Steering Group

The main responsibility of the openIMIS Steering Group lies in the strategic orientation and decision taking for the openIMIS Initiative. Its primary function is to take responsibility for the feasibility, business case and the achievement of outcomes of the openIMIS Initiative. This includes the budget responsibility for the planned activities. The Steering Group will monitor and review the status of the Initiative, discuss and coordinate on proposals for potential implementations, and provide guidance for the overall strategic direction of the openIMIS product and Initiative. For more detailed information you might want to consult the detailed Terms of Reference of the Steering Group.

The openIMIS Steering Group currently consists of the following stakeholder members, who each hold a vote on the Group. Each of the following organizations will have a vote in any major voting process. Organizations must designate an alternate in case the primary voting member is unavailable. 

• BMZ

• DEZA

Meeting Schedule and Process

The Steering Group will meet at least every six months, alternating virtually and face to face. The minutes of the meetings will be uploaded to this Wiki.

Meeting Agenda

Prior to each instance of a Steering Group meeting, the elected chair will facilitate a call for agenda items using the openIMIS mailing list. The Facilitator will then update the existing openIMIS Wiki page with the planned agenda items. The agenda should roughly follow the below structure:

1. Introductory items such as: 

   1. Introductions (if any)

   2. Review Agenda

   3. Minutes and actions from last meeting

2. Main agenda items proposed by Steering Group members

3. Any other business

4. Review and summarize new actions from this meeting

The voting process is as follows:

Proposals or issues requiring a vote must be made publicly available for discussion on the Steering Group forum prior to the next Steering Group meeting instance. It is the submitter's responsibility to start a vote after this discussion during the next instance of a Steering Group meeting. Voting should always occur in writing on the OpenIMIS Steering Group Google Group forum. The Facilitator will start a topic in the forum with the details and relevant links, and members should vote by replying to that topic. The vote must be open for a minimum of one business week. 

Primary voting members of the Steering Group will vote in writing following the process noted above. If the primary voting member is unavailable, the alternate will vote in their place, noting that the primary was unavailable. That vote will be considered valid and binding. If an organization misses a vote due to lack of participation in either the call or on the forum or both, or votes after the period has closed, their vote will not be considered.

Decision-making

Once all votes have been received during the voting period, a proposal will be considered accepted if it receives a majority of votes. Regardless of the outcome of a vote (accepted or rejected), however, the donor group will have the ability to bring that issue back up for discussion, and ultimately veto that outcome if necessary, by providing their reasoning in writing to the forum.

The chair gets a vote and is responsible for adjudicating should there be a voting dispute. Alternative procedures will be defined if and only if there is an important case for it.

There shall be a quorum of at least 50% of participants at meetings of the Steering Group for the respective meeting to proceed.