Editorial

Dear Members, Friends and Visitors,

Happy New Year!

In the name of WFO Executive Board I would like to wish a very prosperous, healthy and peaceful 2009!

We also would like to express our deep gratitude for all the support and encouragement given to our work during 2008 by all of you. We had a very intense and productive year, and the results were evaluated as excellent by Members at our General Assembly held in Cairo last December.

The World Family Summit + 4 was very successful, you can see some pictures already in the website and the reports will be available very soon.

The year of 2009 will close one more constitutional mandate of the present elected Executive Board Members and also the implementation of our Strategic Framework 2006-2009. We are very proud to see that we have achieved a great portion of the actions in the Annual Plan of Actions and for sure 2009 will bring about full implementation of the deliberations of the last Quadrennial General Assembly held in 2005.

We did a great effort to focus our work at Global, Regional and Local levels on better performance, efficiency, accountability and concrete results, enhancing the role and voice of Members and the aspirations of the Families. Encompassing the UN methodology, we are consolidating the concept of “Delivering as One” and in specially the Executive Board is very strongly advocating for an unified WFO with a powerful General Assembly. An efficient Executive Board, one rule of law, one concerted hierarchy at the international, regional and national levels, the implementation of one program, one leader at the international, regional and local levels, one budgetary framework and one office at Regional and National levels.

A huge difference in the year of 2009 will be the effective accomplishment of the Vice-Presidents and their respective Advisors on executing their duties since a specific budget was created and implemented for that purpose. Also the reorganization of the Regions as approved by the General Assembly will bring about more flexibility and effectiveness to Members to reach responses to regional and national programmatic and financial issues. Delivering of services will greatly improve.

The WFO programmatic profile is very well consolidated to attend the member’s needs. Policy-Program contents are already settled to work family issues in the context of development. Projects on housing, health, informal and childhood education, entrepreneurship and peace are largely being implemented. The WFO Office for Project Services - Development Partners – UN-NGO-IRENE cooperation are in full engaged on the excellence of projects formulation, financing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Our challenges for 2009 are the completion of formalities of the World Family University, which is in a conclusion phase and should be ready for launching at the World Family Summit + 5 and the launching of the great worldwide affiliating campaign “Families of the World”.

The World Family Summit + 5 will be held in Istanbul, Turkey on the last week of November 2009, in partnership with the UN and the Turkish Government. It will be a very special event since we will commemorate the success of past 5 summits, our contribution and achievements to the Millennium Development Goals and plan for the next series until 2015.

Dear Members, Friends and Visitors, as you can see, we are very committed to work very hard to respond to your expectative and to cooperate for the improvement of Families everyday life. More than that, we hope that we can continue to count with your support, encouragement and generosity to help us to contribute to make our world more just, tolerant and peaceful.

May 2009 bring to all of us the achievement of our dreams!

Dr. Deisi Noeli Weber Kusztra, President
World Family Organization

January, 2009