16th IEF General Assembly 2012

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1. Opening of the General Assembly

The General Assembly was opened at 20:30 by Arthur Dahl, President of IEF, with nine members present.

2. Introduction of members present

Members attending were Peter Adriance (USA), Irma Allen (Swaziland), Arthur Dahl (Switzerland), Javier Gonzales (Bolivia), Duncan Hanks (Canada), Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen (Netherlands), Fabiana Mendez Raya (Bolivia), Wendi Momen (UK), Andreas Vatsellas (Greece).

3. Election of officers of the General Assembly

Given the short time available before the departure of some members, and the small number present, there was no election of officers, and the meeting proceeded immediately to the election of the governing board.

4. Approval of the agenda

The agenda was approved (Annex 1).

5. Presentation, consultation and approval of the annual report

The annual report was approved.

6. Election of the Governing Board

Fifteen ballots were received for the election of the Governing Board, 9 in person and 6 by e-mail. The Governing Board elected for the next year includes Arthur Dahl, Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen, Peter Adriance, Duncan Hanks, Emily Firth, Victoria Thoresen, and Dimity Podger.

7. Consultation on activities and priorities for the coming year

Future Annual Conferences: It was suggested to hold the 2013 meeting in Europe, possibly in partnership with the international law conference in the Netherlands or the European Bahá'í Business Forum conference in Portugal in October. For the 2014 conference, the ideal would be to hold it in Bolivia, possibly at Nur University, and then proceed to Chile for the dedication of the Bahá'í House of Worship for South America in Santiago. Our members from Bolivia offered to help with the local organization. In preparation, we should work to translate major parts of our web site into Spanish with Fabiana's help, and to build our membership on the continent.

The need to engage members more in IEF activities was raised. We should review the database of members for their areas of interest in serving IEF, and suggest specific services that would contribute to IEF, perhaps through a list of openings in the newsletter.

This process could start with educational activities, where the priority was materials on environment and sustainability in support of children's classes. We should draw on our membership to survey what already exists that could be shared more widely. Peter Adriance offered to coordinate this activity.

On following up the Rio+20 conference, we should provide our report and other results of the 16th IEF Conference to the Bahá'í World New Service for their eventual use, as well as to the Bahá'í International Community and our membership through our newsletter and web site. We should build up materials on our web site on the follow-up to UNCSD, in case the BIC would like to encourage interested national communities to refer to it for more information.

8. Other business

There was no other business.

9. Closing of the General Assembly

The president closed the General Assembly at 21:30.

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1. Opening of the General Assembly
2. Introduction of members present
3. Election of officers of the General Assembly
4. Approval of the agenda
5. Presentation, consultation and approval of the annual report
6. Election of the Governing Board
7. Consultation on activities and priorities for the coming year, such as:
- educational activities
- engaging members
- engaging with sustainable consumption
- collaboration with various partner organizations and networks
- following up the Rio+20 conference
- future IEF conferences
8. Other business
9. Closing of the General Assembly

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