by  Dammi Holbourne

The Annual General Meeting was held on March 29, 2003 at Liti Lissner’s residence. It was to have been held at Topkapi restaurant but due to security concerns, Liti made her home available.

Tazeen Rehman, the outgoing President, opened the meeting by welcoming members. Hospitality Chair, Elizabeth Bautista, read the minutes of last year’s AGM. Tazeen reported on UNWA activities during the time of her presidency from April 2002 to March 2003.

Tazeen pointed out that UNWA was a voluntary organization and drew on the contribution of its members in terms of the time and effort they could spare from other commitments. UNWA was a forum that could only provide its members with a basic knowledge of the country and facilitate interaction. It was up to individual members to pursue their interests and find the ways to contribute to UNWA activities, Tazeen stated.

She made some recommendations for strengthening UNWA. She suggested that the new Board appointed a working committee to clarify an ambiguity in the constitution about the position of ex-UN international staff and that a decision on this issue be taken before June.

She also said that the handbook "Settling in Bangladesh" should be revised. Since this task required a professional full time consultant, help should be sought from UNDP.

Treasurer Meriaty Subroto presented the UNWA accounts for the year 2002-2003.

Anowara Ahmed, Welfare Committee Chair, then explained the donations made to various projects and what they were used for. UNWA assisted 16 projects and funded six emergency cases under the Little Miracle Fund. By recommendation of the Welfare Committee in June 2002 the Board increased the maximum donation from Tk 50,000 to Tk 75,000 for individual projects and from Tk 10,000 to Tk 25,000 for the Little Miracle Fund. The Board agreed to consider going beyond these limits for exceptional cases.

Anowara thanked the eight welfare committee members and the board for their efforts and enthusiasm. She gave a special thanks to Tazeen and Meriaty for being available whenever she needed them.

After the presentation of Anowara’s report, Tazeen gave a vote of thanks to all the outgoing board members, mentioning how much UNWA appreciated and benefited from their active participation during her presidency.

Each board member was presented with a gift plate with their names and titles.

Then Liti, as the head of the Nominating Committee, introduced the nominated members of the new board with plenty of enthusiasm. Each nominated board member gave a short account of herself and the new board was voted in unanimously.

The new president, Vanessa Brooks, said that she accepted the position of the president only to ensure the continuity of UNWA until August 2003. She hoped others would step forward to join the board in the coming year.

She welcomed the new board members and praised them for having joined, even for a short period. Vanessa ended her address by talking about security in Bangladesh in relation to the ongoing war in Iraq.

The same subject was discussed by the UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Mr. Jørgen Lissner, who pointed out that although there was speculation about agitation in Bangladesh, people should lead their normal lives but take precautionary measures in order to avoid problems. People who "stand out" should avoid being in crowded areas and traveling out of Dhaka. He added that most of the UN personnel have cut down on field visits unless they were essential. He advised people to be alert for unknown people and vehicles, as well as packages.

The meeting was adjourned after Mr. Lissner’s address.