The huge success of the training sessions showed that there is a strong demand among member institutions for training activities. The IOI has become highly aware of the necessity of training programmes for its members and is planning to offer additional training courses focusing on areas that are of specific concern to ombudsman institutions and taking into account regional topics of specific interest.

Since November 2010 the IOI General Secretariat hosted various training initiatives in Vienna and was able to forge close ties with renowned partner institutions offering training such as the Ombudsman of Ontario (Canada), the Queen Margaret University (UK/Scotland), the Ombudsman of New South Wales (Australia) or the Vienna-based International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA).

The very positive feedback from our members encourages the IOI to further embark on such projects and provide its membership with additional trainings at the IOI headquarter in Vienna as well as in the IOI regions in the future.

With the view to strengthen our members’ capability and to foster the exchange of expertise among Ombudsman worldwide, the IOI always strives to identify the specific training needs of its members and to broaden the range of topics offered to its members in tailor-made training seminars.

For the membership year 2014/2015 the IOI is planning to offer the following training seminars:

• “Unreasonable Complainants” – joint IOI/AOA training hosted by the Office of the Ombudsman of Thailand and presented by NSW Ombudsman Bruce Barbour and NSW Deputy Ombudsman Chris Wheeler in Thailand in March 2015;

• "Anti-corruption training” hosted by the Office of the Ombudsman of Antigua & Barbuda in association with the annual CAROA conference and presented by the Austria-based International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) in May 2015;

• “NPM/OPCAT training” hosted by the Office of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Latvia and presented in cooperation with the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) in Riga in June 2015;

• “Complaint management & investigation techniques” in Spanish hosted by a Latin-American member institution (to be confirmed) and presented by Queen Margaret University (QMU) in 2016.

The IOI aims at implementing research projects that will become the basis for an intensified exchange of best practices among member institutions that will for the first time have comprehensive data available on other members of the ombudsman community.

Comparative research project on Asian Ombudsman Institutions

The upcoming research project will deal with Asian Ombuds institutions.

Comparative research project: "APOR Ombudsman Institutions"

The IOI General Secretariat commissioned the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights, an independent Austrian research institution, to conduct a comparative research study on the ombudsman offices of the Australasian and Pacific Region. The APOR comparative research project links up with a very successful research project on the European Region conducted by Prof. Kucsko-Stadlmayr. It aims at analysing the legal basis, the legal status as well as the position of ombudsman institutions of the APOR Region within their political systems and societies. In addition, the project focuses on the compliance of the various ombudsman institutions with norms of good administration and international and regional human rights standards, on their accessibility to different societal groups and on their monitoring and data collection mechanisms.

A print version of the study "'Australasia and Pacific Ombudsman Institutions" was published in 2013. It contains a detailed comparative analysis of the ombudsman institutions of the APOR Region. An online access will be available for members soon.

Access to research on European ombudsman institutions

Against the background of this intensified scientific cooperation the IOI General Secretariat is pleased to offer all IOI Members the opportunity of free of charge electronic access to the following publication: Kucsko-Stadlmayer, Gabriele (ed.): "European Ombusman-Institutions. A comparative legal analysis regarding the multifaceted realisation of an idea", Springer Wien New York, 2008. This comparative legal study that was realised by the European region in 2007/2008 and contains well founded information about approaches, assignments and competences of Ombudsman institutions in 49 European states. It can therefore provide a valuable incentive for the status and potential of development of the Ombudsman regime.

For further information please contact the IOI General Secretariat.

Using membership fees, the Executive Committee of the IOI is able to grant subsidies for regional projects based on a transparent tender procedure.

Out of numerous project proposals six applications from five regions were selected in 2011. Most of the projects concerned training initiatives or public communication and research activities.

In 2012, five projects from four regions were subsidized. A webinar, training courses, a capacity building workshop and a fundamental rights campaign for detainees were financially supported by the IOI.

Amongst several other promising projects, the proposals that received subsidies in 2013 were an information campaign against human trafficking, a project on awareness raising of women’s rights and child rights as well as a training course for new Ombudsmen and developing or expanding offices.

The call for the next round of applications for regional subsidies is starting in December 2014. Applications can be submitted to the IOI General Secretariat until 06 February 2015. For more details, please see the call for proposals or contact the IOI General Secretariat.