Letter from Director General, IIMSAM

IIMSAM`s Director-General Amb. Remigio Maradona

The Director General's statement of IIMSAM`s accomplishments in 2009

Every five seconds a child under the age of five dies from hunger or hunger-related diseases somewhere in the world. On behalf of IIMSAM, an Intergovernmental Observer to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, I invite you to take a step to join our organization dedicated to help these unfortunate children and to help create a world free of malnutrition and hunger.

We take deep pride and are profoundly grateful to be able to share with you IIMSAM’s Health accomplishments over the past year. In broad strokes, they include more than approximately 90,000 Spirulina Feeding Visits in 2009 at the IIMSAM Dar Al Muamineen Centre in Kisumu, Kenya. The centre contains major infrastructure investments, extensive training, and significant expansion both of our programmes and of the geographic areas where we work. In 2009, we have grown dramatically, greatly extending the reach of our work in Kenya.Perhaps more exciting than these quantifiable measures of our achievements, are the transformations we can see in the people and communities we serve. In the spring of 2009, I visited The IIMSAM Dar Al Muamineen Centre in Kisumu, Kenya for the first time and I was struck more clearly than ever by the results of what we consider both a partnership and a long-term investment. I saw a population that is overwhelmingly healthy and overall flourishing. Infants who were suffering from malnourishment and various diseases are now healthy. Young adults are more confident, are going to school, know how to read and write (unlike most of their parents) and this was all evident because of nourishments of Spirulina.

In addition, the centre also provided access to medical care and physical therapy to those who were sick and disabled. The IIMSAM Dar al Muamineen Centre also provided local employment in a community where unemployment is overwhelmingly high among the youth. Youngsters employed at our Centre are trained to the “Know Hows” on the Culture of Spirulina Cultivation and its benefits. They also get to participate at the IIMSAM Camp Maradona© Football Programme, which is a potent tool to initiate grassroots empowerment processes and holistic education through Football. At the time of this Annual Report, some 700 youngsters are participating in the Football Programme and we expect a significant increase in the 2010 fiscal year.

The societal participation in the programme manifests the will of the Kenyan people to incorporate Spirulina in a sustainable development agenda, and the inclusion of football as a powerful medium to empower the youth, who are the future leaders of Kenya. One of other IIMSAM’s overriding concerns is finding work. The task of creating jobs for an educated young workforce represents a new and difficult challenge. More than a challenge, however, we regard it as an inspiring measure of progress in a community where not long ago children died routinely for lack of clean water and various illnesses related to malnutrition. The IIMSAM Dar Al Muamineen Centre has inspired many, and proves as evidence that many of these young people have embraced a spirit of solidarity and a commitment to health and social justice. While improving long-term capacities and capabilities, the programme not only provides employment to the local population, but also localizes the benefits and other spillover effects associated with Spirulina cultivation.

Through the utilization of sustainable food supplements such as microalgae Spirulina, IIMSAM envisions to eradicate malnutrition, achieve food security and bridge the health divide. Our program delivers nutritional security to the peoples, with a priority for those in the developing and the least developed countries. It is through the patronage of supporting Goodwill Ambassadors, partnerships with civic responsible private sector entities including prominent business leaders, celebrities, and good hearted prominent individuals that has enabled us to established The IIMSAM Dar al Muamineen Centre in Kenya, and to promulgate the use of Spirulina to eradicate deprivations and diseases resulting from undernourishment amongst disabled children and others suffering from malnutrition and HIV/AIDS. Due to the current critical food crisis, governments from various countries including Uganda, Burundi, Haiti and Dominican Republic are urging IIMSAM to establish centers in areas affected by malnutrition and hunger. Success stories of IIMSAM have appeared in numerous major television stations and newspaper articles in United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Argentina, Kenya and United States in addition to other countries.

IIMSAM also plans to open its third and fourth facilities in Mombasa, Kenya and also near Kampala Republic of Uganda in the year 2010. Recognizing and firmly believing that the “Right to Food” and quality nutrition is the most basic fundamental aspect of “Human Rights”. It is also the bedrock and potent agency to secure various other human rights and socio-economic empowerments which can be achieved through the role of “Human Rights” education to accomplish the same. IIMSAM’s official working partner from the Republic of India, the Indian Institute of Human Rights (IIHR), along with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR), launched the “Dr. Rahul Rai Scholarship for Human Rights Education scholarship” in the year 2009. The scholarship provides an opportunity for free enrolment for 1 person / year, to the 2 year Post Graduate Programme in Human Rights, which is conducted by IIHR. Furthermore, the scholarship is also offered to Human Rights Activist with experience at the grassroots level.

In the past year, IIMSAM was also able to spread awareness about global malnutrition and the tremendous relevance of Spirulina to address and alleviate the situation. It also generated support for the cause and mandate of its organization by hosting various events across the world which included England in August 2009 and Egypt in December 2009, which helped the organization spread and percolate its message amongst the people of the world, and generate solidarity for our cause. I perceive that the year 2010 shall present IIMSAM with significant challenges, but also with various opportunities that we are confident that we shall be able to harness with the continued support of the UNECOSOC. IMSAM will be launching “Padma Vibhushan Norman Borlaug IIMSAM 21st Century Micro-Algal Green Revolution Scholarships” in the year 2010 along with its Official Working Partner and Technology Facilitator from the Republic of India, Hash Biotech Labs Private Ltd. The scholarship shall be aimed specifically towards the candidates from the Developing and the Least Developed Countries. The scholarship was named in the honour of eminent Agronomist, Humanitarian and Nobel Laureate, late Dr. Norman Borlaug, whose name is synonymous with the Green Revolution that saved billions from starvation and hunger. We are confident that the 21st century Green Revolution will be based on Spirulina which will harness the enormous potential of the micro-algae to emancipate the humankind from the clutches of malnutrition and hunger. Under the scholarship, recommended candidates shall undergo training in the field of Psychology and Algal Bio-Nanotechnology at the recently established state of the art IIMSAM Global Knowledge Centre in Punjab, India.

I am confident that the very initiatives undertaken by IIMSAM in the past year and in the future shall contribute significantly towards securing the United Nations Millennium Development Goals which include: eradicating malnutrition, achieving higher standards of living, employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development; solutions of international economic, social, health, and related problems. In addition, it will also get international scientific and educational cooperation, and universal respect for, and observance of, “Human Rights” and fundamental freedoms such as freedom from malnutrition and hunger, for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.

As an Intergovernmental Observer with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, UNECOSOC, we seek the support of your good offices to build a relationship with you, so that we can further foster international cooperation for development that manifested in the form of unison between IIMSAM as an intergovernmental body constituted by its Member States and supported by various other countries; and in setting priorities for action so that we can meet challenges together. IIMSAM is proud of the accomplishments and concrete deeds that were achieved in 2009 despite many challenges. In 2010, we are ready to continue the struggle against malnutrition and our support for the UN MDGs and IIMSAM`s aims at promoting our programmes and the UN system principles and ideals, embodied in the Charter of the United Nations which IIMSAM as an Inter-Governmental Observer to the United Nations Economic and Social Council strives to uphold.

It is with aforementioned background that I invite you to join IIMSAM, to help us effectively continue advocating to the international community to incorporate Spirulina in the Global Food Security Agenda and to launch our nutritional initiatives in all those countries where it is urgently needed. Please help us save lives by reaching out to children who so desperately are in need. IIMSAM extends an invitation to everyone to join our efforts to save, enrich, and empower innocent lives lost to the scourge of malnutrition by harnessing the immense potential in micro-algae Spirulina. IIMSAM is looking forward to developing working relationships with Governments, IGO’s, NGO’s, Private Sector, Prominent Individuals and Civil Society in order to develop a synergy of cooperation between IIMSAM and others with the same goals and aspirations to save lives.