Message from FAFICS President Darshak Shah, 7 October 2026 Dear colleagues, First of all, I wish to thank all of you who have provided valuable comments and suggestions on how to make our future Council sessions more focused, engaging and productive. As I have mentioned in my previous communication about this, I have asked Vice President Clemens Adams supported by Secretary Delia Barcelona, to lead the Working Group to design and prepare for the next Council. The idea f

The message below is sent on behalf of Clemens Adams, FAFICS Vice President, and WG Chair for FAFICS 57 preparations Dear Colleagues, Hope all is well. We are writing to follow up on the letter from President Darshak Shah about this subject, sent on 31 August 2026, in three languages (links below.) In that letter, we were asking for your feedback on past Councils and suggestions for the next one. Attached once again is the brief google survey form you can use to send us your

This message being is sent on behalf of President Emeritus Jerry Barton, the Presiding Officer of the 56th Council, Jacques Rao, and President Darshak Shak We are pleased to share with you the report of the 56th Council Session of FAFICS, held from 19-24 July 2026 in Vienna. Attached is the full report in English and the Executive Summary in English, French and Spanish. Once the full report is also translated, we will post it on the FAFICS website. The report has been final

Dear colleagues and friends, Since the changes to the UN Headquarters-administered health insurance plans took effect on 1 July 2026, many of your members have written to your Association and/or to me directly. Your concerns are legitimate, and I want to address them directly, and to tell you plainly what FAFICS is doing about them. What changed. The changes are described in two UN Information Circulars — ST/IC/2026/2 and ST/IC/2026/3 — an increase in premiums across every UN

Dear Colleagues, Six weeks ago, we successfully concluded the 56th FAFICS Council session. Thanks to your active participation, the meeting yielded productive discussions and important decisions that will help guide the Federation's work. We are now beginning preparations for the 57th FAFICS Council Session, tentatively scheduled to take place in Geneva from 19 to 23 July 2027, the week before the meeting of United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF) Board. The decision

Dear Member Associations and colleagues, I would like to thank you all for making the 56th Session of the FAFICS Council such a success. Once again, the Council demonstrated the strength of our Federation through constructive dialogue, thoughtful decision-making, and our shared commitment to protecting the interests of retired staff, surviving spouses, and other beneficiaries. It was an excellent meeting in which we addressed the critical issues facing FAFICS, regarding pensi

Darshak Shah, President of AFICS New York, elected as President of FAFICS at the 56th Annual Council. The FAFICS 56th Council Session has elected a new President... Darshak Shah, current President of AFICS NY. Darshak will be taking over the responsibility from Jerry Barton (current Pres of ARICSA Vienna). Three new VPs were also elected, Nancy Hurtz-Soyka (AFICS NY) Maria Machicado (AFICS Bolivia) and Aye Win (AFICS Myanmar). The meeting also elected a new Treasurer, Peter

Message sent on behalf of FAFICS President Jerry Barton Dear Member Associations, Our annual FAFICS Council is approaching rapidly. I hope to see you, either in Vienna or remotely during the Council. Please remember that our Council starts on Monday, 20 July 2026, at the Vienna International Centre. I am pleased to provide further details below on the planning and schedule for our upcoming 56th Session of the FAFICS Council, which is going well, building on the invitation

In his letter to all FAFICS associations, President Jerry Barton describes key takeaways from the Vienna Council Session, held in Vienna, Austria, from 14 to 17 July 2025 with a focus on priorities and implications for FAFICS member associations.