ABIDE convened its General Assembly Meeting.

ABIDE convened its General Assembly Meeting on 15 December 2007 at the Imperial Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

General Assembly Meeting Hibret Lelimat Ma’ekel (HLM) held its first General Assembly (GA) meeting on December 15, 2007 at the Addis Ababa Imperial Hotel. The meeting, chaired by Dr. Tamerate Retta, who stepped in on behalf of Ato Tsegaye Kassa who was unable to attend the meeting due to ill health, was attended by 26 members. The Acting Chairperson, Dr. Tamerate Retta, welcomed the participants and introduced the Meeting's Agenda which was reviewed and adopted unanimously. The Agenda of the meeting were:

• Reporting on 2007 Activity Implementation and Audit Report,

• Review, amendment and approval of the proposed action plan and budget for the year 2008,

• Electing Board members to fill vacant positions.

The HLM Board, represented by Dr. Tewabech Bishaw, Managing Director of ABIDE, presented its Annual Report for the year 2007. In her remark, Dr. Tewabech expressed her appreciation and thanks to the participants for committing their valuable time to participate in the meeting and the individuals and organizations that have been supporting HLM in the implementation of its 2007 activities including those who provided financial assistance to the organization. She then outlined highlights of the key achievements made during the just concluded year as follows:

• Finalization of the pending formalities with the Ministry of Justice and Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Agency (DPPA).

• Completion of the organization’s Strategic Plan Document and endorsement of HLM’s official logo.

• Inauguration of HLM's dynamic and interactive website, www.hlmethiopia.org at the National Symposium of 30 August 2007.

• Convening of the National Symposium in partnership with the Addis Ababa Millennium Secretariat on the eve of the Millennium celebration on August 30, 2007, which drew large attendance from local participants, development partners and members of the Diaspora.

• Conduct of advocacy and publicity work via various media outlets including ETV, local papers, through press conference, press releases, radio spots, announcements and interviews with local correspondents of the BBC, VOA, and Deuchewelle.

• Establishment of partnerships with Government and non-governmental organizations and key donor organizations including the signing of MOUs with CRDA, SIDA, and SNV.

• Securing of funds from SIDA, USAID, CRDA, the Twinning Center and SNV in support of organizing the National Symposium.

• Renting an office space and equipping with basic sets of equipment.

Dr. Tewabech also reported that the Board held five regular meetings during the year in providing guidance to the organization in accomplishing the planned tasks. Similarly several task teams and committees, established for overseeing the development of the SPD, the Website and Logo, met for over 24 times in the year. Among the major constraints during the initial stages of the organization's life were mentioned the lack of staff, shortage of funds, lack of office space and heavy work schedule of Board Members.

2008 HLM Planned Activities and Proposed Budget In reviewing the 2008 planned activities and proposed budget as presented by the Managing Director, participants commended the plan, made their observations on the relevance of the specific interventions planned for the year that could address priority concerns identified in the 2007 Annual report. The plan was noted to be within the priorities of HLM’s Strategic Plan and the 30 August 2007 National Symposium recommendations.

Activities planned for implementation in 2008 included: 1) Strengthening the internal and operational capacity of HLM; 2) Situation analysis needs and process assessment; 3) Consultative meetings with stakeholders and partners; 4) Study tour Review and Document lessons learned 5) Consultation with the Diaspora communities and Diaspora related organizations; 6) Development and maintenance of Database; 7) Advocacy – information and communication.

General Observations The following general observations were made on the 2008 plan.

• The overall content of the proposed 2008 activities was unanimously accepted

• The budget for some of the planned activities were underestimated

• Strengthening the internal and operational capacity of HLM need to be given priority as it is basic for all other activities to be effectively implemented

• The development of accurate and up-to-date database need to be detailed further and its budget reviewed

• Advocacy must be a core activity for consensus building and positive change in mindset of benefiting institutions and stakeholders as it helps in mobilizing membership and resource.

Following the Report, an Audit Report was also presented by the Internal Auditor and its findings and recommendations were discussed. The General Assembly then proceeded to replacing members of the Board who resigned from active participation due to other competing priorities. Accordingly, Prof. Zinabu Gebremariam, Prof. Makonnen Asefa and Ato Mulugetta Gebru were elected as members of the Board.

At the end, the chairperson thanked the Managing Director for delivering the reports and for her continued effort to build HLM. He further expressed his thanks and appreciation to the General Assembly for their active participation and valuable observations that help strengthen HLM and its operations. The meeting was adjourned at 13:00 hours and lunch was served to the participants at the Hotel.

For further information please refer to the 2007 & 2008 Annual Reports found in Document Page.