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Minutes from the General Assembly

meeting at Arkitekternes hus in

Copenhagen 14 April 2012

Present: See attached list.

1. Welcome address and opening of the meeting

Sofie Wäborg, chair of ASF-Denmark and host of the GA meeting, welcomed the participants to Copen-

hagen and to the GA meeting.

The Chairman of ASF-Int, Stéphane Plisson addressed the audience, greeted everybody welcome and

opened the meeting.

2. Nomination of persons who will assume the positions of President and

Secretary of the General Assembly

It was proposed to elect Sofie Wäborg and Peter Burk to chair the GA meeting. The proposal was accep-

ted. It was proposed that Dick Urban Vestbro will be the secretary of the meeting. The proposal was

accepted. It was decided that Anne Gramtorp of ASF-Denmark shall verify the minutes.

3. Introduction of everybody present

Each person present introduced her/himself.

4. Approval of the agenda by the General Assembly

The proposed agenda and work schedule were approved.

5. A vote on whether the GA was convened in accordance with the statutes

Dick Urban Vestbro explained that the invitation to the GA meeting had been sent out more than 12

weeks in advance and that the Board Activity Plan and other documents had been sent out within the

stipulated time limits. It was decided to consider the GA meeting to be appropriately convened.

6. A statement on the representation of members and voting rights

The list of participation was circulated and everybody was asked to fill in the list of participation. The

chairs read the list of names of those having the voting right of each member organisation. It was deci-

ded to approve the names as those having the voting right (see attachment).

7. Approval of the Annual Report drawn up by the Board

Dick Urban Vestbro made an oral presentation of the report, which had been sent out prior to the meet-

ing. After a few questions and comments it was decided to approve the Annual Report (attached).

8. Approval of the verified financial statements

Rune presented the economic report for 2011. It was decided to approve the economic report (attached).

9. The audit report

The report from auditor Jenny Andersson was displayed on the wall. The issue of accounting program

was discussed briefly. It was decided to approve the audit report (see attachment).

10. Granting discharge to the outgoing Board

It was decided to grant discharge to the outgoing Board.

11. Election of members of the Board for the next period

Beatrice de Carli of the Election Preparatory Committee presented the proposal for the new Board. It

was decided to approve the proposal, namely: Rune Asholt, ASF-Denmark (re-election); Valeria

Sciaretta, ASF Italian Network (re-election); Dick Urban Vestbro, ARC●PEACE (re-election); Naomi

Shinkins, ASF-UK (new); Guruprasad Rane, ASF Society, India (new). (In the earlier paper Xavier

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Codina was by mistake included in the proposal).

Board members with mandates to 2013 are: Stephane Plisson, ASF-France; Pawan Shestra, EWB, Nepal;

Anna Engvall, ASF-Sweden; Richard A Losalajome, ASF RD Congo; and Xavier Codina, ASF-Espaňa.

12. Election of auditors for the next period

Beatrice de Carli of the Election Preparatory Committee presented the proposal: Beatrice de Carli, ASF-

Italia; and Melissa Kinnear, ASF-UK. It was decided according to the proposal.

13. Appointing the preparatory committee for elections in the next period

The following persons were proposed: Beatrice de Carli of ASF-Italia (Milano); Sophie Jopling of ASF-

UK and Niclas Dunnebacke of ASF-France. It was decided to appoint the proposed persons.

14. Decision on membership subscriptions and the budget for the next period

Rune Asholt presented the proposal about membership fee. The meeting 2011 had decided to increase

the fee to Eur 300 effective from 2012. Jordi Balari presented a proposal for a scaled membership fee

proportional to the budget/turnover of each member organisation, as commissioned by the GA meeting

2011 (see attachment). It was proposed to take away one zero (0) from each step in the scale to make the

proposal more realistic. It was decided to accept the proposal with this modification, to be effective from

2013. Stéphane Plisson and some others wanted to keep the fixed membership for all.

15. Decision on planned activities for the next period

Stéphane Plisson and Dick Urban Vestbro presented the proposed Activity Plan and the suggestions for

group work. The participants divided themselves into seven groups.

The groups reported orally and were asked to submit notes on paper for compilation by the Board.

It was decided to compile all group proposals for the Board to use as a basis for elaboration of the

Activity Plan, which should then be sent out to members for comments before the Board decides about

the final version of the Activity Plan

16. Topics and other proposals for the next period

No motions had been submitted so there was nothing to discuss under this point.

17. Any other points

Jordi Balari informed the GA meeting about the work of an UIA project in the form of an exhibition,

which can be made available to all ASF members.

18. Closing of meeting

Stéphane Plisson thanked Sophie Jopling for her work in the Board and handed over a little gift.

The Danish group got standing ovations from the assembly for its excellent organisation of the meeting.

Secretary Verified by

Dick Urban Vestbro

Anne Gramtorp

Chairpersons of the meeting

Sofie Wäborg Peter Burk

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ANNUAL ACTIVITY REPORT

from the Board for the year 2011

(approved by the GA meeting 14 April 2012)

This is the fifth Annual Report since ASF–International was formally constituted in 2007. During 2011

ASF-Int has continued to recruit new members and extended its activities. We have started to establish a

permanent Secretariat that will permit a better coordination between members, improved the website,

received many signs of interest in ASF around the world and managed the important common project

Development Architecture Education.

GA Meeting in Milan April 2011

In April 2011 the GA Meeting was held in Milano, hosted by ASF-Italia. Not less than 14 member orga-

nisations were represented by 35 participants from 12 countries. The meeting decided to grant membership

to ASF-Hellas as its 21st member, while at the same time confirming the previous decision by the Board to

grant membership to ASF-Bénin and Architekten Ohne Grenzen-Austria. Jordi Balari of ASF-España

stepped down as ASF-Int chairman after 4 years of service and was replaced by Stéphane Plisson of ASF-

France. The meeting adopted an Activity Plan in which the major goals are to improve information active-

ties, to increase the number of members and to achieve financial autonomy. The GA meeting decided to

raise membership fees to €300 from 2012 and to work for external fund-raising in order to cover the costs

of a secretariat that can handle communication with members, doing general office management and con-

tribute to strategic planning of ASF-Int. It was also decided to send out the Draft Strategic Plan to member

organisations with a request to have local discussions and send comments for compilation. Not many mem-

bers took time to respond to this request, however.

Board composition and meetings

The Board has consisted of the following ten members:

Name Member organisation Functions Elected until

Stéphane Plisson ASF-France Chair, fundraising 2013

Valeria Sciarretta ASF- ONLUS (Italia) Vice-Chair, fundraising,

project coordination

2012

Pawan Kumar Shrestha EWB Nepal Vice-Chair, newsletter,

website

2013

Rune Asholt ASF-DK Treasurer, website 2012

Dick Urban Vestbro ARC●PEACE Secretary, membership list 2012

Sophie Jopling ASF-UK Member, website 2012

Gopal Shankar Habitat Technology Group, India Member 2012

Richard Losalajome ASF-RD Congo Member, translations into

French

2013

Anna Engvall ASF-Sweden Vice-Secretary, interest list 2013

Xavier Codina ASF-Espaňa Contact with Secretariat,

project coordination,

newsletter

2013

All Board members except Gopal Shankar have participated actively in the deliberations of the Board, at

meetings and by email. Gopal Shankar was encouraged several times by email and telephone to fulfil his

duties, but without result.

During 2011 the Board had the following six meetings: 19 February in Popoli, Abruzzo; 13 March by

email; 9-10 April in Milano; 27 June by email, 24 September in Lisbon (hosted by ASF-Portugal and 4

February 2012 in Freiburg (hosted by AUG Germany). The meeting in Abruzzo was combined with social

events together with members of ASF-Onlus-Italia and a very interesting study visit to the city of Aquila,

destroyed by the earthquake on the 6th of April 2009. The meeting in Lisbon was combined with a full day

seminar with many participants and well organised study visits in Lisbon. The meeting in Freiburg was

combined with study visits to ecological projects in the Vauban area, and with fruitful discussions with

AUG Germany.

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The Board consciously selected these meeting places in order to better learn to know member organisations

which do not have representatives in the Board. In this way ties between members have been strengthened.

Between meetings the Board has communicated intensively by email and also taken decisions by email in

certain cases. Travel costs in connection with physical Board meetings have been covered by each person’s

member organization.

Members, recruitment

At the end of 2011 ASF-Int had 22 registered members. They have received regular information through

email and been requested to supply information about interest in common projects (see further below) and

about other issues. For silent members the Board took special contacts to find out more about their plans.

Special attempts have been made to investigate the possibilities to revive ASF-Brazil and Arquitectos Soli-

darios of the same country. Among the many individuals sending messages to ASF-Int through the website

some have been encouraged to form ASF organisations in their own country. This is the case for groups in

Argentina, Gambia, Jordan, Mexico, Poland, USA and Venezuela. The Board has also tried to recruit exis-

ting organisations such as Centro de Ação Social em Arquitetura e urbanismo Sustentável (CASAS) in Bra-

zil and Architects Without Borders in Canada. These organisations have declined membership with refe-

rence to the cost of the membership fee.

At the Freiburg meeting the Board granted full membership to ASF-Tunisie as its 23rd

member. ASF-

Macao has applied for membership by signing the Hasselt Charter. Proof of registration and statutes remain

for membership approval. An application has also been received by the Association pour les Victimes de la

Répression en Afrique (AVRA) in Congo-Kinshasa. At the Board meeting 12 March 2012 ASF Society-

India, founded by Guruprasad Rane, was granted membership (24th member). The Board has also kept in

touch with many interested individuals in other countries.

“Interest list”

During the year the Board has received many questions about internship, jobs, membership and other signs

of interest from individuals who visited our website. The secretaries (Vestbro and Engvall) have sent out

standardized replies (Plisson the ones in French and Codina the ones in Spanish). Job seekers have been

referred to member organisations (since ASF-Int does not run projects). Those who want to become mem-

bers have either been referred to the ASF member in their own country or asked to start an organisation

themselves. All those seeking contact have been listed in an “interest list”, which comprises more than 200

names in 46 countries. The list can be used for future recruitment of members and newsletter subscriptions.

The many requests show that there is an increasing interest in ASF. This potential could be used in the

future when administrative resources expand.

Secretariat

During the year ASF-Espaňa has provided limited secretarial services to ASF-Int by forming a group of

volunteers in its Barcelona office. The Secretariat is organising an archive by filing minutes from Board

and GA meetings, email messages and other documents. It is expected to send out information regularly,

keep an updated membership list and to carry out some other tasks of a future ASF-Int Secretariat. Through

Pawan Shrestha EWB of Nepal has offered to assist with secretarial duties (having the benefit of low sala-

ries and some volunteers). The Board considers this promising for the future. The Board has budgeted a

sum of €7 600 for secretarial work in 2012, hoping that fund-raising will provide incomes of €5 000.

Economic situation, fund-raising

In line with the decision of the GA meeting 2011 the Board has devoted ample time to discuss the issue of

fund-raising. As a basis for fund-raising the draft sponsor policy from 2007 was revised, adopted in an

updated form and displayed at the website. The policy specifies what sponsoring companies will get from

ASF-Int (e.g. their names on the website). The Board has also got a Paypal facility for easy payment of

fees, gifts and other contributions.

At the initiative of Valeria Sciarretta the Board has started to build a database about member organisations

and their interest in common project for which ASF can apply for funding through the European Union.

The documentation will be useful for future cross-country cooperation and common project applications.

Sciaretta also proposed other actions to raise funds, including a special event in connection with the GA

meeting, a raffle/lottery and the “box in a public place”. Some of these proposals are proposed to be inte-

grated into the Activity Plan for 2012-1013. On behalf of ASF-Int ASF-España submitted an application to

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the Europe Aid program of the European Union (focusing on technical assistance to countries outside

Europe), encompassing a budget of €160.000 to be used during a period of 36 months. The application

passed the first stage but failed to reach full approval.

The ASF-Int Chairman has approached companies in France to find out about their willingness to be spon-

sors of ASF-Int. The contacts are expected to continue during 2012.

In the absence of external funding ASF-Int has continued to rely economically on membership fees, which

means that resources for activities are very limited. The costs consist mainly of payment for updating the

website and of support for travel costs in connection with the GA meetings.

Website, communications, newsletter

The website established in 2010 has proved very valuable. It gets an increasing number of visitors (11,000

in 2011). Board members Sophie Jopling and Pawan Shrestha have been responsible for updating the web-

site. Some small pieces of information have been added in French and Spanish, but much remains to make

the website multi-lingual. At the initiative of Rune Asholt (in collaboration with Guruprasad Rane) the pos-

sibility of an active web forum has been explored. This idea may be implemented when administrative

resources allow. Preparations have been made to launch a newsletter to be published regularly. In February

2012 more than 300 subscribers were registered waiting for the first issue to be published.

Development Architecture Education

During the year the Board has taken an active interest in the project Development Architecture Education,

carried out with funding from the European Community’s Lifelong Learning Programme/Leonardo Agency, with ASF-España as the coordinator and ASF members in France, UK Italy and Sweden as other

partners. This project will be reported separately to the GA meeting. The project will end in August 2012.

A new application for funding is being prepared.

Portfolio & PowerPoint presentation

During 2011 the Board decided to update the project portfolio and the PowerPoint presentation of ASF-Int.

For both tasks Beatrice de Carli generously accepted to carry out the job in collaboration with Vestbro.

Both documents are expected to be ready for the 2012 GA meeting.

Contacts with other organizations

During the year the Board has only briefly discussed collaboration with other organisations. Those of

interest are: Union Internationale des Architectes (UIA), Habitat International Coalition (HIC), United

Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), Homeless International (UK) and Development Workshop. The

Board has relied much on the continuous contact that Ex-Chair Jordi Balari has with most of these orga-

nisations. During 2011 the existence of Urbanistes Sans Frontières was discovered. The Board wrote to

this organisation and proposed cooperation, but no answer has so far been received.

Others

During the year the Activity report, the Activity Plan and the Strategic Plan have been translated into

French by Richard Losalajome.

Concerning the decision of the GA meeting 2011 to establish a technical ‘task force’ the Board decided to

ask the initiator Antonello Iorio to form a working group. The realization of the data base on professional

expertise will be a first step.

Final words

In conclusion, the Board finds that it has fulfilled the Activity Plan for 2011 with respect to increased

visibility, establishment of a new website, recruitment of new members, establishment of a Secretariat, the

production of a portfolio and a PowerPoint presentation, but not with respect to achieving financial

autonomy and starting common projects. The Board considers it a great achievement that the common

project Development Architecture Education has been started. Attempts have also been made to initiate

other cross-member projects.

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