Organisation Malaria No More! NL

Loenen, 24 September 2011

Dear Friends of Malaria No More!

We hope your summer break was as good as ours. We weren’t entirely inactive though and would like to tell you about the changes we’ve made.

We are sad to announce the end of Fred Matser's chairmanship. Fred set up Malaria No More! in 2006 with the verve and inspiration he is so renowned for. He has led and given the organization direction ever since, together with the assistance of dedicated directors such as Pieter Sluis, Rien van Gendt and Marie Kagaju Laugharn. Their terms have also ended, which means that they have left Malaria No More!. Before they left, they were keen enough to find suitable replacements and ensure their tasks were transferred properly.

It is our pleasure to introduce the new board.

The undersigned, Peter J. de Vries, has taken over the chairmanship and will preside over the partly new board, which consists of Antoinette Gosses and Frank Capel. Frank represents the Netherlands Round Table, a circle of young entrepreneurs. Frank will be filling a directorship that will rotate when the board of the Netherlands Round Table changes. As some of you may remember, the Netherlands Round Table announced two years ago that Malaria No More! was one of the two foundations it would help with fundraising for a period of five years. We are also very happy to announce the arrival of Lex van der Drift as new member. His appointment will be officially announced shortly and all of the directors' CVs will be published on our website soon.

Fortunately for us, Fred will not be leaving us entirely: he will be staying on as our spiritual beacon and special adviser.

Malaria No More! thought it was time to face the challenge posed by these changing times and decided to adapt its course. So while we were changing the board, we decided to make a few changes to our organization, too.

From the start, the board was assisted by Margret van Gaalen. Her energy and meaningful input made her one of Malaria No More!'s key figures. The changes in our organization mean that her work will now be coordinated by a number of volunteers. We would like to thank Margret for her commitment and hard work and wish her all the best for the future.

Diederik Slot, our personable and dynamic director, has been given a new role: he will help the board coordinate specific projects.

Maartje van Hoorn managed the social media for Malaria No More! for a long time. She will stop this work but will continue to tweet for Malaria No More! as a citizen ambassador. We thank her for everything she has done. Citizen ambassadors Rina Kamta and Sergio Felter will continue to represent Malaria No More! on Facebook and LinkedIn.

The office will be run by volunteers. Alexandra Zanca will be in the office on Thursdays as liaison between the board and the field. Aleid Hillebrand, the contact person and coordinator for the Selection Committee, will strengthen the office. We are still looking  for more volunteers to help out in the office.

Malaria No More!'s main goal remains the prevention of and fight against malaria, which is driven by our indignation that far too many people are still suffering from a disease that is curable. Our new course will more than ever be dictated by hard success indicators: the number of malaria cases must be reduced, preferably to zero.

Meanwhile, Malaria No More!'s network of friends has been further enriched with scientists as well as with the expertise of entrepreneurs, investors and others. This expertise will enable us to support new malaria projects in Africa. The running projects that we committed to will continue and the usual progress reports will be published on the website. 

Malaria No More! is on course and we hope you will stay on board.

Sincerely,

Dr Peter J. de Vries, Chairman.