An Update from the Flying Council: Our Objectives for 2022

We launched the Flying Council in July 2020 because we believe that the Flying Labs Network should ultimately be enabled by a new and independent organization led by experts from and in the Global South. We refer to this new entity internally as FL.org. 

If you're new to the Flying Council, we are composed of self-selected members of the more extensive Flying Labs Network. These members include representatives from Flying Labs in India, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Nepal, Panama, Tanzania, and Uganda. WeRobotics serves as a non-voting advisor to the Flying Council. Like WeRobotics, we believe they should not continue to serve as the primary enabler of the Flying Labs Network forever. Therefore, the Flying Council's purpose is to guide this transition away from WeRobotics. The Council has met several times over the past years to develop the transitional strategies, which the larger Flying Labs Network subsequently reviewed in 2021. For additional context and background on the Council and its work, we invite you to visit these links here, here, and here.

In early 2022, Nepal Flying Labs called for a convening of the Flying Council to vote on the Council's primary objectives for 2022. The vote results were clear: we want to secure funding to launch this independent organization and incorporate this organization as a legal entity earlier rather than later. We have already co-created a detailed roadmap and timeline to transfer power and responsibilities from WeRobotics to FL.org within three years of securing the funding. The Council will use this funding to:

1.  Recruit the Board and hire the organization's Executive Team 
2. Incorporate FL.org
3. Mentor the new Executive Team
4. Complete the institutional transition from WeRobotics to FL.org. 

The initial funding required for steps 1 and 2 will be held by WeRobotics since FL.org first needs to be incorporated to have a bank account. Once this is completed, the funding to implement steps 3 and 4 will be held entirely by FL.org. The remaining funding for steps 1 and 2 will also be transferred to FL.org.

We've made it clear to WeRobotics that this process cannot be rushed. The new entity must enable all Flying Labs to continue having full access to a growing number of services, knowledge products, and professional opportunities for many years to come without any disruption during or after the transition from WeRobotics to FL.org. 

As the Flying Council, we have decided that fundraising is one of our top priorities for 2022. Therefore, we invite you to contact us should you want to learn more about our strategy. You may contact us directly through our own Flying Labs and/or through WeRobotics.