The IFISO, informal forum of international student organizations is an international meeting held every 6 months by representatives of international student organizations to exchange expertise and best practices, identify common priorities, build capacity and discuss potential partnerships and collaborations.
This year the IFISO Autumn Meeting took place from the 11th to the 14th of October 2019 in Brussels Belgium, with the participation of 10 multi-disciplinary student organizations, covering areas such as Engineering, History, pharmacy, veterinary, forestry, physics, and medicine. IFMSA was represented by the Liaison officer to student organizations (LOSO), Saad Uakkas. The meeting was a great opportunity for IFMSA to share its expertise and best practices and also to network and interact with other organizations and explore future areas of improvements and collaborations.
The meeting started with an introduction of every student organization, its focus areas, and working structures. Participants moved then to discuss priority topics starting with strategies and methods for attraction and education of future board members, followed by a session on external donations and funding which included many potential initiatives that can be implemented by our federation. Other sessions included discussions about general assemblies and meetings, financial contributions from grants and website management.
In the following days, IFMSA facilitated three sessions. The first was on the mental health of officials and members, where our LOSO shared success stories by IFMSA in taking care of our officials’ mental health. The 2nd session was in collaboration with EPSA on advocacy and youth involvement. The third session was about capacity building and training. Other sessions discussed topics such as Alumni engagement, the involvement of UNESCO with IFISO, regional teams, Public relations, design and other topics.
At the end of the Forum, participants elected the next management team and IFMSA was elected as part of it along with BEST, ESTIEM, and IAPS. The next meeting of IFISO will be taking place in Bucharest in Spring 2020 and IFMSA will be hosting it.
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