Author: Gwendolyn Hustvedt

The following Mission and Aims are those of IFHE. As an affiliate of IFHE, IFHE-US incorporates these statements as their Mission as well:
Its Aims shall be:
1. to promote human rights and the universal values of households and families as environments within which individuals are assisted to reach their full potential and to acknowledge their global interdependence,
2. to promote awareness that :
a) families and households are the prime nurturing environments for every human being, and that
b) mental, physical, psychological and emotional family well-being is the basic infrastructure for all other forms of social and economic development,
3. to emphasise the social, economic and environmental impact of the management of the every day life of individuals, families and households,
4. to promote the concept of families and households as operating within a larger social, economic and physical environment with a myriad of exchanges between individuals and these larger environments on a daily basis,
5. to press for a recognition of the need for education for home and family life in all of the above areas for all age levels and in all societies,
6. to develop positions on issues within the focus and expertise of home economics and to emphasize the importance of these at the local, regional and international levels,
7. to support and cooperate in action taken by other organizations in respect of social issues of concern to the membership and the focus of IFHE,
8. to support research in areas relevant to home economics (individual, household and family issues related to the satisfaction of physical and psychological needs) which expand the understanding of the ecological view of individuals, families and households in the larger environment,
9. to keep members informed by means of publications, study courses, congresses and an information and records service.

The purpose of the IFHE-US is to serve as the coordinating pivot for all US individual and organizational members of IFHE, including AAFCS and others, to promote the mission and work of IFHE.

This includes: 1) working internationally with IFHE headquarters, IFHE units in other countries, other FCS related NGO’s and United Nations agencies, and the IFHE projects; and 2) working domestically with all United States member organizations and US individual members of IFHE to facilitate and increase opportunities for global involvement, whether conducted internationally or locally through IFHE-US.