The European Regions of WOSM and WAGGGS are sharing with you a series of Frequently Asked Questions in relation to the draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Strategic Partnership between the European Regions of WAGGGS and WOSM, which was circulated as Joint Communication 04 2019 earlier this year.
What are the next steps in the process of the new MoU?
The Member Organisations of our two Regions have had a number of weeks to read and comment on the latest draft of the new MoU. We requested that feedback was sent to us by the 25 May so that we can collate it and prepare the draft of the MoU for publication. This process is happening at present and the document will then be the subject of a working group session at the beginning of the Conference.
Compared to the current MoU, the new MoU seems to be quite vague. Why is this?
The new MoU is specifically designed to give WAGGGS and WOSM more flexibility in their joint work.
One of the key learnings of the past 6 years of working within the framework of the current MoU, is that it provides guidance but also constraints to what we feel is possible in term of joint work. During the process of evaluation of the current MoU, it became evident that one of the main reasons that things did not work out is that our organisations have changed over the years – but the MoU did not provide the flexibility to adapt to these changes. For example, in the last few years, WAGGGS had a major re- structuring of their organisation and works in a different way now. However, the MoU depended on these structures to deliver and coordinate the joint work.
The thinking behind the new MoU is to retain the values and principles of the current MoU, however put within a framework whereby the two regional committees of WOSM and WAGGGS have the mandate and flexibility to decide how to implement and deliver the joint work. The joint committee will therefore have the ability to agree upon and decide on how to deliver the joint work based on the realities of their respective realities – without the restriction of a very detailed agreement that effectively ties their hands as to the implementation of the joint work.
We believe that this approach empowers the Joint Committee to deliver better joint work and reduces the friction points between the two organisations, allowing for a smoother collaboration.
Does the new MoU restrict the democratic process of the MOs and the Joint conference?
No, not at all.
In practice, the effective implementation of the Joint Work and of any agreement or MoU boils down to the good relationships that are built between the key players – the chairs, the committee members, and the key volunteers and staff members that drive the joint work. Without solid, honest and positive relationships between these people, you can have the most detailed MoU in the world – and still nothing will get done.
We believe that both the 16th European Guide Conference and the 23rd European Scout Conference elect their respective Committee members who eventually form the Joint Committee which is responsible for the delivery of the joint work. The key democratic process of this election of candidates remains unchanged. The only difference is that we are now empowering our Committees to deliver joint work to the best of their knowledge and resources, without forcing them to do things in one specific way which may not be the most appropriate or efficient manner at the time of implementation.
The Joint Committee is the guardian of what can be possible to be done together, based on mutual trust and the trust of the conference.
Where are the annexes to the current MoU?
An annex in this context is defined as an additional part of the MoU which is also amended and agreed upon by the Joint Conference.
In this context, the annexes of the current MoU will no longer exist. These annexes went into a lot of operational detail that eventually led to the dysfunction of the current MoU – and this is exactly what we are trying to avoid in the new MoU.
However, the joint work will need a second layer of detail that more clearly explains the specific operational details including the objectives for each action or joint event we have, how things will run, who will be in charge, how the costs will be split, what impact we would like to have on our members, how we will be reporting back and so on.
The Joint Committee has agreed that there will be a series of operational documents that will be used to guide the committee on how things will work. These documents already exist – for example the concept document for the Academy that was approved recently. The main difference between these internal working documents and the annexes is that these are not public documents that are published and decided upon by the joint conference. These are operational documents that the joint committee can adapt and amend as necessary depending on the overall objectives they are trying to achieve and the specific conditions under which the project is being run.
Why not publish the internal operational documents?
The main reason is that we need to keep a clear separation between the strategic role of the Committees to ensure that the priorities identified in our respective working plans at world and European level are achieved; as opposed to the operational details related to how an event will run or how we will communicate on a specific issue.
For the purposes of achieving the strategic role, a top-level MoU which outlines broad principles and objectives is enough – and the more detailed the MoU is, the less flexibility we afford the joint committee to act.
Because the operational details change on a daily basis and are linked to variables such as budget, human resources, funded projects, staff movement, organisational change, current events and other factors; these cannot possibly be catered for in a static document approved by the Conference.
For these reasons, we believe that the element of trust in the elected committees is the driving factor to ensure that joint work continues to be a successful element of European Scouting and Guiding.
European Scout Region of WOSM & Europe Region WAGGGS