The Journey of the Dutch Delegates at the 66th MM

IFMSA may sound like a strange abbreviation if you are not sure what this organization is about. So what is IFMSA? Who are their members? The International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) was founded in 1951 by five countries as an organization of the medical students uniting to improve Global Health. It is the worlds’ oldest and largest independent non-governmental organization. During the years the association grew and grew, which resulted in an organization consisting of 130 National Member Organizations from more than 122 countries across five continents with over 1.3 million medical students represented worldwide. One of these countries is the Netherlands, where our NMO, IFMSA-the Netherlands, resides.

But how can we make decisions about our visions, missions, regulations, policies etc. with all these countries spread around the world? The answer is: by General Assemblies. These take place twice every year, once in March and once in August. They are the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the association. This March, 16 Dutch Delegates are joining this incredible adventure by attending the March Meeting in Budva, Montenegro. The upcoming six days, they will meet (para)medical students from all over the world, participate in discussions, trainings, start collaboration, learn about new projects and represent IFMSA-the Netherlands and its projects.

On March 2nd, the March Meeting has officially started with an opening ceremony. After a relatively small pre-GA, in which participants followed one of several workshops (including Training New Trainers, Training New Exchange Trainers, Transforming Our World by 2030, and many others), it was time for the arrival of hundreds of additional students.

The next days they will keep you informed by writing a daily blog about the latest developments.