President's letter (23 Jan 2006) regarding Preparation of eGA Workshops

From SI Exco News

The following letter was emailed to all National Secretaries, Area Coordinators and other Delegates on 23rd January 2006.

Servas International – extraordinary General Assembly, Latina, Italy, 2-8 April 2006

Preparation for eGA Workshops - Subject Working Groups

Dear National Secretaries, Area Coordinators and all other delegates to the extraordinary General Assembly (eGA):

To take a big next step towards the eGA at Latina, I am writing to ask you to help create Working Groups or join Working Groups already underway.

I hope you have read the Agenda for the e General Assembly, and are now discussing it with your Board and key members? If you are having any difficulty downloading the information package, you can read it at www.siexco.org <http://www.siexco.org/> Please let us know.

As you see, I have made a place for everything you proposed for the Agenda by the deadline of October 2, 2005. Not every recommendation can be decided in the time available, but many things can be advanced at least to the stage of identifying principles and agreeing on them. Some items may have to be decided later.

To ensure efficient workshop sessions at Latina, I have asked the Agenda Working Group (AWG) to start now, to help me as Chair guide all National Secretaries and other delegates, especially those who proposed agenda items, and to link with other National Secretaries who can not attend, but who would also like to help. The details of my mandate to the AWG is attached below.

Their Key Tasks over the next few weeks will be to:

· Prepare a general paper outlining the role of eGA Workshops, guidelines for reporting back to the formal voting sessions of the GA, and drafting of motions for those GA voting sessions.

· Assist setting up a Subject Working Group for each of the subject groupings. These Working Groups will prepare background information and arrangements for the first round of workshop sessions. They will include a member of the AWG and proponents of the agenda items as well as other interested National Secretaries and conference attendees. They will meet via e-mail and possibly by teleconferences. Each working group will consider and report on their subject. We aim to have this preparatory information ready to send out to delegates prior to the GA, including translations if possible.

· Work with me, as Chair of the eGA, to facilitate adoption of the agenda on Day ‘0’, and help collate any proposed agenda amendments for consideration by the GA.

As you may by now know, many Agenda items call for amendments to the Servas International Statutes. These will be considered in workshops and voted on as separate agenda items, by the GA. The AWG will help me set up a Job Descriptions and Statutes Working Group for the GA, to ensure that several statute amendments, separately adopted by the GA, do not create conflicts or confusion.

All this is background to why I am asking every delegate to commit to a specific Subject Working Group. Please choose the one most important to you, and avoid spreading yourself too thin. Your active membership in a specific Working Group will help you steer the GA to success.

We need your input to ensure success at Latina. Please let us know in which Working Group you wish to participate.

In peace and friendship

Geoff Maltby

President - Servas International

Correspondence relating to the Agenda and the work of the Agenda Working Group (AWG) should be sent to: Gary Sealey, peacesecretary@servas.org

Convener of the AWG and Interim Programme Chair for the General Assembly

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Servas International – extraordinary General Assembly (eGA)

Latina, Italy 2nd to 8th April 2006

Next steps for the Agenda Working Group (AWG)

Summary

The agenda for the General Assembly (eGA) has been published. The AWG will help National Secretaries and others prepare the agenda items between now and the conference. Key objectives are to:

- arrange for the conference workshops

- involve as many conference participants as possible, and where possible for input from non-attending National Secretaries

- clarify agenda items where needed

- distribute translated pre-conference reading material

The items on the eGA Agenda were grouped into six subject areas:

1. Development (D), including Area Coordinators

2. Exco and Governance (E), including Officers, SI Committees and Communications

3. Financial Administration (F)

4. General Assembly (G) including Distant Voting

5. Host Lists (H), including quality and data issues

6. Membership (M), including National Group processes

Subject working groups will be created to work on the items under each of these headings.

In addition, I am asking a Job Descriptions and Statutes Working Group to take on the job of coordinating the process of amending Statutes. This work is needed because some eGA Agenda items will require amendments to the S.I. Statutes if they are passed by the eGA. Each of these will be considered separately, both in workshops and when they are voted on by the eGA. The Job Descriptions and Statutes Working Group will work to ensure that Statute amendments adopted by the eGA do not create conflicts or confusion. We anticipate that the Job Descriptions and Statutes Committee to be elected in Latina will continue this work on Statutes after the conference and may oversee a longer term, comprehensive review of the S.I. Statutes.

The mandate for the AWG in this phase is to:

1/ Prepare a general paper applicable to all workshops outlining:

- the role of the workshop sessions

- guidelines on reporting back to the General Assembly

- how to draft motions to be voted on by the General Assembly

2/ Help me as Chair set up and guide Subject Working Groups for each of the six areas made up of a member of the AWG, the proponents of the agenda items, other interested National Secretaries and conference attendees. Meetings will be via e-mail and possibly by teleconferences.

Subject working group mandate:

- consider all items, to ensure a fair hearing

- prepare logical proposals, with supporting information and noting links with other subject areas

- receive and consider any comments or proposed amendments to submitted items

- prepare a draft agenda for the workshop sessions, including a recommendation of the order in which the submitted items and any amendments should be considered.

3/ The AWG will also work with Exco to facilitate the agenda adoption process on Day ‘0’ of the General Assembly.

- work with Exco to encourage National Secretaries to be involved in the eGA

- answer agenda-related questions that the President and Exco may forward to AWG

- monitor comments on the agenda, collate proposed agenda amendments, ensure they are clear, and forward them to the appropriate subject working group or Statutes Coordinating Group

- maintain and publish a list of agenda amendments to maintain transparency

- draft agenda amendment motions for consideration by the General Assembly.

4/ Assist and support Exco in their briefing of legal advisers on agenda items requiring legal advice, especially any amendments to the S.I. Statutes.

5/ Work with Exco to form a Job Descriptions and Statutes Working Group to facilitate the statute amendment process during the conference.

The mandate for the Job Descriptions and Statutes Working Group when formed will be to:

- review all statute amendment motions drafted by Working Groups before they are voted on by the General Assembly

- maintain a list of all statute changes recommended, and agreed

- identify any amendments that conflict with the Swiss Civil Code or Standard Accounting Practices or with other sections of the current S.I. Statutes, and identify need for legal comment as may be required

- identify any inconsistencies, ambiguities or duplication created by proposed amendments

- identify motions that are inappropriate as statute amendments

- assist workshops to reword amendments, where possible, so they do not create conflicts or inconsistencies or ambiguities

- assess in advance motions for "decision in principle" be voted on by the eGA to determine direction requested by workshop discussions

- guide the order that amendments are voted on by the eGA

- maintain capacity for advice and assistance in all matters relating to statute amendments and help ensure the intent of amendments gets a fair hearing.

6/ While carrying out this work, the Agenda Working Group will maintain ties with other working groups, including the:

- group preparing a proposed set of Rules of Order

- Day ‘0’ Education and Training Group

- Job Descriptions and Statutes Working Group