Q2. Regarding Proposed Motion 2, if the World Board term of office changes to be two three-year terms, how do we ensure continuity and mitigate the risk of a complete turnover of Board members?
A2. We recognise that any change to the size of the World Board must work well for Regions as well as for the global Movement as a whole.
A smaller Board is designed to strengthen strategic leadership and improve how the Board works as a team. For Regions, this can mean clearer decision-making, more focused governance, and a World Board that is better able to respond to regional priorities. Crucially, the five Regional Chairs remain full Trustees, so regional voices are not reduced. In fact, they will make up a slightly larger proportion of the overall Board, ensuring that regional perspectives continue to be central to global decision-making.
With fewer Elected Trustee seats overall, the nomination process becomes more competitive. It will be even more important to ensure that the pool of candidates reflects the diversity of our Movement — including different regions, ages, experiences, skills and backgrounds. This is something the Nominations Committee and Member Organisations will need to continue to prioritise.
Regional representativeness is protected through the continued presence of the Regional Chairs, and the Governance Review has reinforced the importance of strong collaboration between the World Board and Regional Committees. The intention behind this Proposed Motion is not to reduce regional influence, but to create a Board that can work more effectively while keeping regional voices at its heart.
Q3 – Regarding Proposed Motion 2, the rationale cites general governance trends favouring smaller boards. What WAGGGS-specific evidence shows that the current Board size is ineffective? What are measurable examples where Board size directly prevented effective decision-making? How will WAGGGS realistically maintain diversity in age, geography, expertise, with fewer elected trustees?
A3 – Global governance good practice (including an external review by NCVO), WAGGGS World Board self-assessments over several triennia, and feedback from our recent Governance Review consultations (including with current and former World Board members) have all identified challenges linked to Board size. These include impact on team cohesion, the capacity of the Chair’s Team and senior staff to engage effectively with all Board members, and the timeliness and effectiveness of decision-making.
Within WAGGGS specifically, several consistent patterns illustrate how the current World Board size can constrain effectiveness:
Prolonged decision-making timelines, with patterns of agenda items being curtailed or deferred due to limited time in meetings.
Variable participation in discussions, reflecting the practical challenges of large-group meetings where it is harder to maintain focus and ensure meaningful contributions from all members. For example, with 17 Board members, if each speaks for just two minutes on a single agenda item, over 30 minutes is used before discussion and responses begin—limiting the Board’s ability to fully engage with all its diverse perspectives.
Challenges maintaining consistent engagement and shared accountability across a globally distributed group, including meeting attendance and meaningful role allocation.
High coordination and management demands for senior staff and the Chair’s Team, which reduce agility in responding to emerging issues.
Based on this evidence, the World Board believes that reducing its size from 17 to 13 strikes the right balance – maintaining a representative, diverse and inclusive trustee board, while strengthening accountability, enabling time for deeper, more strategic discussion and real collective ownership and leadership. We believe this is the appropriate size to enable us to meet our future needs and respond in an agile way to future challenges.
Representation, diversity, and youth participation remain at the heart of WAGGGS. As Elected Trustees will continue to be chosen democratically at World Conference, the World Board is confident that Member Organisations will continue to nominate and elect candidates who reflect the Movement’s global diversity in age, geography, and expertise. In addition, maintaining Regional Chairs on the World Board guarantees representation from across all our five Regions. In addition to the World Board, there are also around 60-70 volunteers on the Board’s nine Sub- Committees, who play a valuable role in bringing Member perspectives to decision-making and make significant contributions to our governance at WAGGGS. The World Board is committed to continuing to promote diversity in all forms amongst its sub-Committees too, following on from Motion 8 at the 38th World Conference.
Q4. Regarding Motion No. 2, what are the positive and negative impacts for the Regions in relation to this Motion? Particularly in terms of representativeness.
A4. A smaller Board is designed to strengthen strategic leadership and improve how the Board works as a team. For Regions, this can mean clearer decision‑making, more focused governance, and a Board that is better able to respond to regional priorities. Crucially, the five Regional Chairs remain full Trustees, so regional voices are not reduced. In fact, they will make up a slightly larger proportion of the overall Board, ensuring that regional perspectives continue to be central to global decision‑making.
We acknowledge that we will need to continue to ensure that the pool of candidates reflects the diversity of our Movement — including different regions, ages, experiences, skills and backgrounds. This is something the Nominations Committee and Member Organisations will need to continue to prioritise.
Regional representativeness is protected through the continued presence of the Regional Chairs, and the Governance Review has reinforced the importance of strong collaboration between the World Board and Regional Committees. The intention behind this motion is not to reduce regional influence, but to create a Board that can work more effectively while keeping regional voices at its heart.