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INTERNATIONAL FORUM FOR CHILD WELFARE
San José, Costa Rica, June 10, 2003 Dear Colleagues: Strategic Planning. You will remember that the Executive Committee met in New York City last February and on that occasion two days were devoted to a Strategic Planning session, as requested by the General Assembly The officers of the Executive Committee, plus the two Deputy Presidents, will meet again in Prague for a follow up session of two days to present specific ideas, suggestions and actions that IFCW could adopt in order to improve those aspects that were identified as needing an in-depth review. It is my hope that in this meeting we can draw some conclusions and suggest specific actions that will help IFCW to carry out its mission of improving the delivery of services for children by its member organizations. I will report to you on the results of this exercise next month. This exercise should not be exclusive of the Executive Committee members, but should include any and all suggestions and ideas any member wishes to be considered. So, you are invited to send your views in any aspect of IFCW's field of action with the assurance that I will put it before the Committee for consideration. United Nations. Together with Elba Montalvo, member-at-large of the Executive Committee who has agreed to help us in monitoring ECOSOC activity, we have presented to the Council Committee on NGOs our report of activities for the past four years. This is a requirement resulting from our consultative status with the Council. I believe that in order to benefit from our consultative status it is necessary to interact more directly and frequently with other NGOs that hold the same status. They are organized on the Committee on NGOs (CONGO) and have periodic meetings. The participation in this group has a financial cost (about US$250 yearly) but I will ask the next General Assembly to consider this possibility, as well as our eventual participation on the NGO Committee for UNICEF that I mentioned a couple of moths ago. Participation. With this letter you will have received six letters during this first semester of this year and of my tenure as President. Unless you consider it superfluous, I plan to continue to communicate with you, not necessarily on a monthly basis but whenever I consider that there is something worthwhile sharing with you. (Communications is one of the aspects being reviewed at the Prague meeting). But I cannot judge what your position is regarding this periodic communication unless you decide to send some feed back to me. And not just feed back but information and news that you would like to share with your fellow members. Please do take a moment of your time to send me an e-mail (feilat@racsa.co.cr), a fax (506 228 0945) or a letter (P.O. Box 393-2010, San Jose, Costa Rica). Even if it is to say that you do not consider these letters useful, it is an important point for me to know. Thank you. Condolences. It is with sadness that I have to inform you of the passing away of Gretchen, daughter-in -law of our Secretary, Victoria Wagner. Many of you will remember that Vicky had to leave us suddenly towards the end of WorldForum 2002 in Honolulu due to a deterioration of Gretchen's health a that time. After several months of a relatively stable situation, her health deteriorated rapidly during the last week of her life. I am sure that I do so on behalf of all our members when I present to Vicky, and to her son Sam, our most sincere sympathy at this difficult time. Publications. The "10 Reasons" booklet, which has already been published in English and Spanish, has been translated into French thanks to the assistance of a staff member from Bruce Rivers' organization. It is now at the printers and should be available for distribution the first week of July. If you wish to receive and distribute copies of this French version, kindly let me know. Sincerely, Rolando Quirós PRESIDENT
P.O. Box 393-2010, San José, Costa Rica Telephone (506) 228 6601 - Fax: (506) 228 0945 - e-mail: feilat@racsa.co.cr
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