IOI | Best Practice Paper on Ombudsman outreach practices

It is vital for citizens to be aware of the existence of Ombudsman institutions and to know about their work and the services they provide. At the same time, it is important for the Ombudsman to understand and know the concerns of the people, especially those, for whom participation is not self-evident and comes with challenges.

The approaches Ombudsman around the world take to reach out to the public are diverse and unique, whether due to geographical distances within the country, or differences in their mandates. Whom Ombudsman reach out to and how they do it, is never a fixed concept. This is why an active exchange among colleagues is so important.

This new IOI Best Practice Paper is based on the exchange among IOI members prior and during the IOI World Conference 2024. It is not exhaustive and aims to serve as a starting point for Ombudsman around the world to reflect on this important topic together and to share their experiences and approaches on outreach, learn from each other, and inspire one another.

The IOI would like to thank Mr. Reinier van Zutphen, National Ombudsman of the Netherlands and Regional President of IOI Europe and his team for providing IOI members with a Best Practice Paper on yet another timely topic for Ombudsman around the globe.  

The IOI introduced its Best Practice Paper series with a view to providing guidance material on key features that inform strong offices and to present and share best practices. All the papers published within this series so far can be found HERE. If your institution is interested in developing a Best Practice Paper for this IOI publication series, please contact the IOI General Secretariat.

Source: IOI General Secretariat