You are invited! 

Mr Filippo Lombardi, President of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA), will be chairing a Roundtable on:

The future of FOSSUK, the umbrella organisation for Swiss Societies in the UK
Saturday, 22nd July 2023 from 2 – 6pm at the Swiss Embassy London and Online

The Roundtable is an initiative from the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA), inspired by FOSSUK (Federation of Swiss Societies in the UK), with the idea of applying it to other countries facing similar challenges with shrinking number of Swiss clubs, engagement with www.SwissCommunity.org and the increasing prevalence of informal clubs and social media groups as opposed to traditional club structures. Ms Maria Luisa Bernini of FactorSwiss / SwissCommunity.org will be on hand too.  

The Roundtable will be an open conversation between the presidents of FOSSUK member clubs, and leaders of social groups, informal clubs and Swiss societies from all walks of the UK.

The main question to be addressed will be:

What is your vision for FOSSUK and in what form do you want to contribute?

Topics to be discussed will include:

• What is the role of the FOSSUK - the Federation of Swiss Societies UK?

• What is the role of the UK delegates to the Council of the Swiss Abroad?

• How do Swiss clubs, Swiss societies and Swiss social (online) groups operate?

• How can an umbrella organisation support its members and the Swiss community living in the UK? How does it work in other countries?

• How can FOSSUK increase its membership, e.g. social groups as foreseen in the 2019 revision of the FOSSUK constitution?

• How to give FOSSUK the means to deliver all of this?

It is our hope that the outcome of the discussion will lead to a number of ideas to help us build an UK-wide community-driven organisation that is agile in structure, utilises SwissCommunity.org and its resources more fully, has broader reach to share information and a much closer relationship with all clubs and social groups.

In person RSVP no later than Wednesday, 19th of July to enquiries@swiss-societies.co.uk as entry to the Swiss Embassy is subject to those on the guestlist for safety and security purposes.

We are very much looking forward to seeing you on Saturday, in-person or online.

Yours,

The FOSSUK Committee

Ané-Mari Peter - President, Joelle Nebbe-Mornod - Vice-president & Secretary, Lakshmi Sundaram - Treasurer, Gioia Palmieri - Editor of Regional pages of Swiss Review

UK delegates to the Council of the Swiss Abroad:
Andreas Feller-Ryf, Loredana Guetg-Wyatt, Michelle Hufschmid, Franz Muheim and Lakshmi Sundaram