Establish the Governance of Your Organisation
Establish the governance of your organisation
- Once you have the support of a core group of graduate women call them together for a second meeting to elect officials and agree priorities.
- Elect provisional officials by democratic process, including a Chair and a Coordinator for International Relations (CIR). If only a few women attend the meeting, appoint temporary leaders for a short, fixed term and plan to elect new leaders at a later meeting.
- Develop plans for the formation of local branches and/or electronic networks to link members.
- Discuss priorities and plan an initial project or activity that can be completed within a short period of time (such as a public seminar or a career awareness day for girls in a local school).
- Appoint a small committee to draw up a constitution in conformity with the Model Constitution, to be submitted to the GWI Membership Committee for comment and approval.
- Arrange the date and place of a national meeting for representatives from the different local branches/regions to come together to consider and adopt the constitution, make financial provisions and elect officers and committees. Normally this meeting should take place between six months and a year following the first meeting.
- If meetings will be held in the interim, arrange the date and place of the next meeting. Inform all branches/structures and interested individuals.
- In addition to the Chair and a Coordinator for International Relations (CIR), who liaises with GWI, it would be useful to appoint a Public Relations Officer to give publicity to activities and a Newsletter Editor to keep branches and members informed of developments. An Advocacy Liaison Representative would also be an advantage.
- A minimum of 20 paid up members are required to start and maintain a national federation or association (NFA) that is affiliated to GWI.
