NPOC Membership was Re: [] for Debbie: …

[Avri Doria]

On 14 Oct 2011, at 15:48, Katitza Rodriguez wrote:

> How many members does NPOC has?
> 

I guess it is my responsibility as Interim Chair to report on the current status.  

The answer to this question has several parts.  

1. The NPOC web site <http://www.npoc.org/members.html> lists 34 members

2. 15 of these are NCSG members including:

American Council on Educations (ACE) (active)
Assocation of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) (active)
American Red Cross (active)
Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication(BNNRC) (active)
Center for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS)
Fundacion Chasquinet  (active)
Fundacion Omar Dengo
Human Rights Campaign (HRC) (active)
IICD (active)
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
InterSocietal Accreditation Commission
March of Dimes
St. John Ambulance
World Wildlife Fund
YMCA of the USA

Of which 7 activated at the time of the election  (marked in the list above).   All those who were members as of the time leading up to the election were repeatedly given an opportunity to confirm their primary representative's email address after having been accepted for membership.  Several never responded and hence were not added to the list of active members eligible to vote.  

As I mentioned in an earlier message, the fact that many if not most of the NPOC members did not file their own applications and were not responsive to requests for email verification left me with doubt as to their applications.  As EC-Chair, however, I accepted the applications and confirmed everyone who was both accepted by the NCSG-EC and who reply to a congratulations message with an acknowledgement that I had reached a working email address.  Even then I only got a 50% hit rate, but that is the norm for the NCSG in terms of responses, so I should not be surprised - the new NPOC members are about as active/repsonsive as any other NCSG members.

3. Three of the NPOC members are also NCUC members:

American Red Cross (active)
Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication(BNNRC)
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)

4.  17 have membership applications pending in the NCSG-EC.  Until the transition, post charter, to the new NCSG-EC, Rosemary was in charge of processing member applications and working with the NCSG-EC on the approval of new members.  Acceptance of a new members requires a consensus of the NCSG-EC members.  The practice the NCSG-EC was using was that at least 3 of the 5 members of the NCSG-EC had to positively agree, while 2  could passively not object.  As then Chair of the NCSG-EC, I took the position of passive no-comment on all applications in order to maintain my impartiality in the process, i.e. I was always one of the passive voices that accepted a developing consensus, when there was one.

 Some of the applications had stalled based on pending questions members of the NCSG-EC had for the applicants.  some came in late in the process and received not processing before rosemary left the NCSG-EC.

All applications were submitted by Amber as Chair of the NPOC.

Since the changeover in NCSG-EC in September, there have been no discussions about membership.  Rosemary s not longer on the NCSG-EC to take charge of the effort, and as a caretaker, I have not take any action on this process, not having been requested by the members of the NCSG-EC to do so.  I am assuming there is time enough to continue processing membership after the new NCSG chair has been elected and the NCSG-EC is fully seated.  In any case, none of these applications would not have affected the current vote.  

American Lebanese Syrian Assoc Char (ALSAC)/
Child Protection Alliance	
Church of God in Christ, Inc.	
Civil Society Movement Against Tuberculosis in Sierre Leone (CISMAT-SL)
Corporacion Makia Asesoria Internacional	
FOCAL: Canadian Foundation for the Americas	
International Baccalaureate Organization	
National Coalition for the Homeless	
National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry	
Pilots N Paws	
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital	
The Association of NGOs, The Gambia (TANGO)
Tranquil Space Foundation	
United States Olympic Committee	
Water Environment Research Foundation	
Young Life	

As I mentioned in an earlier note and previously in public meetings, I had requested that the NPOC members apply for membership long before the NPOC constituency was granted full status as there was no requirement for the constituency to have been approved in qualifying new members. Had my advice been taken, and I thought I had received assurances that it was going to be, all of these applications would have processed months ago and all of those accepted for membership would have been able to vote on both the charter and in the current election.  Well, assuming they had confirmed their addresses in the checkin, that is.

Amber just today resubmitted several of the applications and submitted one that had not been submitted before:

Goodwill Industries International, Inc.

5. It should be noted that per the charter, should the NCSG-EC reject a membership application , that rejection, like all NCSG-EC decisions can be appealed to membership vote using the following procedure from the charter:

> 2.4.2.1 Appeals of NCSG-­‐EC decisions 
> 
> 1. Any decision of the NCSG-­‐EC can be appealed by requesting a
> full vote of the NCSG membership. There are several ways in which
> an appeal can be initiated: 
> 
> • If 15 NCSG members, consisting of both organizational and
> individual members, request such an appeal the NCSG Executive
> Committee will first take the appeal under consideration. 
> 
> • If, after consideration of any documentation provided by those
> making the appeal, the NCSG-­‐EC does not reverse its decision, the
> NCSG-­‐EC and those making the appeal should attempt to negotiate a
> mutually agreeable solution. 
> 
> • If the NCSG-­‐EC and those making the appeal cannot reach a
> mutually acceptable agreement on the decision within 30 days, then
> an NCSG vote will be scheduled as soon as practicable. 
> 
> • For this type of appeal to succeed 60% of all of the NCSG members
> must approve of the appeal in a full membership vote as defined in
> section 4.0.

It should also be noted, that this goes for the NCSG-EC accepting as a member some organization that the rest of the membership disapproves of.   While the hurdles may be high, the charter does provide a way for the membership to act in oversight to the NCSG-EC, which incidentally acts as oversight for the Chair.

Hope this answers the question.

Good luck to the soon to elected char and the new NCSG-EC in sorting this all out equitably.

avri

note: i do not swear that i got all the information correct though it is true to the best of my current recollection and records. Should errors become apparent, I will send email with the  corrections as time goes on.  I am working on preparing all my files and such to pass on to my successor once the elections results are finalized, checked and announced.  cheers.