Charter

Global Youth Anti-Corruption Network (GYAC) CHARTER

I.      Background

In 2009, the World Bank Institute (“WBI”), in its effort to tackle corruption, stressed that young citizens can be powerful agents for change and innovation when they find a space where they can voice their views, develop leadership capacity, and interact creatively. Pursuing this idea, WBI began identifying youth organizations engaged in the promotion of anti-corruption strategies around the world. As a result, a core group made up of young change-makers from nine (9) countries was formed.  In this group, experiences were shared, specialized trainings were provided, and video-conferences were held in preparation for a launching event that would serve as a springboard to establish a global youth network that would bring together young citizens from around the world to fight against corruption.  This was the Global Youth Anti-Corruption Network (“GYAC”).

In May 2010, a select group composed of representatives from civil society organizations, ICT experts, journalist, and musicians, as well as the core group and a panel of anti-corruption experts gathered for the first time in Brussels, Belgium, for the 1st GYAC Network Forum, formally labeled “Mobilizing Youth against Corruption.” Training sessions were held on topics such as Communication, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Social Media, and Leadership. It was a successful exchange of knowledge and experiences among the attendants and the Forum was concluded on the need to design a structure for the Network.

On April 29th, 2011, having reconvened for the 2nd GYAC Network Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, the members of the GYAC, now representing 60 organizations from 43 countries, resolved the matter of establishing a structure for the Network. Clearer vision and mission statements were crafted, the first set of Global Coordinators were elected, and the framework for the network structure and processes were initially set in place.

II.    Identity

                                                                                                                                                  

The Global Youth Anti-Corruption Network (heretofore also known by the official acronym GYAC) is a structured, informal network of youth organizations, youth activists, youth journalists, and youth artists from around the world, who fight corruption and promote transparency and social accountability for better and more inclusive governance.

Its operating structure is designed within that frame, and GYAC defines “youth” as individuals aged between 15 and 35.

III.      Vision, Mission, Objectives, and Operating Principles

Vision and Mission

GYAC acknowledges that corruption affects young people worldwide. As such, there is a need for these young citizens to have a space through which they can voice their views, engage creatively and collaboratively, and develop innovative tools and strategies tailored to their needs in the fight against corruption. GYAC believes that young citizens around the world want get involved and in fighting corruption in their societies and provide it impetus.  

GYAC envisions a world where corruption has been eradicated, allowing young people to enjoy a dignified life and the ability to contribute to an ethical society.

GYAC is committed to its mission of empowering young people in the fight against corruption, and enabling them to engage creatively and collaboratively to develop innovative tools and strategies they can use to increase transparency and social accountability for better and more inclusive governance.  

Objectives

GYAC has the following objectives--with a heavy emphasis on youth related issues and initiatives:

·  To facilitate global knowledge exchange and the use of technology in the fight against corruption

·  To strengthen international solidarity for community level, national and regional struggles in the fight against corruption by promoting documentation of member initiatives at these levels; and

·  To promote the use of art and alternative media as cultural components against corruption

Operating Principles

Pursuant to the networks vision, mission, and objectives, the following basic principles and processes shall be observed by the Network. They are in line with the documents that complement this Charter:

·  Participatory decision-making process. The Network shall provide its members and other participants with the opportunity to make recommendations, formulate proposals, and discuss GYAC matters which fall within its Terms of Reference on GYAC Goals & Outputs. Action plans should be made to support individual, as well as joint-GYAC members’ anti-corruption efforts and initiatives all over the world, within the limits of its Terms of References on GYAC Goals & Outputs. Initiatives should come from the members themselves and will be subject to approval through the appropriate governing channels, as established in the Terms of Reference on GYAC Member Roles and Responsibilities.

·  Consensus Building.  The considerations and recommendations of the Network will be made by consensus of the members, which will be reached by obtaining a ⅔ majority through an approved voting system. This voting system will have to include the General Assembly and will be decided on by the Global Coordinating Body (“GCB”) and the Communications Unit (“CU”) according to the best means and tools available at the time.

·  Collaboration. The Network is not an independent legal entity, but a collaborative structure between the members. The members may share freely on matters of concern to the Network via its various mediums. Discussions on issues pertaining to specific recommendations for the Network and consensus considerations will be done with tools and through spaces specifically designed for them.

-  Representation. members of the Network are encouraged to raise awareness about GYAC and advocate for it in an informal manner. However, if members intend to use formal promotional methods and go through official channels, they will need to have  the expressed approval of the Ntwork’s governing body, the Global Coordinating Body (heretofore also known by the official acronym GCB). This will also hold true when members want to formally represent the Network at events not hosted or co-sponsored by GYAC.

·  Multi-pronged approach. The Network shall conduct its activities by any methods of communication available that are efficient and appropriate to reach its objectives. This includes but is not limited to, in-person meetings, video-conferences, reports, e-mail communications and telephone.

·  Transparency and Accountability. It is understood that members of the Network have to comply with the rules of their respective authorities regarding confidentiality of privileged information and conflicts of interest. If any such conflicts arise between GYAC and the members’ own organizations, they will have to report these so the GCB can decide on the best course of action.

IV.      Membership

Composition

GYAC shall be comprised of youth organizations, youth activists, youth journalists, youth ICT experts, and youth artists from around the world--according to the earlier stated understanding that youth are individuals between 18-35 years of age--and recognized for admission by the GCB. It is heretofore also understood that members selected to attend, and participate in GYAC Forums will be considered members, having gone through the same admission process as members accepted through the rolling admission process.

Members

An organization is considered a GYAC "member organization" if and only if:

-  An official representative of the organization has submitted an application on its behalf, and it was accepted by the GCB.

An individual is considered a GYAC "member" if and only if:

-  He or She has applied to be part of GYAC and been selected by the GCB

-  He or She is part of a member organization, has been nominated by it for membership, and has been accepted by the GCB

-  He or She has been selected by the GCB and attended a GYAC Forum

A music group--understood as the sum of its band members--and/or any other artists are considered a GYAC “member” if and only if:

-  He or She is a musician, who won the Fair Play Anti-Corruption Music Competition and subsequently attended a GYAC Forum

-  He or She is an artist who’s work falls in line with GYAC, and who has been admitted to the Network by the GCB

Application for Membership

Applications for membership to the GYAC Network will be available to organizations and individuals. The process for applying will be that of a year-round rolling admission, where applicants--defined within the same frame as the members in the above section--will submit their applications to the GCB for review, and will be selected on the basis of how much their work falls within the lines of the Terms of Reference on GYAC Goals & Outputs and their potential value-added. Detailed information on selection criteria will be in the Terms of Reference on GYAC Member Roles and Responsibilities but a general sense of those is, but is not limited to,

-  an applicant’s involvement in their community, country, or region’s governance reform processes; whether through awareness raising, advocacy, monitoring, or other kinds of activities,

-  an applicant’s results on the ground as per the evaluation criteria stated in the Terms of Reference on GYAC Member Roles and Responsibilities,

-  an applicant’s results in developing and implementing innovative tools and strategies to increase their impact on governance reform processes, such as the use of ICTs to support their work,

-  an applicant’s value-added for the Network, as well as the GCB’s general sense of how much they could benefit from being part of GYAC,

-  the GCB’s general sense of how much an applicant wants to be part of the Network and other criteria that might arise within certain contexts, to be defined at their discretion; and

-  an applicants geographical location  

Participation in GYAC Forums and other events will be based on a similar set of criteria as for becoming a member of GYAC, though the involvement of the applicants in the Network, as evaluated in the Terms of Reference on GYAC Member Roles and Responsibilities, will be heavily factored into their application. The application process for such events will be held independently of the year-round rolling admissions application process. The GCB will be the sole body in charge of setting admission criteria beyond the above stated and they will have the right to adapt the set of criteria to specific contexts. However, they will only make such changes with the understanding that participation in a Forum gives the right to membership. In the name of transparency and accountability, such changes will have to be justified during the event announcement process.

Any member of GYAC and the GCB can propose new candidates for membership. Applications to become a member will be addressed to the GCB and after consultation with the members of the concerned region, they will inform the applicant about the decision.

Members’ Roles and Responsibilities

·  members have the responsibility to contribute to the objectives of the Network as stated in this Charter and itemized in the Terms of Reference on GYAC Member Roles and Responsibilities.

·  members will actively seek out and nominate relevant organizations and individuals for membership to GYAC.

·  Depending on available funds and potential fundraising activities, members will be given support to attend to events relevant to the Network, for the purpose of promoting it, advancing its agenda, or to seek out collaborations and partnerships.

-  Once a Treasury--or otherwise-named fund repository--has been established, members will be expected to apply for relevant grants that will help advance the GYAC agenda and enhance it’s work at the community level, nationally, regionally, and globally. In the advent of such a grant application in the name of GYAC, the applying member will have to notify the GCB and work hand-in-hand with them to complete it. The GCB will have both the role of oversight for such applications, and it will provide support to the applicant(s) as it sees fit. A grant application mechanism will also be dependent on the Network’s ability to, a) structure its work at all the levels at which it operates, b) promote it’s capacity at each of these levels. Upon receipt of grant funds, access to these funds will be made available through a competitive mechanism whereby the interested parties will submit proposals for individual or joint initiatives. As a measure of incentive, the original applicants for the grant will be given priority access to those, and the internal call for applications will serve as a mechanism to improve upon the initiatives. Selection will also be based on the members' involvement in, and contribution to the Network. This privilege will be open to all members, as defined in the “members” Section.

 

Termination of Membership

Voluntary termination: Any member may decide to terminate their involvement in the Network at any time, by providing a written notice explaining their reasons to the GCB. The GCB will then confirm and remove the member in question from the list of GYAC members.

Expulsion: Pursuant to the Terms of Reference on GYAC Member Roles and Responsibilities, which will also outline a mediation role for the GCB in case of disputes, as well as the explusion and termination clauses that will be in the general GYAC Code of Conduct, the GCB will have the right to decide whether or not to expel a member if, a) said member is identified as not being active in GYAC anymore and has been reached out to for an explanation/warning, b) a dispute between two or more members arises that necessitates such drastic action, c) a major breach of trust from a member is identified.

Decisions regarding membership to, and expulsion from the Network will be made at the discretion of the GCB, which will have the possibility to seek support from its advisers if need be. A 2/3 majority vote will be needed from the GCB before a final decision is reached.

V.        Structure

Based on the decisions taken during the 2nd GYAC Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, in April 2011, the structure of the Network will be comprised of the following bodies. Their specific rights, responsibilities, and operating processes will be found mainly in the Terms of Reference on GYAC Member Roles and Responsibilities pursuant to the Terms of Reference on GYAC Goals & Outputs:

The General Assembly (GA)

The General Assembly shall be composed of the members having been selected by the GCB throughout the year, or those having participated in an annual GYAC Forum--notwithstanding those whose membership might have been terminated pursuant to the Terms of Reference on GYAC Member Roles and Responsibilities and the GYAC Code of Conduct. All members of GYAC are considered a part of the GA except invited experts and the “broader GYAC community” (as defined in the section specific to it, below) not having gone through the Network’s member vetting process.

The Global Coordinating Body (GCB)

The Global Coordinating Body shall be composed of eight (8) individuals: six (6) Regional Coordinators (RC), elected by the members of their respective regions; and two (2) Thematic Coordinators (TC):  one (1) coordinator for the ICT component of GYAC, elected by the GA from an identified pool of GYAC member practitioners; and one (1) coordinator from the media/young journalist component of the Network, elected by the GA from an identified pool of GYAC member practitioners.

The Regional Coordinators shall act as a contacts, moderating communications within and between GYAC’s jurisdictions and stakeholders. They will also be in charge of managing the Network’s expansion in their region. The Thematic Coordinators shall be responsible for the integration of thematic concerns and their development in the network. Overall, the GCB will serve as the overarching governing body of the Network and will work with and/or create the necessary working bodies to achieve its goals, namely to achieve the vision and mission of the Network, within the frame of its operating principles, and evaluating impact on the ground.

The GCB Representatives shall serve for a term of two (2) years, for a maximum of two (2) terms. They will be able to submit their own candidacies, but can also be selected to run by members of the GA with the option to opt-out. In case elections are postponed for extraneous reasons, the sitting GCB members will serve in a hold-over capacity until elections can be held, In the advent this happens, they will be expected to provide a written explanation to the GA, along with a timeline provisioning the next elections.

Synchronized with the mandate of each sitting Global Coordinating Body, the Global Coordinators will select a President of the GCB from amongst themselves by a ⅔ majority consensus. The GCB President’s task will be to coordinate the actions of the GCB in order to improve the efficiency of the Network’s governing body. Any and all actions taken by the President of the GCB will have to be transparent and he or she will be held accountable to the GA in accordance to the Terms of Reference on GYAC Member Roles and Responsibilities and the GYAC Code of Conduct. Decisions made by the President of the GCB will be in a coordinating capacity only, in that they will have to be made in accordance to an agenda that he or she will help facilitate, but that will have been agreed upon by a ⅔ majority consensus of the GCB. Decisions made by the President of the GCB will be subject to review and change if a ⅔ majority of the GCB is opposed to them  

The Regional Coordinating Body (RCB) and Adjunct Regional Coordinators (ARC)

The Regional Coordinators of the Global Coordinating Body will each be allowed to choose an Adjunct Regional Coordinator (ARC) from their region’s pool of GYAC members--excepting those from the same organization as them--to be approved by the GCB.  The ARCs will support them in all their duties and fill in for the Regional Coordinators in case they are otherwise obliged. The ARCs will have no voting powers on GCB related matters unless they are expressly representing their RCs. Together, the RCs and ARCs will form the Regional Coordinating Body that will lead the six (6) regions and their activities.

The National Coordinating Body (NCB) and National Coordinators (NC)

The National Coordinating Body (NCB) shall be formed in countries where there are three or more GYAC members (organizations or individual members) in a single country. In that case, the members of a country will contact their RC and coordinate an election process, together with the GCB. The purpose of the National Coordinators will be to manage GYAC affairs at the national level, help manage the admission processes for GYAC from the local level, expand the Network within their countries, and report to their respective Regional Coordinators. Together the NCs will form the National Coordinating Body of a region and will be able to coordinate and communicate with their respective RC as the need arises. The purpose of this body will not be to just manage the Network at the national level, but also to coordinate regional efforts where it is deemed productive and feasible. As such, the NCs will report to their RCs, who will then report to each other on happenings at the most local levels. These bodies and representatives will also provide a measure of accountability between themselves and their dealings will have to be made transparent and available to the GA

Working Groups (Ad Hoc Bodies)

The Network may establish Working Groups composed of its members and invited experts to support specific areas of expertise as necessary. A member of the Network will be elected as a Chair of each Working Group. The Chair of the Working Group will report to the GCB on the progress and conclusion reached by the Group. If the need arises, NCs will be able to request working groups where they see a need and the GCB will grant the request as it sees fit, nevertheless providing an explanation either way.

The Communications Unit

The Communications Unit (CU) shall be composed of three (3) individuals convened by the journalist Thematic Coordinator. The CU will be composed at all times of an active member of the GA and of a member from the GYAC’s partnering advisers. The purpose of this will be to increase the lines of communication between the Network’s different bodies. The Communications Unit’s will be to establish and maintain all the communication and exchange lines within the Network, and with it’s external partners. A more detailed purview of the CU’s rights and responsibilities will be found in the Terms of Reference on GYAC Member Roles and Responsibilities, as with all other sections of the structure.

The Advisory Council

The GYAC Network will engage a board of trustees (The Advisory Council) who will help to guide the Network towards achieving its goals and resolving any matters of importance perceived by the GCB. This AC will be formed by outgoing GYAC members (overage), elected members of partner organizations (with an option to opt-out), and other identified persons of interest. Their selection process, powers, duties, and responsibilities will be outlined further in the Terms of Reference on GYAC Member Roles and Responsibilities.

The Circle of Invited Experts

At the request of Network members at all levels, the GCB may invite relevant individual experts ("Invited Experts") to participate in certain initiatives undertaken in the name of GYAC.  Their purpose will be to share information, build capacity and/or advise the Network on matters within the sphere of their competence. Invited experts will not, however, be considered as members.   

  

The Broader GYAC Community

Besides the members of the GA, GYAC is host to a wide community of interested young citizens who want to be part of, and benefit from the Network in the form of, the connections they can make, the knowledge and experiences they can share, and the innovative tools and strategies they can learn to use to have more impact on the governance reform processes of their communities, countries and regions. Though the broader GYAC Community does not have a say in the agenda setting of the Network or the actions taken on its behalf, they are encouraged to be active participants on its platforms and to apply for membership when they are ready. They will be able to apply for, and attend GYAC events, though it should be noted that if they are not members and have an active participation in the Network prior, they will be at a disadvantage.

VI.      Network Operations (Support/Resources/Financing)

Support and Resources

The Network was formed with the initial support of the World Bank, through the World Bank Institute (WBI), with its headquarters in Washington, D.C., and it has remained the main source of funding for the Network. So far, WBI has also served as the connector to all the external partnerships of GYAC. As such the Network will keep engaging with WBI through the GCB, for its continued support in capacity building. This will require the GCB to report back to WBI on the advances madeby the Network, and its needs.

Nevertheless, the goal of the Network is to become self-sustainable and as it keeps strengthening its internal ties, its external partnerships, and expanding its members and breadth of action; it is developing a business model for self-sustainability to be presented and elected by the GA within FY 2012.

Until then, upon the approval of the GA, the GCB may engage other development agencies and enter into partnerships and cooperation with them. This will have to be in pursuant of its vision and mission, to further the Network’s resource and support base.

Financing and fundraising for Network Operations

members and Invited Experts will, in principle, be responsible for meeting their own expenses working within the frame of the Network. Subject to the availability of funds, however, the Network may decide to provide support to specific members for specific projects.

This will remain the case until a fundraising mechanism and Secretariat are established in the business model and implemented.

VII.    Amendments

The Charter will be presented to the GA for a vote but it may subsequently be amended by any of its members--understood as individuals or a coalition of members, formal (i.e. GCB, NCB, etc) and informal--through a formal motion in writing. Amendment proposals will require the endorsement of the GCB, and approval by consensus of a ⅔ majority of the General Assembly to become part of the Charter.  

VIII.  Transitory Provisions

For the purpose of complying with the Charter, the GCB will produce a Registrar of members.

Prepared by the GCB with authority from the General Assembly: