Written by Julie Hentz
As this November edition of the iSMA Newsletter is the last publication of the year, we would like to take a moment to assess our successes and identify 2021 goals…
It has been a challenging year for our international members with the threats and stresses that a global pandemic brings, including lockdowns, balancing work and the education of children, suffering economic hardship, a sense of social isolation, and serious threats to health. We pray that all of our members are staying safe during these tumultuous times.
In identifying 2020 iSMA accomplishments, we have…
- Recast iSMA into a federation of regional member associations with a strategic business plan and constitution
- Improved governance of the association with annual elections for new board members, annual reports, and an annual general meeting
- Expanded integration with the social marketing and behavior change communication communities by partnering with the Global Alliance for Social and Behavior Change, the World Social Marketing Conference, and Social Marketing Quarterly
- Worked with our partners to reorganize the calendar of Social Marketing Conferences, moving those previously scheduled for 2020, to late 2021 and 2022, with the aim of mitigating timing conflicts and promoting engagement
- Stood up our new, updated website incorporating responsive design with a new COVID Resource page and a Blog feature
- Provided for a new professional development opportunity with our online course, Introduction to Social Marketing
- Expanded and improved the popular Webinar Series
Looking ahead, we will work to complete the member database consolidation work and maximize the channels of action and interaction that will afford our members greater opportunity for engagement.
We will revisit our strategic plan to identify new goals for the next three to five years and generally identify ways to expand our reach and the practice of social marketing globally, to ensure that our member community stays connected and challenged.
The 2020 election for open Board seats awaits within the next few weeks.
A message from the Election Committee:
The newly formed Election Committee (Jennifer Wayman, Leonidas Skerletopoulos , Carlos Oliveira Santos, Luca Uguzzoni and Diogo Veríssimo) is working to delineate a revised election process that will fulfil the commitment made to the iSMA membership of increasing diversity within the board while ensuring a fair and transparent electoral process. Motions will be presented for vote to the iSMA board in the next few days, with the hope of having the electoral process back on track as soon as the current pandemic context allows.