A number of milestone issues and memberships were discussed and approved at the meeting of the IFME Board held in Ottawa Canada on 19 April 2016
Joint Meeting of the Boards of IFME & CPWA. The meeting in Ottawa provided an historic opportunity for the two Boards of IFME and the Canadian Public Works Association (CPWA) to meet jointly to discuss infrastructure asset management and sustainability issues. This provided a valuable opportunity for the 14 countries represented to discuss and share information, practices and knowledge about these important global public works issues.
China, Slovakia and the South Pacific join IFME. The IFME organisation is steadily growing with membership applications from the associations representing China, Slovakia and South Pacific (encompassing Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Cook Islands) being approved at the Ottawa meeting. The IFME Board looks forward to welcoming our new members at the next board meeting to be held in Sweden in November.
China will be represented by the China Municipal Engineering Association (CMEA), Slovakia by the Slovak Chamber of Civil Engineers (SKSI) and the Pacific Islands by the Pacific islands Engineers Association (SPEA).
Competency Standards for Municipal/Public Works Engineering. The IFME board gave in-depth consideration to a proposal from our member from Finland (Finnish Association of Municipal Engineering, ie FAME) to establish competancy standards and certification for municipal engineers. This initiative will incorporate leadership, management and technical competancies, and will include the specific communication competancies required by municipal engineers to communicate with their councils and communities. The Board workshopped a pathway forward that is aimed to achieve certification for municipal engineers that is internationally recognised. Further work will now be undertaken by the Finnish Association and reported bak to the IFME Board.
New Website for IFME. The new IFME website has gone live at www.ifmeworld.org providing the latest in professional image and website functionality.
The new website has a new “Member Countries” page for all countries/associations. All currently known Upcoming Events from around the globe are listed and searchable, and a there is a Global Infrastructure News stream that has now been implemented. A foundation platform is now provided for a new IFME technical library and video Library where all IFME Technical Briefs can be uploaded. The new IFME website is responsive, so that it now works on desktops, laptops, iPads/tablets and iPhones, etc.
On the administrative side, the new website will also provide a discussion area and library for the IFME Board, including an archive area for past agenda’s and other corporate documents.
Membership Fees. The IFME Board is undertaking a review of its membership structure for fees. In the past this has been based on membership numbers of the member country association. However some associations have individual members, some only have corporate members and others have a hybrid. The new membership structure adopted in principle at this stage is based on revenue bands for the associations. This better reflects a capacity to pay.
Business Plan. A new Business Plan has been adopted by the Board defining its vision, mission, values, business activities, and programs and work tasks of IFME. Progress with the implementation of IFME tasks will be reported and reviewed at each meeting.
Technical Reports. Our 1st best practice paper (winter maintenance) is almost ready for publication, and a number of technical briefing papers have now been uploaded into the website library. Technical visits are arranged around our IFME board meetings are also written up as technical briefing papers.
Asset Management. Infrastructure asset management is of important interest ti member countries of IFME. A report was presented on a number of activities of member countries. Our gNAMS subcommittee promotes sound through presentations at conferences and other opportunities.
Mentoring. The IFME board is considering the establishment of a international mentoring program for municipal engineers. This proposal is in the early stages, so more information will be considered at the next meeting of the Board. There was strong interest indicated to have the scheme that might allow member countries and their membership to participate in a globally coordinated program.
The idea being considered is that member countries could promote the scheme within their own countries under a joint program coordinated by IFME. The cost could be sponsored by member countries or offered as a fee for service to their members. The benefit for member countries is being able to offer a mentoring program without the cost of running a complete program. Further information on a similar program conducted by IPWEA and what could be the foundation for an IFME Mentoring Program can be found here: https://horizons.chronus.com/p/IPWEA-mentoring/about
Technical Visits. The IFME Board takes the advantage of being in a city to also participate in a technical visits program. Visits were undertaken to PPP Canada and the City of Ottawa light rail project scheduled for completion in 2018. Technical briefing papers on these topics will be prepared and uploaded onto the IFME website.
Planning for the next IFME board meeting is well advanced to be held in Kiruna, Sweden in November 2016.
The Joint Boards of IFME and the CPWA meeting in Ottawa, Canada
