Bimonthly Internal Department Report

September-October 2023

Communication Commission

The changeover for the Head of Communication Commission (HoCC) was held between the current Internal Councilor, former HoCC, and current HoCC. The HoCC has helped a lot during the vacancies in the Communication Commission. The HoCC has taken over Web and Discord until a new HoSC is appointed. However, one concern for the HoCC is that Discord, one of IFSA’s social platforms, has taken a back step as it is not very active at the moment. The HoCC is also in the process of creating an Internal 101 document for future HoSCs to make their changeover easier.

Social Media

The social media team has held the changeover for the Social Media Sub-Commission. We are looking forward to having a team of two so that we can restart social media campaigns to better engage our membership. We also plan to restart IFSA’s TikTok but have not concluded any plans for a strategy.

Design

Changeover was completed between the outgoing team and a new team consisting of three members; the Head of Design Sub-Commission (Sofia Gerbi) and two Design Commissioners (Hemanshu Kafle and Von Dela Cruz). The new team has an active WhatsApp group to improve communication. The tasks assigned are all on time like LINKIWOOD, WFF, Open Calls and more that will be released very soon! The help of the previous team is very much appreciated since it’s the end of the month and there’s a lot to do! We learnt a lot about the workflow with their help and also among us.

Podcast

This new term continues with Emmanuel as the Head of the Sub-Commission. The sub-commission is sending out an Open Call for 2 commissioners to form a team for more interesting podcast episodes. More so, the first episode for this term has been recorded and will be published on the 30th of October, 2023.

Right now, the Podcast Sub-Commission is interested in having an episode with any of the IFSA members who are done with their thesis and would like to share what they have done with a broader audience. Please reach out to podcast@ifsa.net if you are interested. In the meantime, stay on track with IFSA’s Podcast here!

Publication

The Communication Commission is very happy to welcome Dewanti Uma Rahmaningtyas as the New Publication HoSC. The Publication SC had a changeover on the 28th of October 2023 with Yeji Lee, the previous Publication Head. Dewanti Uma Rahmaningtyas (the appointed Publication Head 2023-2024), Yeji Lee, Wening Ila Idzatilangi (the Internal Councilor), and Desita Dyah D A Kusumaningrum (previous Communication Head) attended the meeting. The meeting discussed the tips and suggestions for the next term. Last but not least, this sub-commission has more to come, so stay tuned for more updates from the Publication Sub-Commission!

Capacity Development Commission

Changeover Meetings

Two Changeover meetings were held where the previous Internal Councilor (Belle) and the pre-previous Head of CDC (Jaz) presented the different projects and tasks assigned to the Commission for this term. Some advice was provided to coordinate the work of this Commission. The first changeover meetings of most of the Sub-Commissions were held, where the changeover documents were presented and new ideas were discussed by the Heads of the Sub-Commission.

Survey Launch

The “Forest Education Needs” survey was created and launched to identify topics considered necessary and poorly included in formal education, according to the perspective of IFSA members, and thus be able to create a list of  Capacity Building and Development priorities to attend to during the term. The survey is still open until next month, and we encourage all IFSA members to fill the survey out. You can read the concept note here. 

Other Activities

  • The outputs of some workshops (held during IFSS 2023) were requested as their results are relevant to the CDC. Most of them introduced themselves to the new Head of the Sub-Commission most related to the workshop.
  • Individual Drive folders and Google Chat Spaces were created for each Sub-Commission to maintain good communication and keep track of the progress.
  • The work plan was updated to a first improved version.

Gender

  • Living Storybook: The living storybook concept note draft has been completed and we look forward to sending it out by the end of the month.
  • Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
  • Workshop (rooted inequalities): In order to discuss the topic of gender and forest education amongst IFSA members, we are organizing an internal workshop on 19th of November, at 14:00 UTC+0. The workshop will be a place to share experiences and struggles as well as future ideas and visions for a more gender equal sector.
  • New commissioners: With an amazing team we still have Clarissa Chimeremeze Enyi (as the HoSC) Theresa Klara Loch and Barbara Öllerer in the subcommission welcoming Vivienne Mack and Nele Römer who recently joined us as commissioners.
  • Changeover meeting: We had the first changeover meeting on the 23rd of October with the HoC CDC and all the members of the subcommission present. We discussed the projects from last term that we want to continue this term and brainstormed on new ideas.

IFSA IUFRO JTF

The first change-over meeting took place on the 3rd of October. The team also had a workshop about “How to conduct a Systematic Review of Literature for Forest Science and Other Disciplines” that took place on the 10th of October. A report of the event is in the early stages of being created to share with IUFRO Headquarters. And a recording of the webinar will be posted on YouTube. 

Language

The changeover meeting took place on the 25th of October, attended by Rafael, Head of the Capacity Development Commission and Eylül, Head Language Sub-Commission. The previous projects and the to-do list were explained by Rafael. Both Rafael and Eylül agreed to make an open call for having two commissioners of Language HoSC, what were discussed during the meeting are:

  • The survey of the Language Schools
  • Translation of Gender Open Letter to more languages 
  • New projects; Language Booklet, Language Tandem
  • Collaborations with Regional Representatives and Design HoSC 

Cultural Competencies

Changeover meeting with the previous HoSC of Tree House and with the current HoC CDC for the Changeover of the Sub-Commission. The work plan for the Sub-Commission was established in the Internal Department document. 

Education and Mentorship

In the last week of October, the Education and Mentorship HoSC had the first changeover with the former Commissioner. 

Workshop and Webinar Design

Workshop and Webinar Design is a new position on IFSA and just launched this year. The new HoSC have held discussions with the CDC HoC and Internal Councilor about what the SC will do. The HoSC will join the interdepartmental collaboration with the Membership Department to help with the projects. The HoSC also plans to have commissioner(s) to help with the tasks. 

TreE-Learning

The TreE-Learning SC is happy to re-welcome Aurélie Vandenbussche as the HoSC. From the discussion last year with one of the EFUF board members, the HoSC is getting an opportunity to be part of the communication team at the European Forum on Urban Forestry. By being part of the team, the HoSC will also create collaboration content with EFUF. The SC will continue to work on the internal workflow for integrating e-learning courses in SCs and LCs. Other projects will continue, such as the IUFRO content aimed for the June 2024 event, as well as a course and interactive workshop on communication in forestry.

Carbon and Sustainability

On the 21st of October, our changeover meeting took place with the presence of the Internal Council, the HoCDC, and the former Head of Carbon and Sustainability Commission. During this meeting, discussions were held to elucidate and provide suggestions on how to ensure the continuity of previous projects. Particular emphasis was placed on the necessity of conducting an open call for new commissioners and an assessment of the current status of the IFSA Sustainability Strategy. It was unanimously agreed to convene a follow-up meeting in order to comprehensively address the status of the remaining commission projects.

Vacant Position

Until now, the position for Discord HoSC, Website HoSC, and Fundraising HoSC. We encourage all IFSA members to apply and are happy to answer any questions. Send an email to wening.idzatilangi@ifsa.net to learn more about the position and apply to opencall@ifsa.net.