Frequently asked questions

The International Federation Assembly 2023 is taking place from Tuesday 20th to Saturday 24th June 2023.

You can find the program here.

No, only a few sessions of the International Federation Assembly 2023 are live on Zoom;  4 for the whole Federation. 

• the opening celebration on Tuesday the 20th   at 2pm UTC 
• 2 International leadership transition ceremonies on Friday the 23rd June at 2 am and 2 pm UTC    
• the closing celebration on Saturday 24th June at 6pm UTC

For Delegates  

There are also be some live sessions for the delegates e.g. workshops on reports and intercommunity delegates meetings.  

For community members  

The delegates are organizing some live sessions/WhatsApp or Zoom calls for their community members to discover another community within the small groups of four. 

Please note that all the times in the Assembly program are in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). 

• To find the exact time when the session is in your time zone, visit worldtimebuddy.com

If you have not found your questions here, don’t worry write to us: assembly2023@larche.org and we will get back to ASAP.

Pre-Assembly  

• As ‘ambassadors’ of their communities, the delegates help to engage their communities with the preparation for the International Federation Assembly.  
• They take the lead in sharing all the documents and facilitate consultations within their communities with the support of their leadership teams and the working groups on different themes e.g., on the finance report, on the leaders’ reports etc.    

During the Assembly  

• Attend the entire program of the Assembly.
• For confirmed communities, one of the two delegates casts the vote on behalf of their communities.
• Encourage every member to participate in the Assembly by sharing the relevant assembly content with their communities.
• They act as the link between the Assembly and the members of their communities.
• Attend the delegates’ meetings and represent the opinions of their communities.
• Help their communities to post community IFA activities inspired by the online resources/sessions on the various platforms – Website, Slack, social media platforms etc.  

• Unlike in the past years when the Assembly took the form of an in-person meeting attended only by the community delegates, the International Federation Assembly 2023 is facilitated online; which offers a unique opportunity for the rest of the community members to play an active part in it.  
• Our hope is that the inspiration from the live sessions, the online resources; like the pre-recorded videos and other resources in the Resource Gallery can be integrated into the daily life of our individual communities in a more concrete way than is usually possible so that the rest of the community can rekindle and experience the spirit of solidarity with the rest of the Federation. 

Yes, those from outside L’Arche are invited to participate in the Federation Assembly program at these two points:  

• Friday 23rd – A Day in the community   

  This day is dedicated to an internal individual community event to celebrate the work on the New Charter. 

  We really encourage communities to welcome resource persons from their localities or within their countries to join and affirm the Charter.Even though this day is lived individually in every community, it is a moment when all the communities in the Federation are sharing something common; celebrating our new proposed Charter to which we have all contributed. 

• Saturday 24th at 6pm UTC – The closing celebration 

  Here among other topics, we shall share what L’Arche is today, our hopes and plans and invite those from outside L’Arche to partner with us in the mission. 

  IMPORTANT – Notice about Closing CelebrationWe want to see you!

  We will use the Zoom Webinar format so that everyone can join. This is different to the normal zoom format! So, please do two things:

  1. when you connect, uou can only change your name at the very beginning when you connect: So put the name of your community and your country.
  2. When the meeting starts, tick the box which allows you to be a ‘Panellist’.

Pre-Assembly  

• Delegates share their experiences and discover each other’s gifts within the small groups of 4 communities. The delegates carry the responsibility of connecting their communities though Zoom, Slack or any other resources at their disposal. 
• This connection/exchange is dependent on the creativity of the delegates e.g. delegates could do community online visits just using the phone cameras introduce members of their community to the other. 
• We invite communities (with the facilitation of their leaders) to be creative: make physical visits to communities nearby as well as reach out to communities that are further away e.g. by sending cards.

During the assembly  

• Delegates in the same time zone/small groups have the opportunity to meet in interactive sessions on the reports and to be inspired by one another.
• There is also an opportunity to interact/upload experiences of the Assembly activities on Slack, in the individual community social media platforms and L’Arche Members Facebook Group.

To know the exact status of your community, please visit this link. 

With very basic electronic equipment like; a smart phone, a tablet, a computer, a TV set or a projector, it should be possible to: 

• Participate in the International Federation Assembly live and in-community activities.
• Access the resources that will be available online.

However, you can make the experience much better by ensuring that you have  

• A TV screen of a reasonable size or projector so everybody can see.  
• A sufficient sound system so everybody hears well what is going on. 
• A good microphone so you can be heard.  
• A webcam is useful as well so that during the live sessions the other members of the federation can see your community. 

Resource Gallery: 

To inspire and help you organize activities that can include every member of your community e.g. those with an intellectual disability, board, assistants, friends etc, a Resource Gallery made up of videos and other inclusive tools gathered from different parts of the Federation has been put together and made available for your use on the International Federation Assembly 2023 website. 

The voting takes place on an online platform hosted by vote.associationvoting.com/larche

• Voting is happening on three days:
  • Tuesday on the Charter,
  • Wednesday on the reports,
  • Thursday on the Mandate, Transition plan, International Stewardship Board and Federation Council.
• Voting opens for a 23hr period so that every community can find the right moment to cast their vote within their time zone.  
• Delegates can find information about the exact procedure of voting in the Mini-Guide.