The 36th IPPF EN Regional Council (RC) meeting took place in Tirana (Albania) this year from 5 to 6 June. The Regional Office wishes to thank the IPPF Albanian Member Association, ACPD, for being very supportive in hosting the event and making the RC a success.

The 2008 RC elected the new Regional Executive Committee and IPPF Governing Council members.

See: http://www.ippfen.org/en/About/Organisation/Governance.htm

One of the highlights of the RC meeting was the adoption of the IPPF EN policy statement on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) People.

See:http://www.ippfen.org/en/About/Policy/SRHR+of+LGBT.htm

The policy paper is based on the principles of the IPPF Declaration of Sexual Rights, adopted in May 2008 by the IPPF Governing Council in London. IPPF President Dr Jacqueline Sharpe introduced the new Declaration of Sexual Rights to the RC and explained the action that IPPF will take to integrate the content of the Declaration into the member associations’ work. She also announced that IPPF will organize a targeted external campaign around the declaration.

Participants at the RC also took part in a discussion topic on volunteerism. The results of the discussion should feed into the upcoming Choices Magazine which will be entirely dedicated to volunteerism and SRHR in Europe.

On the initiative of Dr Jacqueline Sharpe, a Governance Task Force had also been set up to work on IPPF’s governance, including the role and importance of volunteers, the governing bodies and good governance. Garry Dearden, IPPF Director, Organizational Effectiveness and Governance provided the RC with an introduction to the proceedings of the Governance Task Force and the documents deriving from its work: the Code of Good Governance and the new policy on Volunteering. Both documents were adopted by the IPPF Governing Council at its meeting in Lisbon in November 2007.

The 2009 RC will be held in Spain, most probably from 11 to 13 June 2009.