COMMENTS ON THE WASHINGTON GROUP
GOVERNANCE PROPOSAL
BY ROMULO A. VIROLA, SECRETARY GENERAL,
The document is quite comprehensive and already covers the most
important aspects in the governance of the Washington Group. To further refine
the document, the following suggestions are submitted for consideration:
ON THE OPERATING
PRINCIPLES
It is suggested that the
following sub-item be added:
Conduct of meetings
1. The meeting will be conducted over two days.
2. The meeting will be chaired by a representative of the host
country. The Secretariat will serve as Rapporteur.
ON THE CONTENT OF ANNUAL
MEETINGS
To encourage active
involvement of the WG members, it is suggested that participants be requested
to submit (not present, as this
will take time out of the meeting schedule ) brief
country reports which can be uploaded on the WG website.
In addition, it will be
productive if the meeting can agree on “next steps” that the individual members are
encouraged to pursue in their respective countries between the current meeting and the next meeting.
These direction-setting next steps may be in the form of conducting pilot
surveys, information
dissemination, advocacy workshops, seeking commitments from stakeholders, etc.
Progress reports can then be presented in the next WG meeting. Note that these
next steps are in addition to the next steps for the workgroups of the WG.
ON COMMUNICATION
As a reminder to the
Secretariat which is tasked with the maintenance of the website and for the
information of the WG
members, it is suggested that a second sentence be added to #1: The website
will contain the proceedings of all meetings of the WG including among others,
the papers presented, the agreements reached and the list of participants.
It is also suggested that the website be made a
forum for sharing country experiences on the development of disability
statistics. The members should be encouraged to submit to the secretariat
periodic reports for possible uploading on the website. This will be useful
since not all members can attend the WG meetings.
ON MEETING SCHEDULE
The experience of the various City Groups seems to be that while
annual meetings were the goal, most if not all, have not been able to meet
annually. Initially, maybe annual meetings will be desirable and possible;
later, it might be more practical to meet less frequently than annually, maybe
every two years.
ON THE ORGANIZATIONAL
STRUCTURE
ON THE SECRETARIAT
For better continuity, it is suggested that the Secretariat be
institution-based rather than be composed of individuals. For clarity
therefore, the following sentence can be added to IIIA1b): It is desirable that
the secretariat be based in an institution so that the secretariat work becomes
an institutional rather than an individual commitment.
ON THE COMPOSITION OF
THE STEERING COMMITTEE
In addition to the
planning committee chairs (hosts) from the last three meetings, it is suggested
that the host of the next meeting be made an ex-officio member. The document
should be clear on the number
of SC members to be selected by the members during the WG meeting. Are the
planning committee chairs from the last three meetings automatically selected?
The document is silent
about the chairmanship of the Steering Committee. It is suggested that the Chair of the Committee be
elected by the Steering Committee members, rather than by the WG members.
ON THE HOSTING OF WG MEETINGS
To generate wider
interest in the WG and its activities, it may be good to have a policy that to
the extent possible, the hosting of the
meetings should alternately go to the major geographic regions.
To improve planning, it
may also be desirable to be able to identify the host of the WG meetings two
meetings in advance. For example, in
ON THE FORMATION AND
DISBANDING OF WORKGROUPS
For the WG to remain focused, it may be strategic to limit the
number of workgroups to at most four at any given time. This strategy can
improve the chances that work will get done fast.