Report on the World Congress of WFUCA written by
Nidal Mawas, Head of the Lebanese Delegation and President of AUB UNESCO Club
Objectives of the World Congress of WFUCA
o Elect a new executive board for the WFUCA;
o Report on the activities of each country;
o Have regional meetings (dialogue and discussion for future cooperation).
Tuesday, 10 July 2007
9:30 am – 1:00 pm:
- Meeting of transitional Executive Board of WFUCA as the participants started to arrive.
3:00 am – 6:00 pm:
-Registration of participants at the foyer of Olympia Hall in the Divani Caravel Hotel and the preparation of each country’s stand on the UNESCO clubs activities. The participants of the World Congress took a look at the expo of each country during the coffee breaks each day (11:00 am – 11:20 am) in a hall outside the plenary room.
7:00 pm:
- Dinner hosted by Greek Federation of UNESCO Clubs in which countries representatives met and the candidates introduced themselves.
Wednesday, 11 Jul 2007
9:30 am – 1:00 pm:
- Opening session of the World Congress and greeting by host country, UNESCO and WFUCA Executive Board: the draft agenda was passed out and adopted.
- Address by the president of the transitional Executive Board of WFUCA, Mr. Eiji Hattori: Mr. Hattori welcomed all the countries present and expressed his happiness to the reunion of the WFUCA after the problems it went through. He also welcomed the presence of Mr. Ahmed Sayyad, the Assistant Director- General for External Relations and Cooperation of UNESCO. Mr. Hattori wished that this World Congress will implement new strategies and plans to enhance the activities and cooperation of the UNESCO federations all around the world.
- Address by the Assistant Director-General for External Relations and Cooperation of UNSCO, Mr. Ahmed Sayyad: Mr. Sayyad started his speech by passing on the salutation of the Director-General of the UNESCO and then assured that the WFUCA will always stay part of the UNESCO like tens of other NGOs which the UNESCO cooperate with.
- The designation of president (Chair of the World Congress), vice presidents and rapporteurs were done before the opening session although these positions were always changed depending on the Executive Board members present.
- Welcome of the president of the Hellenic National Commission for UNESCO, Mrs. Ketty Tzitzikosta: Mrs. Tzitzikosta welcomed all the countries and wished them a warm stay in Athens. She also hoped that this World Congress will conclude in vital procedures towards the UNESCO clubs world wide.
- Election of the Bureau of the Congress: the Executive Board of WFUCA called upon its members to nominate ten countries to participate in the credentials and nominations committees.
- The credentials committee was constituted of:
1- Mamadou G. Diarra (member of board)
2- Marceline Cooper (Moldova)
3- Renata Verejanu (Trindad and Tobago)
4- Nidal Mawas (Lebanon)
5- Dimitieu Ekaterini (Greece)
-The role of the credential committee is:
a) Documentation and verification of countries financial status and elections rights.
b) Attend executive board meetings and report to it.
- The nominations committee also constituted of five countries and had to examine the candidatures received, report to the World Congress on their eligibility, monitor the ballots in the elections of the President, Vice-President and the Treasure and to count the votes and announce the results.
- Revision and adoption of the agenda.
- Admission of new members like Slovenia and other countries.
- Report on activities of WFUCA for 2005-2007 by the Secretary-General ad interim, Mr. Yiannis Vacondios: Mr. Vacondios welcomed all participants and briefed them on the agenda of this World Congress while reminding them of the steps taken to reunite the WFUCA and take it back into action.
- Expectations and vision for the future, by the president of the French Federation of UNESCO Clubs, Mr. Yves Lopez: Mr. Lopez also expressed his happiness in this World Congress and promised to present future strategies to enrich and develop the mission of the WFUCA and all the worldwide federations.
- Best practices by the directory of the National Federation of UNESCO Clubs in Japan, Mr. Noboru Noguchi: Mr. Noguchi first corrected the title of his presentation and said that it is not the best practices but the first since Japan was the first country in the world to have UNESCO Clubs. He then briefed the participants on the achievements of the National Federation in building more than 290 UNESCO Clubs in Japan between 1947 and 2007.
3:00 pm – 6:00 pm:
- Regional meetings and meeting of the credentials and nominations committees in parallel: discussion on regional strategies and action plans took place in the regional meetings which are divided into:
1- Europe and North America
2- Africa
3- Arab States
4- Latin America and Caribbean
5- Asia and Pacific
- The Arab States present in the World Congress and that met in the regional meeting were:
1- Lebanon
2- Tunisia
3- Morocco
4- Egypt
7:00 pm
- Official opening ceremony and welcome by Hellenic authorities.
Thursday, 12 July 2007
9:30 am – 1:00 pm:
- Report of regional meetings: the Arab States passed out a report on its meeting:
1- Re-affirmed the issues discussed and settled in the Arab Federation meeting in Morocco last month.
2- Agreed upon establishing an Arab consultant committee after doing the necessary administrative procedures and locate it in Alexandria Library in Egypt which was renovated by the UNESCO, the committee includes:
a) Women rights member
b) local movement of UNESCO Clubs member
c) international relations, training and communication member
d) University coordinator
3- Recognizing the fact that this Arab committee is a non-concentrated one and representative between all the clubs and Arab countries in order to establish a clear communication method and solidarity which the Arab countries practice easily unlike such problems faced by other countries.
4- Agreed upon improving the communication skills between the members of the Arab Federation through the website (www.afkarnet.org) to mobilize and vitalize the importance of coordination and teamwork, especially between the youth.
5- Acknowledged the need to start a fundraising plan between 2007 and 2008 in order to fund projects and activities which will benefit the Arab region.
6- Emphasized on the vital role of communication and cooperation between the Arab Federation that spreads out from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arab Gulf with the African countries and to exchange experiences with European countries like Spain.
7- Stressed on the importance of the collaboration of the Arab Federation with the Arab League, ALEXO and ISISCO in educational, scientific and cultural matters in the Arab world.
- Report of the credentials committee: the committee passed out a list of 38 countries that have paid the fees to the WFUCA for the past two years (200 USD) and therefore can be candidates and have the right to vote. The countries are the following:
1- Angola (absent)
2- Benin
3- Burkina Faso
4- Burundi
5- Cameroon
6- Republic of Central Africa
7- China
8- Democratic Republic of Congo (absent)
9- Ivory Coast
10- Cyprus
11- Egypt
12- France
13- Germany
14- Greece
15- Haiti
16- India
17- Italy
18- Jamaica
19- Japan
20- Lebanon
21- Mali
22- Malta
23- Moldavia
24- Morocco
25- Niger
26- Romania
27- Russia
28- Senegal
29- Serbia
30- Spain
31- Switzerland
32- Togo
33- Trinidad and Tobago
34- Tunisia
35- USA (absent)
36- Venezuela
37- Vietnam
38- Nepal
- The nomination committee decided to disqualify the following candidates because they did not pay the fees:
1- Mr. Fayinkeh Mahamadou (Gambia): running for presidency
2- Mr. Seegolal Vijaye (Mauritius): running for membership of Africa
3- Ms. Al-Mudaf Ahlam (Kuwait): running for membership of the Arab States
- The nomination committee decided to disqualify Ms. Bogdanova Olga (Estonia) who was running for membership of Europe and North American since she was an observer and does not have the right to be a candidate or vote.
- While Mr. Hannam Everton (Jamaica) who was running for presidency decided to withdrew, similarly Mr. Tandjio David (Central Africa) who was running for membership of Africa withdrew.
- The Executive Board of the WFUCA accepted the late candidature of Mr. Batnagar (India) for membership of Asia and Pacific since it was an empty position. This decision was taken after the present countries accepted his late candidature in a slight majority, opposed by countries like Cyprus, Lebanon and Tunisia to not make such exceptions.
- Presentation of candidates: about an hour was given for the candidates for all the positions to present their program in which Mr. Christophides George (Cyprus) who was running for presidency provided the audience with a power point presentation on his achievements, contacts and plans.
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm:
- Elections of the Executive Board took place.
3:00 pm – 7:00 pm:
- Announcement of elections results:
1- For presidency: Mr. Christophides George (Cyprus, AUB Alumni 1981) 19/35
2- Europe and North America: Vice President: Mr. Maronitis Ioannis (Greece) and member: Ms. Popescu Daniela (Romania)
3- Africa: VP: Mr. Daughar Lognaux Gayweth (Cote d’Ivoire) and member: Mr. Kone Seydou (Burkina Faso)
4- Arab States: VP: Mr. Ben Slama Rachid (Tunisia) and member: Mr. Chaiboub Ali (Morocco)
5- Latin American and Caribbean: VP: Mr. Hannam Everton (Jamaica) and member: Mr. Gonzalez-Perez Jose Ramon (Venezuela)
6- Asia and Pacific: VP: Mr. Tao Xiping (China) and member Mr. Batnagar (India)
7- Treasurer: Mr. Borissikhin Yuri (Russia) 19/35
- Address of the new president of the WFUCA, Mr. Christophides George: Mr. George thanked all those who voted or did not vote for him and promised that the coming four years will be prosperous and successful since he has new plans and goals to achieve…
- Parallel sessions on UNESCO Clubs activities: Both Switzerland and Lebanon presented a power point slide show on their activities but were not given enough time. Switzerland was given seven minutes while Lebanon was give three minutes. Switzerland earlier, presented four drafts resolutions in which it demanded that the UNESCO recognizes the autonomy of the WFUCA, support cultural diversity, fight racism and strengthen the attachment of the population to the ideals of UNESCO and of the United Nations… These drafts resolutions were not discussed during the World Congress since it did not undergo the legal procedures to be discussed. Italy also expressed its willingness to cooperate with Mediterranean countries members of the WFUCA in various cultural activities to be discussed separately with each country.
- Closing.
- Meeting of the New Executive Board of WFUCA: The new elected president of the WFUCA Mr. Christophides George congratulated the new elected executive board and passed out a paper to write down the contact of the board. Then the representative of the UNESCO reminded the board of three important dates:
1- September 16, 2007: the 177th executive board meeting of the UNESCO
2- October16, 2007: the 24th session of the UNESCO meeting
3- October 25, 2007: the civil society forum.
The UNESCO representative assured that the WFUCA head quarters will remain in the UNESCO head quarters in Paris, France despite the renovations that are taking place. He added that the UNESCO will continue to recognize the WFUCA as an NGO but the financial support will be discussed in another executive board meeting. The UNESCO also recognizes the autonomy of the WFUCA and fully supports it.
The newly elected treasurer Mr. Borissikhin Yuri announced the establishment of a special committee of five personals in Russia to run the financial aspects of the WFUCA. This committee will have the total freedom to bring resources in a time span of three to four months only. He also invited the board to hold its next meeting in Russia (trip fully covered) between January and February 2008 to meet and discuss the resources matters and activities (World Youth Center).
The vice president for Latin American and Caribbean, Mr. Hannam Everton invited the board to meet during their regional meeting in February 2008 in Uruguay or Trinidad and Tobago.
The representative of UNESCO then added that the organization will prepare its new budget of 2008-2009 and will then know how much resources it can give to the WFUCA.
The vice president for Asia and Pacific, Mr. Tao Xiping suggested that the next World Congress would take place in China.
The vice president for the Arab States, Mr. Rachid Ben Slama also suggested that the next World Congress would take place in Alexandria, Egypt or Tunisia.
The representative of Morocco invited the executive board to Morocco in February 2008 since the African region will be meeting there during that month.
The new executive board of WFUCA decided to propose a plan of priorities for the next meeting and a financial plan to be discussed too. The president of the French Federation commented that such meeting is not only to assign coming meetings and World Congresses but to agree on activities and projects.
Mr. Christophides closed this meeting by assuring that the board will stay in contact through e-mails to agree on the coming meeting.
7:00 pm:
- Farewell party hosted by the Hellenic National Commission for UNESCO and the Greek National Tourism Organization.
