The weekend of 3-5 February, the EC had an official meeting concerning current and future projects for IHEYO. It was great to meet each other again, for some it was a meeting for the first time. It is every time an enriching experience to work in an international team, with some great output!
Main topic of our meeting was the next IHEYO Conference. This conference will take place in India, Vijayawada, in November 06. You can read more about this exciting event in this Youth Speak.
We discussed funding requests and how to improve networking to ensure our member organization get to the right funding organization.
Next topic of concern was our African Working Group. We set out a concrete direction; EC-member Asaba Lawrence will coordinate a meeting in East Africa, and will try to organize one in West Africa as well.
A more formal discussion concerned the criteria for membership application. In response to the General Assembly’s request we worked out new guidelines. Individual membership will be discouraged by the EC because of the administrative time it needs. For organizational membership, formal registration will be requested, just as bylaws, action plan and report of activities. This gives better information to IHEYO and its General Assembly for deciding on membership.
Last but not least, our next internship project was prepared. We finalized the funding proposal and made some practical arrangements. Theme of the internship will be ‘Rights of sexual minorities’ and we will be looking for an intern coming from a country were homosexuality is illegal, preferably Uganda. Purpose will be to create a newsletter on sexual education. Host Office will be the Belgian Young Humanists, located in the centre of Brussels.
After this stimulating meeting, all ec members are looking forward to make the best of IHEYO’s future. More details can be found on our website.
Sara Wastijn & Gea Meijers