Bi-monthly Report (January-February)

Internal Department

The new year of 2023 has been a productive start for the Communication and Capacity Development Commissions of the Internal Department. Read more about the projects and future plans of the sub-commissions below. 

Communication Commission

Capacity Building Workshop: Social Media & Design 

On the 28th of January 2023, the Internal Department and Communication Commission joined forces for the Capacity Building Workshop: Social Media & Design where 41 participants joined our speakers Hyginus Laari (Youth Communications Officer from Global Landscapes Forum) and Chloe Abayao (former IFSA Head of Communication Commission) for Social Media; and Elif Duman (former IFSA Vice President) and Dewanti Uma Rahmaningtyas (former IFSA Head of Design Sub-Commission) for Design who shared how social media and design can go hand-in-hand as tools in promoting activities in their LCs or region, recruiting members, and engaging audiences in consideration of the newly-published IFSA Branding Guidelines. 

You can watch the recording of the workshop here! Stay tuned for more Capacity Building Workshops from us soon! 

International Day of Forests Essay & Photography Competition Preparation

The Internal Councilor, and HoC Communications, and HoSC Publications met in February to discuss the preparations for the International Day of Forests (IDF) Essay and Photography Competition. Details about the competition such as the timeline, criteria, mechanics, and judges were discussed within the team. 

Publication

Newsletter Feedback Form

We started to receive feedback from the November newsletter. According to some of our subscribers, the newsletter content is very helpful and the overall experience has been satisfactory. The news on “Research Opportunities” was suggested to be included, so we will also look up more opportunities regarding them. 

The feedback is really important to hear from our subscribers and it won’t take much time. Please give us your feedback to improve our newsletters. 

Subscribers Increase

Our subscribers have increased from 1084 in October to 1362 in March.

Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter! The March newsletter is coming soon so in the meantime, you can find the previous newsletters here. 

News Factory Form

The News Factory form has been updated and posted on the website. Please send us any news/opportunities to be included in our newsletter! 

We also got some feedback that the news factory form doesn’t work sometimes. In that case, you can also submit the news to publication@ifsa.net with a ‘web google document’ and social media designs (including captions). 

Social Media

Gender SC Social Media Takeover

On March 8, 2023, the Gender SC requested that they “take over” the Instagram account so they can post the updates on the webinar series directly on this account.

Updated Instagram Highlights

The highlights on the main IFSA Instagram account were updated, including the creation of the events that took place from January to February 2023. To view these highlights, visit IFSA’s Instagram account.

Ongoing tasks

IDF Campaign Social Media Cards

One of the plans of the Social Media SC is to use IFSA’s platforms in widening the reach of different environmental-related international events. With this, social media cards in line with the celebration of the International Day of Forests 2023 will be created. 

Discord

Server clean up 

Some channels on Discord were moved according to their categories while some that had not been used for more than 1 year were discarded. A new announcement channel was created in the forestry club for members that want to announce event invitations or the like. 

International Movie Nights 

The International Movie Nights will be held every month until the end of the term to strengthen the bond of IFSA members through film watching. You can be part of this activity by proposing the movie you would like to watch by filling out this link.

Web

NERM 2023 Webpage 

The webpage for the Northern Europe Regional Meeting 2023 was completed and published on the 15th of February. This was preceded by a meeting between the Web SC and the Northern Europe Regional Representative. Here the details and design for the website were drafted and the first version of the website went live on February 15. 

Plans for the next bimonthly period

For the next few months, the Web SC plans on updating the IFSA calendar and partners’ webpage on the website. 

Design

Requests accomplished 

During the last two months, the Design SC accomplished the following designs: Canopy Conversations; Nigeria’s Cultural Day; International Movie Nights; United Nations Water Conference; Scholarship Application Workshop; Open call for GLF Investment Case Symposium IFSA Delegates; Cultural Day Presenters; and IFSA – SAN Open Call.

Plans for the next bimonthly period

In the next two months, the Design SC is planning to finalize the IFSA structure wheel design and collaborate with Social Media SC to create posts to keep members engaged on social media.

TreeHouse 

Sub-commission Meeting

The TreeHouse Sub-Commission meeting was held on the 24th of January where the following points were discussed: creating promotional materials; collaborating with other sub-commissions; designing the TreeHouse webpage; implementing suggestions that were made during the Internal Department Meeting in February; and accomplishing the mid-term report. 

Plans for the next bimonthly period

The TreeHouse SC will continue working on the TreeHouse webpage on the IFSA website and start promoting the platform once it is done. The HoSC is also preparing the user guidelines which will serve as an instructional guide for members that want to use the platform. 

Together with the Cultural Competencies SC, a collaboration for the Tree Culture project will be done in the next few months. The aim of the project is to display countries’ cultures by creating a map that will visualize the compiled information from Cultural Days. Articles for each country with an IFSA LC will also be created. 

Podcast

Canopy Conversations Episodes 

The first episode of the third season of Canopy Conversations was published on the 1st of February 2023, titled “Insights from COP 27: A Delegate’s Perspective” featuring Volodymyr Kravets, IFSA’s External Councilor. It focused on his experience as a delegate at the United Nations COP27 held in Egypt. You can listen to this episode through this link.

The Podcast SC also completed the concept note for the 2nd episode which will be titled “From Challenges to Success; the LC Members’ Journey with IFSA” which will feature selected IFSA members from across the world.

The concept note for the third episode is still under completion.

Plans for the next bimonthly period

In the next two months, the Podcast SC plans to publish the second and third episodes of “The IFSA Experience” series of the Canopy Conversations. 

Upcoming Events

International Day of Forests Essay & Photography Competition

This year, IDF will be celebrated on the 21 of March 2023 with the theme “Forests and Health”. To commemorate this event, IFSA is organizing an essay and photography competition to provide IFSA members with the platform to express their passion for forests and raise awareness of their importance. The competition is being done in collaboration with IUFRO and EFI. 

The deadline for applications will be on the 1st of April 2023. For more information about this event, visit this link.

Capacity Development Commission

Carbon & Sustainability 

Workplan Progress

During January and February, some projects in the Carbon & Sustainability Sub-Commission’s work plan have been progressing, including collecting data on the carbon emissions of delegates during their trips through forms; working on the Commissioner Open Call; collaborating with the External Department for the IDF Webinar Series; and working on the IFSA Sustainability Strategy. 

Sub-commission Meeting

The 3rd SC meeting was held at the beginning of January, together with the Membership Counselor to brainstorm about a possible collaboration with RRs on carbon and sustainability-related projects.  

Cultural Competencies

Cultural Day

Two Cultural Days were held in January. Nigeria’s Cultural Day took place on the 5th of January 2023. Lectures from Dr. Kayode Ogunsusi and Dr. Johnson Ogunjobi (Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology) were presented which focused on the importance of indigenous people and how they influence forest management in Nigeria. 

Italy’s Cultural Day was held on the 15th of January 2023. Representatives from AUSF Italy presented their country’s unique culture and forestry practices. 

An open call for Cultural Day Hosts was announced on social media, garnering applications from LCs from 4 different countries (India, Peru, Serbia, and Ghana). In February, the Cultural Competencies SC held meetings with the LCs that applied to discuss the event. 

The next cultural day will be focusing on India which will be presented by IFSA LC FRI on the 13th of March 2023. Bright Kusi Appiah (Southern Africa Regional Representative 22-23) proposed to have a Southeast Africa Cultural Day together rather than presenting only one country. 

What Makes Your Forest Unique? Book Project

The first open call for authors on social media was in December, having 19 authors registering. To have more representation from other LCs, a second open call was released the following month, garnering 3 more additional authors. 

The Cultural Competencies HoSC held meetings with the authors to discuss the next steps to proceed with the project. 

Tree Culture

In collaboration with TreeHouse SC, Tree Culture aims to give information about countries where there are IFSA LCs to present their unique facts. A meeting will be held to discuss about how the articles can be finished.  

TreE-Learning

Publishing courses based upon the Youth Forestry Policy Days and troubleshooting

Courses on “How to build your own leadership style” and “What is Forest Education up to in Africa and Europe?” were published on the platform after quite some troubleshooting. 

Attending a conference in Auckland (New Zealand) for networking and potential team up with the Early career scientists group

From the 30th of January to the 4th of February, a congress was held in AUT (Auckland University of Technology). The main goal of attending the conference was to network with professionals, institutions and put the IFSA community on the map. The Early Career Scientists (ECS) showed interest in getting involved with IFSA to provide a “diving board” for the IFSA community in the transition of students to young professionals in the academic world. 

Meeting with Gender SC

The first meeting between Gender SC and TreE-Learning SC was held to brainstorm on a course regarding gender inequalities in the forestry sector and in forest education. Both SCs are looking forward to the end result of this project. The next meeting will be around 15th of March.

Plans for the next bimonthly period

In the next two months, the TreE-Learning SC plans on proceeding with the next steps: 

  • scheduling a second meeting with Jerylee to create a TreE-Learning course and workshop on Communication in Forestry; 
  • creating a course on wood energy in collaboration with FAO and IUFRO; having the sub-commission meeting on the 5th of March; 
  • having the Internal Team meeting in beginning of March; 
  • meeting with Alina Lehikoinen to brainstorm on a webinar for IFSA officials to learn how to implement TreE-Learning in their sub-commision; 
  • following up with Gender SC for a meeting by the 15th of March; 
  • setting up the next meeting with ECS; 
  • following up with Natalia regarding role of youth in international policy making; 
  • discussing Tree Culture with concerned SCs; 
  • continuing on providing course materials from YFPD topics; 
  • transforming IDF webinar series content into TreE-Learning material; 
  • following up with LC Eberwalde on the possibility of having a course about Indigenous People;

  • promoting the TreE-Learning platform more; and

  • integrate feedback from the brainstorming sessions that took place during Interim. 

Gender 

Meeting with CIFOR 

The CIFOR-IFSA/Introductory meeting with Elisabeth Garner and the Gender subcommission was held on January 12th 2023. We made a presentation of our work in the subcommission and discussed potential collaboration for each party.

Gender Discord Channel relaunch 

After a period of silence, we re-established the gender forestry channel on discord. We will post updates, and related articles and news to keep everyone interested & updated. 

TreE-Learning on Gender Equality

The Gender Sub-Commission held an initial meeting with Aurélie Vandenbussche, HoSC TreE-Learning, to discuss the possibility of creating a TreE-Learning course on gender inequalities in the forestry sector and in forest education. As a next step, they started developing a course outline that they will further develop over the next weeks. 

Progress on concept note of a Webinar Series

The Gender Sub-Commission has worked on the continuation of the Webinar Series on Gender and Forestry. The concept note has made good progress and the continuation will be launched in coordination with the Communication Commission on the 8th of March (International Feminist Day). 

Progress on Translation of the Open Letter

We already have a Spanish draft, along with the original English version. The next step was to find out which regions had a language barrier with English, and after asking Šimon Hrbek about it, we found out that South Korea and French-speaking countries/regions were the ones with the biggest barrier, so along the Language Sub-commission we will work out a plan to translate it to those languages.

Contact with IAAS Project on Women in Agriculture

After a meeting between IFSA and IAAS members, the Gender Sub-Commission was made aware of the IAAS’ project on ‘Women in Agriculture’. A first contact was established with the project leader. 

Language

Starting the Spanish-English School 2023 

On the 15th of January 2023, the Language Sub-Commission held the first meeting of Spanish-English School 2023 with several participants. Now, the project is already on its way to the fifth week. 

German-English School 2023 Preparation

Following the Spanish-English School, the German School is being prepared for its first week which will be held on the 21st of March 2023.

Language Translator

The Language Sub-Commission translated the IFSA Presentation into 4 languages: Turkish, Spanish, German, and Korean. Hopefully, this presentation material could be used in your own Local Committee. Access the Turkish, Spanish, German, and Korean presentations here.

Forestry Education and Mentorship

Workplan

In February, a meeting with the HoC Capacity Building was held to discuss resuming the sub-commission’s activities. This includes contacting with possible partners to develop a soft skill workshop on the “Art of Hosting”; communicating with IFSA SAN for the IFSA Alumni activity; and initiating the Peer Learning on Forestry Education project. 

Fundraising 

Internal Sub-Commission Meeting

With 4 new commissioners, the Fundraising SC had the first internal meeting where the goals of the SC were discussed. We created a rough list of checking new funding possibilities to make the process easier. The SC checked funding opportunities from different organizations like the Investment readiness Programm, Henry fellows Program (Mulago foundation), Adaptation fund, and Yieldgiving. 

Potential new Partnership with NGP

The Fundraising SC initiated a call with New Generation Plantations (NGP) which could potentially be a new partner for IFSA.

Joint IFSA-IUFRO Task Force

Scholarship Application Workshop 

The JTF successfully organized a Scholarship Application workshop on the 25th of February 2023, garnering 50 participants. 

We had Dr. Fola Babalola from the University of Ilorin (Nigeria) as a speaker who talked about how to make effective personal statements. He explained what to write in a personal statement and the need to highlight why deserve the scholarship rather than your need for the scholarship. 

Dr. Sheila Ward, Executive Officer of the International Tropical Foresters Society (ISTF), highlighted the numerous scholarships available to students. She explained in detail the parts of a research proposal and gave tips on how to write it methodically. The participants really absorbed a lot of information on how to make well organized scholarship application. Overall, the reviews received from participants were excellent with requests for more such webinars in the future. 

Plans for the next bimonthly period

In the next two months, JTF will be working on the following activities:

  • participating in the IUFRO board meeting and following symposium at FRI, Dehradun;
  • launching the Best Practices Competition by April;
  • starting the work on a scientific review article on RASCH Model; 
  • planning the 3rd CBW in April about Scientific Article Writing; 
  • organizing a session/side event at the Forest Education Symposium in Helsinki, Finland; 
  • organizing a meeting with Cultural Competencies HoSC for collaborations on the WMYFU? Book Project, Tree Culture Project, and Cultural Days.

Upcoming Events

3rd Episode of the Capacity Building Workshop

Currently, the Capacity Development Commission is in the process of planning the 3rd Episode of the Capacity Building Workshop which will focus on Scientific Article Writing. More details about this event will be shared soon so stay tuned!