New VNGOC board

Dear VNGOC members,

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Annual General Assembly and Board elections. As the incoming Chair, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the new Board members for 2018:

• Chair: Myself, Jamie Bridge from the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC)
• Deputy Chairperson: Lucia Goberna from Dianova International
• Treasurer: Orsi Feher from Students for Sensible Drug Policy
• Deputy Treasurer: Zoran Jelic from NGO Stijena Resoc
• Secretary: Tania Ramirez from Mexico Unido Contra la Delincuencia (MUCD)
• Deputy Secretary: Shaun Shelly from the TB/HIV Care Association in South Africa

On behalf of us all, I want to assure you of our absolute commitment to representing the full scope of civil society that makes the VNGOC what it is. As individuals, we come from a range of backgrounds – spanning youth representation, HIV prevention, advocacy, treatment and recovery and crime prevention – and we all applied for the respective positions on the Board fully aware of the need to put aside personal views and ensure that all civil society perspectives and voices can be heard here in Vienna. This is our mission.

I ask now for your solidarity, and to allow us – as the new Board – to demonstrate this commitment over the coming year. We plan to lead by example on this front and will, for example, be developing a robust Code of Conduct for Board Members (which will, of course, be circulated to all members for your review and feedback).