Final Merger Agreement

On the 1st of January 2010

EMSA and IFMSA-Egypt finally signed a historical final merger agreement defining of the future.

Check out the agreement by clicking here.

It's now time to work together in creating the biggest thing that ever was in the history of medical students' activities.

EMSA basic pre-requisites for merger

Below are the EMSA basic pre-requisites for merger. These have been the EMSA requests since the beginning of the negotiations and they do not exceed the points highlighted by the last IFMSA GA decisions and policy statements.

These are the absolute, uncompromisable red lines that will have to be included in the merger. This is the minimal necessary skeleton for a merged organization EMSA can accept. Any objection on any of these clauses will automatically mean the impossibility of the merger and the seize of negotiations from EMSA side.

These are only the broad lines. All others details are negotiable and will be discussed and settled with the task force: These details will never compromise the merger.

1) One unique, legal, organization, with an NGO status in Egypt, representing all Egyptian medical students, internally and externally, following the Egyptian law for NGO.

2) Full and official financial integrity and transparency in handling all aspects of finances, with periodic official auditing, a legal bank account in the name of the organization, full documentation of all income and expenses, all, following the Egyptian law for organizational finances management.

3) Achievement of the true values of IFMSA-Exchange: To give an equal chance to ALL medical students to access it without being restricted, out of hand or profit-oriented. Namely through:

a. No financial profit from IFMSA-Exchange whether it is on the national or local levels.
b. National exchange system for outgoing students, open equally to all medical students in Egypt, regardless of where they are studying and according to a unified set of criteria that guarantees equal chances to all.
c. Handling of all exchange finances according to the NGO financial administration.

4) Allowing the work and creation of non-IFMSA related EMSA entities (arms, projects, local branches and clubs), according to their internal management system and ensuring a bilaterally open traffic of information and announcements.

5) Tangible measures proving a continuous quest for a corruption free system for decision making, elections and representation of medical students.

6) Opting for unified efforts to reach the common vision, encouraging the merger and the integration on the national and local levels and promoting shared activities at all times. Thus, building a relationship that is based on trust, common values and ground-breaking prospects and ambitions.

Summary of IFMSA-Egypt members' concerns raised in the national IFMSA-Egypt GA - September 2009

Please find a summary of the concerns expressed by IFMSA-Egypt community as regards the process of the merger. I would like to thank Ahmed Ghazy; ex-IFMSA Egypt President for moderating that Presidents’ session in our last IFMSA-Egypt GA held in SSS Cairo; where all that outcome was produced:

• Clear Goals & benefits for both sides

Not everyone was familiar with the potential advantages for each side from the merger. If you still share the same concern ; please check the earlier posts in this blog where some clips from the joint session held in Cairo talking about the issue are available.

· Founders’ turnover
IFMSA-Egypt with its current structure & elections system doesn’t allow an individual to remain in authority forever , the dynamicity is one of the important characteristics of IFMSA-Egypt as an organization ; but as an NGO; does the law oblige having a board or administration for a prolonged period without the opted turnover?

· IFMSA-Egypt structure

The current structure has proved to be handy in various aspects. IFMSA-Egypt members would like to preserve the current structure as regards the LCs as members & the team of officials (board) as the administrative body. We cannot also accept non-medical students within our structure because it’s a medical students’ organization, yet other forms of cooperation or collaboration may be ventured on.

· Decision Making & Autonomy:
In IFMSA-Egypt ; the GA is the highest decision making power . One of the important factors that need to be maintained is the autonomy of IFMSA-Egypt & the decisions taken by the GA. We do not accept a higher level of full supervision on al the decision that our members make through voting in GAs or those taken by the board as a part of the administrative process.

· Financial Independence:
As a byproduct of autonomy ; the funds belonging to IFMSA-Egypt need to be protected from external manipulation & for IFMSA-Egypt treasurer; the right to access the account balance as per the GA adopted decisions should be secured. there should be no interference in the direction of spending the finances after setting the rules to be followed.

· IFMSA representation:
IFMSA-Egypt believes it still owns the right to represent the medical students activities in EGYPT in IFMSA. Any other arrangements should include this as a red line for negotiations.

· System for membership:
What are the imposed implications on IFMSA-Egypt members after the merger? What extra responsibility is put on their shoulders? What are the authority in the NGO administration hands that could deprive IFMSA-Egypt members from membership of the organization?

· LCs vs LBs system:
What are the authorities & fields of work for each? There will be an overlap of work & sometimes conflicts if there are 2 groups of people operating in the same field.

· Exchange System:
The current exchange system will undergo modifications that we believe are necessary but the application process through the exchange system should remain through IFMSA-Egypt as the representative of IFMSA in Egypt.

· Personal Conflicts:
IFMSA-Egypt members are all undergraduate students while those in EMSA are mostly graduated or in their final phase of internship. This signifies & echoes the point mentioned above that there is a stagnancy in the levels of membership in EMSA with no appropriate turnover; also we have to mention that although some mistakes were made from IFMSA-Egypt side in some points in the past, but EMSA side has also made some serious mistakes in the approach at the beginning of their foundation , something that lead to an endless list of personal conflicts that cannot be omitted especially that the same people are still there in EMSA while IFMSA-Egypt’s turnover of generation has occurred. So we do not accept the fact that the system in IFMSA-Egypt is branded as corrupt & that EMSA’s sole purpose is to combat corruption. We have to courageously acknowledge some mistakes made in the past from BOTH sides.

Report sent to IFMSA About Merger

Dear IFMSA EB and EMR RC,

Since our last encounter in Macedonia, we have been working with IFMSA-Egypt towards the merger between the two entities.

We wanted to keep you updated with what we currently doing and what we have done so far. This is why we are sending you this progress report about the negations and achievements that have been reached this far.

Since August 2009, and following the decision made during the IFMSA General Assembly, mutual efforts have been provided from representatives of both entities to meet the deadline given by IFMSA, the 1st of January 2010, to complete the merger.

Incentive:

Although the biggest incentive for the merger is the avoidance of any damages caused by the application of the decision taken by the IFMSA GA, yet, the concept and efforts for the merger are innate in the concerned parties and they also working on that to guarantee the best working conditions for medical students in Egypt with a keen understanding of the vitality of the issue & the tightness of the timeline available to finish the whole process.

The following steps took place in chronological order:

• In agreement with EMSA; IFMSA-Egypt national board decided to appoint Hatem Alaa, the Cairo University local committee president at that time, as the representative of IFMSA-Egypt during the negotiations. The board also issued a statement to LC Presidents stating the following:

“ IFMSA-Egypt recognizes the importance of caring after the welfare of medical students in Egypt who deserve to have a stable medium for practicing their activities, summoned powers that work together not against , one voice that conveys their opinion to the whole world through IFMSA. We are willing to work together for the best of medical students in Egypt.

During the last IFMSA GA in Ohrid, Macedonia; the General Assembly voted in their plenary endorsing a merger between IFMSA-Egypt & the Egyptian Medical Students Association (EMSA) & didn't want to have 2 NMOs from Egypt as abiding by the IFMSA bylaws. This was mainly because of the concerns raised by IFMSA EB about the financial transparency & exchange system that we operate. We are innately willing to improve any defect in our work & although the GA decision puts a lot of pressure on IFMSA-Egypt to finish the negotiations before 1st January 2010 or else our activities will be frozen completely & in spite the rigidity of the decision that we have seen as very tightening , we are willing to create a taskforce from both sides to maximize the benefits of such a merger & maintain our rights to have an autonomous NMO with its rights in IFMSA ; representing all Egyptian students & at the same time benefiting from the opportunities provided to NMOs & also abide by IFMSA decisions & newly adopted exchange policies

We would like to ensure you that we are working our outmost for the best of all LCs & that all steps in negotiations will be announced regularly to LCs to make them aware of all the consequences. There will be also a joint session between IFMSA-Egypt & EMSA representatives in the negotiations which is preparatory for the taskforce work. It is really important that all concerned people attend to ask all the questions they have in mind & even if they don’t have immediate questions; they will raise the awareness of the taskforce to put it on the negotiations agenda

All the best.

Mohamed Salah

Secretary General & Treasurer 2008-2009
IFMSA-Egypt
President 2008-2010
Zagazig Medical Students' Scientific Association
International Federation of Medical Students` Association
E-mail: mohammed_salah.ahmed@yahoo.com
MSN: hamada2004eg@hotmail.comCell: +2010 3738335
Give us a visit Today! www.ifmsa-egypt.org. "

• A series of meetings between Hatem Alaa; IFMSA-Egypt's Liaison Oficer to EMSA and Ayman Sabae - EMSA Managerial President - to outline the framework for the upcoming period. An understanding on the importance of mutual and combined efforts, commitment to the general welfare, and complete transparency have been established since then.
• A first, open-doors orientation session about the the current situation was hosted in Cairo with the aim of giving concerned Egyptian students from both EMSA & IFMSA-Egypt, the needed information and statements of both entities' attitudes in the upcoming period. The Agenda included:

• Explanation about the decisions taken by the IFMSA GA
• General statement of intentions from EMSA
• The timeline of work for the upcoming period
• A comparative presentation focusing on the general benefits of having an organization that combines the strong points in both organizations and abolishes the weak ones.
• A general questions and answers section.

• The session went very well, and people began to understand the situation and how we are going to, hand in hand, work in not only avoiding any damages to Egyptian medical students international representation, but actually, to get the best out of this merger. You can view parts of the session by visiting www.youtube.com/emsadotorgdoteg
• Following the session, IFMSA-Egypt's community was updated with the steps taken by Hatem Alaa & in the final General assembly meeting of the term; the whole issue was open to discussion in Standing Committee sessions & in the trainings ; where the conflict management training used a role play for negotiations between EMSA & IFMSA-Egypt , something that was really healthy & useful.
• The General Assembly meeting later on 28th September 2009 appointed Hatem as a Liaison Officer to EMSA in order to draft an agreement with EMSA & constantly update IFMSA-Egypt Local committee presidents & GA with the updates.
• The leaving IFMSA-Egypt National Exchange Officer & the elect NEO started a discussion in the exchange session in the GA about the current exchange system & how can we improve it; some changes where instantly agreed upon & a national standard selection criteria is now undergoing a phase of brainstorming with the contribution of local exchange officers of all local committees.
• The general outline of the merger is currently being drawn making sure an agreement marking the initiation of the merger process, is to be ready and signed by mid November 2009.
• A series of task force meetings are currently being conducted for the creation of this agreement and its clauses. A blog, http://emsa-ifmsaegypt.blogspot.com/ has been created to receive feedback, questions and comments from concerned members.

Issues to tackle in the upcoming period:

The task force is now put to the test by being asked to find solutions for a complex situation, the upcoming period, the following issues will be the areas of concern:

• 1) Identity, autonomy, structure
• 2) Finances
• 3) Exchange
• 4) IFMSA and international representation
• 5) Overlap of activities
• 6) Plans for future steps following the end of the official, administrative merger.

Hebatallah Ebrahim: Part 4 in the EMSA / IFMSA-Egypt merger orientation session

Karim Ali: Part 3 in the EMSA / IFMSA-Egypt merger orientation session

Ayman Sabae: Part 2 in the EMSA / IFMSA-Egypt merger orientation session

Hatem Alaa: Part 1 in the EMSA / IFMSA-Egypt merger orientation session