Annual
Report 1976
International
Federation for Family Life Promotion
- -
Report
of the President
Twenty-three delegates from 13 nations met in
Consensus was easy to reach on the fundamental
points. However, although our basic agreement has never been in question,
differences in language and culture made it difficult to arrive at the final
details. The work was exhausting, with much to be done in so few days.
1. It was proposed that IFFLP
should unite groups from all parts of the world whose aim is to help couples
who wish to use periodic abstinence, in a climate of love, as a means of
conception regulation.
2. The work of IFFLP was intended
to extend beyond the problem of conception prevention; it is concerned with the
full development of the person, the couple, conjugal love, and the family unit.
3.
The group reaffirmed the value of the child from its conception.
Because
there appears to be some confusion about the meaning which IFFLP gives to the
term natural family planning, I will elaborate this point.
Periodic abstinence and respect for physiology are
essentially linked to the definition of natural family planning. Periodic
abstinence is the method, regardless of the manner in which a couple determines
the fertile period. It could be combined with Ogino-Knaus
calculations, temperature taking, observation of
mucus, combination of mucus observation and temperature, or cervical
examination. Couples using natural methods choose the time of their intercourse
according to the physiological signs of the phases of the menstrual cycle,
whether they intend to have a child or not.
We firmly believe that couples using their
knowledge of the menstrual cycle in order to use contraceptives only during the
fertile period are not following a natural method. Their success or failure is
directly related to the effectiveness of the contraceptive being used. It seems
to me that natural family planning also implies non-intervention in the
physiology of the fertile period.
Natural family planning has been greatly expanded
in the last few years at the international level. This is mainly due to a united
effort on the part of three groups.
First, the Human Life Foundation of America made
it possible to hold five important international meetings:
1972 Airlie House, Warrenton, Virginia: Research Conference on
Natural Family Planning sponsored jointly by the Human Life Foundation and the
Center for Population Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development.
1972
1973 Washington, D.C.:
International Symposium on Natural Family Planning, organized by the Human Life
Foundation with a grant from USAID via
Family
Planning International Assistance.
1974
1975
Thanks to the Foundation's intensive work in
promotion and research and its persistent efforts in cooperation with officials
of the American government to interpret developments in natural methods, the
chances for natural family planning to gain credibility in scientific circles
have increased considerably.
Secondly, credit for the progress of natural
methods is largely due to the extraordinary work of Drs. John and Evelyn
Billings in refining the ovulation method and their unsparing efforts to
publicize it. I consider the ovulation method the most widely disseminated
natural method today, as well as the method
undergoing the most serious evaluation. Its development represents one
of the major breakthroughs in the natural family planning field.
The third factor which explains the progress of
our common cause is the establishment of IFFLP together with the commitment and
competence of its executive director, Claude Lanctot. The Federation provides
for exchanges between programs around the world and increases the international
credibility of natural family planning in scientific circles, as well as among
contributing groups.
This year, 1977, is full of promise. Our first
congress and the first general meeting of our members will be held in
Marie-Paule Doyle
President
March 15, 1977
Report
of Activities
The International Federation for Family Life
Promotion (lFFLP) has been successfully launched.
With over 100 members ln 60 countries, the IFFLP
Board of Administration and Canadian-based Secretariat look forward to the
Scientific Congress and first General Assembly of the membership to be held in
This second annual report includes highlights of
IFFLP activities during 1976 in the following areas:
.
. Membership Activities
. Collaboration with WHO
. IFFLP Secretariat Activities
. Plans for 1977
Negotiations with Fundaci6nCarvajal, an IFFLP
organizational member in
While in
Meetings with the local organizing committee
coordinated by Sra. Maria Eugenia Carvajal de Guerrero
were held during a September 1976 visit to
Additional financial commitments toward the cost
of the
1977 is to secure commitments for the remaining 35% from
various funding agencies.
'Canadian dollars
-
The four-day Scientific
Congress will have approximately 300 invited
participants and will be followed by the first IFFLP General Assembly at which
it is estimated 150 delegates and
observers will
attend.
The scientific program is designed to give a
comprehensive view of the state of the art of natural family planning around
the world in the context of family life promotion. More than 40 experts from 16
countries have been scheduled as program speakers, seminar coordinators, and
chairpersons.
A realistic and equitable subsidy policy is being
prepared by the IFFLP Board to enable all organizational members to be
represented at these meetings. Special efforts will also be made to ensure representation
by at least one individual member or observer from each country in contact with
IFFLP for which no organizational member has yet been recognized.
Each IFFLP member is urged to present its history,
activities, and characteristics through the exhibits section of the Congress.
Abstracts of these exhibits, texts of the speeches, and summaries of the
discussions will be brought together in the Proceedings
of the First Congress. Trilingual
versions are projected for publication in 1978.
Membership
Activities
Membership activities can be divided into three
major areas: communication with members, solicitation and acceptance of new
members, and the organization and conduct of zonal meetings with the members or
their delegates and observers.
Formal communication with the members was
initiated in April 1976 with the sharing of plans for the Cali
Congress and zonal meetings, along with a copy of the fourth informal
newsletter. The newsletter will be replaced by a trilingual official Bulletin of the Federation in 1977.
The solicitation for new members resulted in 41
requests received since February 1976 from 17 additional countries. The total
number of requests for membership is now 95, representing 59 countries evenly
distributed among the zones. In preparation for the first General Assembly of
members, the IFFLP Board expects to ratify most of these new applications in
early 1977. To date, 42 organizational members in the four zones have a total
of 55 votes.
Three of the four projected zonal meetings in preparation for the
General Assembly were held during 1976. These were:
-for the
-for
-for
Asia-Oceania, in
The three meetings were attended by 105 IFFLP
members, delegates, and observers from 35 countries. Summaries of the meetings
are available to IFFLP members. The cost of these three meetings was
approximately $45,000. Contributions of the participants amounted to more than
$18,000.
'.- - ~ ~-
Mutual recognition and accountability for the
beginnings of the Federation were the major objectives of the meetings.
Participating Board members led discussions dealing with the organization of
the Federation to date, the Constitution and Bylaws, and the projected
priorities in the year ahead. Suggestions were offered for the agenda of the
first General Assembly.
The final zonal meeting, for
Collaboration
with WHO
During 1976, particular emphasis was placed on
collaboration between IFFLP affiliates, their members, and the World Health
Organization in
Review
of NFP research priorities. The staff of the WHO Human Reproduction Unit
met on February 9-11; 1976, with NFP experts from 14 different
countries to
review the field of NFP and identify areas of research priority.
Joint planning and sponsoring of part of the
Steering Committee of the Task Force for the Determination of
the Fertile Period. The
executive director of IFFLP
was invited to~oin the
advisory committee to the WHO task force which met in
NFP research projects. Two members of IFFLP have explored with the WHO Human Reproduction Unit the submittal
of research projects under $15,000 on topics of high priority in NFP research.
-Elizabeth Rendu,
of Centre de Liaison des Equipes de Recherche (CLER),
~ Barbara Gross, of
Australian Council of Natural Family Planning,
In the current year, IFFLP will be concerned with
WHO funding and the progress of these proposals.
NFP Standardized Learning Package. WHO interest in a standardized learning package is expanding. Early in 1976,
-- - -
two questionnaires were sent to 30 NFP programs, all
members of IFFLP. The questionnaires intended to document NFP program
activities and reactions to NFP educational objectives which had been developed
by The Human Life Foundation of America under
NFP Glossary. The
development of a standardized NFP glossary was initiated during a special
workshop consultation in
A more extensive report on these
six areas of collaboration with WHO was prepared by the IFFLP Secretariat
during 1976 and is now available in the three official languages.
IFFLP
Secretariat Activities
Activities of the Secretariat can
be summarized under the following six headings:
.
Development of resources
.
Improvement of administrative techniques
. Development of exploratory service contracts
.
Collaboration with the Board members
.
Ratification of tax exemption status
.
Production of documents for the members
. The development of resources consisted largely
of stabilizing employment agreements with two part-time secretaries and two
translators.
Similarly, the Secretariat offices at
- Several administrative techniques were
streamlined during 1976. A close collaboration was set up with Serena's
accountant in
. Two
initial service contracts were launched in 1976 in the areas of zonal
communications and trilingual publications:.
The
first contract with I'IREC (Institut de Recherche sur I'Enfant
et Ie Couple),
negotiate the employment
of Franc;ois Guy, M.D., and his wife, Michele Guy,
MD., as official delegates of the Federation to prepare the last zonal meeting
in
In June 1976, IFFLP entered into a publications
agreement with The Human Life Foundation of America for the production of a
series of trilingual materials. An English version of the Constitution and
Bylaws was produced in 1976, and the French and Spanish editions will be ready soon.
The annual report for 1976 and the first issue of the IFFLP Bulletin are scheduled for printing by
the end of March 1977.
. Collaboration
with the Board of Administration was limited in late 1976 because the scheduled
zonal meetings required extensive traveling by the executive director. The
Board began the year 1976 with a telephone conference on January 3. There was a
three-day Board meeting in
. The Secretariat was notified September 1, 1976,
by the Legal Counsel of IFFLP that an advance ruling from the U.S. Government
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recognized IFFLP as exempt from federal income
tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. However, this is not
a final determination, and additional information must be submitted during the
first three months of 1977 in order to establish a definitive ruling. This is
an important aspect of IFFLP's
. During 1976, a series of 10 official IFFLP
documents was produced by the Secretariat in the three languages of the
Federation. They are listed below:
1. Women Religious and the Family: a few critical
experiences
2. Introduction to the IFFLP
3. Summary of the May 1975 Board Meeting (2nd) 4.
WHO Progress Report No.2
5. Annual Report 1975
6. WHO Progress Report No.3
7. Summaries of the 3rd and 4th Board Meetings
8. Summary of the 1973 International NFP Symposium
9. Summary of the 1974 Founding Congress 10. IFFLP
Interim Progress Report (September 1976)
Plans
for 1977
The year 1977 promises to be one of the most
critical times for the development of IFFLP It will see the Scientific
Congress, the first General Assembly of the members, and the launching of the
fundraising program for a three-year development plan. These three key events should
determine the success and expansion capabilities of the Federation and its
ability to meet the needs of its members in the years ahead.
The concrete priorities for the first six months
of 1977 can be listed as follows:
a. Preparation of the 1976 Annual Reportb. Publication of the first two issues of the IFFLP Bulletin
c. Application for the definitive IRS tax exempt
status d. Fundraising
(1) for
(2)
for three-year development plan, $500,000
e. Preparation of 1977 budget
f. Renewal of service contracts
(1) HLFA publication contract
(2) IREC for François Guy, M.D., as development agent
g.
Preparation and holding of African zonal meeting in
h. Continued preparation for the Cali
Scientific Congress, June 22-25, including speakers, editorial guidelines,
proceedings, exhibits
i. Continued preparation for the
Conclusion
In review, the activities of the Federation in
1976 created a solid foundation for future work. The last twelve months have
been fruitful not only in regard to the scientific dialogue with WHO and the various NFP consultants around the world, but
also in the communication with the IFFLP membership particularly through the
stimulating experiences of the zonal meetings. These promising beginnings have
been made possible largely through our generous benefactors to whom IFFLP is
grateful.
|
WARNING : POTENTIAL ERRORS IN
THE FOLLOWING LINES DUE TO SCANNING PROCESS (René Ecochard) |
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Statement of Financial
Activities* For the Year Ended REVENUE
Grants
Totals Committee for the Family$20,000 Catholic Relief Services50,000
$ 70,000 Specifically Financed Programs-Zonal activities Members' contributions Americas-Tegucigalpa,
Honduras5,444- EU/poe-Vienna 3,891 ] Asia-Oceania-Hong
Kong 8,853
18,188 Catholic Relief Services
5,000
23,188 Support from Members Membership fees 1,931 Other revenueDonations 453Interest
on deposits828
1,281 TOTAL REVENUE 96,400 EXPENSES-PER SCHEDULE 102,371 EXCESS OF EXPENSE OVER REVENUE FOR THE YEAR $5,971 *Canadian dollars Balance
Sheet for the Year Ended as at Other assets (at cost) ASSETS ASSETS
TotalsCurrent assets Cash $ 1,977
Short-term deposits $ 20,000 Accrued
interest 93 $22,070Fixed assets (undepreciated
cost) Furniture and equipment $ 326 Accumulated depreciation $56 $270
Other assets (at cost) - Incorporation
fees $1,963
$24,303 LIABILITIES
Current Uabilities
Accounts payable and
accrued liabilities
$ 7,416
Deferred revenue $ 3,822 $11,238CORPORATION'S EQUITY- Balance, as at January I, 1976
$19,036-. Excess
of expenses over revenue for the year ended 6 Analysis
of Expense by Program Service* For
the Year Ended Type of expense Program Service
Totals
Management Publications
and General & Zonal Activities
Projects
Information _____________________________________ Conference and meeting $6,897 $7,637
$ 8,949
$23,483Miscellaneous$
472
472Office expenses and supplies**
2,086 $ 418 $ 418
418 418 $ 418 4,176Printing 1,984 3,394
5,378Professional and special services 6,475
$ 2,500
8,975Salaries and employee benefits** 20,133 4,027 4,027 4,027 4,027 4,027
40,268Telephone and telegrams**
632 127 126 126 126 126
1,263Travel-board 7,712 290 447 1,276
9,725Travel-staff 3,218 1,874 576 2,963
8,631 $
42,712$ 7,966 13,632 13,231 17,759 $ 2,500 $ 4,571 $102,371 *Canadian dollars **Expense allocation is based on estimated percentages |
AUDITORS'
REPORT
To the Members and Directors of The
International Federation for Family Life Promotion:
We have examined the statement of financial
activities of The International Federation for Family Life Promotion for the
year ended
In our opinion these financial statements present
fairly the results of the financial activities of the Federation for the year
ended
NORMANDIN, SEGUIN & ASSOCIES
Chartered Accountants
Printed
in the
IFFLP
International
Federation for Family Life Promotion
FIDAF
Federation Internationale d'Action Familiale
FIDAF
Federaci6n Internacional de Acci6n Familiar
1110
Dominion,