Notes+from+the+78th+Council+Meeting

By young Councillor, Grace Mwaura
 * How can I describe the 78th Council Meeting?**

Until now, I am not sure what words to use to describe this past meeting. The meeting was from 12-15 February, 2012 in Gland, Switzerland and I am now back to my student schedule. The truth is that I can’t get the Council out of my mind...

This was our last working meeting before **a new Council is elected at the coming Congress in Jeju**. The Elections Officer sent us a list of candidates who will be running for the next Council, which we approved, **including a young professional from the United States**. I encourage you to encourage IUCN Member Organizations to vote for candidates who will have an impact on the Union, but, most importantly, those who will **consider the youth agenda** in the next Council. This Council meeting was also when the **Council approved all their Motions** to the Congress. The Programmes and Policy Committee, of which I am a member, developed most of these, and yes, this was a job well done. You will be seeing these very soon on the Motions Blog. This will be soon set up in the Congress website. We have developed a Motion on selecting **IUCN Youth Champions**, and will submit this it as a Members' Motion. This Council meeting also marked the **end of term of three Chairs of Commissions** ( CEL, WCPA and CEC) who presented very important reports about the work of their Commissions and how it feeds into the Union. I am happy you say that **these three commissions have shown leadership in working with the young professionals.** I invite you to take note of the election of new Commission chairs, and again take note that we should **encourage the Chairs to have a vision and support the meaningful engagement with YP’s in the Commissions.** This time, I travelled late, and therefore missed the meeting of the **Resolutions Working Group** of which I am a member. I will however be contributing virtually to this Group between now and the Congress. Its my hope that the young professionals from the Commissions, partner organizations and membership will submit motions to address the issues we have been discussing since I joined the Council. Another task that I will perform beyond this Council meeting is serving in the Ad hoc Working Group on the **Council Workshop on ‘A Union Fit for the Future.’** A few weeks ago, some of you received an email from me asking for inputs into the agenda of this workshop, and I will really appreciate if any of you is interested in providing input into designing scenarios for the future of IUCN. Fresh ideas are very much needed! Between now and Jeju, there are several things that need to happen. I will keep you updated if we are going to **get support to have young professionals attend the Congress.** I will be looking forward to working with you to develop Motions that will build on our **two youth-related draft Motions** and possibly even more futuristic ideas that the Union really needs at this time. Finally, I will be looking forward to your **inputs on the Council Workshop on ‘Union Fit for the Future.’** If you would like to take part in providing feedback, do let me know via email.