2022 Annual Meeting
This meeting of GFMD’s General Assembly on April 5th 2022 is being held online and in-person in Brussels in order to fulfil the legal requirements of our Belgium registration.
Date: Tuesday 5 April
Time: 14:00 - 15:00 CET
Location:
Rond-Point Schuman 6 / 7th. Floor 1040 Brussels Brussels
Attendance:
In person:
Executive Committee members:
GFMD deputy chair: Jan Lublinski, Head of Department, Policy and Learning, Deutsche Welle Akademie
GFMD treasurer: Ruth Kronenburg, Director of Operations, FreePress Unlimited
GFMD Secretariat:
GFMD executive director: Mira Milosevic
GFMD head of policy and learning: Tom Law
Brussels notary:
Kim Lagae: https://kimlagae.be/en/
Online:
GFMD Chair: Zoe Titus, Director, Namibia Media Trust
All GFMD members who wish to attend
Members of the GFMD Secretariat
Register to attend the extraordinary GFMD General Assembly online here.
If you are unable to attend please nominate a proxy by using this document.
Background on the role of the GFMD General Assembly
For full details see section seven of the GFMD constitution.
The relevant items for this meeting are:
The General Assembly is the sovereign body of the GFMD and brings together all members, as well as partners and supporters, provided that only general members have the right to vote at General Assembly meetings.
The General Assembly:
Approves annual financial report, including remuneration of members of the Executive Committee and the Steering Committee, the appointment of auditors or representatives and their fees, and the annual budget.
AGENDA
Welcome (5 mins)
GFMD's Chair (Zoe Titus), Deputy Chair (Jan Lublinski), and Executive Director (Mira Milosevic) will open the meeting and welcome members and guests.
As GFMD Chair Zoe Titus, is joining via video link, if for any reason she is unable to attend for any part of the meeting, Deputy Chair, Jan Lublinski will chair the meeting.
This meeting of GFMD’s General Assembly is being held in order to fulfil the legal requirements of our Brussels registration by:
Adopting minutes of GFMD General Assembly in Tirana, September 2021
Adopting our new constitution in the presence of a notary.
Adopting GFMD's 2021 audited accounts.
Adopting GFMD's budget for this financial year.
Acceptance of GFMD's auditor for this financial year.
Discussing any other business raised by GFMD General Members ahead of the meeting.
Adoption of the final version of the new GFMD Constitution (15 mins)
Background
The new Constitution was approved by over 96% of general members at the General Assembly in Tirana, Albania on 30 September 2021.
As this exceeded the two-thirds threshold outlined in the previous GFMD constitution, the outgoing Chair, Ricardo Corredor declared the new Constitution adopted.
The General Assembly in Tirana also agreed:
That the new constitution, once reviewed by GFMD’s lawyers, will be registered as the organisation’s new statute.
The Steering Committee and Executive Committee will be registered in Belgium as Administrators of GFMD.
Formal adoption
The new Constitution has been reviewed by GFMD's lawyers to ensure that it meets the requirements of Belgium law and translated into French.
Both translations were shared with GFMD members in early January via the GFMD members' mailing list and publised on the GFMD website and on the GFMD Strategy and Governance resource centre.
In order to meet GFMD's responsibilities under Belgium law, the formal adoption of the constitution will be adopted by GFMD members present in person and online in the presence of the notary.
In order for the new Constitution to be officially adopted, at least two-thirds of GFMD General Members present at the General Assembly need to vote in favour of it being adopted.
Approval of 2021 Steering Committee elections
According to the requirements of GFMD's Brussels regsitration, this meeting of the GFMD General Assembly must approve the 30 September 2021 election of the GFMD Steering Committee so that this can be witnessed our notary.
Background on 2021 Steering Committee Elections:
The GFMD new Steeering Committee was elected in Tirana on 30 September 2021.
Below is a quote from the minutes of the 30 September 2021 General Assembly:
Tom Law from the GFMD Secretariat explained the nomination and voting process:
2 Aug. - 10 Sept. – Members were invited to submit their candidacy for the Steering Committee.
21 - 28 Sept. – A full list of candidates for the Steering Committee was shared with the CEO, Director or designated GFMD representative of each general member with a secure link that tracked who had voted but not who they had voted for.
29 Sept. – The voting commission met to verify that the votes have been cast and counted fairly.
The outgoing Chairperson Ricardo Corredor informed the meeting that:
Out of GFMD’s 103 general members, 81 were eligible to cast a vote (as per the Constitution, only members who are up to date on membership fees are able to vote at the General Assembly).
60 votes were cast. There were no invalid votes.
The outgoing Chairperson Ricardo Corredor announced the duly elected members of the new Steering Committee.
Confirming the appointment of the Executive Committee
Our notary has advised that the General Assembly is followed by a Steering Committee meeting in order to confirm the appointment of the members of the Executive Committee.
Details of election of the Executive Committee at the Steering Committee meeting in Tirana on 30 September 2021 are available here, in the minutes from the meeting.
The GFMD Steering Committee will meet on 7 April 2022 in Perugia, Italy. This item is on the agenda - see "Approvals".
Confirming that Executive Director is a member of the Executive Committee
Our notary has advised that the Steering Committee meeting after the General Assembly must:
Officially appoint Ms Mira Milosevic as Executive Director
Confirm that the position of Exective Director is also a non-voting member of GFMD's Executive Committee.
The GFMD Steering Committee will meet on 7 April 2022 in Perugia, Italy. This item is on the agenda - see "Approvals".
The roles and responsibilties of the GFMD administrative body, the Executive Committee - including the Executive Director's membership of the Executive Committee - is outlined in Section 6.6.1 Executive Committee Role and Selection.
Adoption of 2021 final accounts (10 mins)
GFMD's final accounts for 2021 are available here.
Adoption of 2022 budget (10 mins)
GFMD's budget for 2022 is available here.
Acceptance of auditors (5 mins)
The GFMD Secretariat would like to put forward CHRISTIAN MISSANTE SRL to audit GFMD accounts for the current financial year.
CHRISTIAN MISSANTE SRL
Avenue du Martin Pecheur, 56 bte 26 - 1170 Watermael-Boitsfort, RPM Bruxelles
TVA: BE0466163093
Auditor - Christian Missante
Any other business (10 mins)
If GFMD members wish to suggest any additions to the agenda, please do so by Thursday 24th March.
The agenda will be formally adopted by the Executive Committee on Friday 25th March.
Please note that the GFMD Steering Committee will be meeting to discuss strategic matters, approval of new members and other issues on Thursday 7th April at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy.
Contact
If you have any questions or require more information, please contact Tom Law - tlaw@gfmd.info.
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