At the beginning of 2018, the Humanist Association of Germany celebrated its 25th anniversary. The HVD Federal Association was founded in January 1993 by seven associations with free-religious, free-thinking and humanist-oriented traditions. Today, 12 regional associations in 14 federal states belong to the federal association.
The intention with which the federal association was founded in 1993 is still the same, and there is also great unity in the expectations of the state associations towards the federal association. Nevertheless, a lot can change in a quarter of a century. In the words of Heraklit: nothing is as constant as change.
Last Saturday, October 20, 2018, a structural meeting of the federal association was held in Berlin to discuss how the structure of the association needs to change in order to take these developments into account.
Key points were identified:
- The structure of the federal association is to become leaner, including a reduction in the number of committee members.
- The General Assembly is to become a Council of Delegates* that takes over the function of the current BDV and the current BHA. The regional associations and the Young Humanists decide autonomously who they send as delegates.
- The Council of Delegates appoints a Board of Directors(Presidium*).
- The majority principle should apply in the Council of Delegates .
- The Council of Delegates and the Executive Committee may appoint specialist committees.
- A strong federal office is being sought.
*The committee names used above are working titles.
As part of the subsequent Executive Committee meeting on Sunday, October 21, 2018, the Executive Committee of the HVD Bundesverband appointed a working group to further develop the results of the discussions at the strategy meeting. The tasks of the Federal Association Structure and Financing Working Group include:
- Development of a statute
- Development of a financing model
- Feasibility check
- Proposals for a timetable for implementing structural reform
The aim is to present the results before the end of this year – and to implement them promptly.
