Sixth Annual Meeting of the WG: Governance issues

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Sixth Annual Meeting of the WG Governance issues

• Beth Rasch
• U.S.A.

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Membership

• Members selected by their national statistical
  authority
• Membership is voluntary
• Country can have multiple representatives but
  primary representative must be designated

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Membership

• There will be representation of persons with
  disabilities on the WG via international
  organizations representing persons with
  disabilities
• Well-recognized international organizations with
  formal relationship to NSOs and with expertise in
  disability statistics may be adjunct members

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Membership

• This year, we updated the mailing list by
  re-contacting heads of National Statistical
  Offices of all member states of the UN
• We also added representatives from countries that
  conducted WG pre-tests if they were not already
  on the WG membership list

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Membership

• Using this method, we added representatives from
  36 countries to the WG membership list, some of
  whom are attending this meeting
• We also added representatives from 2 national
  organizations representing persons with
  disabilities

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Membership

• We agreed to use this procedure to update the
  list every other year since it is cost and labor
  intensive
• On the alternate years, we will update the list
  by contacting current WG members and asking them
  if they wish to remain on the list as specified
  in the plan for governance

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Steering committee rotation

• Seven representatives
• Past, present and future meeting hosts
• 4 reps from each major geographical region
• Secretariat is non-rotating ex-officio member
• Rotating body lt 3 members replaced yearly

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Steering committee rotation

• Volunteers solicited via country reports
• Members selected at annual meetings by full WG
  membership
• 3-year terms with option to complete 2nd term if
  WG membership agrees

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Steering committee rotation

• When electing new member, a balanced regional
  representation will be sought
• Africa / Middle East
• North / South America
• Asia / Pacific
• Europe
• Steering committee will select committee chair

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Steering committee rotation

• This year
• Ireland moves into the future meeting host
  position
• UNESCAP (4th meeting host) rotates off the SC
• Philippines rotates off the SC
• We need to select 1 new SC member, trying to
  maintain a balanced regional representation

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Steering committee rotation

• 15 volunteers (from country reports)
• Asia/Pacific region 2
• Europe 2
• Africa/Middle East 4
• North/South America 7

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Workgroups

• Workgroups formed each time a major work topic is
  agreed upon at annual meetings
• Roughly 3-4 workgroups will exist at any point in
  time
• When the task is completed the group will disband

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Workgroups

• Responsible for preparing / presenting work
  (which might include position papers) at annual
  meetings
• Leaders will solicit comments on position papers
  from the full WG membership via the secretariat
• Leaders included on SC calls to provide a brief
  report of progress

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Workgroups

• Current workgroups
• Short measure
• Implementation
• Extended measure/s
• Data analysis
• Methodological issues
• Do we need to maintain existing groups, establish
  new workgroups, and/or reformulate workgroups
  based on outcomes of this meeting?

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Updates to governance plan based on current
practices

• Current version March, 2004
• Secretariat is responsible for monitoring
  compliance of the WG with the governance plan
• Potential areas for revision
• Uses term general measure
• Membership list updated through correspondence
  with current members

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Updates to governance plan based on current
practices

• Potential areas for revision
• Final meeting report has been an executive
  summary rather than a detailed report of meeting
  proceedings
• Since workgroup leaders have been included in all
  SC conference calls for reporting purposes, there
  has not been a need for a semi-annual report of
  workgroup progress to the SC

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Updates to governance plan based on current
practices

• Potential areas for revision
• In practice, the planning committee for meetings
  has been the SC
• Composition was originally to include present
  meeting host and workgroup leaders and was to be
  geographically representative
• SC in conjunction with workgroup leaders (who
  participate in SC phone meetings) have fulfilled
  this requirement
• There has been no written report of overall
  progress at each 3-year mark

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Wrap-up

• Need for other revisions?
• Other comments on WG governance?