Announcing new board members and an AGM 2015 recap

The first IAPO Annual General Meeting under UK charity law was held on 1 May 2015. It focused on winding up the Dutch association (which has been replaced by UK charity status), approval of the Annual Financial Report, and voting for three new Governing Board members.  

There were 16 nominations for the Governing Board and 38 member organizations voted. The successful nominees were Jolanta Bilińska (IAPO Chair Elect), Penney Cowan (new board member) and Matthias Wienold (new board member). All three will take up their new roles on 1 August 2015 and we look forward to their input.  

New strategic plan

We presented the new 'Strategic Plan 2015-2017: leading, advancing, empowering' which was developed in consultation with members and other stakeholders. In addition to structural influencing work with the World Health Organization and the United Nations Economic and Social Council, we plan to roll out a regional strategy which aims for a standard level of support in each region.

We will provide a range of membership services, including twinning and capacity-building workshops, and we hope to make use of new sources of funding available to us through our UK charity status. Patient Solidarity Day, which successfully ran across 32 countries in 2014, will be a focal point for our profile-raising activities.