IAPA Season’s Greetings

On behalf of the IAPA Chair Patricia Brunner

Dear IAPA members,

On behalf of the IAPA board I would like to send you our warmest wishes for a happy holiday season.

We hope you can all find some time to reload your batteries from your hard work in 2013 and welcome 2014 with energy and plans for the future.

2013 has been a year full of challenges and new activities for IAPA.

In March 2013 we held the successful WETM-IAC in Rome where board elections took place. Delphine Vaills and I were elected as board member and Chair and we had to get accustomed to our new roles. We both received the support of the board and now we feel we have already grown together and we hope to be able to move many things forward within the next years.

Last summer the “new” IAPA board met personally in Munich and held its first face-to-face board meeting. David Chapman, the Director General of the WYSE Travel Confederation, attended the meeting as well and we can now state the cooperation between WYSE Travel Confederation and IAPA has grown substantially in 2013. I also took my seat on the WYSE Travel Confederation Executive board representing IAPA to give our industry a voice.

Part of the board attended the WYSTC event in Sydney which was a successful event. Prior to the conference we organised a workshop for the au pair agencies in New Zealand and Australia which was very well received by the attending agencies. Thanks again for this good and constructive meeting.

We are also glad to announce that in 2013 IAPA welcomed 15 new members!

Together with some representatives of the national au pair associations we were also able to reactivate ECAPS (European Committee for Au Pair Standards). The meeting was very productive and brought together in Berlin in the beginning of November, the representatives of six different European countries.

Now we are already very excited about our next event WETM-IAC that will take place 16-18 March 2014 in London. The team in Amsterdam, as well as the subcommittee are working hard on delivering a great event. Many of you have already registered and I look forward to meeting you all again in March.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support during 2013.

I wish you a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!

Patricia Brunner
IAPA Chair