GAA Reconstruction Meeting-Sept 10

Dear Members,

As you must all be aware by now that the moderator of GAA Fr Greg Sharkey has been recalled by the Nepal Jesuit Society to give his full time to the Human Resource Development Centre in Sanepa. The Regional Superior Fr. Lawrence Maniyar has also informed us that for the moment the NJS does not have the resources to send anyone to GAA at the moment.

In light of this and the general view amongst members that operations of the GAA must be professionalized for its further development, the current GAA Board and the Executive Committee formed a Restructuring Advisory Committee which has proposed that the Constitution of the GAA must be amended to facilitate ways in which to make the day to day operations of the Association more professional.

Please do keep in mind that this is not an entirely new initiative as such a measure was recommended during discussions held amongst members in 1998, when Mr. Mahendra Man Sakya was the President. The results of the discussion came out in a document labeled as Begin 98. After reviewing the Begin 98 document the Advisory committee which consists of the following members in chronological order Mr Bijaya Man Sherchan ‘61, Mr Uttam Jung Thapa ‘62, Mr Yogendra Shakya ‘71, Mr Rajiv Rajbhandari ‘73, Mr Mahendra Shakya ‘77, Mr Alok Tumbahangphey ‘95, Mr Samir Prasai ‘95, Ms Tripti Thapa ’99 and Mr Sikandar Thapa ’02 have submitted the following general proposal.

The Executive Committee seeks the suggestions of the respectable past Presidents, officials, and class liaisons on the proposed amendments before submitting the proposal to the general body.

1. That GAA should continue working with its motto of service to the youth and underprivileged. However the GAA should primarily concentrate on improving services for its members first. Rules regarding membership will remain in its original form i.e. the GAA will continue to grant regular membership to all former students of St. Xavier’s Godavari, St. Xavier’s Jawalakhel who have spent at least one year in the school. Membership will also be granted to current or former students of St. Mary’s High School and St. Xavier’s Campus. (Suggestion Note: Although the name GAA is already a brand name suggest changing to Xavier House so as to make it more inclusive maybe?)
2. That the GAA government will primarily consist of a one tier body, Representative/Council/Senate/Board which is representative of all batches (at least one member from each 5-10 batches who can either be nominated by the batches or elected). (Suggestion note: the members should each have had at least 5 years of general membership. The head of the Representative Council/Senate/Board will be the Chairperson/President elected by the general body who will elected for .
3. The Council will form the long term policies, overlook the Secretariat which will function as the executive. Offices in the Council will include Chairperson, Vice Chairperson (youth representative?), Treasurer, and General Secretary, Women’s Vice Chair), (Suggestion note: A representative from the donor ie late Mr. Kayur SJB Rana should also be invited to be a part of the council as an Honorary Representative)
4. The GAA will have a stronger professional secretariat which will be headed by a Chief Executive Officer/Director who will be directly answerable to the Board. The CEO/D will be backed by a professional management team whose job description will include data collection, proposal writing and organizational administration amongst others. (Suggestion: Secretariat should be from the general membership)
5. Considering that the Moderator of the GAA (who is the NJS representative here) has been recalled by the NJS, the general membership has felt that a full time resident moderator is not required here. The Constitutional recognition of the Regional Superior of the NJS as the Patron of GAA should also be annulled. (Suggestion Note: the Patron can be the oldest past President). However the GAA should keep a link with the NJS and have space for a “delegate/liaison officer in the GAA Board from the NJS. The delegate/liaison should be appointed by the NJS.
6. A complete over hall of the current property and the building should take place. A visionary and commercially viable structure that makes the maximum use of the property should be built in the property.

Alok Tumbahangphey

President

Godavari Alumni Association