

Proceedings of the 18
th
International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Paris 2013
private individuals. In other words, without corporate
sponsorship, a member may find it difficult to attend an
ISSMGE event taking place in a member society next door.
Most times the airfare to a
neighbouring country may
be
much higher than the fare to a destination in another
continent by the same airline.
4.
General lack of corporate sponsorship for members in
Africa Region, including leaders of member societies,
constitutes a big setback to ISSMGE activities and is
responsible for the poor representation of the Region
commonly witnessed in international events.
4
CONCLUSION
This report has revealed an important latent strength of
ISSMGE Africa Region namely, the capacity to cope with the
enormous challenges confronting it. Ordinarily, one would have
been tempted to predict “low key” for the activities in the
Region, but far from that! As catalogued in this report, the
Region was vibrant all through the four-year period. Members
were able to navigate the challenges and kept ISSMGE profile
high. All corners of the Region have experienced high doses of
the impact of the Society. The awareness level is very good. It is
expected that the benefits of the sensitisation perfected in the
last four years will fully manifest within the term of the in-
coming administration. A durable foundation has been laid and
it is our hope that the growth process will be unhindered.
All in all, the period 2009 – 2013, was very successful for
ISSMGE Africa Region.
Volume 6 - Page 250