The BGM is Friends of the Earth International’s (FoEI) general assembly.
This meeting is commonly known as the “BGM” (Biennial General Meeting) because the federation gathers for its general meetings at least once every two years.
WHAT DO WE DO AT A BGM?
At the BGM, all FoEI member groups meet to decide what is going to happen in the next two years:
- We approve a budget for the next period as well as the reports of the past period.
- We elect a new Chairperson and a new Executive Committee (ExCom)
- We discuss any other issue relevant for the entire federation, such as admission of new member groups, etc. This is the “business section” of the BGM.
The BGM is also an opportunity to learn about other groups in FoEI and to hear their stories.
Several sessions are devoted to sharing and learning from the experiences of our member groups.
The BGM can lead to greater collaboration between groups and many participants have found it to be an inspiring experience.
The BGM is usually preceded by a Pre-conference of 1 or 2 days that has a different theme each year, related to the issues important to FoEI.
The Pre-conference is attended by members of the local host organization, as well as local activists and/or community representatives, depending on the theme.
In addition to representatives from the member groups, the members of the ExCom, our International Program Coordinators (IPC) , Membership Development Members (MDT) and representatives of Radio World Radio (RWR) and staff from the FoEI International Secretarial (the IS) will also attend.
Interpreters for French, English and Spanish are provided.
