Council General International
For the first time in the history of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Annual Assembly will be virtually held (originally scheduled to be held in Nairobi last June) by the General Council International, due to the pandemic which still prevents travels and large meetings.
In addition, due to the huge number of topics and the different time zones, the Assembly will be held in two sessions: October 4th (1st part) and December 13th (2nd part).
In compliance with the Rule, the General Assembly is composed of members of the Permanent Section (Board and Territorial Vice Presidents) and the member countries of the International Executive Committee.
In the first session of the Assembly (4th October), the reports of the President General, the Secretary General and the Treasurer General, as well as the economic issues and the resolutions will be discussed and approved. In the second session (13th December), the departments will make their presentations and give a report on their activities.
All participants (Presidents of National or Superior Councils, Board members and Territorial Vice Presidents) will be called for these two dates. The meetings will always begin at noon (Paris time), and will last a maximum of 4 hours, to avoid participant fatigue. Simultaneous interpreting will be provided for several languages.
The official programme and agenda for both sessions, with all documents to be approved, will be submitted in due time to all participants, so that they can properly analyse the reports, thus saving time during the events. See attached provisional programme.
The Council General has also set the dates for the virtual Board meetings: 3rdOctober and 6th December. A remote meeting with the Territorial Vice Presidents and Zone Coordinators, focusing on the post-pandemic world, will also be organised on 11th and 12th December. The Concordat (group of Superior Councils that make fixed annual donations to the Council General) will meet on 8th November. All these meetings will also have simultaneous interpreting.
We do hope, God willing, that the 2021 agenda will remain unchanged, that the major events of the Council General will be held on site, and that the President General and the members of the International Structure will be allowed to make institutional trips.
“We know that the pandemic has strongly impacted the activities of the Council General, but we intend to compensate for this in the years to come. We will work twice as hard to make up for lost time”, assured brother Renato Lima, 16th President General.
