Saturday we had our first AHE/HAOT National Haiti Occupational Therapy Society meeting of the year. It was arranged slightly last minute but felt it was needed after everything that happened at WFOT (The World Federation of Occupational Therapy). We were excited to have 11 people be apart of the meeting (including 6 new people participated).
It was wonderful to share with the group the highlights of Consuelo Alzamora Muñoz and my time in Medillin, Columbia representing Haiti at the WFOT. We shared the highlights which spurred many good conversations.
We talked about who the WFOT is and what their purpose is since Haiti is now a full-member…
- WFOT is an NGO which has contact and official relations with other international NGO’s
- It was Established 1952 by 10 different country organizations
- Today their are 84 country member organizations now… 59 full members, 18 Associate members, 7 contributing Members/regional groups
- There are also 6 Regional groups AOTRG, ACOT (Caribbean), APOTRG (asian pacific), COTEC(African), CLATO (Latin American), OTARG (African)t
- WFOT promotes OT as an art and science internationally.
- Their vision is to be a cohesive international organization and the key international representative for OT and OT around the world and to be financially viable and rich in resources enabling it to deliver member services
We also discussed Disaster Preparedness and Response (DP&R) online CEU module that WFOT now offers. We discussed looking into possible setting aside time to do this CEU course together as an organization. We shared how they are currently trying to put together an international advisory group for refugees and the displaced and create a training module for how OT can be involved and help.
We shared about OTION….www.otion.wfot.org (which launched while we were at WFOT)- OTION is an online forum for OTs around the world to have discussions and support each other.
We shared about UN moving from millennium development Goals (MDGs to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). Their are 17 sustainable development Goals that the UN is striving towards and that we as OTs should and can be apart of promoting.
We discussed the collaboration between WHO and the WFOT. The WFOT has had the privilege to have a relationship since 1989. WFOT is 1 of only 8 organizations to have a long standing relationship with the WFOT. WHO has asked the WFOT with help in 3 specific areas….
1. Promoting the Disability Action Plan and responding on how WFOT and OT could assist
2. Writing a definition for Rehabilitation for Rehab
3. Global Strategy and Action Plan in response to the World Report on Aging and Health
We introduced the New facebook page- Association Haitienne D’Ergotherapeutes
We also introduced the new Email Address for AHE/HAOT- ahe.haot@gmail.com
AHE/HAOT has decided to start meeting once every 2 months. We want to be intentional about advocating for and moving OT forward in Haiti. Next meeting we plan to make a strategic plan for the next 2 years to plan how we can work towards moving OT forward in Haiti. One of our big next steps is becoming a recognized organization by the Haiti government. I am excited to be apart of this association with so many great people. To see what God has in store in the next 2 years. I am excited for OT to be a recognized profession in Haiti. To see more people in Haiti getting much needed rehabilitation services.
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