Executive Committee Meetings of Asia and Pacific Alliance of YMCAs

Last Updated (Thursday, 21 March 2013 13:40)

The Annual APAY Executive Committee Meetings (ECM) took place from 6-8 March 2013 in Hong Kong. It was diligently attended by over 110 frontline YMCA leaders representing 21 National Movements of our region.

 

Prior to the ECM, aday long Global Citizenship Education Consultation Meeting was held on 4th March and aYMCA Governance Training was conducted by Mr. Ron Mell, CEO, Australia YMCA was heldon 5th March.

 

The important mattersdealt at the Executive Committee Meetings were, that the National Council of YMCAs of Korea’s and the Daejeon YMCA of Koreawill be hosting the 19thGeneral Assembly and Youth Assembly of the APAY in Daejeon, Korea in September 2015.

 

Special appreciation was also expressed to a new movement from Mongolia for joining the ECM. Mr. G. Javkhlantugs, Mr. E. Purev-Erdene and Ms. P. Enkhtuya represented the youth movement, which had been very active and self-sustaining in Ulan Bator. APAY decided to recommend them as a new YMCA movement to the World Alliance.

 

The Mission and Response Committee adopted new initiatives on Alternative Tourism for the years 2013-2015, a new initiative on Social Economy was introduced and the Global Citizenship Action Plan 2013-2015 was adopted.

 

The Gender Equity Committee recommended that every national YMCA movement should form a Gender Equity Committee, they also requested that every movement to respond to the proposed Gender Policy and Gender Survey. Gender Training of Trainers (Advanced Training) on June 3-10 in Bangkokand ToT (Basic Training) during Dec 9-15 in Japanwere decided by the Committee.

 

The Youth Participation and Leadership Development Committee decided on the YMCA Regional Youth Conference which will be held in Yelagiri, South India on August 23-28, 2013 and also decided to conduct qualitative survey about youth empowerment activities.

 

The Golden Anniversary Trust Fund Committee decided to support the Disaster Management Workshop in July 2014, Social Economy Workshop in June 2014 and Youth Empowerment Program in 2013, for a total of 34,500 USD.

 

The Finance and Administration Committee suggested that more YMCA movements voluntarily increase their fair share for the next year, they also decided to support e-store in Australia is promising future revenue for APAY. APAY will form a Task Force to develop a business plan in this matter.

 

The Committee on Constitutional Matters discussed the issue to maintain the continuity of the leadership of the APAY, the idea of a staggering tenure of the Board Members were actively considered, however, this issue would be further deliberated in the Committee before deciding on this matter at the next ECM. The Committee also proposed a Code of Good Governance comprising seven principles to be included in the APAY Bye-Laws as an annexure.

 

The Y’s Men in Hong Kong District hosted a breakfast meeting on 7th March for the Y’s Men participating at the ECM. Thirty five members from 12 movements participated at the meeting. Mr. Yaz Okano, Asia Area President Elect of Y’s Men assured that they would like to financially support the Change Agent Program of APAY. They recommended that strong cooperation should be developed between the YMCA and Y’s Men.

 

Soon after the ECM, Youth Empowerment training for Change Agents was held in the Wu Kwai Sha Youth Village from 8-10 March. Mr. Romulo Dantas from World Alliance of YMCAs conducted the workshop for the Change Agents from Asia and Pacific region and gave an orientation of WAY agenda for the Change Agents and introduced WAY Change Model. Global Citizenship, Resource Mobilization and Global Alternative Tourism Network were also in the agenda of the Training. Twenty-sixChange Agents from our region attended the training.

 

Overall, the whole week was filled with many learning experiences. We would like to acknowledge the active participation of all the national movements who participated in the meetings. Also, we extend our sincere gratitude to the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong and the YMCA of Hong Kong for supporting us to successfully host this year’s ECM.

 

Finally, we would like to thank Mr. Romulo Dantas from the World Alliance of YMCAs, Mr. Ron Coulombe from Canada and Ms. Boon Chin Tan from YMCA of USA for attending and supporting this ECM.