The EFIL Board of Directors held its third and last meeting of the year on 25-27 September in Riga, attached to AFS Latvia’s 25th anniversary celebrations (see elsewhere in this edition of EFILife).
The agenda included global and regional network updates, and a general overview of the Federation covering the personnel situation of the Secretariat in Brussels, updated fundraising results, the EFIL calendar of activities 2015-2016, EFIL’s recent activities in the field of advocacy, the Volunteer Summer Summit in Blossin near Berlin (August) and the 2015 European Citizenship Trimester Programme with the Brussels Camp coming up in November/December.
Special attention was given to EFIL’s involvement in the MIRAI programme, a short-term exchange programme launched and sponsored by the Government of Japan, for which EFIL will act as the European secretariat. For more: see elsewhere in this edition of EFILife.
In the session about new partner development in Europe, time was devoted to discuss the way forward for the young member organisations in Croatia and Slovenia. Brief updates about the recent developments in Bulgaria, Romania, Poland also passed the agenda. The Board expressed its appreciation for the contribution of AFS International in the much needed training for the new and young organisations in Europe on topics related to IT, Support and Risk Management, which took place in Belgrade, Serbia, end of July (see separate article).
The Board discussed the current political and humanitarian situation in Europe, with special attention for the Paris Declaration, and expressed the intention to further monitor opportunities for a potential role to be played by AFS and EFIL.
As a fixed agenda point on the last Board meeting of each year, the Board looked back at EFIL’s efforts in the field of Intercultural Learning over the past year, using the EFIL Intercultural Learning Strategy as a monitoring tool. The Board also endorsed the updated EFIL Training Strategy.
The Board took note of the updated 2015 budget as per 31 August. It appears EFIL will meet the ambitious target set in the draft budget.
The Work Plan for 2016 includes Board meetings in February, June and October. An extra-ordinary General Assembly (for the elections of new Board members) will be attached to the EFIL Heads of Office meeting in May or June.