World Federation of Occupational Therapists
Individual membership of WFOT

Dear Colleague,

Welcome to the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. You have elected to join an organisation that directly links 55 countries across the world. Indirectly you will also now be able to communicate with therapists working in countries yet to emerge as members of this Federation.

We have an individual membership of 5,917 and a country membership that represents 120,000 Occupational Therapists. Many of these people work actively in our project teams that pursue over 50 separate initiatives. My Executive and the Coordinators of our four programme areas - Promotion and Development; Education and Research; International Cooperation and Standards and Quality are actively recruiting interested therapists to work within the machinery of WFOT.

I encourage you to visit the WFOT website www.wfot.org and communicate directly with these Coordinators to discover more about our exciting activities. As a member of WFOT you will receive the Bulletin twice yearly, through which you will discover in more detail the achievements of WFOT. The scope of professional practices, from country to country, is indeed extensive, supporting relationships between countries, individual practitioners, educators and students, are expanding dramatically.

WFOT has strong and influential relationships with a large number of international organisations. It works closely with WHO (World Health Organisation) at both a central and regional level. Regional networks are also available to you, with each region conducting conferences and working groups that challenge issues on a more local level. You are eligible to apply for research awards, register with OTION (Occupational Therapists International Network) through the website and seek or provide support from or to your colleagues. This site also allows you to access information about non‑government organisations which employ therapists in developing countries.

Being part of WFOT also allows you to be actively engaged in promoting the development and growth of the profession. We have a vision that states occupational therapy should be available in every country in the world. We also actively pursue the maintenance of professional standards, particularly those relating to undergraduate education.

On behalf of the Federation may I congratulate you on being one of us and I look forward to hearing from you at any time. Your opinions and ideas will be welcome as will your energy should you choose to become a member of a WFOT project team. As part of this international community I promise that you will enjoy and discover people, places and scenarios previously unknown to you. May I also request that you also recruit other colleagues and students to join WFOT.

Yours sincerely

Carolyn Webster
President

9 April 2002