Building an IFMSA National Member Organization

We hope that these pages will help you with some advice on how to build your National Member Organization into a fully functioning part of IFMSA. Let us make a few points to begin:

First, there are two kinds of countries that will be joining IFMSA. Some countries will have a medical student organization that has already been established that is interested in joining IFMSA; other countries will be establishing a brand new medical student organization to join IFMSA. In these pages we will have explanations for both kinds of groups - because sometimes the advice will be a little different for the two groups.

Second - very importantly - understand that Rome was not built in a single day and neither are IFMSA National Member Organizations. You do not have to have a perfect organization to apply to be a candidate member of IFMSA! This is why there is a period as a "candidate member" - it gives your group time to gain some experience in IFMSA, to improve the Standing Committees, to increase the number of schools participating in exchanges, etc. Also remember that even most of the current full members do not have "perfect organizations" - many full members do not participate in all six standing committees, many still are building their exchange program, etc. So the important thing to remember is that you do not need to be a perfect organization to join - but you do need to get all of the paperwork in by May 1 or December 1 to join. After that we can help to make your organization "fit" to IFMSA.

Third, we have built links below to describe some of the major challenges in building an IFMSA National Member Organization. We hope that this will be helpful to you, but please contact us us if you would like to see us address any other questions here. This page is in progress, so please help us to make it better! Here are our links, and some of the questions we are trying to answer for you:

ABBREVIATIONS:

Sometimes IFMSA seems like it speaks a separate foreign language with all of our abbreviations. This list will help you figure out what the abbreviations mean.

NAME

What should your National Member Organization name itself? Here are our suggestions.

ESTABLISHMENT OF AN EXECUTIVE BOARD

How many officers are needed for a country to begin an NMO? What will their roles be? How will these leaders be identified? How often and where will they meet? Read more...

STANDING COMMITTEES

Which standing committees should be developed in the short-term? How will they be structured? Who will lead them? What are some long-term goals with regards to the development of standing committees? Read more...

LOCAL MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS (LMOs)

How will LMOs be developed? What will their function be? How can local officers be motivated? Read more...

CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS

Who will write them? How can they be tailored to maximize the effectiveness of the new NMOs? How will the more controversial decisions be addressed? How will these documents be ratified? How will they be amended? Read more...

INTERNET MULTIMEDIA

Who will design the webpage? What information will it include? How will nation officers be accessible to local leaders and members at-large? Should list serves be established? Read more...

GENERAL SECRETARIAT

How and where will it be established? What will its function be? Read more...

PROJECTS/WORKSHOPS

What are some realistic short-term goals with regards to the establishment of projects and workshops? Who will lead them? How will they be organized? What goals will they accomplish? What are realistic long-term goals?

MEETINGS

Who will attend the IFMSA meetings? How and to what extent will their trips be funded? How will the National Meeting be organized? What will its function be? How can it be best used to the NMOs advantage?

FUNDRAISING

Whose responsibility is this? What are effective strategies? How can sponsors be approached? What things need to be budgeted for? How much money is needed?

PROFESSORS, FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATION

How can these persons be encouraged to support the activities of IFMSA and its student leaders?