Training

Since November 2010 the I.O.I. General Secretariat in Vienna hosted two I.O.I. editions of the ‘Sharpening Your Teeth’ (SYT) training programme free of charge to all its members in good standing. This educational programme for staff members of ombudsman institutions is based on the successful format established by Ontario Ombudsman André Marin in 2005.

The course dealt with conducting effective investigations and tackled various topics of everyday investigative work, such as the way to approach a complaint, effective interviewing methods, retrieval of relevant documentation, how to deal with whistleblowers, the assessment of evidence, report writing and the use of social media networks.

The I.O.I. was pleased to welcome 75 staff members of ombudsman institutions from 27 countries representing all six I.O.I. world regions. With the support of UniCredit Bank Austria and the City of Vienna the I.O.I. was able to fund 14 scholarships to member institutions with limited financial resources, thus enabling staff members from the ombudsman institutions of Burkina Faso, Djibouti, The Gambia, Mali , Lesotho, Tanzania, Uganda, Mauritius, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, Sint Maarten and Zambia to attend the training session.

Participants not only appreciated the opportunity to be briefed on investigative work, but also took the chance of such an international setting to make new contacts and exchange experience with colleagues from different and diverse cultural as well as legal backgrounds.

 New training initiatives in 2012

The huge success of the two I.O.I./SYT training sessions showed that there is a strong demand among member institutions for training activities.  The I.O.I. has become highly aware of the necessity of training programmes for its members and is planning to offer additional training courses focusing on areas that are of specific concern to ombudsman institutions and taking into account regional topics of specific interest.

For example, in support of the objective of the I.O.I. to develop and operate educational programmes for Members, their staff and other interested people, the Office of The Ombudsman, Hong Kong and the Commission against Corruption, Macao are pleased to announce that, with subsidy from the I.O.I., a regional training programme on complaint management will be organised in Hong Kong and Macao between 21 and 25 May 2012 for the Asia and Australasia & Pacific Regions.

Registration is possible until 15th March 2012 (Contact: Ms. Kathleen Chan, Senior Manager (External Relations) of Office of The Ombudsman, Hong Kong, kathleenchan@ombudsman.hk)