Welcome
Welcome to the new BIF-EC Homepage.
What is BIF ?
BIF is a young European Confederation of Associations of Families of which one of the members suffers a brain injury. It was created on April 11, 1999 in Brussels by the 7 founding Associations brought together in General Assembly : Headway-UK (The United Kingdom), U.N.A.F.T.C. (France), D.B.I.A. (Denmark), Le Noyau (Belgium), FEDACE (Spain), Coordinamento Nazionale Associazioni Trauma Cranico (Italy) and FRAGILE (Switzerland).
Why was BIF created ?
The Families of which one of the members suffers a brain injury, in all national Associations of our different european Countries, have a very strong tie in common : they have shared the same affliction (the accident seriously wounding the brain of one of them), they permanently carry the same concerns and, for the persons in charge of an Association, they try to reach the same goal : to promote the interests of brain injured people and improve the assistance which can be given to them as well as their families.
Brought together for the first time in Paris, on March 17 and 18, 1998 at the French Association’s initiative, the 7 founding Associations wished to set up a European Confederation, in order to establish between them real and concrete ties of friendship and solidarity, to share their experience and their achievements and allow the most recent national Associations to take advantage of the asset of older Associations.
Convinced that the real interests of the families can only be expressed and defended by the families themselves, they also wished to be linked in order to speak as one voice. Thus they hope, at the national as well as european level, to be better heard and helped and to be stronger to get the specificity of acquired brain injury, which still remains a “ignored plague”, recognized.
Situation of BIF in 2007
BIF became a non-profit-making International Association (A.I.S.B.L) according to the Belgian law, on March 2, 2000 with the publication of its Statutes in the Moniteur Belge, where it is identified under N° 5410/2000. Its new Statutes, put in conformity with the new Belgian law are in the Appendices of the Moniteur Belge, at the date of the 04/05/2006. BIF is always identified there under the number 5410/2000.
It became member of European Disability Forum (E.D.F.) at the time of its General Assembly on June 2, 2000 in Brussels, and it was classified in the category of "full members" of this Forum. It is now an eNGO (an European Non-Governmental Organization), representing within the E.D.F. the Associations of Families of which one of the members suffers a brain injury. At the time of the next General Assembly, on June 9 2001, Mrs Rita REES, President of BIF, was elected for 4 years member of the Board of directors of the Forum, and in May 2005 Niels-Anton SVENDSEN, our Vice-President, was elected member of the Board for the new mandate (2005-2009).
BIF currently gathers in 2007 the National Associations of Families, of which one of the members suffers a brain injury, belonging to 17 European Countries ( 15 of the E.U. and 2 of the EEE ).
Austria : SHG-SH www.shg-sht.at
Belgium : Le NOYAU
Czech Republic : CEREBRUM2007 o.s www.cerebrum2007.cz
Denmark : D.B.I.A. www.hjsf.dk
Finland : AIVOVAMMALIITTO www.aivovammaliitto.fi
France : U.N.A.F.T.C. www.traumacranien.org
Germany : SHV www.selbst-hilfe-verband.de
Iceland : HUGARFAR www.hugarfar.is
Ireland : HEADWAY-IRELAND www.headwayireland.ie
Italy : Coordinamento Nazionale… www.associazionitraumi.it
Netherlands : CEREBRAAL www.cerebraal.nl
Poland : CEREBRUM
Slovenia : VITA www.vita-poskodbe-glave.si
Spain : FEDACE www.fedace.org
Sweden : HJARNKRAFT www.hjarnkraft.nu
Switzerland : FRAGILE SUISSE www.fragile.ch
United Kingdom : HEADWAY-UK www.headway.org.uk
Executive committee and Board of directors of BIF
The Board of directors of BIF, following the General Assembly held in Paris on 10 June 2006, and election of Kieran Loughran at the G.A. in Copenhagen on 18 May 2007, counts 9 members among whom 4 were elected to constitute the Executive committee :
Nikolaus STEINHOFF (A) President
Niels-A. SVENDSEN (Dk) Vice-president
Gerard GUENEAU (F) Secretary General
Christian MEMBREZ (CH) Treasurer
Philippe PALATE (B) Director, in charge of the Belgian Relations
Maximo ABETE (E) Director
Evelyn VINCENT (UK) Director
Veronika TRDAN (Sl) Director
Kieran Loughran (Ir) Director
Which are the objectives of BIF ?
Ø To link in Europe all the national Associations of Families of which one of the members suffers a brain injury, in order to speak as one voice.
Ø To have Brain Injury recognized as a “specific handicap” in each European Country.
Ø To have the great number of people in Europe having undergone a serious brain injury evaluated.
Ø To strongly underline in all the European Countries, the need and necessity for re-educating, rehabilitating, and reintegrating brain injured people.
Ø To have the fact that families with brain injured people are also affected and need assistance recognized.
Ø To allow each one of our Associations to take advantage of the experience and the good practice already gained in one or the other Country affiliated to our Confederation.
Ø To actively participate, within E.D.F., to promote equality of chances and non-discrimination for disabled people and secure guarantee and protection of all their rights.
Who can be member of BIF ? (Statutes, Articles 6 and 7)
The Confederation is composed of two categories of members :
1. Full-fledged members.
2. Associated members.
All the members of the Confederation must have a legal constitution recognised in their own country. Admission of new members is subject to the following conditions :
1. Full-fledged members : any national non-profit association of families of brain injured people in Europe may be admitted to the Confederation as a full-fledged member with voting rights (one country one vote), providing it has fully paid its fees. Every national member association must adhere to the Constitution of the Confederation and its accompanying regulations.
2. Associated members : All other associations working in Europe for the well-being of brain injured people and their families and whom would like to be an associated member of the Confederation can present their request for admission. They will not have the right to vote, but will be able to speak before the Assembly with the consent of the President.
Requests for admission from members of either category must be addressed to the Administrative Council in accordance with a procedure determined by the Council.
To have further information
Don’t hesitate to contact the Secretary General
Mr Gérard GUENEAU
28, Avenue du Parc de Procé
44100 Nantes (France)
Tel/Fax : + 33 2 40 73 27 42
E-mail : g.gueneau44@orange.fr
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Picture from Board meeting in Pamplona 2006.
