IFLA Corporate Governance REVIEW 2024

 

At the 2023 IFLA World Council meeting in Nairobi and Stockholm, we recognised that effective professional organisations must evolve and adapt to change to address the needs of their members. For that to happen, we must ensure that our corporate governance follows international standards to seize new opportunities, that our secretariat is well-resourced, and that we can focus on key projects and initiatives essential to the profession.

As such the World Council accepted the establishment of a Corporate Governance Revision Working Group (CGRWG), led by the IFLA President and the IFLA Vice-President, with three IFLA delegates and two external members to IFLA, mandated to present a revised constitution and by-laws for the 2024 World Council for approval.  This group have been meeting regularly to research, develop and test various governance models. As part of this process there have been various consultation sessions, surveys and reporting sessions for our members, details of these, including recordings, can be found below:

Consultation sessions - ApRIL 2024

In April 2024 the IFLA Corporate Governance Revision Working Group (CGRWG) hosted a number of consultation sessions to allow an in-depth look at the review process, answer questions, and offer an opportunity for open discussion.

Recordings of the sessions

Meeting IFLA Africa Executive. Recording here. Passcode: 2PKg&cf!

Meeting IFLA Americas Executive. Recording here. Passcode: Z7G0YL%R

Meeting IFLA Asia-Pacific Executive. Recording here. Passcode: dfcE^c.4

Meeting IFLA Europe Executive: Recording here. Passcode: &c.RiyP1

Meeting IFLA Middle East Executive: Recording here. Passcode: 2^!?dEEH

General information session - 10 April 2024. Recording here. Passcode: R67FJ+U6

General information session - 15 April 2024. Recording here. Passcode: r1bhX@M6

General information session - 17 April 2024. Recording here. Passcode: I4JMq@@y

Powerpoint Presentation

You can find the presentation used in the consultation sessions here.

REPORTING SESSIONS - MAY 2024

In May 2024 the CGRWG held reporting sessions to explain the evolving governance structure. These included a comprehensive overview of the recent survey results, a corporate governance preview and an open Q&A.

Powerpoint Presentation

General reporting session 1 - 27 May at 8 am GMT. Recording here. Passcode: RLg9C?^f

General reporting session 2 - 28 May at 1 pm GMT. Recording here. Passcode: v#Zi4?wr

General reporting session 3 - 29 May at 8 pm GMT. Recording here. Passcode: J20x^^cj

You can find the presentation used in the reporting sessions here.

Update December 2025

IFLA Corporate Governance Review Working Group: An Update of Where We Are 

Three months passed since we met in Istanbul at the IFLA World Council and Congress. The IFLA Corporate Governance Review Working Group (CGRWG) has taken on all the information and feedback received during the different workshops and throughout the engaged discussions we had. We also looked into the survey results that some of you completed during the sessions.

The IFLA CGRWG wants to summarise the points identified:

• Perceived discrepancies in voting rights between President-Elect, President, and Past President.   

• Role confusion between Regional President vs. Regional Director.   

• Ambiguity regarding the voting rights of Advisory Members.   

• Concerns about the Nominating Committee and the Standing Committees.   

• The perception of an overly complex organizational structure.   

• The financial implications of the model proposed.   

The CGRWG has been working diligently to review and revise the corporate governance structure of IFLA. We are committed to addressing these pressure points and developing a revised corporate governance framework that is clear, equitable, and effective. We will inform our members of our progress and encourage your feedback throughout the process.

A revised report will be circulated for information. We will use our first IFLA Virtual Council (22-23 March 2025) to address any critical issues before our IFLA World Council face-to-face in Nantes, France (8-10 September 2025). 

We also plan to have drop-in sessions during the first half of 2025 to focus on key themes and allow every delegate to engage with the proposed structure. These drop-in sessions will be bimonthly on every second Wednesday. The tentative dates are 12 February, 16 April, and 11 June 2025. More details will come early next year, but for now, save these dates in your diaries. 

We are confident that the IFLA CGRWG will develop a revised corporate governance framework that will serve IFLA and its members well into the future.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Dr Bruno Marques

IFLA President