I think that the draft constitution and aims provide a very good starting
point; and also agree with most of the comments made by Liz Bondi.
I would make just two points on the structure - partly in reponse to
Deborah Dixon.
I think that some form of small *elected* 'international committee' or
'co-ordinating group' is neccessary in order to ensure that the forum's
organisation is democratic. What exactly this group would do depends on
what activities would be done by the local groups and what would be
network-wide. If membership is going to be administered locally, then do
we need a central treasurer responsible for subscriptions? Are local
groups each going to produce their own newsletters, or/and is there going
to be a forum-wide newsletter?
Secondly, in order to give all members and local groups the ability to
communicate and to initiate activities we need a central 'database' of all
members and their contact addresses (mail, e-mail, phone). Although the
internet has exclusive overtones, placing these on a web-site might in
practice be the most accessible option, so long as hard copies were also
available to members on request.
Mike Woods
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