At the start of a New Year...
We wish all our members, partners and friends a joyous and meaningful 2016. As in the past, we hope to continue working with all of you during this year too.
A highlight of 2015 for us was our Strategic Planning Meeting held in the last quarter of 2015. The meeting, a sequel to our 20th Anniversary Members Congress, brought together members of GAATW International Board and some expert advisors for three days of intensive discussion regarding the future course of the Alliance and the tasks to be undertaken by the Secretariat. We now have a comprehensive work plan for 2016-18 that validates our on-going work and adds exciting new dimensions. So while the Secretariat will continue to work on Accountability, Access to Justice and Power in Migration and Work, we will include new countries and regions in the programmes. We will also explore new themes through our research programme. Our Participatory Learning programme will be more structured and straddle more regions. Global and Regional thematic consultations with members and partners are lined up too. In order to ensure expert guidance for our work, Advisory Groups on Research, Communications and Advocacy have been added to the existing Advisory Group on Media. And most importantly, new colleagues are going to join the Secretariat. We received excellent responses to our vacancy announcements and are currently finalising the selection process. So in summary, 2016 is going to be a busy and exciting year at GAATW-IS. Look out for postings on our website, mailing lists, Facebook and Twitter!