BackIn order to remain a leading organization within the international ombudsman community, the IOI Board of Directors agreed in 2009 to appoint a By-law, Membership & Governance Committee, which had been given the task of reviewing the existing IOI by-laws. Subsequent discussions in the past two years supported the idea that the IOI should strive to achieve more openness by establishing revised membership criteria and, at the same time, also clearly declare what it stands for, i.e. include an international ombudsman standard in its by-laws.
At the IOI World Conference held in Wellington, New Zealand in November 2012, institutional members in good standing will be requested to vote on the new by-laws. The Board has therefore approved a schedule to ensure a transparent reform process involving all members and regions through a regional consultation mechanism.
The Regional Vice-Presidents will provide their members by email with the draft by-laws, elaborated by the By-law Committee and inform them about the next steps and deadlines of the consultation process. All members are requested to thoroughly consider the draft by-laws and to send comments and remarks to the competent Regional Vice-President and the Secretary General.
The regional consultation certainly is the most important phase of the IOI by-laws reform process. The IOI is therefore looking forward to feedback and input from its members and would like to thank them in advance for their cooperation.
