ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002: PRESIDENT

PRESIDENTS’ ANNUAL REPORT

A. April 2001 - Dec 2001: President Patsy Lobo

Introduction: It has been my privilege and honour to be the President of UNWA for three terms over the seven years of our stay in Dhaka. The present term will be recorded as the shortest, in view of the fact that I am leaving Bangladesh as my husband is re-assigned to WHO, New Delhi. My association with UNWA, the participation in its activities and the large number of friendships that I have acquired, made our long tenure very pleasant and memorable. I am indebted to UNWA members for the trust and confidence they placed in me and wish that UNWA in Bangladesh continues to grow and excel, especially as a support group for newcomers and members.

The Board of 2001: The original Board consisted of:

President:	Patsy Lobo	Treasurer:	Cornelia Saravanamuttu
1^st Vice President:	Leocardia Byenkya	Welfare :	Violet Millioni
2^nd Vice-President :	Yukiko Kukita	Publications :	Jean Sack
Secretary:	Elizabeth Bautista	Hospitality :	Sita Bandaranayake

During the year, Jean Sack and Violet Millioni requested to be relieved from the Board. They were replaced by Liti Lissner for Publications and Yukiko Kukita, Vice-President, assumed the additional responsibility of chairmanship of the Welfare Committee. The Board met regularly at least once a month.

PROGRAMMES : In line with UNWA tradition, it has been yet another year of many interesting and successful programmes. This was accomplished thanks to the time, efforts and commitment of all the Board and working committee members and support from many members. I wish to thank all of them.

April :	General Meeting at the residence of Liti Lissner Guest Speaker : Dr. Suniti Acharya, WHO Representative, Topic : Reproductive Health
May:	General Meeting at Sonargaon Hotel Highlight – Bangladesh Cultural Show
June :	International Evening – Potluck Dinner with Spouses at the residence of Patsy Lobo
September:	General Meeting at Sonargaon Hotel Guest Speaker: Machiko Kondo, Representative, UNHCR, Topic : The Global Refugee situation and the Role of UNHCR
October: 1.	Celebration of UN Day on 24 October Two major activities were organized : · “Slogan Poster” competition for School Children on the UN theme of the year “Volunteerism”. Seventy children from four schools participated: International School, Dhaka (ISD), American International School, Dhaka (AISD), Grace International and Dreyfus House. The winning posters were printed on the menu card of the UN Ball 2001. · Exhibition on Activities and Contributions of various UN agencies based in Bangladesh at Sonargaon Hotel. This was done in collaboration with UNIC. The following agencies participated: ILO, FAO, UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNAIDS,WHO and ICDDR,B.
2.	UN BALL 2001 on 25 October at Sonargaon Hotel: It lived up to its reputation as the grandest annual event in the Dhaka calendar and a major fund-raiser for UNWA.
November :	General Meeting at the residence of the British High Commissioner. Highlight : Indian Cultural Show – courtesy of Indian members
December:	Christmas Lunch at Sonargaon Hotel Gift Exchange, Sing-along, Farewell for Patsy Lobo

Conclusion : After a tenure of over seven years in Bangladesh, my husband was re-assigned to the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office in New Delhi-India. Hence I was obliged to bid farewell to UNWA and resign as President. The Board proposed Liti Lissner as pro tem President until the next elections in March/April 2002. I know that Liti will do an excellent job and wish her the very best.

This has been a significant year for the United Nations with the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to it and its dynamic Secretary General, Mr.Kofi Annan. Mr & Mrs Annan visited Dhaka early this year and it was a singular honour for me to meet Mrs. Annan as the President-elect of UNWA and give her a brief on our activities. To be a member of UNWA and to be associated in its functioning in the capacity of Vice-President for one term and President for three terms, has been a unique and very rewarding experience. I shall always cherish my involvement with UNWA and treasure the many friendships that I have acquired through it. Thank you UNWA.

Patsy Lobo.

B. Dec 2001 - March 2002: p.t. President Liti Lissner

I took over the presidency in mid December, remaining as Publications Chairperson as well. Due to the holidays, while the Treasurer was out of the country, the Secretary doubled as Secretary/Treasurer. Because of conflicting work schedules, the Hospitality Chairperson could not attend some of the board meetings. I therefore asked Hitomi Glemarec to represent Publications on the Board so we could maintain a quorum at the Board meetings.

Programme for the rest of the club year is as follows:

January:

General Meeting at the Sonargaon Hotel, snacks from members

Fashion Show courtesy of Naaz Farhana Ahmed

February:

General Meeting at Kate Arnold’s residence in Gulshan,
Talk by the Nominating Committee Chair Janet Jackson about Nominations
Guest Speaker: Dr. John Morrison, Director of Acid Survivors Foundation
Craft Fair organised by the Welfare Committee with the participation of ten organisations funded by UNWA .

March:

Annual General Meeting & Lunch at Lemon Grass Restaurant, Gulshan
Annual reports by the Welfare Committee Chairperson, Treasurer, and President
Presentation of the Slate of Nominees, Elections, Installation of the new Executive Board

ACTIVITIES: Naaz Farhana Ahmed led several members and guests to different activities through the year: Tours of a ceramic factory, Aranya, and two tours of the city geared for newcomers. I believe that these tours were very helpful not only in discovering Dhaka, but also in getting to know each other. I would recommend that we have more of these tours and trips, and it would be good to get more feedback from members about places they would want to visit.

There were several luncheons this year at: the International Club, Hotel Lake Castle in Gulshan, Hotel Royal Park in Banani, and El Toro Restaurant in Gulshan. I enjoyed the company, but I think we could change this tradition to something that involves less calories, and more creative activity. We might turn the luncheons into an evaluation review to include in the new Settling in Bangladesh edition? How about cooking demonstrations, conversation groups, scrabble mornings, and book reading groups?

The Hospitality Chairperson Margarita Sniadack hosted several Newcomers Tea at her house through the year.

PUBLICATIONS: The format of the newsletter changed from A4 to A3 to A5 during this year. When the UNDP office started printing the newsletter, UNWA was able to save Tk. 85,191 on stationery, photocopying and printing costs this year. Now that we are sending mail through the UN offices, and through wonderful volunteer couriers, we have also saved some Tk. 9,000 on courier charges. These savings have allowed us this year to lower the membership dues, and spend on hospitality kits, and also refrain from aggressive fundraising.

A big thanks to our co-editor Hitomi Glemarec, photographer Yuko Nakamura, and the volunteers in Circulation, namely: Gulshan areas: Yukiko Kukita, Tsega Berecket and Naaz Farhana Ahmed; Banani: Hitomi Glemarec; and Baridhara: Dolly Rahman.

WEBSITE: UNWA proudly launched its website in May 2001. The website has been further redesigned to work faster and seamlessly. Unfortunately the un-bd website changed servers sometime in January, and this has caused several links to malfunction. With time, we hope to get it all working again.

I believe that the club Year 2001-2002 was very successful, thanks to the concerted efforts of all the members of the Association, and the dedication of the Executive Board members. I wish to thank everyone for supporting me in this interim period. This concludes the President’s report.

Respectfully submitted,

Liti Lissner

Monday, 04 March 2002