| Nominations and Elections
Committee |
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MEMBERS:
- Gerhard Winter (NATHIST)
- Ossama Abdel El Meguid (Egypt)
- In Kyung Chang (ASPAC)
- Ana Mercedes Stoffel Fernandes (MINOM)
Ex-Officio members:
- Knut Wik (Advisory Committee Chairperson)
- Lydie Spaczynski (Director of Administration and Finances, Secretariat))
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TERMS
OF REFERENCE
Endorsed
during the 63rd
Session of the Advisory Committee (June 2002)
1.
BACKGROUND
The
establishment of a pilot Nominations Committee (ICOM-NC)
is one of the most significant recommendations approved
by the ICOM General Assembly in Barcelona, July 2001. These
Terms of Reference take into consideration the rigorous
discourse which has resonated throughout the last three
years within the Advisory Committee, Executive Council,
Reform Task Force and on ICOM-L.
1.1.
AREA OF AUTHORITY
This
committee's role is to assist the Advisory Committee to
better fulfil its mandate according to Article 21, 1 (c)
of the ICOM Statutes to 'select the candidates for
elections to the Executive Council'. This is imperative
to ensure the effective governance and leadership of ICOM,
by achieving an able Executive Council that is well skilled
and broadly representative of the membership. ICOM-NC's
major responsibilities are:
- To
investigate and make recommendations on the structure,
time frame and definition of ICOM's nominations process.
-
To examine and articulate, for the benefit of the Advisory
Committee, those skills, abilities and experiences, which
would best serve the overall governance of the organisation,
as required/defined by the Executive Council's stated
Job
Brief and Principal Tasks (see attached).
-
To conduct an in-depth review of the electoral process
in ICOM and to propose strategies and make recommendations
within the existing statutory requirements to ensure the
achievement of a transparent and satisfactory election
procedure.
1.2.
REPORTS TO
Advisory
Committee [through the Chairperson and/or Elections Officer
of the Advisory Committee]
1.3.
COMPOSITION
The
Nominations Committee shall comprise nine (9) members, drawn
from within the Advisory Committee[and may also include
no more than 3 persons representative of the broader membership].
[More opened ended discussion based on the Committees reports
will be encouraged through electronic means.] The Chairperson
or his/her representative will participate in an ex-officio
capacity. The Secretariat will also participate fully in
these deliberations through its designated respresentatives.
The ICOM-NC will name its own Chairperson at the first meeting
of the Committee in June 2002. Members must also be aware
that ICOM does not have the resources to facilitate meetings
of the Committee, other than during the specified periods
associated with the Advisory Committee meetings, and possibly
other meetings. Therefore, much of the work will need to
be conducted electronically.
2.
SPECIFIC AREAS FOR INVESTIGATION
The
Nominations Committee (ICOM-NC) is asked to review and make
recommendations on various issues identified in the Tool
Box as indicated. The approach to these issues should be
exploratory, and seek to provide the Advisory Committee
with useful analysis and recommendations, within the scope
of the current statutory requirements, and as necessitated
by the parameters of the Executive Council's Job Brief.
The
ICOM-NC will:
-
Review ICOM Reform recommendations R25,
R31,
R32,
R33
and R34
as passed at the ICOM General Assembly, Barcelona - July,
2001.
-
Identify abilities relevant and desirable to the Job Brief
and Principal tasks of the Executive Council (as attached)
which should/could be taken into consideration when nominations
are being made for the officer and ordinary member positions,
and advise thereon.
-
Assist the Advisory Committee with a thorough examination
of the range of skills, experiences and capacities to
be secured and formulate procedures to be followed for
reflection or adjustment if needed.
-
Develop, in conjunction with the Secretariat, appropriate
mechanisms for communicating the abilities needed to implement
Principals tasks of the Executive Council, and to launch
a broad-based campaign designed to educate and encourage
ICOM members to participate responsibly in this most important
process, through good nominations and candidacies for
Advisory Committee consideration.
-
Should it become clear that there is a shortfall in the
optimum number of candidates proposed for nomination (i.e.
30) prior to the requisite selection of candidates by
the Advisory Committee, the ICOM-NC will/may assist the
Elections Officer in stimulating further suitable nominations
and/or candidacies for consideration by the Advisory Committee
taking cognisance of R34.
-
Examine, in conjunction with the ICOM Secretariat, existing
procedures for Executive Council elections as well as
any recent changes in this process, with a view to proposing
mechanisms for more efficient and effective elections
to be put in place for the next elections in 2004.
-
Offer recommendations, for the consideration of the Executive
Council, on possible statutory revisions relating to both
the nomination and election processes, articulated as
part of the comprehensive redrafting of ICOM statutes
already envisaged.
3.
TIME FRAME
The
mandate of the pilot Nominations Committee is prescribed
as 2002-2004. Progress reports should therefore be tabled
with the Advisory Committee on a regular basis. However,
the following critical schedule must be adhered in order
to satifactorily meet ICOM's statutory requirements:
- Recommendations
on the nomination process should be completed no later
than [December, 2002];
-
Review of the list of candidates, if incomplete will be
at the discretion of Elections Officer [prior to June,
2003];
-
Proposal for revisions to ICOM Statutes to be tabled [no
later than June 2003];
-
Final recommendations to be tabled to the Advisory Committee
by [December, 2003].
Prepared
by Alissandra Cummins,
Chairperson - Advisory Committee
2 January 2002
[Approved
of the Advisory Committee in June 2002, see Draft
Minutes.]
ICOM
Reform recommendations passed at the ICOM General Assembly,
Barcelona - July 2001
Recommendation
25: That the Executive Council's role and core tasks
be more clearly defined, stressing its overarching responsibilities
for central issues of governance, upholding of professional
values, ethical standards, organisational leadership and
attention to the long-term future of ICOM.
Recommendation
31: That the Executive Council should establish a structural
profile and positions description of the whole Council,
incorporating both officer positions and ordinary members,
and outline the expertise required on Council for ICOM to
be both well governed and able to take a leadership position
on museums and cultural heritage issues, and to ensure that
ICOM's policies, programs, and strategic development proposals
are implemented.
Recommendation
32: That on the basis of the structural profile and
definition of the Executive Council's required expertise
for governance and leadership of ICOM (R31), the Council
should empower the Advisory Committee to establish a
pilot Nominations Committee and process for the period
2001-2004 - independent of any present member of Council's
involvement - to explore ways in which an enlarged slate
of 30 able candidates is better prepared for election of
a well capacitated Executive Council at ICOM's General Assembly
in 2004. If this pilot process proves successful, it could
be recommended for use as a regular instrument in ICOM in
the future. In the course of its work, this same pilot committee
should conduct and in-depth review of the electoral process
in ICOM.
Recommendation
33: That, in order to prevent any conflict of interest,
no person who has served on the Advisory Council's pilot
Nominations Committee within the forthcoming triennium may
be eligible to be nominated personally for consideration
as part of the slate of 30 candidates that goes forward
to the General Assembly in Seoul, 2004.
Recommendation
34: That the Nominations Committee will accept nominations
from any eligible person, and not itself determine whom
the Advisory Committee finally chooses as its preferred
slate of candidates to go forward to the General Assembly
for elections to occur; however the Nominations Committee
should report and comment (without mention of any specific
individuals) on the desirable balance of nominees to be
achieved when the Advisory Committee chooses its slate of
candidates for the Assembly's electoral ballot to occur.
JOB
BRIEF FOR ICOM EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEMBERS
The
principal responsibilities of the Executive Council are
to focus on the totality of what ICOM is and does, in terms
of good governance of the organisation. The Executive Council
is the key body on which ICOM depends to maintain an active,
whole-of-organisation vision of its future, and a whole-of-organisation
approach to its performance. This gives the Executive Council
a few central tasks, as the peak governing body of ICOM,
which should always be kept in focus and provide priorities
for its own functioning.
The
Executive Council needs to be able to function well in a
co-ordinated way. This does not inhibit diversity of backgrounds
or viewpoints - in fact diversity enriches the total capacities
offered by the Council. Neither is it anticipated that all
members would have a range of capacities in equal measure
- most likely, some members would be much stronger in some
desirable skills and capacities than in others.
It
is the collective capacity of Council as a whole that is
important, and the collective readiness to assist in focusing
on a group of core tasks and central responsibilities, rather
than be diverted by one or two issues in isolation from
the whole.
Extract
from 'Tool Box' report on ICOM Reform (Section VIII: The
Executive Council)
Principal
tasks of the Executive Council could be summarised as follows:
-
stewardship of ICOM's history, and leadership in upholding
ICOM's core values, mission and ideals as an international
professional organisation;
-
provision of a clear framework of policy definition for
ICOM's operations, activities and programs and ensuring
that this is well communicated (internally and externally);
-
fiscal accountability and legal probity throughout the
organisation;
-
ensuring - through general oversight - that ICOM is well
managed, is service-oriented in its administration and
programs, and that each part of the organisation has a
clear sense of its role, responsibilities and key tasks;
-
envisioning and forward planning for the organisation's
future ("headlights on high-beam...the larger landscape...the
longer journey");
-
resources review and resources development (financial,
human, intellectual and technical resources in overview);
-
safeguarding of ICOM's reputation, international esteem
and public regard.
Notes
Abilities relevant to these tasks should be carefully considered
when nominations are being made for the four EC Officer
positions, together with nominees for the Ordinary Member
positions, to compose a slate [list] of good EC candidates
for elections to occur at a General Assembly.
It
is imperative for the quality of ICOM's governance that
the Advisory Committee - through its key role in the electoral
process ("to select the candidates for election to the
Executive Council" [ICOM Statutes 21-1(c)] ) - should
look carefully at the slate of candidates it finally proposes
to go forward to the General Assembly. (It should be noted
that the nomination process currently begins at least three
months prior to the Advisory Committee's meeting to review
the results, and finally choose a list of (maximum) 30 candidates)
[ICOM Statutes 27-2 & 5].
The
Advisory Committee should examine thoroughly the range of
skills, experiences, and capacities being secured on the
slate of candidates for election - for the choices made
by the AC will inevitably shape the Executive Council that
results. Furthermore it is important to stress such factors
again (later) in communication with the National and International
Committee executive boards, in advance of the electoral
process that finally occurs at the General Assembly of ICOM.
[See
also (Part B) Section VII : on the ADVISORY COMMITTEE
in the 'Tool Box Report' on ICOM, May-June 2000]
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