Proposal #20: Honorary counselors are anti-democratic
I propose that all honorary position will be abolished:
- No more honorary officiers will be appointed
- The honorary actual officiers now will last until they resign
Rationale
Honorary positions go against the principle of democratic representation, therefore should not be present in an organization such as CISV.
Respectfully submitted, Teo (ITA)
Background
The terms of reference for honorary counselors can be found in this document.
8 Comments:
While I don't feel that I am familiar enough with how CISV functions on an international level to really offer any solid, constructive comments. I will however, make a comment on the philosophy from a local viewpoint. The issue of sucession has been around as long as CISV had. But we have come to a point (at least in my chapter) where the board is a club, and you have to be one of the "cool kids" to get in. No good. I understand that involvment in CISV needs to be recognized, as it does in all volunteer organizations, but when people are giving posistions (as far as I have observed in my chapter) people feel left out, and as though thier posistion is less because they were elected as opposed to be specifically appointed to the posistion.
I think kathy has a strong point that goes way beyond Teo's proposal. I thought local democracy issues were only a problem from my NA and Chapter, but kathy's entry makes me think it may be happening internationally. Therefore, I'll post it as a proposal.
My post is anonymous to avoid making unwanted trouble.
hi teo and everyone
i must disagree on your proposal because i don't believe that the honorary counselors have a representative role in the board.
they are there mostly as advisors than anything. They theoretically hold the history of the organization. Of course we may disagree with some of their opinions or attitudes in the plenary, but after so many years working for the organization we must understand that they have enough knowledge and background to at least speak/advise.
It's our choice, of course, to take those advises or not.
Naming honourary counselors seems like an appropriate way to recognize exemplary service to the organization. They don't vote on the board although I'm sure that their opinion holds influence. In this regard I understand Kathy's concern -- it's hard to have an open organization in cases when it feels like a club. I would be interested to know more about how honourary counselors are nominated and selected. It's all certainly worth discussion. Do any honourary members visit this site? Maybe they could comment.
If you look at the terms of reference of honourary counselors and the election process, I think "anti-democratic" is not the right term. I might settle for "less democratic", though...
Anyhow, I personally have always liked the concept of honorary councelors, and the input I have onserved in CISV international and also CISV Germany where we have honorary counselors as well has usually been good.
I posted too quickly last time, before reading the terms of reference. The idea of Honorary Counselors seems benign . . . at least a good way of recognizing significant contributions to the organization and maintaining perspective on issues. It would also seem that individuals require substantial support to be given an Honorary Counselor designation.
Based on the proposal, I'm guessing there has been conflict with honorary counselors in the past. I don't know about this, but just by guessing I can understand that the board might not appreciate having non-voting individuals able to comment on processes and decisions.
I wonder how many honorary counselors there are and how much they participate in the affairs of the organization. And have any been appointed recently?
I just want to make the point that these roles aren't just 'given' to the honary counsellors as suggested in an earlier comment. As it says in the terms of reference:
Election Process
A. Any person over the age of 45 years who has served for at least six years as a member of the Expanded Executive Committee of CISV International may be nominated to the position of Honorary Counsellor.
B. In order to be considered, an individual must be nominated by at least three National Associations. The nomination should be made during an IBM and the election should take place during the following IBM.
C. A nomination must contain biographical information about the nominee, including his or her history of CISV involvement. A nominee must agree to be nominated and to serve as an Honorary Counsellor if elected.
D. The nominee must receive an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the Board of Trustees, present or not, in order to be elected. A vote on a nomination takes place at following IBM.
They are therefore put into the position with the support of a hell of a lot of people and in my opinion therefore have reason and skills to be there. Surely it is good to have these people there if they have the experience to advise the board of trustees which lets be honest aren't always the most informed group of people.
Instead maybe we could look at the election of say 5 every 3 years to serve a term just like other roles? This way we could hang on to what I see as an important position but not have a large of 70 year olds who's views are maybe very out of date
I understand your concerns, and of course you are right, but sometimes things must be looked at from all angles to arrive at a satisfactory decision for the whole of CISV.
Some ideas have already been tried and failed and with this knowledge you can then move forward making the necessary changes to ensure that good ideas always 'make the grade'.
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