The Mid-Term Meeting (or “MTM”) is a long-standing tradition of the Association and is a key part of our overall processes. It is a time in the middle of the four-year work cycle to pause and to review several topics with all Committee and Task Force Chairs and Secretaries, and to organize interaction between them and will PIARC bodies such as the Presidency, the Commissions and the General Secretariat.

This cycle’s Mid-Term Meeting was organised virtually in the first days of December. It was spread out over four days, with 4 hours of meeting per day, in order to enable participation from all time zones. Highlights included:

• Workshops on each of the cross-cutting issues of the current Strategic Plan: Innovation, Climate change and Resilience, Safety
• Workshop on gender inclusion and diversity, which was in fact open to all Committee and Task Force members
• Presentations on PIARC’s work with low and middle-income countries and on our partnership strategy
• A workshop per Strategic Theme

Discussions were very lively and enabled a great exchange of ideas and plans on a wide diversity of issues: Progress on each planned deliverable, Cooperation between Committees and Task Forces, Promotion of gender inclusion and diversity in PIARC activities, Review of work processes (including the impact of COVID-19). We were also able to identify first indications of issues to be addressed in the next Strategic Plan, and to progress the preparation of the upcoming Calgary (2022) and Prague (2023) Congresses.

Many thanks to all those who took part and to those who prepared or led one of the workshops!