ANNUAL REPORT 2018 International Falcon Movement Socialist Educational International
In 2018, we talked about sex, built new bridges and celebrated participation on an island in Finland! 2018 was the second of three years in our current mandate and was a year of renewed growth for the organisation. We saw the completion of our two-year global project on migration and refugees, On The Move, and the beginning of our exciting new global project on peace education and dialogue for inclusive societies, Building Bridges: Youth Work for Peace and Dialogue, with partners from Asia, Africa and Latin America! You may have seen our videos or zine from our fun and engaging project on inclusive sex education, Let’s Talk About Sex, and we hoped you also followed our work on combatting racism and populism through Be The Change. Child and youth participation was a key focal theme in 2018, and we were pleased to see so many of you join us on the idyllic campsite island in Finland for Participation Island, bringing together 650 children and young people from across the globe! 2018 was a surprising year of change with regards to our governance structures. Even though the elections for our Presidium and Control Commission usually take place at our Congress, we elected Chrisi as our new President, two new members of the Presidium (welcome Ellen Lindsey and Sebastian!) and two new members of Control Commission (say hi to Mie and Jure!) at our International Committee 2018 in Brussels. The new Presidium came together in person for the first time at the end of October in Istanbul, followed closely after by the new Control Commission’s meeting in November in Brussels to set the 2019 budget. We can certainly say that we’ve felt a new wave of energy in our governance structures with the newcomers on board! We are very happy to see the development of three of our thematic networks in 2018: our Rainbow Network, Feminist Network and Migration Network. This was largely due to our new activity, Proud and Visible, in partnership with our fraternal sister organisation, Party of European Socialists, which incorporates our thematic network meetings and are open to member from all of our regions! Proud and Visible is a thrilling initiative that looks at the realities of specific marginalised groups and how to fight for their rights bringing together participants from across the socialist family, with a focus on coming up with solutions and projects to take the topic forward together. This year we had two editions of Proud and Visible, one on migrant rights and another on women’s rights. A big thank you to PES for their continued support! There was a new addition to the IFM-SEI secretariat this year with Sarah joining us our Communications Developer to come up with a communications strategy to be rolled out over the next years. Lots of you inputted into the communications consultation (thank you!) and we are very excited about the work to come on this in the future to put it into fruition. We also recruited a shiny new Governance Review Group from our membership to analyse our governance structures, a topic that we will discuss at our Congress in 2019 – there’s more to come soon on this!
We also launched a magnificent new project partnership with Oxfam Canada on a fresh initiative, Amplifying Voices, which was launched at the end of the year. The project will facilitate transatlantic dialogues between young people in Europe and Canada on the themes of climate change, gender equality and the prevention of violent extremism, giving five European member organisations the one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take part in a project together with Canadian youth over a two-year period. This also gives us the chance to work with EuropeAid as the project funders – a new institutional partnership for IFM-SEI! IFM-SEI continued its work sitting on the Council of Europe’s Advisory Council on Youth and Children’s Rights Action Group, as well as the Expert Group on Erasmus+ and Funding and Migration and Human Rights Network of the European Youth Forum. IFM-SEI was also represented at huge array of meetings and conference from a wide range of partners and networks, such as the International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organisations (ICMYO), Progressive Alliance, Inclusion Europe and the Party of European Socialists. It’s vital for us to be able to work with other like-minded organisations to influence relevant policy areas and input our expertise and good practice. IFM-SEI was also one of the partners of the YO!Fest 2018, the largest political youth festival in Europe bringing together over 8000 young people, sending a large delegation to participate and we delivered workshops from our On The Move, I Act and All Together Against Climate Change projects. The preparations for Common Ground 2020 – our next IFM-SEI international camp – are well underway. Jess (a member of Nuoret Kotkat and Esplac) was elected as a new IFM-SEI representative on the camp board in June. The programme preparations are firmly in motion and organisations are already being matched. Do you know which organisations you’re camping with? If not, now’s the time to start the conversations! And don’t forget to put the date in your diary now – join us in Kent (UK) on 1-11 August 2020. The increase in the number of projects and partnerships – as well as strategic work on communications and finances - have allowed us to increase our reach and impact in 2018. We’ve seen the development of member-led networks and working groups, new globally focused projects and we’ve welcomed in new candidate organisations into our family from Cameroon, Egypt and Palestine. We give a massive thank you to the constant and determined work of all of our volunteers and huge commitment from our member organisations to make all of this happen, so we can bring socialist education and an alternative vision of the world to more children and young people around the globe. Thank you! In solidarity and friendship,
Carly Walker-Dawson IFM-SEI Secretary General
Christina Schauer IFM-SEI President
Who we are The International Falcon Movement - Socialist Educational International is an international educational movement working to empower children and young people to take an active role in society and fight for their rights. We are an umbrella organisation for child and youth-led movements all over the world, delivering socialist education on the basis of our values of equality, democracy, solidarity, peace, cooperation and anti-capitalism.
Girls Excel (Cameroon) Oyoun Masr Association (Egypt) Youth Advocates Ghana Pionniers du Mali Action Enfance (Senegal) Pionniers du Senegal UJSARIO (Western Sahara) Patsimederu Trust (Zimbabwe)
Youth Organization Bhutan Antar Bharati (India) KKSP Foundation (Indonesia)
Armenian Youth Federation Rote Falken Kinderfreunde (Austria) Falcons of Belarus Les Faucons Rouges (Belgium) Rode Valken (Belgium) Esplais Catalans (Catalonia) Pionyr (Czech Republic) DUI LEG og VIRKE (Denmark) Nuoret Kotkat (Finland) Georgian Falcons SJD-Die Falken (Germany) Hungarian Childfriends Lithuanian Young Falcon Union Framfylkingen (Norway) Fénix (Slovakia) Slovenian Falcons Unga Örnar (Sweden) Rote Falken (Switzerland) Woodcraft Folk (UK)
Ajyal (Israel) Hashomer Hatzair (Israel) Noar Oved Vehalomed (Israel) Independence Youth Union (Palestine) Independent Youth Forum (Palestine) Palestine Red Crescent Society Seeds Association ‘Bothoor’ (Palestine) Association for Social Democracy (Turkey)
Nueva Generación (Bolivia) Mirim Brasil Agrupación Integridad Absoluta (Chile) Manque Chile MILAVF (Nicaragua) CHAP (Peru) Los Cachorros (Peru) Mundo Nuevo (Peru)
2018 in numbers
1700 participants
21 project activities
10 statutory meetings
7 thematic network meetings
27 representation activities
4 regional network meetings
3 educational resources
46 member organisations
67% increase in followers
18% increase in followers
16% increase in page likes
Our Aims and Principles 1. The International Falcon Movement-Socialist Educational International The International Falcon Movement – Socialist Educational International (IFM-SEI) is an international educational movement working to empower children and young people to take an active role in society and fight for their rights. We are an umbrella organisation for child and youth-led movements all over the world, educating on the basis of our values of equality, democracy, peace, co-operation, solidarity and friendship. Through our member organisations and our international activities, we aim to ensure that children and young people are well informed about their rights and are empowered to ensure they are respected. To reach this goal, we organise a variety of activities including seminars, training courses, international camps and conferences. 2. A world organisation IFM-SEI is a world movement of different types of organisations that work with children and young people and that share the aims and principles of IFM-SEI. 3. Children’s rights The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a key document in all our work. Through peer education, we aim to educate children and young people about their rights and support them to ensure they are respected. 4. Education Education is the most powerful tool to achieve social change. Through non-formal education, we create a space for children and young people to develop critical awareness and empower them to challenge the inequalities in our world. We educate on the principles of respect, equality and friendship that are essential for the creation of a world where all may live in peace and solidarity. We call this socialist education. 5. International solidarity Our motto is “Span the world with friendship”. Only by coming together as a global movement will we be able to challenge and change the current world order. We actively encourage solidarity by providing opportunities for inter-cultural exchange and learning to take place. Our activities work towards this fundamental principle as we can best achieve our aims by learning from each other, working together and supporting each other’s struggles in solidarity. 6. Equality We educate and campaign for an inclusive and equal society. Therefore we combat any kind of discrimination such as fascism, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, trans*phobia and misogyny within and outside of our organisations. 7. Gender equality We are a feminist organisation. We fight against patriarchy and for equality of all genders. We reject the gender binary and recognise that there are more than two genders. We do not accept that women and non-binary gendered people still face discrimination on a day-to-day basis in all societies. We are a feminist organisation and we fight for equality between genders and against patriarchy. Therefore we educate for equal rights and awareness of gender stereotypes, discrimination and privileges and we use affirmative action and tools such as the gender quota in our organisations.
8. Environmental sustainability IFM-SEI is concerned about the misuse of the world’s diminishing resources and the connected dangerous change to the world’s climate. Consumerism and the extreme exploitation of natural resources by the wealthy few in society have a severe natural and human impact, disproportionately affecting poor people. We encourage member organisations to protect their own environment and take actions that support sustainability in the ecological, social, and economic sense, so that today and in the future everyone has access to a healthy, stimulating and secure environment. 9. Peace Peace is more than just the absence of war. We choose peace and are dedicated to a world where everyone can live in a non-violent environment free from abuse, war, bullying, discrimination, exclusion and fear, that is healthy and stimulating and where conflicts can be peacefully transformed. IFM-SEI undertakes peace education and promotes peace initiatives whenever and wherever possible. Peace education must always criticize reality and the normative way to understand it but it also has to give an alternative. Peace will only be really achieved when all forms of exploitation cease. 10. Democracy We believe that people should be able to take part in decision-making at all levels in meaningful and inclusive ways. Democratic processes govern IFM-SEI and its member organisations. Children and young people are involved in all levels of decision-making in our movement, from their local groups to the world congress. It is our firm belief that children are able to make decisions and have valid opinions on a wide variety of issues from a local to a global level but they need to be heard in society. We provide the space for children to develop their knowledge, attitudes, values and skills to secure their equal participation in the democratic process and we make sure that adequate spaces for participation are provided. 11. Anti-capitalism The capitalist system that our society is based on creates inequality. Those suffering the most from inequality are children living in poverty who lack opportunities to develop their potential. We recognise the power that neoliberal 12. Freedom IFM-SEI is dedicated to a world where everyone can live in freedom without being bound by war, borders, undemocratic political systems or poverty. We believe that everyone has the right to freedom of choice and freedom of speech and the freedom to develop their own identity as long as it does not restrict other people’s human rights.
Let’s Talk About Sex A core project in 2018 was our Let’s Talk About Sex is a project that rolled out a comprehensive programme on quality, inclusive sex education for kids and young people in IFM-SEI and beyond. The project tackled the topics of gender, sexuality, bodies, body positivity and inclusive sex education, and explores and celebrates the nonnormative aspects of sex education and groups of people who are usually left out of sex education. Through the project, we explored what is sex, why people have sex, how to do it safely with consent and the emotional side of sex. This project was delivered with generous support from the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe. Why did we establish this project? Most young people deem the sex education they’ve received is very poorly delivered or insufficient. It is widely known that many teenagers use the internet and the mainstream media, such as gossip magazines, to satisfy their curiosity and the information they can find there can be distorted and/or inaccurate. Talking about sex is still considered a taboo across the generations. With this this project we wanted to raise awareness of how lacking and non-inclusive sex education is. We wanted to educate young people, peer educators and youth workers to deliver inclusive sex education that is inclusive with the whole spectrum of genders and sexualities and also with people with disabilities, as well as promoting body positivity and bodily diversity. We wanted to educate young people from an early age – through non-formal education – to be able to speak openly about sex and to have healthy sex lives. We wanted to explore more than just the physical aspects of sex and approach the topic from an emotional and psychological perspective. What did we do? The heart of the project was the two parallel seminars that took place in Döbriach in May: Me as a Sexual Being and Us as Sexual Beings. Bringing together 26 young people with the beautiful backdrop of the Austrian mountains, the seminars explored the topics of the project in depth over a week. Me as a Sexual Being was the first of two parallel LTAS seminars, which explored sex education in relation to the participants’ own experiences of their identity, bodies, gender and sexuality and analyse how society shapes these identities. Topics covered included the theory of gender and sexuality, discrimination, the impact of media and pornography, sex - getting what you want and need, sexual rights as human rights, and identifying good practices for sex education.
Us as Sexual Beings was the second parallel seminar participants where participants explored sex and sex education in relation to patriarchy, societal hierarchies and systemic oppression. Participants focused particularly on marginalised identities and how they are excluded in mainstream sex education, reflecting on sexual identities and expression in relation to pornography, the mainstream media, culture and religion. Topics addressed were disability and ableism, critical sex positivity and sex work. A wonderful team of 14 (s)experts embarked on Participation Island with a bag full of energy and workshops, engaging with hundreds of participants aged 6 to 60 to roll-out activities on sex education. The LTAS team delivered a programme of 16 workshops at Participation Island, ranging from a genitalia fruit sculpture making workshop to exploring communication in sex and relationships, all on a remote Finnish island. Want to find out more about LTAS? You can check out our seminars vlogs on our YouTube channel – they’re very good fun to watch! And our shiny, straight-talking sex positive zine is available in print and digital copy on Issuu for free download. And watch out in the coming months for a handbook for educators on the topic of inclusive sex education!
On The Move If you haven’t heard of On The Move by now, then where have you been?! On the Move is our global project that was launched at our international camp in 2016 and has been one of our flagship projects in last two years. The project explores the topics of refugees, migration, visas and regional youth work, raising awareness of the challenges facing young refugees and migrants and finding ways to better include them in our organisations, as well as educating others on the topic. The project is particularly relevant to young people now living in a globalised world and who do not want to be stopped by borders! We saw the closing segments of On The Move in 2018. At the start of the year, we went to Peru to deliver the final face-to-face instalment of the project – the Latin American regional meeting. Participants from CHAP (Peru), Los Cachorros (Peru), Nueva Generación (Bolivia) and Mirim Brasil came together to explore how the topics of the project relate to the Latin American-specific context. The average aged of the participants was 21, bringing fantastic youthful energy and outstanding group dynamics to the seminar. We are very excited to hear how the Latin American region puts their plans into action continue the work on this topic in the future! A culmination of all of the debates, discussions, ideas and issues from the On The Move project in its entirety is our On The Move handbook – a tool for educators on the topics of refugees, migration, visas and regional youth work. Why not take a look and deliver one of the handmade activities with your group in the next months?
Building Bridges: Youth Work for Peace and Dialogue As the On The Move global project came to a close, we were very excited to get moving on our newly granted global project in 2018, Building Bridges: Youth Work for Peace and Dialogue. The aim of the two-year global project is to promote peace education and dialogue through youth work in different world regions by initiating a cross continental approach. This project will build on the work that IFM-SEI undertook in 2015 in Europe and the Middle East on peace education, culminating in the publication of the Peace Education Handbook (check it out!) - this time the project will focus on Asia, Africa and Latin America. It is a much-needed project exploring one of our key values of peace through non-formal education! The online kick-off meeting of the project took place in October 2018 with the participation of coordinators from all the project partners. We hope you’re as excited as we are about this project! Why peace and dialogue? Across the globe we are seeing increasing rising divisions in societies and tensions between different social groups. There is an increased strain on young people due to political and socioeconomic pressures and groups of young people are blaming other groups for problems being created by the political elite. A rise of populism and nationalism is seeing groups being pitted against each other. Youth can be the power to change this with over 1.8 billion young people in the world - its largest youth population ever. Building Bridges addresses the need for a two-pronged approach of education and dialogue to tackle social exclusion and overcome the societal conflicts through youth work. We live in a globalised world and therefore need global solutions to local problems - hence this project will bring together partners from Africa, Asia and Latin America. The project started in October 2018 with a kick-off meeting and will be completed by the end of 2020
Reach Out: Bringing Global to Local The Reach Out youth exchange was project for 1318 year olds who were first-timers to the world of international activities - an initiative of the IFM-SEI Reach Out Working Group. As well as giving young people a chance to be part our international movement and to meet other youth groups from IFM-SEI European Network, the participants got to learn about internationalism and global citizenship, developing an understanding of our core values of solidarity, diversity, internationalism, freedom and friendship. 45 youngsters from across Europe took part in an invigorating programme in Barcelona, including a mixture of outdoor activities, simulation games, debates, role-plays and workshops to explore what is internationalism and why it’s important. The activity culminated at Esplac’s Esplaiada - a huge gathering of thousands of children and young people from Esplais Catalans, our Catalan member organisation. After learning lots of new things and designing activities based on their learning in the week long seminar, the participants ran activities on internationalism for other participants of the Esplaiada. They truly brought global to local!
YO!Fest 2018 and European Youth Event The 10th edition of YO!Fest (Youth Opinion Festival), Europe’s biggest youth political festival, took place on 1-2 June in Strasbourg, France. The event took place alongside the European Youth Event hosted by the European Parliament - a unique opportunity for young Europeans to make their voices heard and discuss their idea with decisionmakers in Parliament over two days. As well as sending a big delegation to the festival, IFM-SEI was involved in delivering several popular workshops at the event. YO!Fest is organised by the European Youth Forum and combines debates, workshops, talks, exhibitions, and performances to celebrate what it means to be a young European. There were five hubs at the event: Keeping up with the Digital Revolution, Staying Alive in Turbulent Times, Working out for a Stronger Europe, Protecting our Planet and Calling for a Fair Share. IFM-SEI ran workshops under the Calling for a Fair Share hub running activities on migration from our On The Move project, I Act and prevention of sexual violence, and the effects of climate change from our ATACC project. What an opportunity to spread the messages about IFM-SEI’s values to hundreds of young people from across Europe!
Proud and Visible A new initiative and a new partnership in 2018, Proud and Visible saw IFM-SEI form a collaboration with our fraternal sister organisation, the Party of European Socialists. The idea behind the programme is to bring together participants from across the socialist family to explore specific topics relation to social inclusion and marginalised groups and come up with common solutions. Being able to tackle the topic of inclusion with wider members from the wider civil society and party political sector is a new approach, and we had participants from International Union of Socialist Youth, the Party of European Socialists Women, Rainbow Rose and national political parties at these activities. The first edition – Proud and Visible: in the Fight for Migrants’ Rights - took place in March and the second edition - Proud and Visible: in the Fight for Women’s Rights – took place in November. Both activities took place in Istanbul, a city on the border between Europe and Asia, and a pertinent location when thinking about the themes in question. We were pleased to be able to bring together participants from Africa, Europe, Middle East and Latin America in these activities. The sharing and outcome focus on the activities and space for strategic planning on the themes makes this an invaluable new addition to our annual programme!
Adultism - What’s That? Coming together at Nuoret Kotkat’s 75th anniversary jubilee camp, held on the beautiful Bengtsår Camp Island in the Finnish Archipelago Sea, 35 participants explored the topic of adultism (discrimination towards children) through a challenging and exciting programme bringing together participants aged as a young as 6 years old up to 60+. The 50/50 seminar of kids and adults used art, theatre and discussion to explore the topic and consider how we can challenge adultism in our organisations, societies and daily lives. The outcomes of the seminar will be used to develop our future work on the theme of child and youth participation – so keep your eyes peeled!
Queer Easter: Allyship 101! The theme of this year’s Queer Easter was ‘Solidarity Versus Segregation’. Over 100 members from IFM-SEI and Young European Socialists came together during a week in March and April 2018 for the biggest socialist educational LGBTQI event in Europe. IFM-SEI delivered a working group on how to be positive allies of the LGBTQI community, as well as playing host to our IFM-SEI Rainbow Network and Feminist Network meetings.
Be The Change Be The Change brought together 30 participants aged 16-22 from across Europe to explore how to combat racism, populism, islamophobia and anti-semitism. This 101 study session for young members worked to foster a critical awareness in young people and come up with tools to tackle these forms of discrimination in their own communities and organisations. The participants came together over one week at the European Youth Centre Strasbourg, supported by the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, and they took part in a varied and dynamic non-formal educational programme where they explored the topic, came up with their own localised projects and produced creative project outputs.
Amplifying Voices We formed a sensational new partnership in 2018 with Oxfam Canada for our new project, Amplifying Voices, which was launched at the end of the year. It will enact transatlantic dialogues between young people in Europe and Canada on the themes of climate change, gender equality and the prevention of violent extremism. Five lucky IFM-SEI organisations will have the chance to cooperate with young people in Canada and will raise their voices at the transatlantic level. A combination of local workshops, community-based campaigns and international seminars makes this is a opportunity not to be missed!
Participation Island It was all about child and youth participation at Participation Island in July, the international camp hosted by Nuoret Kotkat bringing together 650 children and young people on the tranquil campsite island near Hanko, in Finland. Celebrating 75 years of Nuoret Kotkat, kids and young people from across the world came together in four international villages and got the chance to take part in workshops, water sports, outdoor activities and a creative arts programme. The highlight of the camp for many was the kids’ takeover day where the children and young people had full reign of the programme. The workshops on participation that took place in all villages served as a strong groundwork for this, where the participants organise a giant water day with a huge waterslide (perfect for the 30 degree heat!).
Common Ground 2020 The preparation for our next IFM-SEI international camp are well underway, with the Common Ground board moving forward on many exciting new progressions. A dedicated website and social media channels were launched in 2018, as well the announcement of the programme theme areas. The 13 Common Ground theme centres will be: Hands On (science, bushcraft, games), Arts, Media, Heritage, Training, Anti-Racism & Anti-Fascism, Environment & Migration, Rainbow (LGBTQI), Feminism, Sex & Relationships, Conflict & Peace, Cooperation and the Under 10s Area. Jess (from Esplac and Nuoret Kotkat) was elected to be one of the IFM-SEI representatives on the camp board at the International Committee 2018. She will join Klaus (Rote Falken Austria) and Jasen (Patsime) as our international reps – do say hello to them! And don’t forget to put the date in your diary – 11-11 August 2020!
Representation activities IFM-SEI continued its work on the Advisory Council on Youth the co-management decision-making body for the youth department of the Council of Europe, where our Secretary General leads on the global education and disability portfolios, as well as sitting on the Programming Committee on Youth (that deals with the budget ad funding). We work with other organisations to influence youth policy through our participation in the European Youth Forum’s Funding Expert Group and Migration and Human Rights Network. We have also contributed to the Children’s Right Advocacy Group in Brussels, putting child participation as a topic on the agenda of the group. As well as visiting many exciting activities from our member organisations, IFM-SEI was represented at a number of our partners’ activities in 2018. IFM-SEI attended the congresses of the International Union of Socialist Youth, the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance, continuing to build strong links between IFM-SEI and its sister organisations in the party political field. IFM-SEI joined the Erasmusx10 Campaign as a partner, calling for ten times more funding for youth in the next EU budget, and is a coalition partner in the United Nations’ #WithRefugees campaign. We were pleased to join the SocDem Asia Political Training Academy to bring in our expertise on the topic of feminism and to present the history of IFM-SEI as part of a project on the history of youth organisations with the EUCouncil of Europe Youth Partnership. We also were on the delivery team for the Partnership’s consultative meeting on citizenship education. We managed to get along to many other external activities to input our expertise; at events hosted by Inclusion Europe, World Organisation of Scouting Movements, Lifelong Learning Platform, and the Young Voices Joint initiative to name a few.
Regional Networks The year started with a bang with the first Latin American Falcon Network taking place within the region in many years happening in Lima alongside the On The Move project. This meeting gave the members from the region the chance to reflect on strengths and weaknesses in the region at the moment and develop their regional strategy. The coming together of the regional networks at the International Committee gave members the chance to meet in their regions: Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East (with guests from the Mediterranean too). An exciting new progression is the African Falcon Network steering group that has been developing their work in the region. The core focus on their work in 2018 was the development of the Migration Watch project, an initiative fresh out of the On The Move project. The steering group has been working hard to reach out to partner organisations and funders in the region to coordinate a future AFN meeting in Mali. Exciting stuff!
Thematic Networks This was a busy year for the thematic networks! The Feminist Network and Rainbow Network each met three times – at the annual Queer Easter seminar on LGBTQI and at our newly initiated Proud and Visible events. We hope you had the chance to check out the Feminist Network social media campaign on 25 November, the international Day for the Elimination of Violence Towards Women. If not – what are you waiting for? We also welcomed Shes (Esplac) and Stella (Slovenian Falcons) as the new Feminist Network Cocoordinators! The Migration Network advanced their work in 2018; following a network meeting in March, the network has been busy developing a mini-documentary on young people’s experiences of migration – this is one to watch out for!
Communications Strategy There was a new addition to the IFM-SEI secretariat in 2018 with Sarah joining us as our Communications Developer to come up with a communications strategy for the movement that will to be rolled out in 2019. Many, many of you inputted into our consultation on our communications, brand and image - the outcomes of which were fed into our meaty new strategy. We are very much looking forward to making our communications more effective, efficient and impactful in the near future!
Our new merchandise Who doesn’t love to wear a cool t-shirt or hoody promoting the values of IFM-SEI? We launched our new merch in 2018 – as well as an online shop where you can pick your design, your garment and your colours in a mix and match styling process. There is still a pre-order options for on activities too, but this new initiative gives added flexibility ad personalisation to our merchandise – and it will be delivered directly to your front door. Our designs aim to stimulate curiosity and initiate conversations about IFM-SEI and its values, as well creating our shared identity through our clothing. Better than that – they look great! As well as the new designs we also have many items with classic IFM-SEI logos. Bright colours and different fits for all ages to ensure we have something for everyone. Get your hands on a new snapback cap, water bottle, teddy bear, drawstring bag or vest online now!
Governance Review Group A Governance Review Group was launched in 2018 with an open call to the membership. The group of three members – Thomas (Kinderfreunde), Tipsu (Nuoret Kotkat) and Babacar (Pionniers du Mali) – is responsible for reviewing and analysing the governance structures of IFM-SEI through consultation with the membership. The group will analyse the current strengths and weaknesses of our governance bodies, review current role descriptions and terms of reference, collate good practice and opinions of members, and come up with innovative ways to make IFM-SEI’s governance bodies more effective. They will come up with proposals in time for Congress 2019 – keep your eyes peeled!
International Committee 2018 On 15-16 June, the International Committee - the highest decision-making body in IFM-SEI after the Congress - brought together over 60 delegates from across the globe and came together in Brussels to take part in the democratic process of IFM-SEI. Delegates discussed resolutions, reflected on the work and finances of the past year, elected new members of Presidium, decided on membership issues and took part in a workshop led but the Governance Review Group. Delegates also had the chance to share and develop common projects, network with other organisations and celebrate 40 years of our Office Secretary, Ingrid, working for IFM-SEI. Always one of the most exciting parts of the International Committee is accepting new members into our organisation – those from 2018 you can see on the next page!
Resolution on European Elections 2019: The IC reflected on the impact of populism across Europe and the effect this will likely have the outcome of the European Elections in 2019. We recognise that the decisions taken by adult decision-makers have a disproportionate effect on children and young people who cannot vote. We noted that democracy and participation is much more than voting and, as a movement, we should be promoting alternative forms of democracy. IFM-SEI resolved to put a focus of our upcoming work on democratic, political and civic education, campaigning for voting rights for all and raising awareness about alternative forms of democracy. In the run-up to the European Elections 2019, IFM-SEI will also engage with the campaign of the European Youth Forum or other organisations with which we associate. Resolution on the Pool of Representatives: The IC approved the establishment of a Pool of Representatives to create a pool of volunteers that can represent IFM-SEI at external activities that can be recruited at short notice. This will be launched online and will identify specific thematic focuses for which prospective representatives can apply. We hope to be able to spread the messages of IFM-SEI even further through this structure. The pool will be reviewed at the International Committee 2020. Resolution on the Definition of Membership: The IC approved a resolution to prepare for the Congress in 2019 by coming up with an agreed system to calculate the voting rights for each member organisation in line with the IFM-SEI Constitution. It outlines a shared understanding on the definition of a member that can be applicable across our member organisations and the timeline in which organisations must submit their membership data.
New member organisations We welcomed three new candidate organisations into our movement at the International Committee 2018 and upgraded Association for Social Democracy (Turkey) to full membership status. Want to hear a bit more about them? Here you are! Girls Excel – Cameroon Girls Excel advocates for equal access to opportunities for girls and young women in Cameroon. Their projects raise awareness on sexual and reproductive health education and they educate girls and young women on their human rights and other forms of violence against girls and women. At Girls Excel, they believe in designing programmes that empower adolescent girls and young women and provide sustainable solutions to some of the challenges that limit their ability to maximise their full potential and excel. Girls Excel, we’re happy to have you as part of our movement! Oyoun Masr Association – Egypt OMA aims to spread the culture of voluntarily work and human rights protection among the individuals of society, develop the skills of the youth and deliver programmes promoting peace and dialogue. The core values of the organisation are citizenship, creativity, culture dialogue and change. One of the organisation’s aims is to equip the leaders of the tomorrow’s world with the basic knowledge and practical skills for being active citizens to make positive changes in their communities. They run a series of activities in which they promote children’s rights, critical thinking, democracy and international solidarity. We are very pleased to welcome them as a candidate member of IFM-SEI! Seeds Association for Development and Culture ‘Bothoor’ - Palestine We also celebrated Seeds joining us as a candidate member, which is a Palestinian educational and cultural non-governmental organisation, working to strengthen the role of youth and children in the society through adopting diverse mechanisms and methods of education. They aim to shape the way of their fight for democracy and human rights, based on the democratic socialist ideas of freedom, equality and solidarity. Seeds works toward a world where youth and children are empowered to shape and control their identities and destinies. Welcome to our socialist family, Seeds!
IFM-SEI Presidium and Control Commission 2018 was a year of change in our governance bodies, where we elected a new President, two new Presidium members and two new Control Commission members at our International Committee 2018! The role of the Presidium is vital to our movements - to lead on the implementation of our Strategy and Work Plan IFM-SEI, make sure resolutions are implemented, discuss political issues concerning IFM-SEI and liaise with member organisations. The Control Commission’s role is to monitor the finances of IFM-SEI and our compliance with the IFM-SEI Constitution. The Presidium meets approximately every two months and the Control Commission meets at least twice per year.
Presidium
Control Commission
Sylvia Siqueira Campos Christina Schauer Carly Walker-Dawson Nishaben Vasava President President Asia region Secretary General Until April From June
Tara Damanik Asia region
Bine Troitzsch Europe region Until April
Ellen Lindsey Awaku Africa region From June
Sebastian Fesit Europe region From June
Ola Qawasmi Middle East region
Mamadou Mbow Africa region
Heidi Niemi Europe region
Ronald Salas Karlha Villacicencio Latin America region Barrantes Latin America region
Dani Efrati Middle East region
Isi Quírós CC Chair
Christina Schauer Until June
Yaara Mizrachi Until April
Mie Jørgenson From June
Jure Stajnbaher From June
IFM-SEI Secretariat Our office team has expanded this year as we welcomed Sarah Farndale as our Communications Developer on a fixed-term contract. Basak Van Hove, who started at our Intern at the end of 2017, joined us as our new Project Coordinator after Cecília Aranda Soler’s contract as Project Officer was completed.
Secretariat
Carly Walker-Dawson Ingrid de Kock Secretary General Office Secretary
Another new addition joined us in September, Jasmin Trogen, as our new long-term volunteer, taking over from George Smart who was with us from January to August. Our Office Manager, Ingrid de Kock, continued to offer reliability and support to the Secretariat, celebrating 40 years working for IFM-SEI in 2018. Carly Walker-Dawson led the team as Secretary General.
George Smart Volunteer Until July
Ceci Aranda Project Officer Until February
Jasmin Trogen Volunteer From September
Basak Van Hove Intern and Project Coordinator
Sarah Farndale Comms Developer May-September
IFM-SEI finances In 2017, IFM-SEI’s finances remained stable gaining a small surplus of around 1,400 Euros. IFM-SEI’s reserves are at around 85,000 Euros. Thanks to our operating grant from the European Commission, the structural grant from the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe, project grants and membership fees, we are able to run an effective secretariat in Brussels and organise meetings and activities.
Income 2018 - 216,124€
Expenditure 2018 - 217,210€ Membership fees 73,470 Euros
Office and staff costs 126,322 Euros
Core grants 65,277 Euros
Governance and meetings 19,939 Euros
Project funds 67,187 Euros
Projects 67,052 Euros
Other (donations, sales, expert fees) 5,515 Euros
Eradicated debts & membership fees 3,022 Euros
Refunds on staffing 4,675 Euros
Other (taxes, bank fees) 866 Euros
We followed closely the progressions with European Solidarity Corps – the programme that will replace the European Voluntary Service - and the development of the next Multiannual Financial Framework (budget) of the European Commission in 2018, joining relevant advocacy groups to collaborate with other youth organisations to ensure that our institutional financial support is maintained or increased in the future.
Educational resources Check out our three new resources available for free download and in hard copy in 2018.
On The Move handbook on migration, refugees, visas and regional youth work – available in English, Spanish and French
Let’s Talk About Sex zine on inclusive sex education for kids and young people - available in English
Rainbow Resources manual on gender and sexuality education for children - Italian language edition
IFM-SEI is supported by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ programme and the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe. This report reflects the views of the author only, and neither the European Commission nor the Council of Europe can be held responsible for any of its content.
International Falcon Movement Socialist Educational International www.ifm-sei.org