Americas' Region Strategic Plan 2018-2020

THE AMERICAS’ REGION

STRATEGIC PLAN 2018 - 2020

IFMSA Imprints Regional Director for America Fabrizzio Canaval

Reginal Team Mayara Secco Manuel Mendive Leonardo Guimaraes Iara Porro

Layout Design Dhiya Khoirunnisa

The International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization representing associations of medical students worldwide. IFMSA was founded in 1951 and currently maintains 136 National Member Organizations (NMOs) from 127 countries across six continents, representing a network of 1.3 million medical students.

IFMSA envisions a world in which medical students unite for global health and are equipped with the knowledge, skills and values to take on health leadership roles locally and globally, so to shape a sustainable and healthy future.

IFMSA is recognized as a nongovernmental organization within the United Nations’ system and the World Health Organization; and works in collaboration with the World Medical Association.

Publisher

International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA)

International Secretariat: c/o Academic Medical Center Meibergdreef 15, J0-208 1105AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands Phone: +31 205668823 Email: gs@ifmsa.org Homepage: www.ifmsa.org

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eb@ifmsa.org

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This publication contains the collective views of different contributors, the opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of IFMSA. The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers’ products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by the IFMSA in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.

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Contents

Priority 1: Increase Involvement in Policy Page 1

Priority 2: Sustainable Partnership Page 2

Priority 3: Sustainable Recruitment and NMO Engagement Page 3

Priority 4: Support NMOs with Creating National Strategies Page 4

Priority 5: National Financial Plans

www.ifmsa.org

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Priority 1: Increase Involvement in Policy Documents Policy documents are one of the strongest tools of advocacy in IFMSA’s external representation. Even knowing how important they are, there are just a few NMOs involved in this process at the international level and even fewer with national ones. Many NMOs find this process and its results too complicated and find it hard to get involved.

Strategic Objectives 1.

Create a toolkit for policy making and usage, both at the international and national level.

2.

Provide an online course on policy making 3. Create a database of national policy statements with the goal of bridging NMOs working on similar topics 4.

Organize preparatory meetings before GAs to discuss proposed policy statements 5.

Increase the number of regional members involved in the policy commissions Expected Outcome 1.

60% of NMOs will have attended the online course on policy making 2.

50% of NMOs will participate in IFMSA policy making 3.

50% of NMOs using policy statements on a national level 4.

50% of NMOs will have representatives applying to be part of the policy commissions Indicators 1.

Number of NMOs a.

Attending online-courses b.

Participating in IFMSA policy making process c.

Using policy statements on a national level 2.

Number of members involved in policy commissions 3.

Assessment of usefulness of IFMSA Tools

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Priority 2: Sustainable Partnership External partners are essential for the development of our organization and our region. They are a valuable source of financial and capacity building opportunities as well as a vital component in policy making and recognition of our work. Youth organizations such as the IFMSA and its member organizations often struggle with partners due to high turnover and relatively low level of skills when it comes to handling these partners. Therefore, it is essential to try to find ways to overcome these challenges and allow our partnerships to transcend the usual 1-year collaborations.

Strategic Objectives 1. Build a regional partners mapping.

Separating the regional organizations, sub regional organizations and inside them 2 categories: a) Just Regional b) Regional and National.

2. Identify all existing external partners in the region (of the IFMSA and the NMOs) and create a database available to all NMO presidents.

3. Identify other possible partners (national and international) and evaluate the usefulness of establishing a partnership with them.

4. Create documents that will assist NMOs and future officials in contacting and working with external partners. These documents should include (but are not limited to): a. Template letters or models for: i. Financing requests ii. MoU templates iii. Recognition requests iv. Declarations b. Manuals on how to approach and follow up on partners c.

Documents containing IFMSA principles and work ethics 4. Create a reporting system for meetings 2

with external organizations that is accessible to all NMOs/regional members and easy to follow up on.

5. Identifying primary and secondary audience between our partners in order do a correct approach when needed Expected Outcomes Prioritizing sustainability, we hope to achieve the following outcomes: 1. At least 80% of the NMOs will have increased their network by at least 2 partners 2. 100% of NMOs will have a signed document (Memorandum of Understanding or otherwise) with partners 3. 50% of NMOs will have better access and knowledge about the Stakeholders in The Americas Region 4. 50% of the NMOs use the documents produced by the region to strength their external representation 5. 70% of the NMOs are aware of the databases and has built partnership with at least one of the national headquarters.

6. 100% of our partners divided in categories according to their work spectrum and type of audience Indicators To evaluate the implementation of the strategy, we identified the following indicators: 1. Number of partnerships 2. Number of MoUs 3. Number of NMOs using the templates 4. Assessment of usefulness and usage of tools 5. Assessment of knowledge about regional and national stakeholders 6. Number of NMOs using the archive option and finding it useful

Priority 3: Sustainable Recruitment and NMO Engagement Expected outcomes 1. 80% of NMOs will have attended a workshop (online or other) on either leadership or organizational development 2. 80% of NMOs will have an internal communication plan 3. 50% of the NMO will participate in a regional campaign 4. Creation of LEAD guidelines 5. Recruitment of at least 5 new NMOs in the caribbean region

As federation and region, we need to acknowledge that medical students have a very limited time to engage out of our duties as such. When adding work in an active and prolific student organization, it may seem impossible to balance. Therefore, there are medical students who do not feel It is essential to equip our leaders with skills of effective and sustainable work practice and display our achievements and opportunities to medical students who are not yet members.

Strategic Objectives 1. Create a regional campaign to showcase the impact and achievements of IFMSA and its NMOs in the Americas Region.

2. Create a toolkit on recruitment of members, compiling the best practices of NMOs. 3. Potentiate LEAD as the most representative workshop in terms of leadership within the NMOs of the region, focused in recruitment and external representation of NMOs. 4. Follow the recruitment IOGs at the international level and creation of follow up plans for our candidate and new full/ associate NMOs 5. Strength the recruitment in the caribbean region including territories 6. Provide information and manuals about communication, including but not limited to: a. Internal communication b. Social Media

Indicators 1. Number of members/Increase in members within the NMOs. 2. Self assessment about member involvement 3. Assessment of collaboration with other NMOs a. Number of joined projects b. Exchange of information c. Other collaboration 4. Number of LEADs facilitated in the region according to the guidelines 5. Number of different NMOs attending the workshops 6. Number of NMOs with a communication plan 7. Assessment of the usefulness of the organizational development online trainings.

8. Assessment of follow up plans

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Priority 4: Support NMOs with Creating National Strategies The creation of a strategic plan is an imperative need in our times. An NGO cannot be taken as serious and strong internally and externally without a proper document establishing long term goals. The development of many NMOs is considerably close by the high turnover rate. 1-year terms mean that the progress of our organizations is highly dependent on good handover and continuous working plans. Unfortunately, these are too often insufficient. One way of tackling this challenge is forming and adopting a strategic plan that transcends the working plan of one year (usually 3). It provides future leaders with direction that ensures continuous development.

Most NMOs have little or no experience with developing such plans and while they recognise the benefits of them, do not know how to start.

Strategic Objectives 1. Develop a toolkit on creating strategies 2. Develop a online training on strategy making 3. Develop a workshop on strategy-making to offer at SRTs and pre-meetings 4. Collect, revise and distribute training materials and descriptions to national boards for them to plan strategy-making related training sessions 5. Creation of a strategic plan buddy system Expected Outcomes 1. 75% of NMOs will have a strategic plan 2. 80% of NMOs will have attended a training session on strategic planning 3. 100% of NMOs with strategies will evaluate their strategy Indicators 1. Number of NMOs with a strategic plan • Number of NMOs that have successfully implemented their strategic plan • Number of NMOs that find their strategic plan useful • Number of NMOs that evaluate their strategic plan on a regular basis 2. Assessment of trainings sessions on strategic plan 3. Assessment of the usefulness of the strategic plan buddy system

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Priority 5: National Financial Plans Financial stability has always been one of the biggest struggles for our federation and its members. The Americas region members are always struggling with finances in order to pay membership fees and attending international internal (GAs and RMs) and external events that the federation offers. As part of the americas region we need to build capacity around finances in our NMOs. It is important to create financial plans for our national organizations in order to empower them and make their plans sustainable.

Strategic Objectives 1. Add financial duties to a specific DAs of the region (analyze which assistant) to identify and exploit funding opportunities for IFMSA and to share them with its members 2. Create a database of national treasurers 3. Create a platform for sharing best practices and possible grants for transnational collaboration 4. Create a toolkit to apply for grants 5. Create a toolkit for creating a national financing plan Expected Outcomes 1. The number of NMOs that have applied to any kind of regional or international funding opportunity 2. Number of treasurer in active coordination with assistants to increase capacity in fundraising and financial Management 3. 80% of NMOs will have a financing plan Indicators 1. Number of NMOs who have apply for national/regional/international funding 2. Increase in national budget of NMOs 3. Number of NMOs with a financial plan 4. Assessment of usage and usefulness of proposed toolkits

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