Dear IFSA World,

IFSA is announcing that Board and Head of Commission positions will become vacant after the General Assembly in August 2024. This is a call for enthusiastic and self-motivated individuals who will serve for 2025/26 term starting from August 2025 till August 2026.

Introduction

IFSA Officials volunteer to contribute to the IFSA Network. This can take many forms: from being the FAO representative for IFSA members, to exploring your creative side in designing for social media, to connecting with the Local Committees in your region and helping them engage in international IFSA activities and cross-national meetings. Whether you are interested in communication, capacity development, or policy, IFSA offers a wide range of opportunities.

Depending on the position you take on, you will spend anywhere from a few hours to several hours per week on your tasks. You will not do this alone, IFSA has around 50 Officials who communicate in an online network consisting of Officials, alumni, consulting members, etc. You will frequently attend or organize online meetings related to your fellow Officials’ work or to annual events like the International Forestry Students’ Symposium (IFSS) or Interim taking place halfway through every IFSA term. There is always someone to share your volunteering experience with or to simply chat about the forestry world!

Current positions open for application range from communication-related activities, to sustaining partnerships, to managing an online learning platform, to being responsible for IFSA’s presence on social media, to mentoring our members to advance their forestry career, and much more. To apply for one of the open positions, you need to follow the steps indicated below.

If you are unsure about what an IFSA Official position is and whether it is a fit for you, or if you have general questions about IFSA, please send an email to opencall@ifsa.net

To gain more insight into what it is like to become an Official position check out https://ifsa.net/get-involved/become-an-ifsa-official/

List of Positions

You can apply for up to 2 positions at the same time

Board/ Council

• President
• Vice President
• Treasurer
• Executive Secretary
• External Councillor
• Internal Councillor
• Membership Councillor

External Department

• Head of Partners Commission
• Head of International Policy Commission

Internal Department

• Head of Communication Commission
• Head of Capacity Development

Job Descriptions

The Job Descriptions contains for each position:

• Background
• Duties and Tasks
• Skills and Knowledge required to apply
• Estimated workload

How to apply

If you are interested in applying for an IFSA Official position, you first need to ensure that you comply with the requirements.

The application consists of a letter of support from your LC, a motivation letter (max. 800 words) a work plan, and a video (max. 2 minutes) 

Requirements

In order to apply to an official position you MUST comply with those requirements:

• You need to be a member of an IFSA Local Committee and either be an active student or have graduated no longer than one year ago.
• Proficiency in English, as it is the official language of IFSA and therefore the only means of communication between Officials.
• Good internet connection: given the fact that all the work as an Official is done remotely 
• Access to a Computer or tablet.

Motivation letter

The motivation letter should cover all the following points and be no longer than 800 words. Note that these points correspond to the criteria that are used to evaluate the motivation letter.

• What is your background?
  • Introduction: name, age, country, university, current studies
  • LC of membership
• What is your previous experience in IFSA at the international level (participation and/or organization of IFSA international meetings, IFSA partner events, commissioner of official position)?
• What is your previous experience in IFSA at the regional and local level (participation and/or organization of regional events, activity in your own LC, position held in your own LC)? [Only relevant for Regional Representatives or applicants without international experience]
• Why are you interested in applying for this position?
• What is your understanding of the position you are running for?
  • Role of the position
  • Tasks of the position
  • Functioning of the position within the Department/Commission
• What are your overall plans for the IFSA term?
• Consideration of required skills

Video

Record a video (max. 2 minutes) where you introduce yourself and present the main points from the motivation letter.

Some tips for the video:

• If the video is longer than 2 minutes, just shorten it talking about the key points from your letter; the other points are covered by the letter;
• Ensure good lighting
• Make sure the sound is clear and has good volume so the video is easy to understand (no background noise/music)

Work plan

The work plan should contain the list of the activities that you would like to organize for the rest of the year.

The work plan should be 1-2 pages long

You can use the following template

IFSA Membership verification

The IFSA membership needs to be verified in order to apply for an official position. You will need to present an LC Verification letter. A verification letter from your Local Committee (LC) signed by the President of your LC, verifying that you are a member of the LC in PDF format. In case you are the President of your LC, ask the Vice President to sign it. The headed letter of your LC must be used for the letter. 

Multiple applications

You can submit up to 2 applications for this open call. You should fill the application forms two separate times and select which one is your preferred one (there is a question in the form).

Deadline

Until the position is filled

All the applications received will be vetted by the current board

Application procedure

In order to apply you need to fill this form: https://forms.gle/ZsAxwyhX7QRYbrjq7

The application form includes:

• Personal information
• The motivation letter in PDF format (max 800 word).
• A video (max 2 minutes)
• Work plan (following provided template)
• IFSA membership verification

Applications that do not follow this procedure (eg. incomplete or not sent through the form) will not be considered.

In case of technical issues with the submission of the application, please send an email to opencall@ifsa.net specifying the problem that you are encountering.

Valid applications will receive an acknowledgement email from the IFSA Board

Good luck with your application,

The IFSA Board