30th IFUW Triennial Conference

This afternoon’s session was all business. Some of it had been held over from this morning, because there were quite a lot of introductory speeches, and the introduction of candidates for office was moved forward so that NFAs could discuss their choices over lunch, before the voting later today. We started with procedural stuff: approval for the minutes of the Council meeting from the previous Triennial Conference and a verbal report from the previous day’s Council.

Then things moved on to a series of constitutional amendments (which will be discussed in open forum tonight, and voted on later in the week) and financial reports. IFUW seems to have come through the recent global financial difficulties in reasonably good shape: the organisation’s investments were well managed, but numbers of both NFAs and individual members are down in comparison to the previous triennium. Growing our membership is going to become even more of a priority – and, given the recent financial climate, am emergency resolution was passed to ensure that NFAs in low- and middle-income countries unable to pay their dues will be able to remain as IFUW affiliates until things improve.

It was actually interesting to get a sense of some of the governance background to how the organisation works. The next business session is on Sunday, so more in the same vein then…

Michelle Imison

Tuesday, 3 August 2010 was the 90th Council Meeting, Conference Orientation, Briefing for Conveners, Rapporteurs & Workshop Leaders, Meet the Candidates for IFUW Board and Committees and the Welcome Drink and Dance.

Although only the national Coordinators of International Relations, Board Officers, Committee Chairs and Past Presidents of IFUW can speak and vote at the Council Meeting, we attended to up-date ourselves on the business of the organizations and to meet members. There was a lot of discussion regarding finances and loss of membership due to the world financial crisis. The reports of officers and committees are on the IFUW website, ifuw.org. Membership has dropped about 50% since 1975 which national associations doubled since 1980. Many national associations are facing financial crises and IFUW has lost 17 associations in the past two years. Other topics included financial reports for IFUW along with various resolutions that were discussed and voted on. WG USA was also discussed in that the council had a particular interest in its functionality. Interest has been placed on expanding communication through other forms such as online interaction (facebook, blogging, and so forth).

Kathy assisted in the coordination and presentation of the Conference Orientation. As Kathy is a seminar convener and Nicole is a seminar and workshop rapporteur, we attended the briefing. Participants in these areas were given specific criteria as to their tasks along with deadlines for their completion. The purpose of the documentation of the sessions from the convener’s and rapporteur’s point of view was to identify points of view at the grassroots level. Providing input of the participants allows the council and other IFUW members to get new perspectives on the major issues being addressed at the conference and begin the thought process as to the next steps that need to be taken in each topic.

The Meet the Candidates was an informal session as IFUW rules do not allow candidates to speak on their own behalf and there is circulated and web posted biographies of all candidates. Each national association has one vote per position and the voting process is by preferential numbering. The Australian delegation will be meeting for further discussions and directives to the delegation leader, Jane Baker, and voter.

The evening was concluded with an informal gathering of members for a welcome reception and drink. Members had the opportunity to socialize with one another and learn about personal experiences, education, interests, and other topics. Additionally, it was a chance for members of all generations to get together in a more comfortable setting and have fun with one another. Numerous frindships and contacts were made and will hopefully become stronger as the conference progresses.

Additional Australian members Kathy caught up with or met: Jennifer Strauss, Jane Baker, Daphne Elliott, and Alba Romano

Kathleen (Kathy) Mumford, AFUW WA CIR
Nicole Nelson, WG-USA Young Member

Many IFUW (International Federation of University Women) members arrived on Monday, 2 August, to Mexico City to enable participation in the workshops on Tuesday, 3 August, “Training Towards a Sustainable Multigenerational Approach”, eg creating multigenerational, sustainable organizations.  Approximately 70 participants in the Young Leader’s Programme and members nominated by national affiliates attended.

The day was very high energy as we looked at the issues of generational challenges to organizations, identification of generations, stereotypes and looking at questions of how one defines problems actually leads to its solution from different frameworks. Through working in led discussion groups, we noticed the process of who speaks and how much, the roles of generation, who makes the formal and informal decisions and assumptions/stereotypes of generations.  We thought of where we (individually) would be in 5 years in our organizations and asked to listen to one another’s response.  We discussed mentoring, building trust and leadership development.  We also were led through discussions from a framework of all we needed to know, we know, but need to learn how to communicate that knowledge across and between the generations.  We looked at what makes successful plans and plans that fail.  We discussed why people belong to voluntary organizations; what are features/characteristics of successful voluntary organizations; and why people stay.

Some highlights:

-The generations – Veterans (1925-1945), Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation X (1965-1979), Generation Y (1980-1999) – do not work the same! Stereotypes are useful but not exclusive or inclusive.
- Challenge mental models of leadership to enable leaders to take us forward.
- Mentoring is not about the past but mutual adapting to change.  Trust/honesty and forward thinking.
- Older members/leaders need to extend trust.
- Plans need to speak to things that motivate people so that they can own the plans. (Communication needs to be conducted in a way that is honest and safe for those who participate in the organization)
- Things that need to be done, need to be planned and have active management.
- The main reason people belong to organizations is personal satisfaction, ability to make a difference, fun: hedonistic.
- The main reason people stay in organizations is friendship and feeling useful and valued.
- Successful organizations are vision driven; focused and compelling for members; adaptable; perfomance driven; and a willingness to take risks managed with knowledge.  www.alabc.org.uk