Call for Pan American Regional Office Positions: Regional

Working Group 2019-20

Call for Pan American Regional Office Positions: Regional Working Group
2019-20

The IPSF Pan American Regional Office (PARO) is calling interested pharmacy students from
across IPSF member associations in the Americas to join the International Pharmaceutical
Students’ Federation as part of PARO’s team on the Executive Committee, the Regional
Working Group and Subcommittees.
For all the positions, you must be able to work on throughout the year in your position and
have regular internet access. You must be reachable throughout your entire term, until
October 2020. All the positions are invited to attend the 65th and/or 66th IPSF World Congress,
13th and/or 14th IPSF Pan American Regional Symposium and your committee/subcommittee
meeting, if one is scheduled. However, it is not obligatory.

If you are interested in a particular position listed here, you shall submit the completed
Nomination Form and send it to the PARO Secretary (secretary@paro.ipsf.org) before the
deadline for applications.

The appointment of the Chairperson of PARO and the election of the Regional Working Group
Officers will happen during the 17th PARO Regional Assembly at the 13th Pan American Regional
Symposium, from June 23 to June 30, 2019. The election of the Chairperson of PARO will
happen during the IPSF General Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda.

Candidates for both Chairperson and Regional Working Group Officer positions must prepare
an oral presentation with maximum duration of 3 minutes to present during the applicable
assemblies.
All nomination forms must be submitted to secretary@paro.ipsf.org no later than June 22th,
2019, 23:59 (11:59 pm) GMT-6 (San Jose, Costa Rica time).

Executive Position
Chairperson of the Pan American Regional Office As the Chairperson, you are responsible for:

• Representing the Regional Office

• Co-coordinating and overseeing the implementation of IPSF projects and activities
in the region
• Ensuring sound financial standing and administration
• Establishing further relations with student and professional organizations in the
region
• Overseeing the organization of regional events
• Offering leadership and direction towards strategic goals

As Chairperson of the Regional Office you are also a member of the IPSF Executive
Committee and therefore will have to correspond regularly with Executive Members. You
shall promote IPSF and your Regional Office through all means; monitor progress on
projects and activities; actively investigate and follow up on opportunities for strategic
development and to make any public announcements on behalf of the IPSF Regional Office.
 Confidence and proficiency in oral and written English; presentation and communication
skills; effective time management and organizational skills are important to the position.
Hence, the ability to lead and work well in a team is vital to be innovative in solving
problems, ensuring projects follow timelines and action plans, and to implement new
projects and ideas. Previous experience in a leadership role is preferred.
To meet these responsibilities, it’s highly recommended for the applicant to travel to
attend local, regional and international events, from the Executive Meetings (EM1:
September-October; EM2: February-March; EM3: Prior the World Congress), IPSF World
Congress (July-August) and the IPSF Pan American Regional Symposium for next year.

For more information on the position, please write to chairperson@paro.ipsf.org.

Regional Working Group Positions

Secretary
As the Secretary, you are responsible for ensuring that the Regional Office runs smoothly in
close cooperation with the Chairperson. The Secretary needs to be familiar with the Official
Documents as it is the responsibility of the Secretary to ensure that the Regional Office
complies with the Official Documents. It is also the responsibility of the Secretary to issue
notice and to distribute the agendas and minutes of all Regional Working Group meetings. The
Secretary should assist other RWG members with PARO projects.
In addition to administrative activities, the secretary is expected to keep accounts of all
financial transactions of the Regional Office in close contact with the Chairperson of the
Regional Office. For this reason, it is important for the Secretary to have some experience or
familiarity with budgeting, writing financial reports and bookkeeping. The Secretary is also a
co-opted member of the IPSF Constitutional Working Committee to assist with the
administrative duties of the Federation, such as writing the minutes of the IPSF General
Assembly and suggesting changes to the IPSF Official Documents.
Essential abilities of the Secretary include proficiency in written and spoken English. In
addition, the Secretary needs to have an eye for details along with great organization skills.
Other essential qualities are good communication, time management and personal relations
skills. The Secretary is expected to maintain contact with all members of the Regional Working
Group and will be expected to contact with members, IPSF executives and other external
organizations.

For more information on the position, please write to secretary@paro.ipsf.org.

Regional Media and Publications Officer (RMPO)

As Regional Media and Publications Officer, you will be responsible for developing publication
materials as well as updating the website and Facebook page of the Regional Office. The main
Regional Office publication is the PARO Newsletter. The RMPO is responsible to ensure
completeness and effectiveness of the content and design of ALL publications. It is essential to
have the ability to use Photoshop or other related programs is essential but if you do not
possess these skills yet, they can be learned.
The newsletter is an important publication for PARO, and the RMPO is the leader in preparing
this project. There should be an issue that comes out periodically that includes all regional
activities promoted by RWG, blog posts from the website and Facebook page, pictures from
association projects and anything else that should be shared with the region. The RMPO will
have help from his or her subcommittees who will work closely together to improve the PARO
website.
It is also the RMPO’s responsibility to ensure that the website is maintained and continually up
to date. To be able to update the Regional Office website, it is essential to have the basic
knowledge on how to manage a website, as well as to be familiar with both technical details
and all site content. The website program that is currently used is “WordPress”.
The RMPO is also responsible for working with the Regional Projects Officer to create and
design new and imaginative ways of promoting the Regional Office and its projects such as
flyers, posters, association project reports. The RMPO is also responsible for editing any and all
materials that are posted on the website and Facebook page for grammar, spelling and
completeness (including blog posts). Most importantly, the RMPO needs to motivate the
region to share their ideas for patient outreach projects and materials in order to promote
progression of the region.
The RMPO is a co-opted member of the IPSF Design and Creativity Committee and assists in
designing projects mandated to the Committee for the Federation. The RMPO is also the Chair
of the PARO Media and Publications Subcommittee as well as the PARO Translations &
Communications Subcommittee and will need to delegate necessary obligations to these
individuals. The RMPO’s responsibility to ensure that all posts are translated at least in English
and Spanish (however, if available, posts should be translated into Portuguese, and French as
well), with the help of the Translations & Communications Subcommittee.

For more information on the position, please write to rmpo@paro.ipsf.org.

Regional Relations Officer (RRO)

The Regional Relations Officer is responsible for maintaining communication with IPSF Regional
Member Organizations to ensure they are satisfied with what IPSF and the Regional Office has
to offer, and in turn bringing forth recommendations for improvement from members to the
Regional Working Group. A significant portion of this portfolio is dedicated to the promotion of
IPSF and the Regional Office to Non-Member countries, through meetings, mailings and
updates, and by travelling and doing promotional tours wherever and whenever possible. The
RRO is the Chair of the PARO Membership Promotion & Outreach Subcommittee and is co-
opted on the IPSF Internal Committee and External Committee.
The Regional Relations Officer is also responsible for updating information lists of Contact
Persons, Student Exchange Officers, and Individual Members in the Region. It is also important
to focus on promoting IPSF and the Regional Office to current members to maintain activity
and strength in the Regional Office and ultimately, the Federation.
Assets that will be important for successfully meeting the expectations of this position are:
excellent communication skills, extensive knowledge of the IPSF and the Regional Office and
how it operates, motivation to travel and promote the Federation and its activities, and a
contagious exuberance for IPSF.

For more information on the position, please write to rro@paro.ipsf.org.

Regional Projects Officer (RPO)
As the Regional Projects Officer, you are responsible for coordinating the implementation of
IPSF projects at the regional level. Thus, you will be required to work closely with the relevant
IPSF Committees and Chairpersons as a co-opted member of the IPSF Public Health, Pharmacy
Education, and Professional Development committees. For the RPO, this means being involved
in each of these committees and helping with tasks whenever possible and/or necessary. You
will not be responsible for any projects in these committees unless it is not part of the Regional
Working Group wishes.
The main job of the Regional Projects Officer is to focus on projects in the Region. For PARO,
the focus projects are currently the Diabetes & Healthy Living Awareness Campaigns and the
Vampire Cup Challenge. These campaigns will have a bigger focus and will require more effort
from the team. Apart from these, the RPO is also responsible for other publications during the
year when there are no focus campaigns. These follow the WHO calendar for health days such
World Tuberculosis Day and World Immunization Week. The RPO chairs the PARO Regional
Projects Subcommittee who will assist them in developing these campaigns. In doing so, the
Regional Projects Officer will also be responsible for the promotion of the approved projects
and will work very closely with the Regional Media and Publications Officer to develop
appropriate promotional materials. Having a creative streak would be beneficial for the
Regional Projects Officer as the position requires extensive work with publications and
promotional materials. The ability to use Photoshop or other related programs is important,
but if you do not possess these skills yet, they can be learned.
The RPO will also be required to maintain some degree of communication with member
countries in the promotion and implementation of IPSF projects at the national level. Because
of the variety of projects that the RPO may be involved with, and the many people that they
have to cooperate closely with, it is important for the Regional Projects Officer to have
impeccable communication skills, time management and organization. The process to publish
materials requires careful planning to meet all the deadlines, allowing time for translations and
review of all material.
For more information on the position, please write to rpo@paro.ipsf.org.