Bimonthly Report

Internal Department

September-October 2022

Communication Commission

Accomplished Plans for the Period

1st Communication Commission Meeting

On October 15th, 2022, the HoC Communication organized the first Commcomms Monthly Meeting to start getting to know each other, discuss the work plans for this term, and get familiar with the processes in IFSA.

Social Media

Commissioner

Laurence Reyes from LC AFFS-UPLB, Philippines, is appointed as the new Commissioner of HoSC Social Media. 

Tasks Accomplished

Monthly events such as the Development Fund and LC Project of the Month are scheduled for posting in Hootsuite.

In addition to this, a calendar was created to keep track of the international environmental events that will take place in the following months to ensure its promotion on the IFSA Social Media channels. 

The IFSA Delegation and Meetings Social Media Reporting Guidelines were created in order to have a more systematic and organized approach, especially when posting news and updates on our social media accounts and boosting engagements. It will be used as a guide for the pre-delegation, during delegation, and after delegation.

Publication

Changeover Call

Yeji Lee, HoSC Publication, had the first changeover meeting with Yuyo Yeh, the previous HoSC Publication, on October 1st, 2022, where they discussed the necessary information on the position.

Revising several articles from the news factory

The Publications Sub-Commission has received more than 20 articles so far.

We look forward to hearing more stories from the IFSA family by submitting your articles to the IFSA News Factory. 

Making several blog posts on the IFSA Website

IFSS 2022 Report – IFSA , An Innovative Urban Forestry Online Course, IUFRO Commissioner Open Call, and Language Commissioner Open Call is now posted on the IFSA website! 

Creating the October Newsletter

The October 2022 IFSA Newsletter was published in the previous month, while the November Newsletter soon which will highlight the upcoming ‘Youth Forest Policy Days’ promotion.

The number of newsletter subscribers has increased by 100 people from 1084 on October 1 to 1184 on November 28.

The quality of the newsletters will be gradually improved as we will collect feedback from the next newsletter. (from November Newsletter)

Goals for the following bi-monthly report

The Publications Commission is aiming to achieve the following goals for November to December: getting feedback for the newsletter and improving it every month; 100 more newsletter subscribers every month; getting more event reports; updating the publication guideline and sharing it with the IFSA community, and adding newsletter feedback form to the newsletter and hearing from our subscribers. 

Discord

Sub-Commission Meeting

In this first Sub-Commission meeting, HoSC Discord Karen Gomez talked about the ideas for the term, such as continuing the previous term plans, launching the Discord Guidebook, updating the IFSA server recreation channels, sending feedback forms to RRs for server improvement, finalizing the Discord Request Guidelines in the CommComms101; creating the Asia Pacific text channel, and cleaning the IFSA Server. 

There were also many activities proposed for the term, such as the COP event on Discord, IFSA Projects week, invitation of IFSA Partners and HoSCs, and the revival of the Peer Learning Sessions and Canopy Conversations. 

Activities

The HoSC Discord drafts the message for all members of IFSA, with the goal of introducing the Discord Sub-Commission, including the newly-appointment commissioner, Mert Can Ese, as well as an invitation to all IFSA members to join the IFSA Server. 

TreeHouse

Sub-Commission Meeting

During the first TreeHouse Sub-Commission Meeting, the terms and conditions of TreeHouse and feedback documents were discussed, which was started by Eylül Kulah, the HoSC TreeHouse. The terms and conditions are planned to be finished by the end of November.

Since the HoSC Web is not appointed yet, the plans for the development of the TreeHouse platform webpage are yet to be planned. 

Decisions made

Commissioners

There are some commissioners accepted for this term. Josefa Zapata as the CommComms Commissioner and Mert Can Ese as the Discord Commissioner.

Capacity Development Commission

Accomplished Plans for the Period

On October 19, the first CDC Meeting took place. We learned something interesting about everyone while playing the truth/lie game, we discussed the work plans of individual SubCommissions, and we found out what everyone is currently working on and what they want to focus on until the next CDC Meeting.

Carbon and Sustainability

During the first two months of the term, two changeover meetings were held by the current HoSC Karina Rosales and the former HoSC Philipp Höhme. After that, the first design of the work plan was made and presented to the Internal Councilor Isabelle and Vice President Steve. During that first Sub-Commission meeting, the main projects were presented alongside the methodologies planned to deliver them, and questions about the logistics related to each one were made. The projects presented were:

    • Keeping track of IFSA´s carbon emissions
    • Improve IFSA Sustainability Strategy
    • Workshops to educate and bring awareness on Sustainability and Carbon assessment
    • Database of possible partners related to the topic
    • Online library 
    • Reforestation campaign

Main comments made by Isabelle and Steve were about reaching out to other officials like externals to get the info about trips of delegations, RR’s to collect information needed from each region and internals to get help for certain projects in common. Also, about the intention to get one commissioner per region, it was said that a concept note should be made to get a clear view of the tasks that will be assigned to them or what is expected of the team. 

Currently, the mentioned concept is being developed, and conversations with the PUC’s Direction of Sustainability are being held to get help on the planning and design of a participatory process that will, hopefully, lead to a representative IFSA’s Sustainability Strategy. The mix of those two processes will turn into a structure that collects needs, thoughts, and ideas from each region. 

Once the team of commissioners is complete, a revision of the Workplan should be done. 

Forestry Education and Mentorship

Changeover Meeting

A changeover took place for the newly appointed HoSC Forestry Education and Mentorship, Agustin Valenzuela, together with the previous HoSC Sekar Yunita and HoSC Mentorship Olowo where they commented that the projects are finished and those that need to be continued.

Sub-Commission Meeting

The Forestry Education and Mentorship Sub-Commission had its first sub-commission meeting with the Internal Councilor, where the plans were discussed, as well as the dates and timeline for each of the projects. These projects were also shared with the Head of the TreE-Learning Sub-Commission for future collaboration on forestry topics and soft skills-related workshops. 

Forestry Education and Mentorship Commissioner, Rafael Luna, created two surveys (one for forestry education and the second for mentorship) with the objective of mapping out the main interests of IFSA members in these two areas. 

Language

Changeover Call

On 27th September, a changeover was held by the Vice President (Steve), Internal Councilor (Belle), HoSC Language 2021/2022 (Lau), and HoSC 2022/2023 (Meynard) where the nature of the Language SC and the work environment in IFSA were discussed. 

Work Plan

The Language SC work plan is written here, and the main concept notes of all Language projects are already attached to the spreadsheet. 

Sub-Commission Meeting

It was held on 1st November and attended by the Internal Councilor (Belle) and HoSC Language 2022/2023 (Meynard). In this meeting, it was also suggested to conduct a survey on the interest of IFSA members to attend another language school for this term. The form will be sent to IFSA Officials and LCs. 

TreE-Learning 

Changeover Call and First Sub-Commission Meeting and platform tour

On the 19th of October, a changeover was held by the Vice President (Steve), Internal Councilor (Belle), Head of Capacity Development Commission (Misha), Head of TFD Sub-Commission 22/23 (Jaz), Alina Lehikoinen (initiator platform) and HoSC 2022/2023 (Aurélie). We talked about previous goals and how to get the platform working. Therefore, a second meeting was held with Simone Massaro on the 20th of October to show the online learning environment.

Work Plan

TreE-Learning SC work plan will most likely be updated throughout the year when external partners and other (Sub)-Commissions provide unforeseen but very useful content.

Fundraising 

Change-over-meeting and SC planning

Nora Blecher (Treasurer), Agustin Rosello (President), Michaela Simkova (HoC Capacity Development), and Ole Gramann (Fundraising) met online and discussed the new sub-commission Fundraising. They talked about the IKI Medium Grant and decided after a brief discussion not to apply for it because IFSA would need new and big project partners with a certain project. The deadline is very short, and all the participants think that IFSA currently does not have enough capacity for this grant. After that,  it was decided that the SC needed Commissioners. One from each IFSA region. The final decision was to create a funding request for COP27.

Open Call

The guidelines of the Sub Commission, including the structure and tasks were set. After creating the Open Call Text with all the application requirements, it got posted by the social media SC on the 15th of November and will run until the end of November. 

Funding Request COP27

To reach out to new partners more easily, the SC created a template and a new flyer for sponsoring requests. The goal is to find more partners in the private sector. The first organizations will be the Australian Forest Products Association, Arauco, and IBA (Brazilian tree industry), because Agustin had a panel on COP with these companies.

IFSA Representation

Women’s Forest Congress 2022

The Inaugural Women’s Forest Congress took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA from 17th-20th October 2022. The Congress was organized to develop strategies and solutions to emerging forestry problems through the lens of FINTA*, representing academia, industry, government, and non-profits at different stages of their career. As IFSA, we marked our presence at the congress through seven delegates – two of which were in-person and five online. Apsana Kafle and Kamana Poudel (Regional Representative from North America) made up the in-person delegation. Theresa Klara Loch, Barbara Öllerer, Kadijatu Sheriff, Clarissa Chimeremeze Enyi, and Baliqeez Adebisi joined remotely. As a delegate to drafting the 2022 WFC Declaration, Apsana Kafle voiced IFSA’s goals, strategies, and mission in the resolution.

Forest Stewardship Council General Assembly 2022

The Forest Stewardship Council General Assembly was held on the 9th-14th of October, 2022, in Bali, Indonesia. Wening Ila Idzatilangi and Faiha Azka Azzahira (both from the Asia Pacific region) were in-person delegates. The in-person delegates were invited to participate in presenting the IFSA Open Letter on Gender and Forest Education written by Theresa Klara Loch and Barbara Öllerer. In addition, the in-person delegates have participated in other sessions and networking at the event.

Throughout the whole session, Wening got many new insights about the socio-cultural dimension of forestry. These insights have inspired Wening, as the Cultural Competencies HoSC, to include the topics of indigenous people and their ecological knowledge in one of the next Cultural Days organized by the Cultural Competencies Sub-Commission. The poster can be found here.

All-IUFRO Conference Plenary Session: Gender (Un-)equal Networking of IUFRO

The Gender Sub-Commission had the great opportunity to send a panelist to the All-IUFRO Conference in Vienna and the Session on “Gender (un-)equal networking of IUFRO: Creating new spaces and thinking.” We were invited to discuss our view of gender equality in the IUFRO network following the publication of the Open Letter on Gender and Forest Education. The panel gave us a great opportunity to advocate for more inclusive forest education, call for action within IUFRO and its members, and lastly, highlight the work of the Sub-Commission. IFSA’s participation in the conference contributed to further discussions, ideas, and potential collaboration within the field of gender and forest education. Recordings of the session can be found here.

Re-sending of the Open Letter on Gender and Forest Education

The Gender Sub-Commission resend their Open Letter on Gender and Forest Education, with a special focus on universities and IFSA LCs, as basically all the (extremely positive) answers we had received had come from organisations. We received several positive replies in the aftermath and set up new meetings with organisations to discuss it further. 

Decisions made

Commissioners

Forestry Education and Mentorship

The new Commissioner of Forestry Education & Mentorship is ,Rafael Luna Reyes, Welcome!

Gender Sub-Commission

The Gender Sub-Commission warmly welcomes its three Gender Commissioners for this term:Barbara Öllerer, Clarissa Chimeremeze Enyi and David Rodrigo Ornelas

Plans for the next bimonthly period

Cultural Day

    • Nigeria’s Cultural Day

Capacity Building Workshop

    • Recruiting members and their activity (December 11)