IOFS launches a series of themed webinars

IOFS launches a series of themed webinars
10 June 2020

Despite the halt of all major events across the globe due to pandemic, IOFS was able to adapt and continue its activity online.
IOFS started to organise a series of themed webinars to disclose various aspects of the IOFS activity. The first one, IOFS from Legal and Institutional Perspective, commenced on June 10, 2020, at the IOFS headquarters. The webinar aimed to facilitate the awareness of the IOFS institute, its legal mandate and global mission. The OIC/IOFS member states, fellow organisations, and diplomatic missions accredited to the Republic of Kazakhstan had all been invited to attend the virtual event.

The webinar was organised and moderated by the IOFS Legal Counsel, Mr. Nursalim Suleimenov, who focused on major juridical and institutional aspects of the IOFS activity. The webinar intended to facilitate a solid understanding of the objectives, aims and functions of the IOFS, its programmes, budget and organizational governance. Deputy Director-General, Hameed Opeloyeru opened the session with a welcoming speech, appealing to the Muslim world to make use of its enormous potential to address the challenges of poverty, hunger and development. Today at the height of the coronavirus crisis, the food security coordinating mechanisms of IOFS are critical for economic and humanitarian recovery processes.

During the session, Mr. Suleimenov covered the institutionalisation processes of IOFS, its legal instruments and the Statute, upon which the IOFS grounds its work. At the moment, only 13 out of 34 member states ratified the Statute with Mali being the most recent one. Another important issue presented was budgeting and the mandatory payments that each member state must submit in order for IOFS to continue its work. IOFS relies on the support of its member states but by now, only the government of Kazakhstan paid its membership fee. Bangladesh notified about being in the process of making a payment. Further, Mr. Suleimenov uncovered the structure of the organisation’s governance, their hierarchy, relationship to each other and membership rights.

The last 10-15 minutes of the webinar were dedicated to Q&A, during which the audience was able to raise matters of concern to the IOFS Secretariat. Afterwards, the session was closed by final remarks of Director-General of IOFS and his Deputy on the value of south-south cooperation in the food security domain.

You may view the session in a Video Gallery section.