Membership and representation
A process for formalising membership might also be discussed further to the initial information collected at the scoping stage. A simple disclosure form in which member organisations state their commitment to SUN principles, human rights principles and democratic ways of working may be useful at this stage to ensure that all CSAs can demonstrate accountability to their constituents and a non-partisan approach. An example disclosure document can be found at - http://scalingupnutrition.org/resources-archive/network-resources-2#csomember. Most civil society alliances welcome members on an institutional basis. However, at a steering committee level it may be useful to consider institutional and individual membership. Some reflections on the positive and negative aspects of each can be found in the text box below.
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Insitutional versus individual membership: Some considerations
Individual Membership:
+ More flexibility and room to manoeuvre in decision making
+ Individuals that are motivated and engaged for personal reasons.
- Do not represent the organisations institutional perspective
- Have little time as often this work is voluntary on top of a full-time job
Institutional Membership:
+ Represent an institutional commitment which means committing resources to provide additional support for the platform.
+ Sharing of the role within institutions can mean increased capacity in the form of additional people.
- Those allocated the role do not necessarily have enough decision-making power or personal interest in the role.
- Institutions allocate/delegate the role to other staff members. In international organisations with international staff in country this can mean high turnover.
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