Board meeting Montréal 2006

The second meeting of the preliminary board was devoted to discussing and deciding which arrangements must be made to make the network operational, like the working process, the legal personality, the internet exchange platform, international collaboration and concrete projects.

Making the network operational

The preliminary board decided about the name of the Alliance, the legal identity and the goals. Decisions were also made about how the Alliance will be structured.

• The legal identity of GALE will be a foundation
• The foundation will support a virtual learning community
• The preliminary board becomes an Advisory Board, which gives feedback on strategy proposals and functions as a mediator when conflicts arise
• Funding will preferably routed through HIVOS
• Projects will be outsourced to allied organizations
• Basic support tasks for GALE will be carried out by Empowerment Lifestyle Services and HIVOS

Internet exchange platform

It was decided to develop a public website and an extranet for members, which offers more services. The extranet will provide space, stimulate members of the learning community to work together, and offer relevant information.
Other decisions were:

• All pages will be translated in English, Spanish and French
• We will research the possibility of adding Russian as a fourth language
• The working language in Working Groups will be English, unless the participants of a group decide differently
• In the longer run, the website will be maintained by volunteers and by professionals who are involved in pilot projects and working groups
• The initial overall management of the platform will be done by Empowerment Lifestyle Services and HIVOS from their core budget
• Pilot projects will reserve a percentage of their budget to support the platform and to make use of its services
• The collection of good practices should be integrated in projects
• Members will be able to pay their membership by offering concrete services to the Alliance

International collaboration

A Working Group International Collaboration was created. The priority of this group is to explore collaboration with UNESCO. Next to that, it will exchange information with ILGA, IGLHRC, EI, UNAIDS, UNICEF, women’s networks and local HIV-networks and the Regional Sexuality Resource Centres.
The tasks PR and funding will for the moment be carried out by the Working Group International Collaboration. In the future, PR and funding may be organized by a separate Working Group.

Projects

• Projects are under way in Namibia and Brazil
• A European branch of GALE will be developed
• In Australia, Daniel Witthaus plans to share learning experiences by organizing small scale ‘tea & cake meetings’ for informal discussion
• In Asia, Mira Ofreneo developed some first ideas to exchange good practices and to identify strategies for further action
• Because several of the regional projects focus on teacher training, it was decided to create a Teacher Training Working Group
• GALE will contact the Copenhagen Outgames with the offer to organize the worldwide information campaign which is called for in the Declaration of Montréal
• GALE will develop a capacity building program, which offers local groups a manual and a range of training sessions to create a local project including basic organizational needs like how to do advocacy, recruit volunteers, how to get funding, and how to organize the project