Q. Concerning Proposed Motion 5 “Greater flexibility for remote participation in general meetings. We strongly support making the World Conference accessible to all Member Organisations, including through remote participation. At the same time, we acknowledge that remote participation has implications for networking, informal exchange and the sense of community that in-person attendance fosters. With this in mind: under what terms is remote participation already permitted under the current Constitution and Bye-Laws? How is the term “exceptional circumstances” defined, and by whom?
A: Under the current Constitution, the World Board can decide to make remote attendance possible but “only in exceptional circumstances, taking into account the wider benefits of in person participation for Member Organisations and the Movement as a whole”.
The current Constitutional provision enables the possibility of remote participation, but do not give Member Organisations an automatic right to attend remotely at any or all general meetings It is the World Board who decides based on what it feels is in the best interests of WAGGGS and the Movement as a whole.
Exceptional circumstances is not clearly defined in the Constitution and Bye-Laws, and thus, the World Board makes the decision on whether something fits within exceptional circumstances. This would be done whilst taking into account a range of factors, for example including, but not limited, to: Government restrictions on being able to attend in-person events in a specific location or health emergencies such as pandemics.
Q. Has there previously been any discussion about including a provision on remote participation in the Constitution and Bye-Laws? If so, what arguments were raised and what decisions were reached?
A. Discussions on remote participation at General Meetings of WAGGGS have formally taken
place at:
- A WAGGGS General Meeting, held virtually on 19 December 2020
- The 37th WAGGGS World Conference, held virtually in July 2021
Both meetings took place virtually due to temporary and extraordinary provisions in UK law for
charities to hold general Meetings virtually - even if their Constitution did not ordinarily allow it -
due to disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
WAGGGS General Meeting 2020
At this General Meeting in 2020, the World Board put forward a Proposed Constitutional Motion to ‘make provision in the WAGGGS Constitution to facilitate the possibility of remote general meetings in future (i.e. for Member Organisations to be able to participate in and vote at general meetings including the triennial World Conferences without being physically present, through the use of technology)’. The rationale for the Proposed Motion was included in Document GM1. This document and the Record of Decisions for the 2020 General Meeting are available here.
At the General Meeting, delegates were advised that the Proposed Motion had not passed, in accordance with consistent WAGGGS practice for the conduct of voting at World Conferences and with section 3 of the Rules of Procedure adopted by Member Organisations at the General Meeting. However, as advised in a communication to Member Organisations on 26 January 2021, in point of fact, under section 32.1.2 of the Constitution, the majority required for a constitutional amendment is 75% of votes cast of Full Members at a General Meeting. Had this provision been applied (with abstentions not counting towards the number of votes cast), the motion would have passed. At the time, the World Board proceeded on the basis that the result of the vote, as announced at the General Meeting, should be respected since voting was carried out in line with the Rules of Procedure that Member Organisations at the General Meeting adopted.
37th WAGGGS World Conference
At the 37th World Conference in 2021, the World Board put forward the same Proposed Constitutional Motion (Proposed Motion 5). The rationale for the Proposed Motion and the rationale for a Proposed Amendment from a group of MOs to the Proposed Motion was circulated in 37th World Conference Document 3C. This document and The Record of Decisions for the 37th World Conference is available here. At the 37th World Conference in 2021, this Proposed Motion was approved, as amended by Proposed Amendment 5.1.
Q. Could you also share what experience has been gathered with remote participation at other WAGGGS conferences – what formats have been tried, what decisions were made, and what lessons were learned?
A. Research into the barriers MOs face in attending governance events has already informed the operational planning for this World Conference and has informed the Governance Review.
The World Board has taken into consideration a wide range of research and evidence, including the results of previous governance research, our recent Governance Review, evaluations of previous Governance events, including the 2025 Regional Conference evaluation, 2024 Extraordinary General Meeting and 2023 World Conference. We have also considered the results of research undertaken by the Governance Committee in the 2024-26 triennium which has been presented to the World Board into possible formats for future World Conferences.
The main recommendation of the latter - reinforced by the 2025 Regional Conference
evaluation - was that WAGGGS should adopt a hybrid model for governance activities to enable the broadest participation.