Q. Regarding Proposed Motion 1, 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?
A. Whilst this is a highly unlikely scenario, it is possible. As Trustees can still decide to run for re-election and serve up to six years if re‑elected, we believe this will preserve continuity, create stability and ensure institutional memory while allowing for agility, dynamism and new perspectives.
Strong onboarding and induction, robust handover processes especially for Chairs of Committee and the Chair of the World Board, our longer six-year WAGGGS Strategy and the continuity of leadership and management from the Chief Executive and Senior Management Team further ensure stability.
Therefore, on balance, we believe it is better to make this change as it will open the door to a wider and more diverse pool of candidates, and we already have experience of successfully running a similar model at regional level. Based on our Governance Review findings and other research, there is strong evidence that it will facilitate the increased participation of young women in governance and help to ensure that trustees are more accountable to our Members.
Q. Motions 1 and 2 both discuss the composition of the World Board. How do you intend to implement the effects of both motions, if are adopted? Specifically, how many trustees would be elected to the World Board at the 39th World Conference – 4 or 6?
A. Following consultation with our lawyers and building on our Governance review recommendations and the external review of the World Board, the implementation plans for Proposed Motion 1 and 2 are set out in WoCo Document 6B. A summary is included below:
Proposed Motion 1:
We are proposing that this change take effect for the World Board members elected at the 39th World Conference.
Proposed Motion 1 will be voted on at the World Conference before the election of World Board members, ensuring all candidates and MOs have full clarity about the term of office for which they are being elected before the elections take place.
If Proposed Motion 1 is adopted, candidates who are elected at the 39th World Conference would be elected for a three-year term (2026-29), with the opportunity to stand for re-election for up to one additional three-year term. They could stand for re-election at the 40th World Conference in 2029 (for the 2029-32 triennium), or at any future World Conference.
If Proposed Motion 1 is not adopted, there would be no change to current practice and candidates who are elected at the 39th World Conference would be elected for six-year term (2026-2032), with no further opportunity to stand for election in future (as currently)