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African Chapters

AFROS is the African Federation of Operations Research Societies. The objective of AFROS is to promote Operations Research in Africa. Its affairs are regulated by an Executive Committee consisting of representatives/alternates of all its member societies. The members of the Federation undertake to co-operate in the advancement of knowledge, interest and education in Operations Research by appropriate means, particularly the exchange of information, the holding of meetings and conferences, and the awarding of prizes. For small groups of researchers located in one geographic unit in Africa interested in Operations Research techniques and applications, AFROS provides an organizational framework in the form of African Chapters. These Chapters are a very important part of AFROS. They provide a forum for promoting educational and technical Operations Research activities in particular geographical area in Africa. AFROS Chapters are considered as potential candidates to be recognized as a member society after approval from IFORS. Chapters should have a meeting at least once a year where the members exchange ideas, experiences and research results, and support each other in research work. In addition to their annual meetings, the groups can organize conferences, sessions in conferences, seminars and webinars.

List of Approved AFROS Chapters:

Starting an AFROS Chapter

  1.  The Chapter chair must be an active Operations researcher or practitioner.
  2. List the name of the African institution involved in your chapter.
  3. Determine the type and level of financial support needed for your Chapter.
  4. Determine the chapter strategy to publicize and attract African researchers and practitioners.
  5. Define your chapter’s correspondence address as well as the chapter’s contact person.
  6. Submit the following items to the AFROS president.
    • the purpose of the chapter,
    • the names, affiliations and countries of the chapter members that should be from practice and university/research institute from different countries,
    • a draft of the chapter’s plan for the activities of the first three years.

Charter of the AFROS Chapters

AFROS does not try to impose unified regulations for Chapters. Nonetheless, a few general principles are strongly recommended.

  1. Chapters must hold an election for chair every three years, but there are no limits on the number of terms. Each chapter has to define who can vote and how to run the election.
  2. Chapters will have the opportunity to organize AFROS Conferences as well as streams or special sessions.
  3. Routine internal information about the chapters, such as announcements of future meetings and short reports on previous meetings should be conveyed to the President of AFROS and posted at AFROS website.
  4. Chapters will use stationery displaying the AFROS symbol and mention their affiliation in all their activities.
  5. The dissolution of a chapter will come about if the chair of the chapter feels that, for some reason, the chapter cannot continue its activity or if the Executive Committee ascertains that the chapter has in fact ceased to be active.
  6. AFROS will provide financial support for each chapter, the value of which will depend on AFROS’s financial situation. The annual budget will be decided upon an activity plan, to be submitted by the chapter chair by December 30, each year.

Submit a proposal to start an African Chapter