minutes from the general assembly meeting at arkitekternes ... · minutes from the general assembly...
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Minutes from the General Assembly
meeting at Arkitekternes hus in
Copenhagen 14 April 2012
Present: See attached list.
1. Welcome address and opening of the meeting
Sofie Wäborg, chair of ASF-Denmark and host of the GA meeting, welcomed the participants to Copen-
hagen and to the GA meeting.
The Chairman of ASF-Int, Stéphane Plisson addressed the audience, greeted everybody welcome and
opened the meeting.
2. Nomination of persons who will assume the positions of President and
Secretary of the General Assembly
It was proposed to elect Sofie Wäborg and Peter Burk to chair the GA meeting. The proposal was accep-
ted. It was proposed that Dick Urban Vestbro will be the secretary of the meeting. The proposal was
accepted. It was decided that Anne Gramtorp of ASF-Denmark shall verify the minutes.
3. Introduction of everybody present
Each person present introduced her/himself.
4. Approval of the agenda by the General Assembly
The proposed agenda and work schedule were approved.
5. A vote on whether the GA was convened in accordance with the statutes
Dick Urban Vestbro explained that the invitation to the GA meeting had been sent out more than 12
weeks in advance and that the Board Activity Plan and other documents had been sent out within the
stipulated time limits. It was decided to consider the GA meeting to be appropriately convened.
6. A statement on the representation of members and voting rights
The list of participation was circulated and everybody was asked to fill in the list of participation. The
chairs read the list of names of those having the voting right of each member organisation. It was deci-
ded to approve the names as those having the voting right (see attachment).
7. Approval of the Annual Report drawn up by the Board
Dick Urban Vestbro made an oral presentation of the report, which had been sent out prior to the meet-
ing. After a few questions and comments it was decided to approve the Annual Report (attached).
8. Approval of the verified financial statements
Rune presented the economic report for 2011. It was decided to approve the economic report (attached).
9. The audit report
The report from auditor Jenny Andersson was displayed on the wall. The issue of accounting program
was discussed briefly. It was decided to approve the audit report (see attachment).
10. Granting discharge to the outgoing Board
It was decided to grant discharge to the outgoing Board.
11. Election of members of the Board for the next period
Beatrice de Carli of the Election Preparatory Committee presented the proposal for the new Board. It
was decided to approve the proposal, namely: Rune Asholt, ASF-Denmark (re-election); Valeria
Sciaretta, ASF Italian Network (re-election); Dick Urban Vestbro, ARC●PEACE (re-election); Naomi
Shinkins, ASF-UK (new); Guruprasad Rane, ASF Society, India (new). (In the earlier paper Xavier
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Codina was by mistake included in the proposal).
Board members with mandates to 2013 are: Stephane Plisson, ASF-France; Pawan Shestra, EWB, Nepal;
Anna Engvall, ASF-Sweden; Richard A Losalajome, ASF RD Congo; and Xavier Codina, ASF-Espaňa.
12. Election of auditors for the next period
Beatrice de Carli of the Election Preparatory Committee presented the proposal: Beatrice de Carli, ASF-
Italia; and Melissa Kinnear, ASF-UK. It was decided according to the proposal.
13. Appointing the preparatory committee for elections in the next period
The following persons were proposed: Beatrice de Carli of ASF-Italia (Milano); Sophie Jopling of ASF-
UK and Niclas Dunnebacke of ASF-France. It was decided to appoint the proposed persons.
14. Decision on membership subscriptions and the budget for the next period
Rune Asholt presented the proposal about membership fee. The meeting 2011 had decided to increase
the fee to Eur 300 effective from 2012. Jordi Balari presented a proposal for a scaled membership fee
proportional to the budget/turnover of each member organisation, as commissioned by the GA meeting
2011 (see attachment). It was proposed to take away one zero (0) from each step in the scale to make the
proposal more realistic. It was decided to accept the proposal with this modification, to be effective from
2013. Stéphane Plisson and some others wanted to keep the fixed membership for all.
15. Decision on planned activities for the next period
Stéphane Plisson and Dick Urban Vestbro presented the proposed Activity Plan and the suggestions for
group work. The participants divided themselves into seven groups.
The groups reported orally and were asked to submit notes on paper for compilation by the Board.
It was decided to compile all group proposals for the Board to use as a basis for elaboration of the
Activity Plan, which should then be sent out to members for comments before the Board decides about
the final version of the Activity Plan
16. Topics and other proposals for the next period
No motions had been submitted so there was nothing to discuss under this point.
17. Any other points
Jordi Balari informed the GA meeting about the work of an UIA project in the form of an exhibition,
which can be made available to all ASF members.
18. Closing of meeting
Stéphane Plisson thanked Sophie Jopling for her work in the Board and handed over a little gift.
The Danish group got standing ovations from the assembly for its excellent organisation of the meeting.
Secretary Verified by
Dick Urban Vestbro
Anne Gramtorp
Chairpersons of the meeting
Sofie Wäborg Peter Burk
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ANNUAL ACTIVITY REPORT
from the Board for the year 2011
(approved by the GA meeting 14 April 2012)
This is the fifth Annual Report since ASF–International was formally constituted in 2007. During 2011
ASF-Int has continued to recruit new members and extended its activities. We have started to establish a
permanent Secretariat that will permit a better coordination between members, improved the website,
received many signs of interest in ASF around the world and managed the important common project
Development Architecture Education.
GA Meeting in Milan April 2011
In April 2011 the GA Meeting was held in Milano, hosted by ASF-Italia. Not less than 14 member orga-
nisations were represented by 35 participants from 12 countries. The meeting decided to grant membership
to ASF-Hellas as its 21st member, while at the same time confirming the previous decision by the Board to
grant membership to ASF-Bénin and Architekten Ohne Grenzen-Austria. Jordi Balari of ASF-España
stepped down as ASF-Int chairman after 4 years of service and was replaced by Stéphane Plisson of ASF-
France. The meeting adopted an Activity Plan in which the major goals are to improve information active-
ties, to increase the number of members and to achieve financial autonomy. The GA meeting decided to
raise membership fees to €300 from 2012 and to work for external fund-raising in order to cover the costs
of a secretariat that can handle communication with members, doing general office management and con-
tribute to strategic planning of ASF-Int. It was also decided to send out the Draft Strategic Plan to member
organisations with a request to have local discussions and send comments for compilation. Not many mem-
bers took time to respond to this request, however.
Board composition and meetings
The Board has consisted of the following ten members:
Name Member organisation Functions Elected until
Stéphane Plisson ASF-France Chair, fundraising 2013
Valeria Sciarretta ASF- ONLUS (Italia) Vice-Chair, fundraising,
project coordination
2012
Pawan Kumar Shrestha EWB Nepal Vice-Chair, newsletter,
website
2013
Rune Asholt ASF-DK Treasurer, website 2012
Dick Urban Vestbro ARC●PEACE Secretary, membership list 2012
Sophie Jopling ASF-UK Member, website 2012
Gopal Shankar Habitat Technology Group, India Member 2012
Richard Losalajome ASF-RD Congo Member, translations into
French
2013
Anna Engvall ASF-Sweden Vice-Secretary, interest list 2013
Xavier Codina ASF-Espaňa Contact with Secretariat,
project coordination,
newsletter
2013
All Board members except Gopal Shankar have participated actively in the deliberations of the Board, at
meetings and by email. Gopal Shankar was encouraged several times by email and telephone to fulfil his
duties, but without result.
During 2011 the Board had the following six meetings: 19 February in Popoli, Abruzzo; 13 March by
email; 9-10 April in Milano; 27 June by email, 24 September in Lisbon (hosted by ASF-Portugal and 4
February 2012 in Freiburg (hosted by AUG Germany). The meeting in Abruzzo was combined with social
events together with members of ASF-Onlus-Italia and a very interesting study visit to the city of Aquila,
destroyed by the earthquake on the 6th of April 2009. The meeting in Lisbon was combined with a full day
seminar with many participants and well organised study visits in Lisbon. The meeting in Freiburg was
combined with study visits to ecological projects in the Vauban area, and with fruitful discussions with
AUG Germany.
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The Board consciously selected these meeting places in order to better learn to know member organisations
which do not have representatives in the Board. In this way ties between members have been strengthened.
Between meetings the Board has communicated intensively by email and also taken decisions by email in
certain cases. Travel costs in connection with physical Board meetings have been covered by each person’s
member organization.
Members, recruitment
At the end of 2011 ASF-Int had 22 registered members. They have received regular information through
email and been requested to supply information about interest in common projects (see further below) and
about other issues. For silent members the Board took special contacts to find out more about their plans.
Special attempts have been made to investigate the possibilities to revive ASF-Brazil and Arquitectos Soli-
darios of the same country. Among the many individuals sending messages to ASF-Int through the website
some have been encouraged to form ASF organisations in their own country. This is the case for groups in
Argentina, Gambia, Jordan, Mexico, Poland, USA and Venezuela. The Board has also tried to recruit exis-
ting organisations such as Centro de Ação Social em Arquitetura e urbanismo Sustentável (CASAS) in Bra-
zil and Architects Without Borders in Canada. These organisations have declined membership with refe-
rence to the cost of the membership fee.
At the Freiburg meeting the Board granted full membership to ASF-Tunisie as its 23rd
member. ASF-
Macao has applied for membership by signing the Hasselt Charter. Proof of registration and statutes remain
for membership approval. An application has also been received by the Association pour les Victimes de la
Répression en Afrique (AVRA) in Congo-Kinshasa. At the Board meeting 12 March 2012 ASF Society-
India, founded by Guruprasad Rane, was granted membership (24th member). The Board has also kept in
touch with many interested individuals in other countries.
“Interest list”
During the year the Board has received many questions about internship, jobs, membership and other signs
of interest from individuals who visited our website. The secretaries (Vestbro and Engvall) have sent out
standardized replies (Plisson the ones in French and Codina the ones in Spanish). Job seekers have been
referred to member organisations (since ASF-Int does not run projects). Those who want to become mem-
bers have either been referred to the ASF member in their own country or asked to start an organisation
themselves. All those seeking contact have been listed in an “interest list”, which comprises more than 200
names in 46 countries. The list can be used for future recruitment of members and newsletter subscriptions.
The many requests show that there is an increasing interest in ASF. This potential could be used in the
future when administrative resources expand.
Secretariat
During the year ASF-Espaňa has provided limited secretarial services to ASF-Int by forming a group of
volunteers in its Barcelona office. The Secretariat is organising an archive by filing minutes from Board
and GA meetings, email messages and other documents. It is expected to send out information regularly,
keep an updated membership list and to carry out some other tasks of a future ASF-Int Secretariat. Through
Pawan Shrestha EWB of Nepal has offered to assist with secretarial duties (having the benefit of low sala-
ries and some volunteers). The Board considers this promising for the future. The Board has budgeted a
sum of €7 600 for secretarial work in 2012, hoping that fund-raising will provide incomes of €5 000.
Economic situation, fund-raising
In line with the decision of the GA meeting 2011 the Board has devoted ample time to discuss the issue of
fund-raising. As a basis for fund-raising the draft sponsor policy from 2007 was revised, adopted in an
updated form and displayed at the website. The policy specifies what sponsoring companies will get from
ASF-Int (e.g. their names on the website). The Board has also got a Paypal facility for easy payment of
fees, gifts and other contributions.
At the initiative of Valeria Sciarretta the Board has started to build a database about member organisations
and their interest in common project for which ASF can apply for funding through the European Union.
The documentation will be useful for future cross-country cooperation and common project applications.
Sciaretta also proposed other actions to raise funds, including a special event in connection with the GA
meeting, a raffle/lottery and the “box in a public place”. Some of these proposals are proposed to be inte-
grated into the Activity Plan for 2012-1013. On behalf of ASF-Int ASF-España submitted an application to
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the Europe Aid program of the European Union (focusing on technical assistance to countries outside
Europe), encompassing a budget of €160.000 to be used during a period of 36 months. The application
passed the first stage but failed to reach full approval.
The ASF-Int Chairman has approached companies in France to find out about their willingness to be spon-
sors of ASF-Int. The contacts are expected to continue during 2012.
In the absence of external funding ASF-Int has continued to rely economically on membership fees, which
means that resources for activities are very limited. The costs consist mainly of payment for updating the
website and of support for travel costs in connection with the GA meetings.
Website, communications, newsletter
The website established in 2010 has proved very valuable. It gets an increasing number of visitors (11,000
in 2011). Board members Sophie Jopling and Pawan Shrestha have been responsible for updating the web-
site. Some small pieces of information have been added in French and Spanish, but much remains to make
the website multi-lingual. At the initiative of Rune Asholt (in collaboration with Guruprasad Rane) the pos-
sibility of an active web forum has been explored. This idea may be implemented when administrative
resources allow. Preparations have been made to launch a newsletter to be published regularly. In February
2012 more than 300 subscribers were registered waiting for the first issue to be published.
Development Architecture Education
During the year the Board has taken an active interest in the project Development Architecture Education,
carried out with funding from the European Community’s Lifelong Learning Programme/Leonardo Agency, with ASF-España as the coordinator and ASF members in France, UK Italy and Sweden as other
partners. This project will be reported separately to the GA meeting. The project will end in August 2012.
A new application for funding is being prepared.
Portfolio & PowerPoint presentation
During 2011 the Board decided to update the project portfolio and the PowerPoint presentation of ASF-Int.
For both tasks Beatrice de Carli generously accepted to carry out the job in collaboration with Vestbro.
Both documents are expected to be ready for the 2012 GA meeting.
Contacts with other organizations
During the year the Board has only briefly discussed collaboration with other organisations. Those of
interest are: Union Internationale des Architectes (UIA), Habitat International Coalition (HIC), United
Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), Homeless International (UK) and Development Workshop. The
Board has relied much on the continuous contact that Ex-Chair Jordi Balari has with most of these orga-
nisations. During 2011 the existence of Urbanistes Sans Frontières was discovered. The Board wrote to
this organisation and proposed cooperation, but no answer has so far been received.
Others
During the year the Activity report, the Activity Plan and the Strategic Plan have been translated into
French by Richard Losalajome.
Concerning the decision of the GA meeting 2011 to establish a technical ‘task force’ the Board decided to
ask the initiator Antonello Iorio to form a working group. The realization of the data base on professional
expertise will be a first step.
Final words
In conclusion, the Board finds that it has fulfilled the Activity Plan for 2011 with respect to increased
visibility, establishment of a new website, recruitment of new members, establishment of a Secretariat, the
production of a portfolio and a PowerPoint presentation, but not with respect to achieving financial
autonomy and starting common projects. The Board considers it a great achievement that the common
project Development Architecture Education has been started. Attempts have also been made to initiate
other cross-member projects.