Regional Activities: Africa

Annual Report 2002-2003

The Regional Office, in close cooperation with the Standing Committee of the Africa Section, has undertaken a number of activities during 2002 and 2003. These activities were financed through budgets provided by IFLA HQ and the IFLA ALP Programme, including:

• 6788,86 Euros for the Régional Office operating budget.
• 4537,80 Euros for the annual Regional Standing Committee meeting.
• 5900 Euros from the ALP for the running of the Regional Office.

The Regional Office is located in the Central Library of the Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar, Sénégal. It is staffed by Mr Henri SENE, the University librarian, as Regional Manager, and Mr Bernard Dione, from the Library School of Dakar University, as assistant.

Running of the office

• the ALP Programme, and in particular the Bart Nwafor fellowship
• Africa Section programmes and activities
• IFLA conferences and membership procedure
• IFLA publications and information on IFLA activities
• African projects proposed to the Africa Section for funding
• informations about IFLA activities in Africa

Regional Meetings

The Regional Office was also responsible for logistical arrangements for the annual meetings of the Standing Committee of the Africa Section. These meetings took place in in Dakar, Sénégal (February 2002) and Nairobi, Kenya (2003).

The duties of the Regional Office included planning the meetings with officers of the Section, sending air tickets to each member of the Standing Committee and making arrangements with local organisers for the running of the meetings, such as venue, hotel accomodation, local transport, etc.

Projects

The Regional Office was also in charge of the management of the Bart Nwafor Staff Development Programme. This programme was initiated by IFLA Africa Section as a way of providing South-South assistance in the important area of training and staff development. The Programme is funded by NORAD. In close cooperation with the ALP Programme and libraries in Africa, the Regional Office organised the travel and stay of the Bart Nwafor fellows in their host institutions. These fellows were selected by the Africa Section during the annual regional meetings.

The Regional Office was responsible of the receipt of application forms from the candidates, contact with the host institutions, contact with the grantees and ALP Office in Uppsala, the booking of tickets for grantees, and receipt of their report after their four weeks training.

Cooperation with IFLA HQ

The Regional Office is an extension of IFLA HQ in the region. The primary role of the Regional Manager is to act as a link between the Federation and professionals in the region. The Regional Office also has a logistical role in the region involving the implementation of the programmes and the projects of the Regional Standing Comittee.

During the last two years, the Regional Manager has been involved in many activities initiated or organised by IFLA HQ, IFLA Core Programmes and IFLA Sections, particularly the Africa Section. The following activities were undertaken:

• Dissemination of professionnal information in the region
• Contact with institutions or associations in the region
• Translation of IFLA documents (mainly from English to French)
• Logistic support in the organisation of IFLA events in the region: conferences, workshops, meetings
• Implemetation of IFLA programmes and projects in the region
• Implementation of the Strategic Plan 2002-2003

The Regional Manager attended the IFLA General Conference in Glasgow (2002). As a member of the IFLA Regional Division Coordinating Board, the Regional Manager participated to the meetings held by the Division VIII during this Conference.

A meeting of the Chairs, Secretaries and Regional Office Managers was held in Uppsala University Library, 10-15 October 2002, in order to evaluate the ALP projects and plan the activities for the next two years.

Cooperation with the Africa Section

IFLANET

The Regional Manager is the IFLA Information Coordinator in the region. He has responsibily for sending information on all relevant activities of the Africa Section to the Administrator of IFLANET, ready to be published in IFLANET. In 2001 and 2002, the following information has been published in IFLANET:

• The names and adresses of the Officers of the Standing Committee newly elected during the Boston Conference
• The Strategic Plan of the Africa Section for 2002-2003
• Three issues of the regional newsletter, published in 2001 and 2002
• The JICPA annual report 2002

The Regional Newsletter

Cooperation with the ALP Programme

In close cooperation with the officers of the ALP Programme, the Regional Office is responsible of the dissemination of information on the ALP Programme in the region and the receipt of project proposals coming from libraries, institutions, associations and sometimes individuals in the region. The task of the Regional Office is to register these projects and send them on to the ALP Programme Office in Uppsala, Sweden and to members of the Standing Committee in the region for appraisal.

As in previous years, the Regional Office has translated documents published by the IFLA Core Programme for the ALP Programme (mainly from English to French). These have included annual reports, announcements and other relevant information of interest to IFLA members and colleagues in the region and coming from IFLA ALP.

Finally during 2002 and 2003, the Regional Office has maintained regular and fruitful contacts with IFLA HQ, the Africa Section and other IFLA bodies in order to promote the programmes of IFLA in the continent. The Regional Office has also been in contact with professionals and institutions in the region in order to increase their awareness of and involment in IFLA activities at the regional level.

We hope that with the assistance of IFLA HQ and our colleagues from the Regional Standing Committee, we will be in the the position to further this interest during the forthcoming years.