Health Taskforce Minutes from November 8, 2008

[Ru]

In attendance:
Dominic Muntanga
Shingi Mangwiro
Ruwadzano
Chikosi
Michelle
Mhlanga
Natsai
Zhou
Tinashe
Ivy Chapeta


Next Conference Call Meeting:
Date: Saturday, 29 November 2008 2 pm EST


Minutes Summary:
Dominic welcomed those in attendance. Participants introduced
themselves and Dominic went over the agenda for the conference. He
proceeded to talk a little about the mission of the Zimcouncil and
projects that are underway for the purpose of getting the new people
caught up.

Updates from action items of last meeting
1. Dominic set up the PayPal account and is awaiting the webmaster to
upload it on the Zimcouncil website. Mark Grashow’s organization US-
Africa Children’s Fellowship agreed to be the Zimcouncil’s fiscal
sponsor and the final logistics of how to include them as a link on
the website are being worked on.
2. Dominic is also finalizing the FAQ sheet with important information
that people must be aware of when donating charitable goods to
Zimbabwe.
3. Dominic is continuing with the effort to get in touch with ZACH to
for some information on basic needs for the hospitals/clinic within
their network so we can inform people as well as help develop some
criteria for selection of hospitals that Zimcouncil will begin to
assist.
4. Charles and Dominic are still exploring how Zimcouncil can use
cause-related marketing initiatives as a possible fundraising
mechanism. The organization is still working on the IRS status.
5. Ruwa reported that the dental supplies for the University of
Zimbabwe had arrived in Zimbabwe and the Dean, Dr.Makoni was working
on the necessary paperwork for customs to get the goods to the school.
6. Natsai and Ruwa are still working on gathering information on
basic needs for the different hospitals/clinics so as to make that
information available to those interested in assisting as well as
using it to develop a criteria for selecting those that Zimcouncil
will begin reviving. They are awaiting some information from Farai who
is in Zimbabwe and is doing some needs assessment.
7. Shingi reported that she will be meeting with her United Nations
and IMF contacts for fundraising initiatives.
8. Dominic also reported that a group known as Swiss Teeth Abroad had
contacted him asking how they could help. They proposed launching a
campaign that would reach all the doctors within their network in the
UK to help with our initiatives of the Dental Department of the
University of Zimbabwe beginning Dec 1, 2008. So the appropriate paper
work is being drafted to get that going.




Suggestions
1. Dominic talked of looking into the future of the organization and
how we can link churches institutions and professors from abroad to
create long lasting relationships that would be beneficial to Zimbabwe
2. Dominic also discussed a proposal by some organization members to
have a membership fee of $100 or $150 which would help to create a
fund that would be used for other initiatives of Zimcouncil. This
idea will be further analyzed to determine the way forward.
3. Dominic also encouraged attendees to start planning for the next
Zimcouncil Conference next year. He urged them to consider certain
things in choosing a venue including, easy accessibility for people as
well as speakers for the event, availability of affordable space and a
significant number of Zimbabwean residents that would be able to
attend.
4. Michelle suggested that Ruwa should draft a document with all the
pertinent information on the dental school which would fully explain
to the donors the need or purpose of the fundraising. The document
would include information such as the amount for supplies needed to
run the dental clinic optimally, how many students are in the clinic
and what their minimal clinical requirements are to graduate, methods
of keeping inventory etc. This document would also be used to aid in
launching the campaign with the Swiss based group and will also be
uploaded on the website for visitors of the website to see.
5. Michelle also suggested that the group should tighten the
fundraising mechanisms so that the financial burden does not lie on
the few attendees and to do so the fiscal sponsorship, PayPal account
and IRS status issues should be resolved and posted on the website as
soon as possible.
6. Shingi suggested that the Zimcouncil should join and post their
particular initiatives on particular websites where people can choose
to donate money to a certain worthy cause as opposed to buying or
receiving Christmas gifts.

Action Items
1. Ruwa is working on getting the quotation for the next lot of dental
supplies to be sent to the dental school for the month of November.
Several members listed below made some monetary commitments for this
to get done.
Natsai Zhou
Ruwa Chikosi
Ivy Chapeta
Dominic Muntanga
Shingi Mangwiro
2. Dominic will make sure that that the PayPal account together with
Mark’s NGO fiscal sponsorship information are updated on the website
by the 22ND of November 2008. He will also work on getting the
Zimcouncil IRS status.
3. Shingi will follow up with Tinashe to see if he can be the
webmaster responsible for updating the website and adding the PayPal
information.
4. Shingi will also research and send the information to Dominic of
the websites where Zimcouncil can join and people can make donations
over Christmas for our initiatives.
5. Michelle will work on drafting a list of all items needed to be
changed or added on the website.
6. Ruwa will work on drafting a detailed document with all the dental
school information that potential donors need to be able to make a
donation towards the cause.
7. Everyone will look into venues, speakers and all the other
information necessary in selecting the next state to host the next
Zimcouncil Conference and forward information to Dominic by the end of
the month.
8. Michelle will help Dominic critique the fundraising letter for the
different Zimcouncil initiatives.