The IFAJ Executive convened on March 18 in Limpopo Province South Africa and by Zoom in a meeting organized by the Agricultural Writers of South Africa. A significant portion of the meeting was dedicated to detailed discussion of how to register IFAJ as a limited corporation under UK law.
At the heart of the discussion was a proposal to change IFAJ’s voting structure. IFAJ member guilds are currently granted votes based on the number of individual members they represent. Under British law, a federation must operate under a one-member-one-vote basis.
Presented with a proposal to register IFAJ Ltd. as a federation with a new, one-member-one-vote system, the Executive debated and decided to maintain the existing, weighted voting system. The Presidium will return to the Executive with a revised charter and hold Executive discussions by Zoom in time for guilds to discuss the ideas and language prior to a vote at the 2025 Delegate Assembly in Kenya.
“The Presidium is now exploring other corporate structures that allow us to maintain our current, weighted voting system, in accordance with the Executive’s wishes,” said Werblow. “It could be that we change the “F” in “IFAJ” to something other than “federation,” like “fellowship.” Or we could use this as an opportunity to re-brand our organization completely, with a new name altogether.
“The future is ours, and we can define it any way we like,” he added. “What’s important is that we discussed the path forward and defined a direction. I’m proud of the Executives and excited that we are moving forward.”
Magda du Toit, IFAJ Treasurer, presenting at the Mid-Term Meeting.