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:

Attendance:

In person:

Executive Committee members:

GFMD Secretariat:

  • GFMD executive director: Mira Milosevic

  • GFMD head of policy and learning: Tom Law

Brussels notary:

Online:

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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:

7.2 Sovereign body arrow-up-right

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)

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GFMD's Chair (Zoe Titus), Deputy Chair (Jan Lublinski), and Executive Director (Mira Milosevic) will open the meeting and welcome members and guests.

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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 Assemblyarrow-up-right is being held in order to fulfil the legal requirements of our Brussels registration by:

Adoption of the final version of the new GFMD Constitution (15 mins)

Background

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The new Constitution was approved by over 96% of general members at the General Assembly in Tirana, Albania on 30 September 2021arrow-up-right.

As this exceeded the two-thirds threshold outlined in the previous GFMD constitutionarrow-up-right, the outgoing Chair, Ricardo Corredor declared the new Constitution adopted.

The General Assembly in Tirana also agreed:

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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 listarrow-up-right and publised on the GFMD websitearrow-up-right and on the GFMD Strategy and Governance resource centrearrow-up-right.

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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.

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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 Assemblyarrow-up-right:

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 Committeearrow-up-right 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.

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Details of election of the Executive Committee at the Steering Committee meeting in Tirana on 30 September 2021 are available herearrow-up-right, in the minutes from the meeting.

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The GFMD Steering Committee will meet on 7 April 2022 in Perugia, Italy. This item is on the agendaarrow-up-right - 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.

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The GFMD Steering Committee will meet on 7 April 2022 in Perugia, Italy. This item is on the agendaarrow-up-right - see "Approvals".

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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 Selectionarrow-up-right.

Adoption of 2021 final accounts (10 mins)

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GFMD's final accounts for 2021 are available herearrow-up-right.

Adoption of 2022 budget (10 mins)

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GFMD's budget for 2022 is available herearrow-up-right.

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.

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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)

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If GFMD members wish to suggest any additions to the agenda, please do so by Thursday 24th March.

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The agenda will be formally adopted by the Executive Committeearrow-up-right on Friday 25th March.

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Please note that the GFMD Steering Committeearrow-up-right 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

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If you have any questions or require more information, please contact Tom Law - [email protected].

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