Katri Malmi (she/her), Head secretary from SCM Finland reflects on the Staff and Officers Meeting in Croatia.
In September, I participated in the Staff and Officers meeting in Croatia. I believe it was the fist Staff and Officers meeting that WSCF-E organized in almost a decade, and it certainly was the first one I have had the opportunity of participating in during my for years as the General Secretary of SCM Finland. That means I had great expectations for the meeting and I was not disappointed!
For several years now it has been one of the strategic goals of SCM Finland to build new times with WSCF-E and directly with our sister organizations, the other SCMs. This is a goal that is very difficult to achieve online. Building relationships and trust is something that requires genuine contact, time send together and the sharing of experiences. This is what we had in Croatia! There was a program with leaning about the history and identity of WSCF as well as looking towards the future together. But, just as important where the times in between: a two hour lunch break where we had time to go for a swim. A shared meal every evening and a welcoming host joining us. A moment of sitting together between sessions, sharing not just information about our movements but the pressure of leading them, the moments that feel difficult. None of this is possible without meeting in real life and all of this happened during the three days in Croatia, at least for me.
Coming home form the meeting, I feel that for the first time I have a real understanding of many of our sister SCMs in Europe. I feel that I can at any point reach out to any of the colleagues present to plan for cooperation or just to ask for their experiences. At least in SCM Finland I am the only full-time employee and the role can sometimes be lonely. Just knowing that other people share the same role is important for me.
Thank you for WSCF-E for organizing this opportunity! It is my hope that it will become a yearly event, again. I feel that it would really bring us together as organizations and create ideas and opportunities for our students that we can’t yet imagine because some things are only imagined together.
