Bimonthly Board Reports

May + June

General maintenance of the association

  • GA preparation

With the forthcoming IFSS in Chile, the General Assembly (GA) is getting closer as well. And that means there are a lot of preparations needed to be done. IFSA Board is having intense meetings to work on agenda and technical preparations of this very important decision-making body of IFSA.

  • Preparation of the Annual Report

Annual Report is a yearly document that the IFSA Boards are preparing, to serve as a summary of everything important that has been done and organised in IFSA throughout the year. It is supposed to be presented at the GA, and hence, it needs to be written down and that is what the Board has started to do in this bimonthly period.

  • Decision of Development fund sources allocation

As the Development fund always-open calls have been established, at the end of each month the committee created of several Board members needs to evaluate the applications and allocate the monthly amount to support the LCs in organising events and/or individual members to travel to IFSA events.

In May, the fund was provided to LC Eberswalde for organising a meeting of all German LCs, in June two members from Asia Pacific and Southern Africa were supported, respectively, to travel to IFSS.

  • Support for Board members to travel to IFSS

Board members (and specifically the Direction according to RoPs) are important participants at the IFSS. Anyway, since it is the Direction who is supposed to make the main financial decisions, it seems a conflict of interests when they are supposed to decide about funding themselves.

To make the decision as objective and transparent as possible, an advisory group was created from the IFSA’s Consulting members and Heads of Commissions, to discuss the topic and give advice to the Direction to make this decision as objective and transparent as possible. Detailed information on the advisory group, their advice to the Direction and the final decision based on the advice can be read here.

  • Support for other Officials to travel to IFSS

There are many Officials that work very hard throughout the whole year and deserve financial support from IFSA for travelling to IFSS too. For this, an open call was created by the Board for the Officials to see who of the Officials needs this support. Then they evaluated the applications based on the Official’s activity throughout the year, regional distribution, amount requested and some other criteria. In the end, Desita Dyah Dwiwahyu Ariyadiningsih Kusumaningrum (Head of Web Sub-Commission), Oluwakemi Elizabeth Adeyera (Head of Social Media Sub-Commission) and Kyle Quijano (Head of Cultural Competencies Sub-Commission) were awarded the IFSA financial support.

Internal Department

Events organised

  • Internal Department Meeting

The Internal Department met during the 26th of June 2022 for the bi-monthly Internal Department meeting where plans regarding the activities they are initiating such as the IFSS Volunteer Program, Job Fair, and Workshops, as well as the preparations needed for change-over of official positions for next term. Other tasks and decisions made during the Internal Department meeting in Yogyakarta, Indonesia were also revisited.

  • IFSS 2023 and 2024 Workshop

The previous IFSS organizing committees from Chile, Mexico, and Estonia were invited to the IFSS 2023 and 2024 workshop to share their experiences in spearheading the event to LCs that are interested in applying as OC. 

Decisions made

  • IFSS 2022 Volunteer Program

For the 50th IFSS in Chile, a volunteer program was initiated by the Internal Department to help the organising committee of the IFSS 2022 in communications- and logistics- related tasks and increase the efficiency of tasks. Since the event will be hybrid, applications for both online and offline volunteers are welcome.

Summary of the accomplished plans from the previous period

Both the Communication and Capacity Development Commissions successfully accomplished their commission-specific tasks in this bi-monthly period. The notable accomplishments of the Internal Department for this period is their emphasis on the preparation for the 50th IFSS in Chile and tasks in preparation for the next term. 

Plans for the next bimonthly period

  • Last Internal Department Meeting 

The last bi-monthly Internal Department Meeting will take place in August before IFSS. 

  • Regional Meetings Workshop

Similar to the IFSS Workshop, previous Regional Meeting OCs will be invited to the Regional Meetings Workshop to give their testimonies and experiences in organising such an event. This will serve as an opportunity for interested LCs to apply as OCs for the upcoming regional meetings! Most importantly, this workshop is in collaboration with the Membership Department.  

  • IFSS 2022 Volunteer Program Workshops

Selected applicants in the volunteer program will undergo workshops such as social media, photography and video editing, and article writing to prepare them for the online and on-ground tasks for the 50th IFSS in Chile! These workshops will take place some time in July and start of August 2022 before IFSS. 

External Department

Events organised

  • 2 Side-Events at the World Forestry Congress

IFSA organised two side-events at WFC titled “Social Entrepreneurship Training in the Forest Sector” and “Fellowship Application/Proposal Writing Workshop” in collaboration with the IFSA-IUFRO Joint Task Force on Forest Education and the International Society of Tropical Foresters. The side-events were organised by the head of FAO sub-commission, and assisted by the attending Board members in person. 

IFSA representation

  • IFSA President, Magdalena Jovanovic, spoke at the XV World Forestry Congress Opening Ceremony and 3 panel discussions 

The IFSA President, Magdalena Jovanovic, was invited as a representative of youth and forestry students, to give a speech at the opening ceremony of the XV World Forestry Congress held in Seoul, Korea, which included an intervention from the President of the Republic of KoreaAdditionally, she also represented IFSA in 3 panel discussions on forest education, employment in the forestry sector and the future of our forests. 



  • “Forest Skills to Pay the Bills” side event during XV World Forestry Congress

Together with Forest Europe, European Forest Institute (EFI), and International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), IFSA participated in the “Forest Skills to Pay the Bills: The Juncture of Education and Employment” side event during the XV World Forestry Congress by representing the perspective of the youth when it comes to employment. Our very own Internal Councilor, Isabelle Dela Paz, served as a speaker for the youth sector. 

  • Meeting with AFoCO during the XV World Forestry Congress

During the XV World Forestry Congress, IFSA met with the Asian Forest Cooperation Organisation (AFoCO). The aim of the meeting was to get to know the two organizations to discuss a future collaboration as well as higher engagement of the Asia-Pacific Local Committees.

  • Meeting with Korea Aviation Headquarters during the XV World Forestry Congress

The meeting served as an information sharing session, where the Korea Aviation Headquarters shared their work and projects. In addition to this, there was a discussion on student and youth involvement in their work and how they could increase this. 

  • Meeting with IUFRO during the XV World Forestry Congress

During the congress, IFSA met up with IUFRO representatives, as well as representatives of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), organisers of the IUFRO World Congress 2024. IFSA’s engagement at the upcoming congress was discussed.


  • IUFRO-Mondi Partnership Meeting

The IFSA President, Magdalena Jovanovic, was invited to attend the IUFRO-Mondi Partnership Meeting, held in Vienna on the 9th and 10th of June. The meeting consisted of a discussion session and an interactive excursion. 

Decisions made

  • Appointing the Official of the Month May

In March, as every month, the Board has elected the Official of the Month. For May it was Alina Lehikoinen, the Head of FAO Sub-Commission, for her outstanding contribution to the World Forestry Congress planning. Congratulations Alina!

Summary of the accomplished plans from the previous period

Plans for this period were not fulfilled, but nonetheless, there was a lot of activity in the external department, including the World Forestry Congress and the UNCCD.

Plans for the next bimonthly period

  • Assisting in the Commissions Proposal

The Board will assist in creating the external department Commissions Proposal for the following term, deciding which of the sub-commissions in the external department to continue, discontinue or modify. 

  • Open Letter on Gender and Forest Education Database

The Board will assist in completing the database of policymakers and organisations. 

Membership Department

Events organised

  • Membership Department meetings (29/05 and 25/06, online)

Same as the rest of the year, the Membership Department met in May and June too, organised by the Membership Councilor. Also the preselected RRs for the next term were invited to join these meetings, as well as the rest of the Officials.

  • First unofficial Coffee Hour for Northern America in 2021/2022 (25/05, online)

Since for most of the year, there was unfortunately no Regional Representative in Northern America, and the one appointed in early 2022 was not able to work properly, the region had not met until now. The Membership Councilor connected six out of ten LCs of the region and organised the first unofficial Coffee Hour of the region. One of the outcomes is finding new RRs for Northern America.

IFSA representation

  • LC data survey

In the previous bimonthly period, the LC data collection started and its end was in May 2022 – hence, in this bimonthly period. We want to thank all LCs that have submitted their data. In the end, we received responses from 107 out of 133 LCs (80.5%) which is an amazing responsiveness! 

  • Capacity Development Workshop: Google Sheets

In June, the Capacity Development Commission organised a workshop regarding Google Sheets, one of the tools the IFSA Officials use throughout the year on a daily basis. The Membership Councilor, Šimon Hrbek, was the speaker for this event to present some tips and tricks in Google Sheets to the audience. The full recording is available here.

  • Membership Report 2021/2022

In continuation on the previous point, the Membership Department currently works on a Membership Report 2021/2022 which is a document intended to summarise the results of the LC data collection and discuss the implications of these results. The report will be published during the IFSS where all the main statistics will be presented to all members and the full Membership Report will be made available online on the IFSA website where anyone can browse through.

  • 8th Spanish Forestry Congress

In June 2022, the 8th Spanish Forestry Congress took place in Lleida, Spain. It is the largest gathering of forestry professionals, scientists, professors and students in the country. The LC Palencia was actively involved in the round table on forest education in Spain, while the Membership Councilor represented the IFSA Board in the event. They together managed to disseminate information about IFSA among Spanish forestry students and professors, concluding in the agreement of IFSA presentations for students from the universities in Lleida, Córdoba and Valencia in autumn, and interest of students from Madrid as well.

Decisions made

  • Appointing the Official of the Month June

The Board has appointed Japheth Samuel, the Northern African Regional Representative, the Official of the Month for June.

  • Dismissal of the Northern American Regional Representative

Due to her request and not being able to work, the Board dismissed Elizabeth Tobey from the position of the Regional Representative

  • Appointment of the Northern American Regional Representatives

New Regional Representatives for the rest of the year and the whole following one have been appointed – Apsana Kafle from LC UofA and Kamana Poudel from LC IFSA-OSU!

Summary of the accomplished plans from the previous period

Most of the plans made for this period (representing IFSA at the Spanish conference, finalising the collection of LC data and continuation of Membership Department meetings) was fulfilled. However, the Forestry faculties database has not been uploaded on the IFSA website. There were a lot of other duties, especially in the general maintenance of IFSA, that had higher priority and that is the reason why this plan was not fulfilled. It is therefore transferred to the last bimonthly period.

Plans for the next bimonthly period

Even though there will not be a bimonthly report in August, there still remain plans for the Membership Department for the upcoming two months.

  • The last Membership Department meeting in the term 2021/2022

In July 2022, the department will have their last online meeting before IFSS

  • Uploading the Forestry faculties database on the website

As this was the plan already in the past two bimonthly periods, the database still waits for its publication. It will be done in the last bimonthly period of the term.

  • Finalising and publishing the Membership Report 2021/2022

The department will finalise writing of the Membership Report summarising and discussing the results of the LCs data. The report will be published during IFSS.

 

Since the IFSS takes place at the end of the next bimonthly period, there will not be another bimonthly report in this term, but rather the Board will work on the Annual Report instead. The Board hopes these reports will remain a thing in the upcoming years as well, to keep our members updated about everything done by the Board. We wish the next year’s Officials team the best of luck, and see you in August and September at IFSS in Chile!