The Federation Programme Action Committee (FPAC) meeting took place on Thursday morning. National Programme Action Officers from around the Federation gathered for their annual meeting. There was also a record number of observers attending, and extra chairs had to be sourced!
Federation Director of Programme, Sue Biggs, welcomed everyone and Federation President Pat Black gave a PowerPoint presentation of her past year. You can read the text of President Pat’s presentation here: President Pat’s presentation
President Elect, Margaret Oldroyd gave a short presentation on her hopes for the coming year: President Elect Margaret’s presentation
The five Assistant Programme Directors gave their reports, which you can read by clicking on the respective links below:
Economic Empowerment – Talat Pasha
Environmental Sustainability – Laura Redhead
Health report – Barbara Dixon
Learning Opportunities – Janet Hodgson
Violence & Conflict Resolution – Jackie Palin
Friendship Link co-ordinator, Nisha Ghosh, gave a presentation Friendship Link Report on the work being done by clubs working together in their Friendship Links.
Rita Allen an update on the BIG Project. (transcript of this presentation to follow shortly)
A workshop activity followed, where everyone present was encouraged to chat together, table by table, and think what colour the five aspects of Programme would be. Would, for example, Environment be something that was not worked as much, in which case it would be a sort of wishy-washy colour. Would Violence and Conflict Resolution be something that was more often worked on, in which case it would be a vibrant colour. Sue Biggs produced a drawing of a flower, with five petals, and those present were asked to think about the colours they would use to colour the five Programme areas There were some interesting observations at the end.
Finally there was a discussion on the Programme Focus Report Forms (PFRFs) and the International Database.
It was generally felt that the forms used to upload information onto the International Database were not as user-friendly as they could be and International President, Ann Garvie, has asked for a review of these. But in the meantime, clubs, Regions, National Associations and Networks must report on what they are doing, using the existing forms, otherwise the Database will not reflect the work being undertaken and will put in jeopardy the Category 2 status with the UN ECOSOC.
Sue Biggs urged all present to remember that we should concentrate on fewer things and do them well. That we should remember that we are an organisation that works to help women and girls – so, for example, beach-cleaning, a worthy activity though it is, is not helping women and girls. Sue mentioned that she has to produce a report for Post 2015 UN Agenda. The reason she laboured the point is about the PFRFs being relevant to helping women and girls is that when she was going through the database, under Soroptimist International’s Goal 2 – Soroptimist International will be a global voice for increasing access to education and leadership for women and girls, there were 340 reports, but only 100 were true petitioning. Most were fund-raising.
Sue Biggs’ presentation – Programme Action: why we are Soroptimists