Democracy For Nepal: ANONYM: Association Of Nepali Organizations In New York Metro

Sunday, March 18, 2007

ANONYM: Association Of Nepali Organizations In New York Metro

Proposed Constitution

The name of the organization is Association of Nepali Organizations in New York Metro, ANONYM for short.
Any interested Nepali organization in the tri state area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut may join. Membership is free. Each member organization will stay autonomous. Each member organization will be represented by its president, or the president's representative. Each member organization will have a voting weight that will be the number of members that organization has. Each organization will have to submit a list of its members and their contact info - email address, phone number - for the purpose. National and global organizations may only submit names of members that are local. Each member organization may update its list at a meeting, and their new voting weight will apply at the next meeting. The list has to be submitted electronically. Umbrella organizations like the GFIPN may also join. Member organizations of the GFIPN get to join independently. Organizations that do not submit lists will have only one vote each.
All voting will be open. All book keeping will be transparent and online. Minutes of all meetings will be published online.
ANONYM's primary goal is to empower the Nepalis, in the city, in the nation and globally. ANONYM is committed to earning voting rights for Nepalis in New York City.
ANONYM is committed to building The Matrix so as to reach out to other communities, locally, nationally, and globally.
ANONYM will not join any Nepali diaspora organization that does not practice democracy and transparency to the full extent that ANONYM does. But member organizations are free to join umbrella organizations of their choice.
ANONYM will meet once every three months, for the first time in May 2007. At each meeting, each member organization will get three minutes to report on its activities and future plans, and they may submit longer written reports that get published with the minutes of the meeting.
ANONYM will host an annual convention in the city, starting with Nepali Convention 2008, NYC. The managers of the convention will get 20% of the profits, the rest goes to ANONYM. ANONYM will celebrate the Republic Day in Nepal as the Nepal Day in New York City.
A President, two Vice Presidents, a Secretary, and a Treasurer will be elected at the May meeting through open voting. Candidate lists for each office will be prepared. If there are more than two candidates for a slot, and noone gets at least 50% of the votes, a second round is to be organized among the top two contenders. Noone running for office may be Election Officer. The President runs the meeting, the Secretary takes minutes.
ANONYM may form, sustain, and dissolve committees, permanent and temporary, as necessary. A committe is to be set up to look into setting up a Nepali Community Center in Queens. ANONYM will also encourage private sector efforts like media houses that help with community building among the Nepalis in the city. ANONYM will also work to provide visibility to Nepali owned business entities in the tri-state area.

Possible Format For Meeting Agenda

Convenor's opening remarks. 5 minutes.
Coordinator's summary report on the state of Nepali organizations, November to May. 4 minutes.
Each organization's report on what it has been doing, what it expects to do next. 3 minutes each by the clock. 90 minutes.
Proposal by the Convenor to form ANONYM. Discussion, vote and possible acceptance. 15 minutes. 2 minutes max by any one person.
Elections for the five officer positions of ANONYM. 10 minutes.
Issue discussion: Voting rights for Nepalis in New York City. 15 minutes. 2 minutes max by any one person.
Committee formation: Nepali Community Center, feasibility study. 10 minutes.
Committee formation: Build The Matrix. 10 minutes.
Concluding remarks: ANONYM President. 5 minutes.