NEWSLETTER 1 - 15 November 2011

Dear Members and Friends:

Welcome to the VUFO-NGO Resource Centre's Newsletter for the first half of November 2011!

Following the INGO Forum last week, the INGO community elected two INGO representative to the Consultative Group (CG) meeting in Vietnam: Ms Dung Le Kim, Associate Country Director of Oxfam Great Britain, who was elected for the first time; and Mr Peter Newsum, Country Director of Care International, who was re-elected for his second term in this role. As a reminder, two other CG representatives are Ms Kim N. B. Ninh from the Asia Foundation and Ms Thao Griffiths from the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation.

In addition, the Steering Committee of the VUFO-NGO Resource Centre appointed two INGO directors who will join them in overseeing management of the VUFO-NGO Resource Centre: Ms Stefania Rossetti, Country Representative of Cooperazione e Sviluppo (CESVI) in Vietnam; and Mr Glenn Gibney, Country Representative of Plan International in Vietnam. Stefania and Glenn will be replacing Mr Daniel Valenghi from Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, who left Vietnam and Mr Daniel Selvanayagam from the World Vision, whose second (extended) term expired this year. I would like to use this opportunity and thank two Daniels for their contributions and involvement in the Steering Committee's activities.

Formal announcements about these positions, including short professional biographies of the appointed colleagues, will be sent shorty to all INGO members. In the meantime, please join me in congratulating your INGO colleagues on these appointments.

There are three Working Groups meetings scheduled for November 2011: the Climate Change Working Group on 3 November at 14:00; the Child Rights Working Group on 16 November at 14:00; the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management Working Group on 18 November at 09:00;  the Disaster Management Working Group on 18 November at 14:00; the Capacity Development Working Group on 23 November at 14:00;. All meetings will take place at the VUFO-NGO Resource Centre. Please check the 'Calendar of Events' section on our home page for the latest updates and possible changes.

Warm greetings from the VUFO-NGO Resource Centre's Team!