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Business Meetings and Travels
Meeting of OSSREA Executive Committee
The newly elected Executive Committee of OSSREA held its first regular meeting at the headquarters of OSSREA on 10th February 2003. The Committee heard the report of the Executive Secretary on the activities from September 2002 to January 2003. The Committee discussed a range of policy issues of the organisation, including the preparation of a new strategic plan for OSSREA and recruitment processes for senior officers. The Executive Committee also selected members of the juries for the annual research grant competitions and set up a panel for other activities of the organisation. In addition, the Committee gave guidelines and directives on other ongoing and planned activities, and scheduled its next meeting for October 2003 to coincide with the preparatory meeting of the new strategic plan.
Joint Meeting of OSSREA Executive Committee and Liaison Officers
OSSREA’s Executive Committee and Liaison Officers held their first ever joint meeting to discuss the following agenda: reports of the Liaison Officers and OSSREA’s Strategic Plan for the next six years. The meeting took place on 11th and 12th February 2003 the meeting hall of the OSSREA Secretariat in Addis Ababa.
The Executive Secretary of OSSREA, Dr. Alfred G. Nhema officially opened the meeting. In his speech, Dr. Nhema welcomed the participants and highlighted the unique position held by the National Chapters as OSSREA’s channels and vehicles for easily networking with, mobilising and positively impacting on the research and academic community within its constituency. In this context, he stressed the need for the Chapters to put in more efforts to rally the membership behind them and ensure their active involvement in OSSREA activities at the local level. At the same time, he pointed out the crucial role that the Chapters should play in the dissemination of OSSREA’s research outputs, particularly among policy-makers and development practitioners. The Executive Secretary also underlined the necessity of devising practical mechanisms for ensuring the financial sustainability of OSSREA and the contributions expected from the Chapters towards the realisation of this goal.
Following this, the Liaison Officers made their individual reports highlighting the activities carried out and the constraints faced by the Chapters in 2002. After a brief exchange of views on these reports, the Executive Committee members and the Liaison Officers were divided into three groups to brainstorm the future Strategic Plan of OSSREA. During the extensive discussions, participants identified the major weaknesses and strengths of OSSREA and the threats and opportunities it would encounter in the future. In addition, the Strategic and Operational Objectives as well major research themes were identified. The three groups then held a plenary meeting where the results of the brainstorming were reported point by point and further deliberated on. At the end of the discussion, it was decided that the summary of the group discussions would be compiled and dispatched to the Chapters for discussion by the local members. The recommendations resulting from these discussions would then be reported to the Secretariat for use in the preparation of the draft document for a workshop on OSSREA’s new Strategic Plan.
The joint meeting was closed with a speech by the President of OSSREA, Dr. Regina Karega, who expressed her appreciation of the opportunity provided by the meeting for exchanging views between the Liaison Officers and the Executive Committee members. She said that the new Executive Committee welcomed any new ideas and comments from members and was ready to work in cooperation with all members of OSSREA. She thanked all participants for their useful input towards the preparation of a new strategic plan for OSSREA and closed the meeting.
Executive Secretary’s Meetings and Travels
Meetings with NORAD and SIDA/SAREC Officials
During the 7th Congress of OSSREA held in December 2002 in Khartoum, Sudan, the new Executive Secretary, Dr. Alfred Nhema, held a meeting with the NORAD Senior Programme Officer responsible for OSSREA. The discussions centred on OSSREA’s current and future activities. The two had detailed discussions on the funding of OSSREA’s core activities and other projects.
Dr. Nhema also held a meeting with the SIDA/SAREC’s HIV/AIDS team in Lusaka, Zambia, from 29-30 January 2003 during which progress in the project on the HIV/AIDS challenge was discussed. Several issues concerning the proposed implementation modalities and the budget were covered during the meeting.
Visit to the United States
During his visit to the United States from 17th February to 1st March 2003, Dr. Nhema had a number of meetings. Two scheduled meetings were held in February 2003 in Washington, D.C. The first meeting was held with a senior World Bank official whose portfolio includes Eastern and Southern Africa. The official was briefed on OSSREA’s activities. In turn, the World Bank official highlighted areas that the two institutions could cooperate on. The meeting opened an avenue for collaborative arrangements with the World Bank.
The second meeting was held with the African specialist at the United States Institute for Peace. The meeting centred on exploring some collaborative relationships with the Institute given its focus on international peace-building initiatives. OSSREA was requested to explore funding opportunities offered by the Institute in addition to exploring other collaborative arrangements.
44th Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA)
Following its registration as a cooperating organisation with the influential International Studies Association (ISA), which is based in the United States, OSSREA held its first panel at the ISA 44th Annual Convention held in Portland, Oregon, from 25th February – 1st March 2003. In addition to acting as a discussant of all the papers in the panel on the “HIV/AIDS Challenge in Africa”, the Executive Secretary co-presented with OSSREA’s Programme Officer, Mr. Alemayehu Azeze, a paper on the HIV/AIDS challenge. During the Convention, OSSREA’s latest publications were displayed in a booth. The Convention offered an opportunity to network with academics, researchers, possible partners and other cooperating research organisations. The Association has a membership of over three thousand academics.