BSK has been a member of the UBS since 1974 when it was admitted to be an Associate Member, becoming a full member in 1977. UBS supports Bible Societies in their role in Bible work in their countries and territories. The following are among the several significant activities that took place in the UBS in the year that have direct implications in the work of the BSK:
1. BSK Treasurer, Mr. Isaac Litali was appointed to serve on the UBS Africa Area Budgets and Finance Committee. He attended the meeting in Accra in September 2005. The General Secretary, Rev. Henry Kathii was involved in meetings of the UBS Africa Area Board in Bangkok, Thailand and Accra in Ghana, in UBS Bookfair, Anglosec Committee and the Christian Booksellers Association in Denver-Colorado, and in the Swahili Publishing Committee in Embu-Kenya and Moshi-Tanzania. BSK has continued to receive from and to give support to the UBS and other Bible Societies as a result of the relationships created in the involvement of our Treasurer and the General Secretary.
2. The UBS Africa Area reverted to one Region after consultation within the Africa Area Board and the Global Board. Mr. David Hammond, the Associate General Secretary for the Francophone Africa was appointed the Area Secretary for Africa. Offices were confirmed in Nairobi where he and other senior staff moved at the end of 2005.
3 BSK successfully piloted a new Management and Accounting software, Epicor for medium sized Bible Societies in the world. BSK was able to replace the Dataflex system in full in 2005.As reported last year, “Everyday is an end of month for the BSK” according to the Finance and administration Manager, Mrs. Elizabeth Muriuki, The system summarizes every transaction on line. We are thankful to the UBS for supporting us with this new system. Our Finance and Administration Manager, Mrs. Muriuki, and the ICT Manager, Mrs. Anne Gichuru have been involved in helping other Bible Societies in Africa to set up their Epicor programmes. They are now among the Society based experts in Epicor.
4 UBS is undertaking an exercise that will inform the World Service Center and the other Service Centers around the globe how the Bible Societies view the services offered by the Service Organization, and how this can be improved in the future. Your General Secretary, Rev. Kathii represents Africa in this Working Group.