ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission (GBC) Nominations Committee has issued the following announcement on recruitment of Global Duty Officers by the GBC:

Srila Prabhupada said that a GBC member could have “thousands of secretaries,” and in keeping with this principle the Governing Body has designed new posts for senior devotees to be engaged in assisting the GBC expand the oversight of the Society’s development. One such post is that of Global Duty Officers (GDO), who help the Governing Body and its members by taking up important services giving support and leadership in fields such as preaching initiatives, educational programs, administration and legal matters. They can assist and serve in special projects commissioned by the GBC, assist GBC Standing Committees, assist Global Ministries, assist committees involved in the Strategic Planning Network, and attend and serve during GBC meetings.

At their half-yearly meeting in Mumbai in October the GBC Body appointed the following devotees as Global Duty Officers, for a renewable one-year tenure: 

Bhakti Prabhava Swami

Devakinandana Das (Singapore)

Gauranga Das

Govardhan Das

Hanuman Das

Krishnadas Kaviraja Das

Mathuresa Das

Mukunda Madhava das

Parabhakti Das

Praharana Dasi

Radha Krishna Das

Satya Gopinath Das

Srivallabha Das

Srivasa Das

Srivasa Pandit Das

Tapana Misra Das

Tirtharaja Das

The GBC Nominations Committee (NC) is presently fine-tuning the details of their engagement and looking for new applicants. Although becoming a GDO is not an automatic stepping stone to become a GBC – and it is a valuable service in itself – still, serving as a GDO for two years is a prerequisite for becoming a GBC, along with receiving the appropriate training at the GBC College for Leadership Development, established by the GBC to help in preparing ISKCON leaders.

There are currently about 35 GBC members overseeing the whole world, about double the number there were when Srila Prabhupada was physically present, but the number of temples and centers around the globe now is approaching 700, more than six times the number in his time. The GBC members meet twice a year, and if their numbers increase proportionately, in keeping with the number of centers, there would soon be hundreds of GBCs. 

The average GBC member is now in his or her 60s, and some are in their 70s. There is an obvious need for younger generations of devotees to gradually take over the reins of the movement, and the GDO service is one which will facilitate competent devotees to become trained and gain experience which will allow them to take up GBC service in due course. 

The next batch of GDOs will be appointed in February 2017, at the Annual General Meeting of the GBC; the deadline for applications is December 1^st.  If you have any interest or if you know of someone who would, please contact us at: gbcnominations@gmail.com