The 30 members of our Governing Council met in London on 9-11 May 2008 to get through an ambitious agenda.
The Panel on Sexual Rights established in November 2006 presented a final draft of the Declaration of Sexual Rights which had been discussed at the Governing Council meeting in May and November 2007.
The Declaration was discussed and adopted by Governing Council and will provide a solid base for IPPF’s work in promoting the sexual rights of all individuals around the world.
The IPPF Task Force on Governance and Volunteerism gained approval in November 2007 for a Code of Good Governance, a new policy on volunteering and a proposal for recognizing and awarding outstanding contributions of individuals and organizations to the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights movement.
At this meeting, the Task Force presented its final set of recommendations to improve the effectiveness of governance and to strengthen volunteer leadership in Member Associations and in the Federation.
The Governing Council approved all the recommendations of the Task Force. In the coming years we will see the benefits of these reforms.
Governing Council reviewed and approved new policies on:
• Men and Sexual and Reproductive Health
• Effective Financial Management and Reporting
Another important decision Governing Council took was to approve a revised set of membership standards and accreditation procedures.
An independent evaluation of IPPF’s accreditation system carried out in 2007 made a number of recommendations on how to improve the system.
These were all incorporated into the revised system which will start operating in 2009.
The revised system is based on a pyramid of ten principles which contain 49 membership standards, covering all essential aspects of work for an organization in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights.
At the meeting, Governing Council also accredited 10 Member Associations, bringing the number of accredited full members to 83.
Governing Council also decided to extend the suspension the Member Associations in Zambia and South Africa from IPPF membership.
This was done because of the failure of these Associations to satisfactorily address increasing financial difficulties and Governing Council will receive an update on the situation at its next meeting in November 2008.
Previous meetings
16-18 November 2007
11-13 May 2007
12-14th May 2006