News & Notes 661:AVC Report for the months of May, June and July
Entity::AVC Report for the months of May, June and July
Dear friends,
We are happy to give you an update of our work from May to the beginning of August, 2016.
The team did face a challenging time; as you already know two people left the Council (Veronique and Guy), the majority was TOS in May and June and some members had to deal with health issues. Since the beginning of July everyone is back and we are busy handling an overload of work!
We have currently a Resource Person with us to help with the restructuring and reorganizing of our work to make it more efficient and streamlined. Natasha is currently a Newcomer and we take this opportunity to welcome her on board! Unfortunately BCC has not approved our request for a half-maintenance for Natasha, and a donor has offered her the same.
Updates on ongoing and new topics
Growth
The New Entry Policy is being implemented and the Auroville Council, through its sub-group, is working together with the present Entry Service Team on:
- Solving minor practical issues of the policy discovered through implementation.
- Mentor pool - organizing regular meetings for the Pool, finding solutions on how to assign mentors smoothly and efficiently to applicants.
- Challenges within the Entry Service’s present organization.
- Restructuring the Entry Service based on the tasks described in the new policy.
- Feedback culture and guidelines for processing the same (see posting in last N&N on the subject).
Apart from that, the Mentors pool is active and more and more Aurovilians are joining (thank you for your participation! However the more Aurovilians there are, the better we can welcome people into Auroville, so if you haven’t already signed up, you are much needed!).
Friends of Auroville (FOA), Relatives / Spouses/ Partners of Aurovilians, Associates of Auroville and Students of Auroville are being welcomed and announced in the N&N.
Some questions/reflections are coming up and issues need to be addressed and solved. As the tasks of Entry changed we are looking currently at how to organize and restructure the group in a way that supports the new Entry policy.
Sindhuja, Sandyra , Marc and Matriprasad are handling/following this topic in the sub-group.
Planning & Development – Infrastructure
Town Planning and Development: Following the last community workshop held at the end of April – beginning of May 2016 that attempted to align values and identify common agreements, a few Resource Persons bravely continued in the summer, collecting and compiling relevant information on the history of town planning in Auroville, as well as framing a process to achieve a Terms of Reference (ToR) document that will outline the broad characteristics of the nature of our future developments (e.g. Sustainable development, bio-regional consideration) as well as the nature of our future process (e.g. Participatory framework for planning).
A General Information Meeting is planned soon with 2 main intentions: one, to present all the work that has been done over the summer and two, to form an “Active Sounding Board” of Aurovilians that, together with a core group:
- will shape a Town Planning Terms of Reference (ToR) document for the next 5 years,
- will define a structure of Town Development Council that enables effective implementation,
- potentially be part of a selection process that will help determine the team that will take up the task.
Sindhuja, Sandyra and Marc are handling this topic in the sub-group.
Interim TDC: Together with the WCom, the AVCouncil formed an Interim TDC in May 2016. The interim members (Divia L, Sheba, Tejaswini, Fabian, Pino and Tom) started their work immediately thereafter.
NTDA: A Residents Assembly Decision Making Event (RAD) is being studied/planned by the AV Council and Working Committee. A detailed announcement will soon follow with more information on the topic.
Housing: The Council is informed by the work of the ARA on Housing. On Aug. 3rd, a GM was held on this topic and a follow-up meeting is planned for Aug. 22nd in Unity Pavilion.
Since Housing is under the FAMC, and TDC is closely linked to the topic, we are currently preparing for these 2 new groups to be in place soon, so that we can re-assess the mandate and policy of the Housing Service along with these 2 key groups.
Sandyra from the Council is part of the team of ARA members working on this topic.
Education
Workshop guidelines Adult Learning Actvities (ALA): A subgroup, composed by Guy (Quiet), Joster, Lara, Vikram, Dominique (SAVI), Dhanya and Daniel, is working to define guidelines for workshops and courses done in Auroville by Aurovilians or outsiders. Visa issues, service tax, contributions to Auroville and a new approach for the development of this sector of education are being studied by this sub-group who met with the present “stakeholders” of this topic twice. Work in progress.
Justice
Appeal Process: The present sub-group of the AVCouncil (Elisa and Niva) has integrated the feedback given by the working groups into the draft paper that was circulated. The Appeal process will be published soon for community approval.
Aspiration Sports Ground Issue: The Auroville Council and Working Committee proposed a solution to the 2 parties. Since one of the parties did not accept this proposal, the issue is now for arbitration - process ongoing.
Windarra arbitration implementation: The Implementation Monitoring Group has asked the AVCouncil for help in resolving the issue that the group is unable to act without a quorum, and some members of the IMG are not present. The Council has been asked to look into this topic and propose a solution for the smooth functioning of the group.
Governance/Organization
FAMC, WCom and AVCouncil Selection process: The 3-day selection process for these 3 groups is scheduled for Oct. 21st – 23rd. There is great participation and the RAS has received a large number of nominees. The nominees and the community members who want to participate in the 3-day selection process have been asked to give their profiles. Their names will be published for feedback from the community to be processed by the Temporary Feedback Review Committee (TFRC).
Formation of a Temporary Feedback Review Committee (TFRC): As announced already, this year's Temporary Feedback Review Committee (TFRC) is composed of Angad (Mantra Pottery), Krishna (Anusuya), Mauna (Grace), Meenakshi (Nursery), Pala (Invocation), Rakhal (Sukhavati), Surya (Surrender), with 3 reserve members Charu, Suzie and Marlenka. The Auroville Council chose these 10 names through an internal selection process from the list of nominees received from the community at large, as done in the previous years.
Economy
Leaving Auroville Allowance policy: The Auroville Council has made changes to the existing policy and has sent it to the FAMC. The processing of future persons applying for this fund will be handled directly by the FAMC through the Leaving Auroville Allowance Pool.
Environment
Mobility: Recently the AVCouncil, along with the RAS, made a survey of questions related to mobility. The analysis of the same and the next steps will be published in our next report.
AVC Representatives in other working groups
As it is more efficient and effective having representatives in other working groups while creating better understanding of their functioning, the following persons represent the AVCouncil:
- Renuka in BCC (previously Daniel)
- Matriprasad in FAMC
- Sundar in Housing Board (previously Renuka) and in AV Safety and Security Team (AVSST)
Please note that we have a General Meeting with the community scheduled on Wednesday August 31st at 4.30 pm at the Unity Pavilion. All are welcome!
Warmly,
Daniel, Renuka, Sundar, Matriprasad, Sindhuja, Sandyra and Marc - For the Auroville Council