The 2016 GIN Conference was held between November 21 – 26 in Bangkok, Thailand, at the Suvarnabhumi Ville Hotel.
The GIN Conference was a very important and successful time for the development of the organisation. It enabled members to meet the Interim Steering Committee and two new members of Staff, as well as forging and nurturing relationships between one another – with 46 people present, including a total of 33 GIN members.
All applications for scholarship were reviewed by the Interim Steering Committee, seeking a diversity of geographies, skills, and identities. We also sought evidence of political and self awareness and the values and power dynamics that inform the construction of the Global Interfaith Network.
The GIN conference was the opportunity for members to come up with projects that are being implemented throughout this year, in coordination with staff (28 individual and collective engagement plans have been submitted) and in line with GIN’s three priority programmatic areas:
- Creating Religious Dialogue
- Human Rights: Policy and Legal Advocacy
- Education and Training Resources.
Some of our members decided to submit both individual and collective engagement plans, committing themselves to working on SSOGIE and interfaith issues within their own regions and in connection with other parts of the world. We believe this will be a very fruitful endeavor, and directly aligned with GIN’s mission and values.
The General Members’ Meeting also allowed members to vote on the GIN Constitution and nominate some of GIN’s upcoming Board Representatives. In this, it was decided that Board Membership would be enlarged. In order to give more balance in terms of regional representation, it was decided that each region of GIN (8 in total) would have a regional representative.
Very importantly, the possibility for the organization of this Conference, and its subsequent success, would not have been possible without the generous support of our funders: FRI (the Norwegian Organization for Sexual and Gender Diversity), Church of Sweden, Arcus Foundation, Open Society Foundation and Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa.
Questions? GIN2016Conference@gmail.com or info@gin-ssogie.org.
