December 20th, 2021, Hyderabad

The Annual General Body meeting of Don Bosco Network – Bosconet was held at Hyderabad on the 20th of December, 2021. It was attended by Fr. Noel Maddhichetty, Director and Fr. Santhanam Ubagaram, Assistant Director, from BOSCONET; and the Executive Directors as members from the various PDOs across the region which include : Fr. Jijo, Director/ Economer – DBDOC (INC), the Executive Directors Fr. Laurence Monitero, KDS (INP), Fr. Rubin, BREADS (INK), Fr. Sudhakar Bellamkonda, BSK (INH), Fr. Amalorpavaraj, CAUVERI (INT), Fr. Alphonse, SURABI (INM), Fr. Genesius, BDS (INS), Fr. Jayaprakash, BRO (ING), Fr. Viraj Chamata, PDO, (LKC), Mr. Louis Manohar, National Coordinator, Bosconet and Fr. Amaladoss, Head – SAFE, Economers’ Network.

The AGB is held every year to take stock of the year’s activities, review growth and plan for the future endeavors as a Network. It also serves to review, acknowledge and appreciate the support and collaborations of the partner PDOs.

The meeting was opened by Fr. Santhanam, Asst Director, BOSCONET who lead everyone into prayer and Fr. Thomas Santiagu, the Vice Provincial, Hyderabad (INH), representative of the hosting province, who felicitated all the participant members with gifts and wished them success for the meeting.

Fr. Noel, Director, BOSCONET introduced the agenda, purpose and scope of the Annual General Body meeting by giving an account of the origin, evolution, and steady growth of the Don Bosco Network – ‘Bosconet’, with the coordinated support of the member Program Development Offices (PDO’s). He delved into the need, importance, and impact of working as a network to showcase a huge impact that can help strengthen the capacity and bargaining power of reaching out to donors and target groups with more relevant programs. He was appreciative of the participation and cooperation of the partners.

The meeting progressed to a review of the previous year’s AGB with a deliberation of the completed task list. The CSR team of Bosconet, Ms. Pooja and Mr. Samrat presented details regarding the possible scope of future funding and focus areas, viz. education, health, skills development, livelihood, programs for the prevention of climate change, etc.

Fr. Agilan, the president of the Network addressed the participants via an online session, stressing the necessity of putting continuous effort into Networking.

Mr. Louis Manohar, National Coordinator, BOSCONET went on to present the annual report for the period 2019-20. He reviewed the important programs, activities and results achieved. A discussion was held on the cost of handling projects, issues around timely reporting with regards to programme and finance, the quality of reports, the necessity of results/impact-based reports and added value of an impact assessment by external agencies which will increase the goodwill and trust of donors. Fr.Santhanam gave an account of the financial performance of Bosconet, showing the financial growth for the ten year period (FY 2010-11 to 2021-22) and that INR 16 crores that had been mobilized and distributed to the DB Partners mostly as covid relief during current FY 2021-22.

A review of statutes of the Don Bosco Network-Bosconet was led by Fr.Noel. Suggestions for a few amendments of statutes were made by members with unanimous acceptance for submission to the SPCSA for approval.

Fr. Amaladoss, Head-SAFE, Economers’ Network (Provincial Economer – INT) highlighted and clarified the key issues in relation to accounting and finance, legal compliance and the digitalization of documents.

Discussion on Bosconet’s 10th Year anniversary events was the next topic on the agenda. The following modality of the program was discussed – a two day program in Bangalore with an award ceremony, a symposium, an interface of PDOs with corporates and agencies etc. A core committee of 5 partners along with the Bosconet team was formed to work out the detailed program. It was proposed to hold the event in April 2022 taking into consideration the covid situation.

Discussion was also held on the presentations to be made in the upcoming International conference in Rome in Sep./Oct. ’22. It was agreed that Bosconet would present the success model of CSR and Local Fundraising. A presentation as a Network on behalf of the region was also discussed. Fr. Noel expressed the need to undertake a study on the alignment of the PDOs in the region with the “General Guidelines of the Model and Tasks of the Provincial Planning and Development Office in the Salesian World” – Rome (October 2017). The possibility of the same will be looked at later.

A sharing on key programs executed / results achieved/ innovative strategies/ success models by the PDOs in their respective provinces was done by Fr. Sudhakar, BSK (INH), Fr. Rubin, BREADS (NK), Fr. Jayaprakash, BRO (ING), Fr. Laurence, KDS (INP), Fr. Amalorpavaraj, CAUVERI (INT).

The meeting concluded with finalizing the deliberations and task list to take forward.