Bimonthly Board Reports
December
Board’s work between November and December 2021
Erasmus Grant Proposal
Throughout November and December, the Board was working literally every day on preparation of the grant application. In December, the application was submitted to the Erasmus committee which will decide by March whether IFSA receives the grant for 2022. The seventy-pages long proposal includes chapters, among others, regarding IFSA structure and functioning, relevance of our work to the EU policy objectives, financial management and detailed work plans for 2022 – including clarification by categories what exactly the money from the grant would be used for, potential threats to our activities and the considered plans to avoid or minimize them.
General management of the organisation
- Dismissal of the Head of TFD Sub-Commission (06/12)
For different reasons, the Board dismissed the Head of The Forest Dialogue Sub-Commission. The HoSC received the official dismissal letter on 6th December.
- Open Call for the Head of TFD Sub-Commission
Together with the HoSC dismissal, the new Open Call has opened for this position. You can read about the Head of The Forest Dialogue Sub-Commission here. Deadline for application was 26th December.
- Interim planning – programme, selection of participants
The Board has spent the previous period planning for the in-person Interim which will take place in Czechia in February. The Board worked on the work programme, selection of the participants, budget and plans for making the event hybrid and inclusive.
Internal Department
Events organised
- Internal Department meeting (10/12 online)
On 10th December, the second Internal Department meeting was organised by the Internal Councilor, where all the Officials under the Communication and Capacity Development Commissions gathered to talk about the upcoming physical Internal Department Meeting in Indonesia in 2022 and brainstorm on ideas regarding upcoming projects, such as the Virtual Job Fair and the Mentorship Program.
Summary of the accomplished plans from the previous period
As planned, the Internal Department meeting was organised also in this bimonthly period. However, due to different organisational and communication reasons, the IFSA Virtual Job Fair had to be postponed to early 2022. Further announcements about the event will be made soon.
Plans for the next bimonthly period
- Interim
Interim is an annual meeting of all Officials, always organised in the middle of the term. The purpose is to summarise what has been done in the past half-term and to make plans and discussions regarding the half-term to come, as well as planning long-term activities and actions. This year, Interim is planned to take place in the first half of February in Prague, Czechia.
- 3rd Internal Department Meeting
The Internal Department will have its 3rd meeting in February 2022.
- Mentorship Program
The 6-month program will provide an avenue for IFSA members to hone their skills in technical forestry skills and self-development and learn from qualified professionals in the forestry sector. This will take place in early 2022.
- New Job Talks YouTube Series Episode
Following the pilot episode in March 2021, the Social Media and Forestry Education Sub-Commission will interview IFSA alumni in early 2022 to talk about their profession and how IFSA has helped them pursue their careers.
External Department
Events organised
- External Department Meeting (22/12 Online)
On the 22nd of December, the second External Department Meeting was organised where all Officials from the Partners Commission and the Internal Processes Commission gathered to discuss the external work plan for the second half of the term, brainstorm about possible activities and discuss the programme for the in-person External Department meeting.
- Meeting with Forest Europe planning the Youth Forestry Policy Conference
The Board organised a planning meeting with representatives of Forest Europe in order to discuss the Youth Forestry Policy Conference planned for the end of 2022, as IFSA’s biggest event. The timeline, content, speakers and other points were raised at the meeting.
- Meeting with UNESCO-Biosphere International Conference representatives
IFSA has been invited to contribute to the UNESCO-Biosphere International Conference and provide youth activities for the conference as well as invite IFSA members to participate in the conference. The Board has set up a meeting with the conference representatives in order to discuss IFSA’s possible involvement in the conference.
IFSA representation
- COP26 Delegation (30/10 – 12/11 Glasgow, Scotland)
15 delegates from IFSA including the Board members attended the UNFCCC COP-26 held in Glasgow from 30th October to 12th November. The Board selected the delegation through the open call which had both gender and regional balance.
- GLF Climate (5-7/11 Glasgow, Scotland)
GLF Climate was a hybrid event held from 5-7 November at the University of Glasgow. 10 delegates from IFSA attended the in-person event and 16 delegates attended it virtually. The themes of the 3 day day event were Forest, Food and Finance. The event witnessed the participation of Ex-IFSA Presidents and was an amazing opportunity for the current Board to learn about their experiences and also listen to some interesting stories.
- EIP-AGRI Seminar (24-25/11 Online)
IFSA President, Magdalena Jovanović, was invited to join the EIP-AGRI Seminar and participate in the discussions on selected topics as a representative of Youth.
- Closing Speech at Junior Forestry Contest (19/11 online)
The IFSA Vice President, Elif Naz Duman, participated in the 18th Junior Forestry Contest organized by the Federal Forestry Agency of Russia as an observer and gave a closing speech for congratulating the contestants on their spectacular input and for thanking the valuable jury members as well as the organizers of the event.
Decisions made
- World Forestry Congress
The Board assisted in finishing the concept notes for the World Forestry Congress Pre-Congress Side-Events. The concept notes were approved and accepted, and planning for the congress has begun in collaboration with the Head of FAO Sub-Commission.
Summary of the accomplished plans from the previous period
The Board was able to successfully accomplish all of the activities that were planned for this bimonthly period for the External Department.
Plans for the next bimonthly period
- External Department Report
In the upcoming period, the External Department is planning on publishing the first External Department report which will summarise the work done in the previous period. This will be the first of three reports planned to be published until the end of the term. The report will be overseen and supported by the Board members.
- Webinar Series
The External Department is planning to start a webinar series in order to better collaborate with our partners and processes, and the first webinar of the series is planned to take place before Interim.
- Partner Introductory Videos
Board members are taking an active role in the creation of the partner introductory videos and will be working on the creation of a template for the introductory videos.
- In-Person External Department Meeting
The in-person meeting will take place in February 2022, in Prague, Czechia. In the upcoming period we plan to create a detailed programme and activities for the meeting.
- UNESCO Biosphere Conference planning
The Board will be working on a plan of activities that can be carried out at the UNESCO Biosphere Conference. We will have a follow-up meeting with the representatives in order to discuss proposed activities and continue with the planning.
- ISTF Conference
The International Society of Tropical Foresters is hosting a large and rather prestigious conference at the end of January. The Board has received an invitation to spread this information with IFSA members and will be working on making this opportunity accessible to everyone.
Membership Department
Events organised
- Membership Department meetings (03/12 and 28/12 online)
On 3rd and 28th December, the Membership Department meetings were organised by the Membership Councilor for the Regional Representatives and the Board members to meet and exchange news from the regions, make feedback and future recommendations for inter-regional calls, give updates on projects worked on by the RRs and more. In the meeting of 28th December, the department also said goodbye to 2021 by team-building activities like a membership quiz, games and cheering with each other.
IFSA representation
- Forestry faculties database
Already in the previous period, the Board and RRs started to work on a database of forestry faculties in the world. They got in touch with Reforestamos México, A. C., who recently started to work on a similar database for Latin America, and they exchanged the data to complement each other. Currently IFSA has data regarding 411 world’s forestry and related faculties. You can contribute to this growing database by submitting information regarding faculties you know about here. Once the relevant amount of data for each region is collected, the database will be published on IFSA website for everyone to see and browse through.
- Application form revision
The current application form for Ordinary and Associate members needs to be updated, and hence, the Board with the RRs work on revision of the content of the form, as well as its format. So far, they have had two meetings and drafted a new version, which will be hopefully soon applied in practice.
Decisions made
- Revision of membership applications
New applications are continuously being received. In this bimonthly period, two 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 Pokhara (03/11)
On 3rd November, the first LC from Nepal – IFSA Pokhara – was approved and accepted to IFSA. Welcome on board!
- Open Call for NARM OC
Because of various reasons, the original OC of Northern African Regional Meeting (NARM) cannot organise this event in the end. Hence, the Open Call has been published for any Northern African LC to be able to apply. You can find the Open Call here. Deadline for application was 31st December.
Summary of the accomplished plans from the previous period
As planned, the Membership Department meetings and revision of newly received membership applications have continued regularly during this bimonthly period. However, the meeting with Southern African LCs to hear the obstacles and opportunities for the region to be more involved in IFSA activities hasn’t happened. It is hence transferred to the next bimonthly period when it will be organised.
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.
- In-person Membership Department meeting
Before Interim, in the beginning of February, the in-person meeting of the department is planned to take place in Prague, Czechia. The RRs with the Board will discuss important topics for the regions and membership in general. In the next bimonthly report, the summary of this meeting will be presented.
- 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 January, the online meeting will take place as it has been happening until now. In February, the already mentioned in-person meeting will be held instead – of course, in a hybrid version since not all the RRs and Board members would be able to attend otherwise.
- 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 500 faculties by the next bimonthly report.
- Appointment of the NARM OC
As the Open Call for NARM OC was published in this period, in the next one the Organising Committee will be appointed to be able to start with all the preparations as soon as possible.
