Bimonthly Board Reports

February

General management of the organisation

Interim

Between 5th-12th February, Interim took place in hybrid format in Prague, Czechia. Interim is a mid-term meeting of all IFSA’s Officials to review what has been done in the past half term, and to plan well the activities for the half term to come. This year, 15 of the Officials participated physically, while others had an opportunity to join every session online. Below you can read a summary of this meeting. Every day, the Officials had working sessions from 9am till 5pm, and they discussed among others these issues: 

  • Training for Officials

The Board and Heads of Commissions prepared presentation regarding some of the important issues all the Officials should be aware of and stick to – like for example the manual how to make requests on the Communication Commission, explanation of the new members’ accounts on the IFSA website, preparing LCs on collection of membership and activity data IFSA will be collecting later and others.

  • Statutes and RoPs

These are important documents setting up IFSA’s functioning (you can download them here) and so it is important that all Officials are closely familiar with them. They went through all sections of these documents, every part was explained followed by a space for discussion.

  • Teamwork strategies

The Officials discussed the obstacles they have been facing in their positions throughout the past half term and how to overcome those, and how the team spirit can be strengthened within and across the IFSA departments.

  • Financing

The state of the IFSA budget was presented and what are the next planned incomes and expenses. Later, the possibilities to get funding for specific regions were discussed to motivate its members to join IFSA activities and delegations.

  • Code of Conduct

Code of Conduct is a document summarising what behaviours are and are not accepted at IFSA events and how to proceed in case of its breeches. Who should be responsible for writing this document, what it should include and who should be responsible for its application in practice, was discussed at this session.

  • IFSA Strategy and Indicators

IFSA Strategy is a document concentrating all Officials and members towards common goals and aims of IFSA. The Strategy applies for a period of four years and the current one expires in 2022. Hence, a summary of its success and writing down a new one was discussed, as well as how to make it more successful and useful – which is connected to the Indicators. These are easily measurable metrics that show us by its monitoring if and how IFSA proceeds towards the set goals.

  • New projects

Each department presented what plans there are for the next half term, followed by comments, suggestions and ideas from the Officials of other departments.

 

There were plenty of other sessions throughout this week-lasting event with intense discussions and brainstormings. Besides that, the Officials found time to have fun, games, excursions, international evening and IFSA auction as well.

Internal Department

Events organised

  • Online Internal Department meeting (26/01, online)

The Internal Department conducted their bimonthly department meeting to discuss the hybrid Interim meetings and the teamwork strategies that are currently being implemented, as well as what needs to be improved in the future. With the in-person Internal Department meeting happening soon, the department also discussed the plans and preparations for the said event. 

IFSA representation

  • Open Call for TreE-Learning Commissioners

The TreE-Learning Sub-Commission needs additional hands. Hence, the Board opened a call to select a new Commissioner.

Decisions made

  • Appointment of Language Sub-Commission Commissioners

Two Commissioners in the Language Sub-Commission were appointed to help out the commission in its work.

Summary of the accomplished plans from the previous period

The 3rd Internal Department meeting took place as planned on 26th January and another one will take place on March 11, in preparation for the in-person meeting in April. The Internal Department welcomed two new commissioners under the Language Sub-Commission and we are still looking for a commissioner for the TreE-learning platform. 

Plans for the next bimonthly period

  • Job Fair 

IFSA, in collaboration with Youth in Landscapes Initiative (YIL), is hosting the first-ever Global IFSA Job Fair on the 26th of March 2022 (Saturday) at 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM (UTC+0). Organisations such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Forest Europe, International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO), and Youth in Landscapes Initiative (YIL) will be presenting their job and internship opportunities! The event will also have plenary sessions with speakers Juliet Achieng for the discussion of the Green Jobs in the Forestry Sector and Andre Purret for the Employer Expectations session. You may register for the event through this link: bit.ly/GlobalIFSAJobFair. 

  • Registration for IFSS 2022 

IFSS is the largest symposium of forestry and environmental students in the world. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of this event, Chile will host the IFSS from August 25th to September 9th of 2022. Registration starts on the 7th of March until the 31st of March. For more information about the event, visit www.ifsa.net/ifss2022.

 

External Department

Events organised/Activities 

  • Hybrid External Department meeting (02-05/02, Prague, Czechia + online)

The External Department meeting was held in Prague from 2-5th February, before the Interim. It was held in a hybrid format and witnessed an active participation of the External Department members.

  • External Department Work Plan

The Work Plan for the second half of the term was finalised during the External Department meeting. The goals and objectives were discussed along with assigning the focal points for each task.

  • External Department Report

The first External Department Report was published which highlighted the achievements and shortcomings of the first half of the term. The Heads of Subcommissions compiled the highlights from the term.

  • External Guidelines

A brainstorming session was held to come up with ideas on the Guidelines for the External Department. These would serve as a guiding document for future officials and assist them in providing an overview of the tasks of the Subcomission. 

  • Upcoming Events

The HoSc talked about the main events of the Sun Commissions for the second half of the term and on their plans for participation at these events. 

  • Youth Forestry Policy Conference 

A brainstorming session was held for the Youth Forestry Policy Conference. There was discussion on the Content of the conference, Workshop ideas and on the inclusivity and networking during the event. 

IFSA representation

  • UNEA 5.2

IFSA delegates participated both in-person and virtually in the UNEA 5.2 held in Nairobi. They also showed active participation in the Global Youth Environment Assembly and the Stockholm+50 Youth Assembly held in Nairobi before UNEA. 

  • Generation Restoration Youth Hub

IFSA President, Magdalena Jovanović, was invited to be part of the Generation Restoration Youth Hub and the first meeting was held on February 18th 2022, and was attended by an IFSA Official, Elivis Omoit. 

Decisions made

  • Appointment of the Head of The Forest Dialogue Sub-Commission

A new Head of the Sub-Commission for The Forest DIalogue Subcommission was appointed. 

  • Application form for delegations

The application form for the delegation open call was finalised. This would be a standard application format for all the delegations for external events. 

Summary of the accomplished plans from the previous period

  •  The first External Department Report of the term has been published on the website. 
  • The first webinar of the Webinar series has been delayed due to the unavailability of the speaker. 
  • The release of the Partner Introductory videos are rescheduled for the next period.

Plans for the next bimonthly period

  • Poster contest on IDF

International Day of Forests is an upcoming event for which the External Department has planned a Poster Contest, the winners of which will be able to present their work at an IFSA IDF celebration event which will be held on March 19th.

  • Preparation of a side event at the World Forestry Conference

XV World Forestry Conference is an important event coming up in May for which IFSA is organising a side event. It has to be prepared in the coming period as well as finalising the delegation. 

  • UNCCD COP 15 delegation preparation

The beginning of May 2022 will also witness participation of IFSA members at the UNCCD COP 15 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. 

  • Participation at the EXPO IDF Event titled “Inspire the Future – The Role of Forests in Ensuring Sustainable Consumption and Production”

IFSA President, Magdalena Jovanović, was invited to be a panellist at the EXPO IDF Event “Inspire the Future – The Role of Forests in Ensuring Sustainable Consumption and Production” organised by IUFRO, FAO and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).

  • Participation at the roundtable on Urban Forests for future-proof cities at the UNECE Regional Forum on Sustainable Development 

An IFSA representative was invited to participate at the roundtable on Urban Forestry which will take place on April 7th in Geneva and virtually. 

 

Membership Department

Events organised

  • Hybrid Membership Department meeting (02-05/02, Prague, Czechia + online)

At the beginning of February, before Interim, the Membership Department met physically and online to summarise the work done in the previous half term and make proper planning and discussions for the half term to come on the departmental level. They discussed, among other, these issues:

  • Strategies to revive inactive LCs 

In IFSA, there are some LCs very active and, on the contrary, some others struggle with activity. The department came up with a strategic plan to support the second mentioned group to get more active, and they will apply the plan in the upcoming months.

  • Collection of LCs data

In the over 30-year history of IFSA’s existence, there is some important information missing – like how many individual members we exactly do have (although estimates exist), how many activities on local level we do organise, what is the gender balance in IFSA, etc. This year, the Membership Department intends to bring more light into this issue and they discussed the best way and timing to do so.

  • Pen Pals

Pen Pals is a project created this year by the RRs. At the meeting they made plans to make it even more successful.

  • Regional Council

Regional Council is a potential new official platform in IFSA on the regional level to involve LCs more into decision-making. The department created a draft and concept note on this platform during the meeting and the RRs now present the idea at the Coffee Hours to get some further input and feedback from the LCs.

  • New membership application form

The previous application form has served for many years. So, naturally, an updated version to speed up the process of getting new members was necessary. At this meeting, the department finalised the Google form version that is now fully in practice. You can view the new version here.

  • And more

IFSA representation

  • Forestry faculties database

The work on the database of all faculties in the world where it is possible to study forestry-related programmes has continued in this period. Currently, the number of entries is exactly 500 – as many as it is set up in the previous Bimonthly Board report as the goal for this bimonthly period.

  • Application form revision

As mentioned above, at the departmental meeting the new version of the application form was finalised and started to be used in practice – hence it is ahead of the original goal set up in the previous report.

Decisions made

  • Revision of membership applications

New applications are continuously being received. In this bimonthly period, three new applications were received – they were reviewed and commented upon by the Board and now the applicants incorporate the Board’s comments to a revised versions of their applications. Besides that, one ordinary membership application from the previous period was accepted (see below). 

  • Acceptance of LC IFSA-Hetauda (09/02)

New LC from Nepal was officially accepted to IFSA on 9th February. It is the 2nd LC in Nepal accepted this term, 33rd LC in Asia Pacific and 131st LC in general! Welcome to our family IFSA-Hetauda!

  • Appointment of the NARM OC

Since in the previous period there was an open call for the Organising Committee (OC) of the Northern African Regional Meeting (NARM), at the beginning of this period the OC was appointed. The Board alongside the RRs have chosen LC RENARSA from Ghana to host NARM and they had met to set up the baseline for this.

Summary of the accomplished plans from the previous period

As planned, the hybrid departmental meeting took place and it was a productive time, where the Board members and RRs met together to discuss and plan activities, finalised some issues etc. The membership applications were being reviewed continuously as they were being received – which resulted in official acceptance of one LC (see above). The goal set up for the Forestry faculties database (500 entries) was reached as well, and the NARM OC was appointed and started with preparations of the regional meeting.

On the other hand, the planned meeting with Southern African LCs did not take place as planned and hence, it was postponed till the upcoming period. Other Membership Department meetings did not take place, since the hybrid one was intense – the department decided to skip one, but the next is already scheduled in the middle of March.

Plans for the next bimonthly period

  • Meeting with LCs in Southern Africa

As this was the plan to be fulfilled in this period but it hasn’t been done, it is transferred to the next period.

  • Continuing membership applications revision

As the new membership applications are coming, the Board keeps revising them continuously, which will be happening in the next period as well.

  • Continuing Membership Department meetings

In March and April, the monthly meetings of the department will be held as it has been until now.

  • Continuing the work on forestry faculties database

The work on the database will continue. To consider the plan fulfilled, the indicator is set up to have information about at least 540 faculties by the next bimonthly report. Besides that, the plan is already to publish the current version on the IFSA website and continuously update it.