GA locations and times are known a year in advance, there is no excuse to delay the process. Sometimes visa applications are rejected for missing one minor detail, and then it is too late. Moreover, hosting NMOs usually prepare a Visa Manual to ensure a smooth application process. If your NMO does not have a set timeline for sending calls and setting up delegations, it is highly recommended to have one. See the timeline later in the manual, and you can plan promotion of the GAs according to these, even before the invitation package for the meeting is out. It is extremely hectic to organise a GA, therefore the Organising Committee is often burdened with a high workload. This is another reason to be in good time. Some NMOs are collaborating with their universities. to cover the finances. Another option is to apply for the IFMSA Travel Assistants Fund. However, there is a very limited number of spots which often goes to NMOs who have been absent from several meetings due to finances.
Submissions
Leading up to each GA there are 2 major deadlines. For the complete list of submissions, we refer to the call send on the NMO server in relation to the meeting. Annex 1 in the IFMSA bylaws contains all deadlines for submissions. Here are the most important: December/May 1st: is the deadline for - Membership Applications - General Assembly Hosts - Program Proposals - Supervising Council positions (only May 1st) - Travel Assistance Fund (TAF) February/July 1st: is the deadline for - Executive Board Candidatures (only February 1st) - Team Officials Candidatures (only July 1st) - Policy Documents (see the chapter on external representation, as this follows strict procedures) - Agreements made by the Team of Officials (MoU, sponsorships) 21 - Bylaw Change Proposals
Any NMO can propose these submissions. A call for these will be shared on the NMO server, with an explanation of the exact process. All submissions need to be adopted by the plenary. Anything up for adoption need a motion to be tabled by the proposer the day before that plenary before 23.59 local time zone. The motions are given by the plenary team. The deadlines and procedures of IFMSA are very strict and complex, so consult Executive Board or your Regional Director to make sure you get it all right. The extent of involvement of your NMO with IFMSA correlates with your involvement in these submissions. If you have any idea in mind or anything you feel you’d like to change in our federation, please refer to your RD for support.
Voting rights
To be able to cast your vote during the GA you need to fulfil some minimum requirements. These are: - Fill in the NMO report before July/February 1st - Update ifmsa.org - Debts < 10 â&#x201A;Ź - Fill the Credential Form (printed or handed by the CCC) See more about these under the chapter, NMO requirements.
Getting involved in the GA
There are a number of different ways for your members to get involved. Often delegates take more with them home if they get actively involved, especially if it is not their first GA. All these opportunities are shared on the NMO server prior to the meeting. Here are mentioned some: Plenary Team The Plenary Team consist of several members with different task. Together they ensure we have smooth Plenary sessions by taking minutes, interpreting our bylaws, chairing and vice-chairing the sessions. Support Persons All IFMSA Officials can have a Support Person. That means Regional Directors, Standing Committee Directors and the Executive Board. These helps with various tasks.
Sessions Team All Standing Committee Directors have a Sessions Team to help conduct the Standing Committee Sessions.
Activities Fair or Rex Crossley Awards This is 2 different competitions where the best activity is selected. This is a must! At least one of your delegates should apply for one or both. This is a great way of showing what you do in your NMO. (see below) Furthermore, it is possible for your members to facilitate trainings if they have relevant experience. Often Small Working Groups are created to work on specific topics that happen during the GA, which is a good way to get to know other delegates, learn new stuff and create initiatives that can even last after the delegates come home.
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Rex Crossley and Activities Fair
These are two competitions at IFMSA GAs. The Vice-President for Activities is the responsible Official. A call is sent on the NMO server a few months ahead of the meeting. Make sure to check with your delegation if anyone is willing to present a project in either competition. NMOs send an application and the VP for Activities together with a selected team of Officials/Assistants do the selection. Activities Fair involves around 100 activities, depending on the capacity of the room assigned for this event, and if chosen you can present your activity to other participants and show your outstanding work. Competition for this event is still being discussed as the idea is to have smaller scale competitions that differ from the Rex Crossley Awards. Judges will visit every stand and together with relevant PC will also provide feedback to the Activity Coordinators after the GA. For Rex Crosley, only 10 Activities are selected. They all hold a short presentation of their activity and questions can be asked from the audience and a panel of judges after the presentation. The panel consists of IFMSA Officials, International Assistants and Program Coordinators. Again, the top three Activities are awarded. Â The announcements of the winners happen during the closing ceremony. In the call you can see the criteria which you are being judged on, these often contains Activity Design and Evaluation, Activity Implementation and Activity Impact and Sustainability. If you have any questions regarding these competitions, you are always welcome to contact your Regional Director or the Vice-President for Activities.
Pre-General Assembly (PreGA)
Before every GA there is a PreGA which consists of multiple workshops held by fellow medical students around the world. These workshops are open to every medical student and allows them to work intensely on different topics and get to know IFMSA and its spirit. The preGAs are often underestimated compared to the GA itself, but we really encourage Presidents and members to joins, since the quality is often very high, and the knowledge brought back to the NMOs extremely useful. For Presidents, there is always a Presidents PreGA, where you get to know the presidents of the other NMO in a more informal setting and you work on topics specifically relevant to NMO Presidents.
Being Head of Delegation
Can be particularly challenging if this is also your own first GA. However, you must remember that you as NMO President have access to all the important information. Therefore, it is important that you share it with your delegation. The more prepared you all are, the more fun it is and the more actively you can participate. It often motivates members a lot when they understand what is going on. IFMSA has a preparation manual, which you can get from your Regional Director or VP for Members. A few tips to share here though: - Ensure your members are subscribed to the right servers (see chapter about IFMSA servers) and have the Survival Kit(s) made for their Standing Committee(s). - Have a meeting with your delegation all together (skype or physical), explain o The basic structure of the IFMSA o The agenda of the GA o The Plenary Procedures o Explain the different submissions (It will make them much more motivated to attend the plenaries if they understand what is voted on) o Explain the key points from the discussions to be held in Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sessions & Plenary 23 o Coordinate what to bring for National Food and Drinks Party
- Include your delegation in decision-making, for example when you have NMO hour - Share experiences in the delegation, so that everyone can get a bit of everything - Support each other especially members who are having an active role in the presentation
Staying Active while not being present in GAs
For some NMOs it is really challenging to attend all IFMSA GAs. Missing a GA means you will easily lose track of many important things going on in IFMSA. If your NMO is not able to attend we encourage you to still read all submissions. A discussion can still be raised on the NMO server, even if you are not attending the GA. It is possible to propose things, even if you are not attending. However, you would need to partner with another NMO who can table a motion for your proposal to be adopted and who can present the topic during Presidentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Sessions and answer questions on your behalf. Communicate with your Regional Director to have further insight in the discussions taking place and seek their advice on how to be more involved. To get an overview of the results of the meeting NMOs can read the minutes of the Presidentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Sessions, read the minutes of the Plenary Sessions and see the follow up email from the Vice-President for Activities with all adopted documents. Lastly, we encourage NMOs to have a talk with other NMOs, their buddies or the Regional Director who can explain everything that went on.
Other IFMSA meetings Regional Meetings
The NMOs of IFMSA are divided into 5 different Regions who hold their own Regional Meetings once a year. The content of these Meetings vary and are decided upon by the Regional Director & Regional Team. Attending a Regional Meeting is a good way to get into contact with NMOs from the same region and work on fruitful outcomes and partnerships. The focus is often on Capacity Building and this is a perfect place to discuss matters which are specifically relevant to the region. Some NMOs prioritise to send newer members to the regional meetings because it is less overwhelming and a great platform to get introduce to the IFMSA procedures and line of work. The RM happens around the same time each year for each region. NMOs can apply to host a regional meeting (restriction varied depending on the region and their IOGs). For details about your RM, please refer to your regional IOGs or your respective Regional Director.
Team Of Official Meetings (TOM)
Other meetings within the IFMSA are the Team of Officials Meetings (TOMs) which are six in number, including TOM0 for handover. The TOMs occur in the following order; - Immediately after the August Meeting: TOM 0 - In October: TOM 1 - In December/ January: TOM 2 - Before the March Meeting: TOM 3 - April/May: TOM 4 - Before the August meeting: TOM 5
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The TOMs are an opportunity for the Team of Officials(TO) to discuss the administrative and the strategic plans of the Federation. NMOs can apply to host a TOM and members can also apply to be observers of a TOM. Being observer can give NMO members the opportunity to see how the management of IFMSA works beneath the surface. Call to host TOM or apply as observers are send on the NMO server.
Info about the Online Communication
Our federation is a complex system of different organizations, with different perspectives, views, cultures and backgrounds, so you will need some time to master the art of being an active participant of the IFMSA. One of the facts that makes our federation so interesting, is that we gather medical students from all around the globe, and therefore, we make active and consistent efforts throughout the year to communicate, discuss and debate the topics that we find relevant for our progress. As explained before, we only make official decisions during our plenaries in the General Assemblies, but we have active communication by sharing ideas, national updates, discussions and relevant information for our members in what we call our NMO server.
NMO Server
All NMOs which are members of IFMSA receive an official email address on the IFMSA domain where they can communicate directly with other NMOs and Team of Officials and get updates and information from the NMO server (NMO name-country@ifmsa.org). The password and usernames are all created by the Vice President for Public Relations and Communication (VPPRC) once an NMO joins; after which they are free to reset their password. In case an NMO president loses the password, this can easily be fixed by sending an email to the VPPRC (vpprc@ifmsa.org). These emails give an access to one of the most important communication platforms in the IFMSA: the NMO server and the Regional Servers. This is where all the discussions of the federation take place during the term, in between and even during the General Assemblies. This is where NMO presidents on behalf of their NMOs are able to actively participate in the discussions and decisions of the Federation on behalf of their NMOs. In order to be up to date with various discussions, call for input, delegations, meeting updates etc. you will need to check constantly this email as the NMO president because the most relevant pieces of information are shared through this channel. It is important for you to acknowledge your responsibility as NMO president to sharing this information with your NMO members, since only you will have direct access to them. We understand that sometimes the information shared over the NMO server might be overwhelming, and the amount of emails can get very high especially around General Assemblies, therefore, we kindly and openly invite you to email the relevant Team of Officials if you are having troubles with following a conversation over the servers, they will be happy to help you out.
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Filters and labels We also encourage you to set up your IFMSA account with filters and labels, so you can easily access the information you need. A label is like a folder where everything related to one topic can be archived. You can either label relevant emails manually or you can add a filter. For example, a filter saying that everything that comes from vpe@ifmsa. org automatically receive the label [external]. You can for example set up filters for the following labels and sub-labels: 1. [URG] / [URGENT] 2. [IMP] / [IMPORTANT] 3. External Affairs [External] 1. [Policy] Documents 2. [External Meeting] 3. [External Meetings Report] 4. [Calls] 5. General Assemblies 1. [AMXX] 2. [MMXX] 6. Emails from Executive Board 1. [Minutes] Minutes of EB and Team of Officials meetings 2. [monthly reports] Team of Officials monthly reports 3. Updates 4. [Input] 5. [Finances] 6. [Programs] 7. NMO discussions 8. [Welcome] messages from NMOs 9. Promotion of events from NMOs 1. [SRT] Sub-Regional Trainings 10. Servers (you can let emails to the servers skip your inbox and go directly to a label/ folder) * 1. [SCORA] 2. [SCOPH] 3. … 4. Region To organise the emails coming to the different server you can put a filter that automatically organises it. Here is an example on how to label all emails that comes from the EB: 1. Go to Settings → Press Filters and blocked addresses → Press Add filter(in the bottom) 2. In the field from write eb@ifmsa.org 3. Press: Create filter with this search 4. Check the box: Apply the label 5. Under choose label you press: New label 6. Name the label. In this case IFMSA EB (If you want: add it to a subfolder you have i.e. IFMSA) 7. Press Create Filter
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You can also create a filter were everything with e.g. the subject [external] goes in a specific folder. In this case, you change in the field subject write [external], [Ext] and name the label as you wish If you don’t want the emails to go in the inbox, you can also chose to skip inbox, and the email is received directly under the label you choose. The labels (often referred to as folders) can be added under settings and “labels”. You can manually move emails to the folders/labels you have created and/or you can create a filter as explained above. Getting used to these tools can take some time, but once instated they can help organising IFMSA information a lot. For more info you can watch this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=f1FhChWmCYc. IFMSA Officials can help you setting up your account with the filters. Ask your Regional Director, VP for Members, VP for PR and Communication or your Official Buddy. Lasty, IFMSA has a file, with the labels mentioned above, that can be imported to you ifmsa.org account.
Regional Servers We also have 5 regional servers: americas@ifmsa.org, emr@ifmsa.org, europe@ifmsa. org, asia-pacific@ifmsa.org, africa@ifmsa.org , these servers will be accessible by all the Presidents and the Regional Director of the respective Region. Please notice that you don’t need to do anything to join these servers, since your official email will be provided to you with all the required settings.
IFMSA Yahoo groups Lastly, we would like to briefly mention to you the yahoo groups. Yahoo groups were created to provide a place for general members to access information that is relevant to them (specific to a region or a standing committee). These groups are free for every member to join, and we highly encourage all members to join so they won’t miss any opportunities.
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The yahoo servers we have are: IFMSA General o ifmsa-general@yahoogroups.com · Standing Committees o ifmsa-scome@yahoogroups.com o ifmsa-scora@yahoogroups.com o ifmsa-score@yahoogroups.com o ifmsa-scope@yahoogroups.com o ifmsa-scoph@yahoogroups.com o ifmsa-scorp@yahoogroups.com · Region’s o ifmsa-africa@yahoogroups.com o ifmsa-americas@yahoogroups.com o ifmsa-asiapacific@yahoogroups.com o ifmsa-europe@yahoogroups.com o ifmsa-emr@yahoogroups.com · Training o ifmsa-training@yahoogroups.com ·
To join them, simply email “thegroupname”-subscribe@yahoogroups.com ie:ifmsa-general-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, ifmsa-scome-subscribe@yahoogroups. com and so on. The request must be accepted by a team of officials administrator so it can take a couple of days. You can also email the people enlisted to those groups by sending an email to the respective group. The administrator will have to approve your messages as well. We usually do not recommend NMO president to sign up to these. If you do want to sign up, make sure to create a filter so that the emails are not getting in your inbox. There are many emails sent on each of the yahoo groups, and you will lose the important emails from the Executive Board etc. if everything gets directly into the inbox. Instead we recommend that you assign specific people in your NMO to manage each of the Standing Committee groups and ensure opportunities from the relevant fields reaches your NMO. Informal Communication - WhatsApp group
NMO Folder
Every term the Executive Board creates a google folder for all NMO Presidents, were all relevant documents are uploaded and organized. This folder is called the “NMO folder”. It contains subfolders for different areas, i.e. GAs, Programs, Minutes from Executive Board meetings, Officials Reports etc. The GA folder is very relevant and probably the most used and valued by NMOs, as it contains all submissions, candidatures and documents related to the GA. Important documents as IFMSA Constitution and Bylaws and helpful manuals and guidelines are also placed in this folder. We encourage you to spend a bit of time learning how to access this folder.
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Regional Teams The Regional Team (RT) is a group of members who works towards the specific needs of each region in the federation: Africa, Americas, Asia-Pacific, EMR, Europe. The members of the Regional Teams support the Regional Directors in the development of initiatives that empower the Region in different areas (NMO development, External Representation, Involvement in IFMSA etc.). These are called General Assistants (GA) or Development Assistants(DA). There are also Regional Assistants who assist other members of the Team of Officials (Standing Committee Directors and Executive Board Members). Regional Assistants are often the link between the National Officers and IFMSA and they develop the region within their specific field) Regional Team members are not Officials of the Federation but are an important asset in the process of increasing capacity and development of the National Member Organizations. This is an example of the composition of the Americas Regional Team:
All Regional Teams are selected in September and work for one term (if special circumstances happens and assistance are not selected in September, they can be selected in an extended call that could be send out in October).
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TO-NMO buddies
The TO-NMO buddy system is a support system that was devised several terms ago in which our 135 NMOs (as per August 2018) are grouped into 21 Buddy Groups. Each group has one Team of Official member and 6 NMO Representatives. The system consists of two parts: the TO – Buddy and the NMO Buddies.
a. IFMSA TO – Buddy is an official who is assigned to a Buddy Group to offer advice, encouragement, guidance, and facilitate collaborations amongst the NMOs within that group. The TO-buddy should and would never influence NMOs with their opinions, but will strictly be present to serve the functions listed above. b. An NMO-group consist of the NMO Presidents / Representatives of 3-5 NMOs who are paired with the TO Buddy within the group. They are encouraged to discuss issues of interest to them, be it within or outside IFMSA. Collaboration and discussions can happen with or without the TO – Buddy. If you are not sure whether you are in a group or wish to be placed in a group contact vpm@ifmsa.org.
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IFMSA Capacity Building Activities SRT (Sub-Regional Training workshops)
The Sub-Regional Training is a training format that IFMSA provides for its members. It is a cluster type training that can consist of any combination of trainings that IFMSA has, as explained in the chapters below e.g., TNT, TNHRT, IPAS. It typically addresses members at the national level or regional level. In order to hold one in your region, you have to contact the Regional Assistant for Capacity Building from your region on the steps needed to hold one. IFMSA keeps track of the SRTs that happens all over the world (https://ifmsa.org/srtdatabase/), to allow us to spread the word and gauge the capacity building impact that IFMSA has on our members. To that end, before you can hold an SRT, you will be asked to register your event and submit several documents containing information such as “Types of workshops”, “Budgeting of the event”, “Fundraising Plan”, etc. This will allow us to offer our help where necessary to ensure that the event goes smoothly and in accordance to IFMSA capacity building guidelines.
Standing Committee Specific Training workshops
These are workshops that fall within the field of our Standing Committees, and aims at strengthening members within these areas. All these training workshops are predefined and can be delivered separately or as part of and SRT/preGA/preRM nationally, regionally, and internationally, as long as, there are trainers available. The Standing Committee Directors and their Assistants can support you, if you wish to have such workshop in your country.
SCORA Trainings - Ipas-Women’s Reproductive Health and Safe Abortion Workshop This workshop is part of the IFMSA and Ipas strategy on women’s and adolescents’ reproductive health and safe abortion, a collective effort from both organizations that aims to increase IFMSA members’ awareness of, experiences with and ability to effectively advocate for women and adolescents’ reproductive health, especially safe abortion. The focus of this workshop is to advance the development of a network of safe abortion advocates within the federation. The training covers several related topics; for example: human, sexual and reproductive rights; abortion laws and policies; barriers to access care, including stigma; safe abortion methods; and identification and referral of women with abortion-related complications. The curriculum also includes information and activities on values clarification for abortion attitude transformation, as well as youth participation and leadership. Participants will be expected to lead sessions from the curriculum and to take an active role in material delivery, additionally they will receive training on basic principles of training, peer education and adult learning.
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- IPET- International Peer Education Training: The International Peer Education Training is a training that targets medical students who would like to develop their skills as peer educators especially having in mind international cooperation for Comprehensive Sexuality Education. Trainers will use different methodologies and exercises with training to be focused on how to approach adolescents, as well as special attention to hard to reach youth. This educational program is focused on developing skills, intercultural exchange and building cooperation of medical students worldwide in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and peer education. - HEAT- HIV Education and Advocacy Training: The HIV Education and Advocacy Training is an HIV ABC skill workshop that aims to invest not only in medical knowledge about the HIV epidemic and scenario but also in regards to the outcomes of our internal campaigns and activities in the IFMSA. It is an attempt to review where we are heading with the 2030 agenda and specifically with the UNAIDS 30 30 30 program. - V2V (Violence 2 Victory Training on Gender Based Violence): Our capacity building training on gender based violence. The term gender-based violence refers to any form of violence directed towards a person on the basis of their gender or to any violence that disproportionately affects people of a particular gender. It can be physical, sexual or psychological: it includes but it is not limited to, domestic violence, sexual harassment and violence, harmful practices and cyber harassment. Although people of any gender can be the subject of gender-based violence, the majority of victims are women. The training aims at discussing all deliberation processes in the NMOs and also provides SCORA an internal place for girls and women to express disparities in their day to day basis. It is also an opportunity to emphasize that understanding gender as a social determinant of health is very important for medical students to address different health determinants. Â
SCOPE/SCORE Trainings - PRET (Professional and Research Exchange Training) SCOPE and SCORE provide an exchange program for medical students all around the world in order to improve their medical skills, to facilitate cultural exchange and to introduce students to the concept of Global Health. Throughout the past terms, a need for a training on Exchanges has become more and more important in order to improve the capacity of handling a perfect exchange program nationally, with specific focus on the academic quality and global health training. Goals and Clear Objectives: - How to set up and organize the perfect exchange program - How to improve the Academic Quality in your NMO, and how to get the recognition of your university for IFMSA Exchanges - The efficient use of SCOPE & SCORE Student handbook - Design the perfect Pre-Departure Training/Pre-Exchange Training, Upon Arrival Training and Educational Activities - Introduction to the Global health topic within exchanges, and how to make good use of it.
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- Workshops and exercises about how to incorporate Global health within the Exchanges, - Understanding the impact of exchanges on medical studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; understanding of global health issues - Training on advocacy of the exchanges, as well as their promotion - To tackle the topic of ethics within exchanges and intercultural learning - How to be a great Exchange Officer - Strengthen specifically new NMOs and new Exchange Officers - Training new members in a few topics such as external representation and marketing TNET (Training New Exchange Trainers) To always be able to assure the quality of exchanges and to empower local medical exchange officers worldwide, SCOPE and SCORE created the workshop Training New Exchange Trainers (TNET). This workshop aims at creating high quality and well knowledge new exchange trainers, who are themselves skilled to train others in exchange management and exchanges related topics. This workshop focus on local and national Exchange Officers, who will get tools to successfully manage all aspects of the SCOPE and SCORE Exchange programs in their NMO. Furthermore, it strives to create trainers specifically focused on exchanges, to enhance their skills in facilitating, presenting, and transferring the message to Exchange Officers. The expected outcomes of the TNET are: 1. To enable participants to play an active role in improving the exchange programs of IFMSA 2. To enable participants to represent their organization towards faculties and national institutions, providing them with the skills for development of international exchange possibilities, including student leadership and external representation. 3. To enable participants to pass on their knowledge as Trainers in Exchanges, providing skills for exchange management, self-development and group management. 4. To generate more experienced and aware trainers for the Professional and Research Exchange Trainings (PRETs), leading to higher quality of trainings and good quality outcomes, better aligned to the needs of the Standing Committees. 5. To enable better management of the exchange programs in all their aspects including improvement of Academic Quality.
SCORP Workshops Human Rights are universal and inalienable, meaning that they apply to all members of the human family equally and without discrimination. They set the foundation that allow all people to live with dignity, freedom, justice and peace. As future medical practitioners with the responsibility of serving all people in the community, to treat disease but also to prevent suffering, it is perhaps of even greater importance to us as medical students.
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- TNHRT: Training New Human Rights Trainers (TNHRT) is a workshop with the mission to raise human rights awareness among medical students as well as empower young people through capacitating with peer education and human rights based thinking skills to take human rights action in their communities and mobilize their peers. This training provides a unique platform for medical students from different NMOs to receive the proper tools and skills to create and implement a Human Rights education program in their local communities as well as nationally and internationally if they wish. - ITDM: The International Training on Disaster Medicine Workshop (ITDM) is created in collaboration with CRIMEDIM, a university-wide academic center that conducts research, education and training in the field of disaster medicine and humanitarian health. The training is delivered by TDMT graduates which held annually for IFMSA members in collaborations with CRIMEDIM. With the aim to provide medical students with basic knowledge and introduction to the specialty of Disaster Medicine and a platform for students from different backgrounds to discuss their perceptions of disaster medicine, to create a momentum of medical students that are equipped to advocate for the need of training on disaster medicine while inspiring medical students to continue learning more about Disaster Medicine. - HRMP: Human Rights for Medical Practitioners is one of SCORP’s cult workshop. The workshop aims to step up from the knowledge provided in a TNHRT and provide participants with an advanced training on human rights in order to build capacity and perspective in participants with the human rights skills and perspective that they will need as healthcare professionals through providing sessions, exercises and debates on ethics, discrimination, and humanitarian law to the participants. At the end the participants utilize these 3 pillars by creating an action plan they can follow up as future health professionals - HCiD: Healthcare in Danger is a three-day workshop which is the transformation of a 6 module Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) into a peer to peer, hands on training. The MOOC “Violence Against Healthcare” is designed by the University of Geneva in collaboration with the ICRC. It addresses the concept of attacks on healthcare. In HCiD Techniques such as role play, simulations, debates, and official consultations are used to achieve the goals of the MOOC. IFMSA trainers have also added a few sessions above the MOOC sessions to increase the capacity of participants and to make them future HCiD trainers. We are currently in the process of publishing a joint manual with the ICRC about our efforts to deliver HCiD and how we transformed the MOOC to a training. Stay Tuned!
SCOME Trainings - TMET (Training Medical Education Trainers) TMETs started by the need to develop IFMSA members’ knowledge about Medical Education, while also empowering them to share and promote it. Understanding capacity building as the backbone of IFMSA and Standing Committees as privileged spaces to potentiate it in their own field, SCOME should commit to enabling it.
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The goal is to take advantage of a time where members come together to provide them with the content, skills and empowerment for them to exponentiate the common ideas and values back home. SCOME provides through the TMET workshop a peer-education experience directed towards flourishing Medical Education and Student Representation among medical students. These medical students will then also become part of a network of trainers and advocates for a better Medical Education amongst their peers and within their context. Moreover, training medical students in medical education and empowering them to become students’ representatives, shapes not only the quality of our future doctors, but also the quality of healthcare. - AMET (Advocacy in Medical Education Training) AMET aims to provide and develop skills for participants to be able to lead, advocate and empower others to make a change in Medical Education. SCOME believes that when training our members in student representation, we are not only shaping Medical Education, but also the quality of healthcare, as our members will become change agents in the Health Systems and Health advocates. The AMET workshop follows a framework of topics and content such as curriculum development, learning and evaluation methods, while also giving more in-depth skills to enable participants to set their own initiatives with sessions about youth leadership, advocacy and health policies. From IFMSA’s experience, it is often the medical students who are the strongest proponents for adapting their education to the needs of their community and we want to train them to advocate for the highest standards and change our education.
SCOPH Trainings - PHLT (Public Health Leadership Training) This workshop aims to train SCOPHeroes and others to actively take leadership roles within the field of Public Health. Moreover, it trains participants in specific fields closely related to IFMSA and Public Health work, such as specifics on Activity management. Complementary to this itl also aims to aid the participants build knowledge about themes that are priorities to their Regions so they will be able to apply what they have learned not only on a ‘theoretical’, but also on a practical, local level. The Three pillars of the PHLT: - Leadership pillar: it includes all of the sessions necessary to encourage the development of a well-rounded leader. Starting with the basics of leadership, the workshop helps participants improve their communication skills, team dynamic knowledge and finally enters into more complex communication examples such as conflict management, advocacy and giving feedback. - Public Health Knowledge pillar: it includes all of the basic knowledge every Public Health practitioner should have: levels of prevention, social determinants of health, public/national/international health, the difference between public health and clinical medicine, and a few more. Also, the Public Health Knowledge pillar goes into particular depth on one specific topic.
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- Activity Management pillar: with knowledge about the issue, and the ability to form, perform in and lead a team, the only thing missing is the knowledge and skills to be able to address issues. This is where the Activity Management pillar comes in. By giving participants all the knowledge they need on Activity planning, we enable them to return home and become not only active, but also effective in any endeavor they wish to pursue. This pillar aims to stimulate participants to approach planning with a strongly analytical and logical attitude, following a “broad-to-highly specific” step by step planning model. The combination of these pillars is thought to be an ideal mix to give delegates everything they could possibly need to operate successfully within their NMOs either as local officers, national officers, or simply as active delegates. - Mental Health Essentials for Future Healthcare Professionals (MHE) Mental health disorders have become one of the world’s largest health challenges of the 21st century. Apart from the obvious benefits for individuals, good mental health is increasingly important for economic growth and social policies. As future healthcare professionals, it is and it will be our job to ensure that people living with mental ill health and psychosocial disabilities can actively participate in and contribute to society. This workshop advocates for psychosocial approach to mental health that treats factors such as person’s life, working and social environment, as well as purely biological factors, as equally important in understanding mental health and well-being. Through this workshop we wish to erase stigma, and raise awareness and understanding that people with mental health disorders live as full citizens with equal access to opportunities and appropriate services, while at the same time being experts of their lives. We all have mental health - it is not only about the disease or the absence of it. Mental Health Essentials for Future Healthcare Professionals aims to equip medical students with the knowledge, skills and values necessary for improving the standard of Mental Health in medical students and the general population. During the workshop, participants are introduced to a number of Mental Health conditions, address different determinants and factors affecting Mental Health and discuss about stigma and terminology related to this topic. - From A to P: Advocacy and Policy-Making on X* (AtoP) *The X in the title stands for the Public Health topic each respective AtoP workshop focuses on. (e.g. AtoP on AMR, AtoP on NCDs, etc.) If there is one thing that makes IFMSA truly unique in the specter of international organizations and NGOs, it is our Programs and Activities. No other organization can claim to have so much connection with the grassroots levels of healthcare sectors worldwide than our members can. However, we are not using our strength to its full potential. Our external and internal activities are still very siloed. The Regional and Global Priorities aim to create unified focus areas for both our internal and external activities. We see this workshop as a new approach to solving this problem: by having a strong external presence, providing impactful advocacy efforts and connecting our members to possible partners(externals), all using the strong internal structure that IFMSA can offer.
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This workshop aims to tackle the lack of knowledge and policy-writing skills within IFMSA by providing the members with varied methodology: from presentations, simulations and roundtable discussions, to quizzes, practical exercises and policy-writing.
PreGA Training workshops
Before each General Assembly (March Meeting and August Meeting), the Organizing Committee of the host country prepares a three-day training workshop for participants who want to improve their skills through the different sessions such as the Training New Trainers (TNT), Training Old Trainers (TOT), Professional and Research Exchange Training (PRET), climate change and health, external representation, comprehensive sexuality education, access to safe abortions, migrants’ rights, alcohol policy, global surgery, medical education, and many more. All NMO members can apply to facilitate a workshop, when the call is out on the NMO server. The Executive Board decides amongst all applications which should be offered at the particular GA.
PreRM Training workshops
During the annual Regional Meetings of each region, the host country organizes a Pre-RM event similar to what is offered at the preGAs just in smaller scale.
TNT (Training New Trainers) / TOT (Training Old Trainers)
This workshop aims to educate members to become impactful trainers within the federation. There are strict regulations that can be found in the Capacity Building Internal Operation Guidelines (CB IOGs) to the format and content, in order to ensure a high quality and streamlined trainer education. IFMSA is an organization which counts mainly on its members and medical students worldwide, thus Capacity Building and non-formal education are two main ways to achieve the needs, vision and mission of the IFMSA. The TNT essentially prepares you to become an effective trainer so that you can help develop others such as your local and national members through various high impact training activities and workshop sessions. Building on the TNT, IFMSA also offers a Training Advanced Trainers (TAT) workshop. IFMSA recognizes the need for trainers to continuously build on what they already know and constantly update the trainers with the newest training tools, methods, and concepts that our members can benefit from. As such, the TAT is meant to take our trainers’ skills up a notch to ensure that we continue the culture of continuous learning and development within our organization.
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E e a
Ext ern al
Repr ese nta tio n 41
External Representation What is external representation?
IFMSA has a long history of empowering medical students to tackle health issues that matter to our generation from different angles. As a reputable international federation, we are in an optimal position to influence processes and decisions taken at all levels, collaborating with different organizations that go from a global reach to a local implementation. By being a diverse and global organization, with roots in its national members, IFMSA is able to discuss and influence policies at regional and global level in a coordinated way with its NMOs, to also influence policies in all countries. External representation is a combination of all activities IFMSA and its representatives do in its name in relation to external organisations, alliances, processes and individuals, including attendance at external meetings, policy and advocacy work, making statements, projects with external partners, panel discussions and more.
What are IFMSA Policy Documents and where to find them?
IFMSA has a number of Policy Documents (http://ifmsa.org/policy-documents/) which represent the official stances and call to action of IFMSA. These documents are the foundation of IFMSA’s external work, because they represent the official democratically adopted positions of IFMSA, and without them, we would not be able to responsibly share our opinions on global health issues. IFMSA’s Team of Officials as well as official delegations to various events represent and share our opinions based on these policies. Policy documents are approved by the plenary during the IFMSA General Assembly in March and in August. They are valid for a period of three years or until their renewal. It is important to underline that the policies of the Federation are defined by its national members, according to IFMSA democratic and participative principles. Therefore, it is crucially important to involve NMOs and medical students in all stages of IFMSA policy their creation, implementation and evaluation.
Policy procedures
The policy procedures are defined in IFMSA’s constitution and bylaws. Policy documents are approved by the 2⁄3 majority during the IFMSA General Assembly plenary in March and in August. In addition, numerous steps precede this formal adoption. In this paragraph, we will describe the factual process, which is similar for both General Assemblies, however, deadlines (which can be found in IFMSA Constitution & Bylaws, Annex 1) are different. Any IFMSA policy document is divided into two parts, bound together in one concise paper: - Policy Statement: a short and concise document highlighting the position of IFMSA for specific field(s). A policy statement does not include background information, discussion related to the policy, a bibliography and neither does it quote facts and figures developed by outside sources. The maximum length of a policy statement is 2 pages, including introduction, IFMSA position and call to action.
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- Position Paper: a detailed document supporting the related policy statement that contains background information and discussion in order to provide a more complete understanding of the issues involved and the rationale behind the position(s) set forth. A position paper must cite outside sources and include a bibliography. Generally, policy can be created by any member of the Federation, but it must be officially submitted by two NMOs from different regions or the Team of Officials, according to a procedure explained in Article 15 of IFMSA Constitution & Bylaws. Policy commission is a body composed of one Liaison Officer or Vice-President for External Affairs and two representatives of NMOs, which is appointed by a proposer in a period leading up to the submission, and its role is to ensure the quality of the document, that the content is based on global evidence, collect and incorporate NMO feedback after the call for input and to coordinate the discussion about particular policy during the General Assembly. Find a very simple guide on how to submit a policy below, the Vice-President for External Affairs will also remind NMOs about the different steps and deadlines. How to propose a Policy Document in IFMSA? We strongly recommend you to reach out to a relevant Liaison Officer before starting to work on your proposal. They may know about other NMOs which are already working on the topic of your idea, which can save your energy and time, and you would be able to easily join an already running drafting procedure. Furthermore, they can advise you on the content of your proposal, which may be covered by some of our existing policies. Step 1: Create a draft policy document. This should be in line with policy specifications stated in Article 15 of IFMSA Constitution & Bylaws. The drafting process should be as transparent as possible, relevant members should be allowed to contribute to the policy to cover and include a variety of perspectives we have in our Federation e.g. SCORP members if the policy is related to human rights and/or peace. Please use the template structure for your policy draft, which you can find here in this folder. For your internal discussions, we recommend you to use the editable Google Documents or any editable online software you prefer. Step 2: Send a call for policy commissions to the NMO server, preferably one or two weeks before the 10th of January/June deadline. You will need some time to select your policy commission members and appoint them. Your NMO members can also skip the first step and only apply for the policy commission, in this case, they will not be taking the lead on the process, but just add to the policy documents and fulfill the duties of policy commission members. Step 3: Share the draft Policy Document and the Policy Commissions composition. Do not miss this first checkpoint â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 10th of January/June deadline. Latest on these dates, you must share the draft policy document and the composition of policy commission with other NMOs through the NMO server (by emailing your drafts and composition of the policy commission to nmos@ifmsa.org). NMOs will be able to comment and input your proposal till 1st of February/ July, which is the second checkpoint!
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Step 4: The submission deadline. Don’t miss the second checkpoint – 1st of February/July deadline. Latest on these dates, you must send the final version of your policy proposal to the General Secretariat account (gs@ifmsa.org). Your policy proposal must be submitted on the official IFMSA template, which is shared with NMOs by Vice-President for Activities together with many other templates for submissions. Don’t forget that your draft must be co-signed and co-stamped by two NMOs from different regions (your NMO + second NMO from a different region)! Approach the Vice-President for External Affairs or the relevant Liaison Officer to ensure your proposal fills all requirements. Step 5: Amendments from NMOs. NMOs have time to go through your final version and propose final amendments, which you may or may not incorporate into your proposal. The received amendments and whether the proposer incorporates them or not must be shared with NMOs by 19th of February/July at the latest. Keep in mind that all the amendments made after these dates must be voted during the relevant plenary session. For more information about policy procedures, or in case you are interested to create and propose a policy document, feel free to consult the Vice-President for External Affairs (vpe@ifmsa.org) or a relevant Liaison Officer – they are more than happy to assist you with the procedure!
External meetings and IFMSA
IFMSA is actively engaged in ongoing global processes especially those of importance to youth,health professionals and the global external focus areas. It represents the voice of medical students in international policy implementation, review and monitoring. IFMSA is officially registered in consultative status with the United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which allows us to participate in the processes of UN, and participate in formal UN meetings such as the General Assembly. In addition to this, IFMSA is specially recognized by various organizations such as the World Health Organization, several UN agencies, World Medical Association and other. Such relations provide IFMSA with a lot of invitations to external meetings and events. These events are of a various nature, some of these meetings are consultations, briefings or discussion foras, some of them are the highest decision making places, such as the UN General Assembly, WHO’s World Health Assembly or various UN high-level summits. Prior to every external meeting IFMSA is going to attend, the Input for external meetings form is sent out to NMO server to ask NMOs and medical students for input. The IFMSA European regional team 2016/2017 created a publication called Giving input to external meetings, which will explain you the purpose and the way to give valuable input to these meetings. Experience from the a delegate: WHO Regional Committee for Europe I attended the 66th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe. Although, we were a small delegation of 6 members, we made sure to make our presence visible by reading statements to the European action plans and running campaigns. Furthermore, we got the opportunity to attend social events and mingle with member state delegates. Being an IFMSA delegate also gave me the opportunity to interact and collaborate with the many other non-governmental organizations in Europe and acquire an overview of the structure of WHO in a smaller setting than large high-level meetings.
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IFMSA is very recognized on the external level, so if you have a creative mind and a motivation to fight for better health, you will be surprised by the influence you might be able to get. Collaboration with Student Organizations IFMSA collaborates with many international student organizations, both from the healthcare sector and from various other backgrounds. When it comes to health student organizations, we collaborate mainly with pharmaceutical, veterinary and dental student organizations as part of the World Health Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Alliance (WHSA), which is a platform that represents health students worldwide. Besides WHSA, the second important platform in which IFMSA is actively involved is the World Healthcare Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Symposium (WHSS), aiming to organise a biannual event which will educate and inspire future healthcare professionals, from dentistry, medicine, physiotherapy, pharmacy, veterinary, nursing and other healthcare professions. When it comes to non-healthcare student organizations, IFMSA is part of international student and youth networks which include student organizations from many various fields, such as the Informal Forum of International Student Organizations and The International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organizations. All of the international organizations IFMSA works with have national chapters in many countries, which opens the opportunity for NMOs to collaborate with the national members of these organizations and work on the same topics IFMSA works on internationally, in addition to many other topics that suits the students in these countries, thus making our impact as students and youth visibly enhanced. How NMOs can start collaborating with other student organizations? First of all, NMOs shall try to establish contact with the national chapters of the organizations IFMSA works with internationally. If the NMO do not know whether there are members of these organizations in their countries or not, they can contact the Liaison Officer to Student Organizations (loso@ifmsa.og) who will provide them with contact information for these members. After establishing contact, NMOs shall invite these student organizations for a meeting in which they can discuss and decide on the common fields of interest they can work with. NMOs can make their collaborations official ones, by signing Memoranda of Understanding with these organizations. You can benefit from the MoUs IFMSA signs internationally and use it as a template with some adjustments to suit your work on a national level. Templates for MoUs or other useful documents can also be requested from IFMSAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Liaison Officer to Student Organizations, through the email mentioned above. What fields NMOs can collaborate on with other student organizations? There are so many opportunities NMOs can collaborate on with other healthcare and non-healthcare student organizations. All student organizations have their own exchange programs, therefore, you can work together on social programs, accommodation and placement for exchange students. Joint campaigns and health days initiatives are important fields you can join efforts in with other health student organizations. Each year, IFMSA calls its members to work on many topics that concerns all health students including: Antimicrobial Resistance, Universal Health Coverage, One Health, Tuberculosis, Refugees Rights, Meaningful Youth Participation, Social Accountability, and more. Not to forget about trainings, which is a huge opportunity of collaboration. All student organizations have their own training structure, which we can benefit from and also improve.
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Exchanging trainers from different fields is an interesting opportunity of exchanging expertise between student organizations. When collaboration is established and strengthened, student organizations can then engage in national advocacy work at the level of your country. Joining voices with other students through policy documents and briefs and using them to do advocacy work in high level meetings and participate in decision making processes at the national level, is an example of meaningful youth participation that IFMSA advocates for. In order to build a sustainable and organized collaboration, NMOs are encouraged to take this opportunity forward and create national student alliances, that can assure the continuation of interprofessional work for more generations and though more complex initiatives. A complete list of partner student organizations can be found on IFMSAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website and any information can be requested from the Liaison Officer to Student Organizations.
Timeline of the IFMSA year
The GAs are fixed in first week of March/August, and the deadlines are fixed, the rest changes from term to term, as is only guiding: September: selection of International Assistants and Program Coordinators October: New term begins, Team of Officials Meeting (TOM1) November: December: Dec. 1st deadline, African Regional Meeting, TOM2, early registration March Meeting opens January: Americas Regional Meeting, late registration for March Meeting opens February: February 1st deadline, EMR Regional Meeting March: March Meeting, TOM3, election of the new Executive Board  April: TOM4, European Regional Meeting May: May 1st deadline, early registration August Meeting June: Asia Pacific Regional Meeting, late registration August Meeting July: July 1 st deadline, Membership fee deadline August: August Meeting, TOM5/0, election of the new Team of Officials September: Selection of International Assistants and Program Coordinators
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Social Media International Federation of Medical Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Associations or http://facebook.com/IFMSA
@youifmsa or http://instagram.com/youifmsa
@ifmsa or http://twitter.com/ifmsa
http://youtube.com/ifmsaonline
http://ifmsa.org
Subscribe to the IFMSA Newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/cOXVtD
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Who to Contact
If you have any questions, there are plenty of people to ask. Your Regional Director and Vice-President for Members are the main responsible for our NMOs. But if you have specific questions to certain fields you are always welcome to contact these separately. Other options are to contact your TO or NMO Buddies or just NMO Presidents you know. You can also ask for input to specific question to the NMO server, in case you seek multiple answers or want to start a brainstorming process. Here is a list of the main contacts in IFMSA: Executive Board: eb@ifmsa.org • President: president@ifmsa.org • Vice-President for Members: vpm@ifmsa.org • Vice-President for Activities: vpa@ifmsa.org • Vice-President for Capacity Building: vpcb@ifmsa.org • Vice-President for External Affairs: vpe@ifmsa.org • Vice-President for Finance: vpf@ifmsa.org • Vice-President for PR and Communication: vpprc@ifmsa.org
Team of Officials
- Regional Directors: • rdafrica@ifmsa.org, • rdamericas@ifmsa.org, • rdemr@ifmsa.org, • rdeurope@ifmsa.org, • rdasiapacific@ifmsa.org Ask your Regional Director of the emails on their assistants - Liaison Officers: • Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights incl. HIV and AIDS: lra@ifmsa.org • Human Rights and Peace: lrp@ifmsa.org • Medical Education: lme@ifmsa.org • Public Health: lph@ifms.org • Student Organizations: loso@ifmsa.org • World Health Organization: lwho@ifmsa.org
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- Standing Committees’ Directors • scorad@ifmsa.org, • scorpd@ifmsa.org, • scomed@ifmsa.org, • scoped@ifmsa.org, • scored@ifmsa.org, • scophd@ifmsa.org - Regional Assistants, please replace the word region with your own one. • ra.scoph.region@ifmsa.org • ra.scora.region@ifmsa.org • ra.scome.region@ifmsa.org • ra.scorp.region@ifmsa.org • ra.scope.region@ifmsa.org • ra.score.region@ifmsa.org • ra.cb.region@ifmsa.org
Program Coordinators and Program Support Assistant: • programsupport@ifmsa.org - Program Support Assistant • ethics@ifmsa.org - Ethics and Human Rights in Health • cd@ifmsa.org - Communicable Diseases • environmenthealth@ifmsa.org - Environment and Health • humanitarianaction@ifmsa.org - Emergencies, Disaster Risk and Humanitarian Actions • gbv@ifmsa.org - Gender-Based Violence • ncd@ifmsa.org - Healthy Lifestyles and Non-Communicable Diseases • healthsystems@ifmsa.org - Health Systems • hivaids@ifmsa.org - HIV/AIDS and other STIs • maternalhealth@ifmsa.org - Maternal Health and Access to Safe Abortion • mededsystem@ifmsa.org - Medical Education Systems
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IFMSA
International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations
Algeria (Le Souk)
Dominican Republic (ODEM)
Lebanon (LeMSIC) Libya (LMSA)
Senegal (FNESS)
Ecuador (AEMPPI)
Lithuania (LiMSA)
Serbia (IFMSA-Serbia)
Egypt (IFMSA-Egypt)
Luxembourg (ALEM)
Sierra Leone (SLEMSA)
Malawi (UMMSA)
Singapore (SiMSA)
Aruba (IFMSA-Aruba)
El Salvador (IFMSA-El Salvador)
Malaysia (SMMAMS)
Slovakia (SloMSA)
Australia (AMSA)
Estonia (EstMSA)
Mali (APS)
Slovenia (SloMSIC)
Austria (AMSA)
Ethiopia (EMSA)
Malta (MMSA)
South Africa (SAMSA)
Azerbaijan (AzerMDS)
Finland (FiMSIC)
Mexico (AMMEF-Mexico)
Spain (IFMSA-Spain)
Bangladesh (BMSS)
France (ANEMF)
Montenegro (MoMSIC)
Sudan (MedSIN)
Belgium (BeMSA)
Georgia (GMSA)
Sweden (IFMSA-Sweden)
Bolivia (IFMSA-Bolivia)
Germany (bvmd)
Morocco (IFMSAMorocco)
Bosnia & Herzegovina (BoHeMSA)
Ghana (FGMSA)
Nepal (NMSS)
Greece (HelMSIC)
The Netherlands
Syrian Arab Republic (SMSA)
Grenada (IFMSAGrenada)
(IFMSA NL)
Taiwan - China (FMS)
Nigeria (NiMSA)
Tajikistan (TJMSA)
Norway (NMSA)
Thailand (IFMSAThailand)
Argentina (IFMSAArgentina) Armenia (AMSP)
Bosnia & Herzegovina – Republic of Srpska (SaMSIC) Brazil (DENEM)
Guatemala (IFMSAGuatemala)
Brazil (IFMSA-Brazil)
Guinea (AEM)
Bulgaria (AMSB)
Guyana (GuMSA)
Burkina Faso (AEM)
Haiti (AHEM)
Burundi (ABEM) Cameroon (CAMSA)
Honduras (IFMSAHonduras)
Canada (CFMS)
Oman (MedSCo)
Switzerland (swimsa)
Pakistan (IFMSAPakistan)
Tanzania (TaMSA)
Panama (IFMSAPanama)
Trinidad and Tobago (TTMSA)
Paraguay (IFMSAParaguay)
Tunisia (Associa-Med)
Hungary (HuMSIRC)
Canada – Québec (IFMSA-Québec)
Iceland (IMSA)
Peru (IFMSA-Peru)
India (MSAI)
Peru (APEMH)
Turkey – Northern Cyprus (MSANC)
Catalonia - Spain (AECS)
Indonesia (CIMSA-ISMKI) Iran (IMSA)
Philippines (AMSAPhilippines)
Uganda (FUMSA)
Chile (IFMSA-Chile) China (IFMSA-China)
Iraq (IFMSA-Iraq)
Poland (IFMSA-Poland)
China – Hong Kong (AMSAHK)
Iraq – Kurdistan (IFMSAKurdistan)
Portugal (ANEM)
United Arab Emirates (EMSS)
Colombia (ASCEMCOL)
Ireland (AMSI)
Costa Rica (ACEM)
Israel (FIMS)
Republic of Moldova (ASRM)
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (SfGH)
Croatia (CroMSIC)
Italy (SISM)
Cyprus (CyMSA)
Jamaica (JAMSA)
Republic of North Macedonia (MMSA)
United States of America (AMSA-USA)
Czech Republic (IFMSACZ)
Japan (IFMSA-Japan)
Romania (FASMR)
Jordan (IFMSA-Jo)
Democratic Republic of the Congo (MSA-DRC)
Kazakhstan (KazMSA)
Russian Federation (HCCM)
Uruguay (IFMSAUruguay)
Denmark (IMCC)
Korea (KMSA)
Dominica (IFMSA Commonwealth of Dominica)
Kosovo - Serbia (KOMS)
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Kenya (MSAKE)
Kuwait (KuMSA) Latvia (LaMSA)
Qatar (QMSA)
Togo (AEMP)
Turkey (TurkMSIC)
Ukraine (UMSA)
Uzbekistan (Phenomenon)
Russian Federation – Republic of Tatarstan (TaMSA)
Venezuela (FEVESOCEM)
Rwanda (MEDSAR)
Zambia (ZaMSA)
Saint Lucia (IFMSA-Saint Lucia)
Zimbabwe (ZIMSA)
www.ifmsa.org
Yemen (NAMS)
medical students worldwide