Organisation

OneWorld is an international network of co-operative centres, held together by OneWorld International.

What is the structure of OneWorld International?
OneWorld International has two aspects:
i) OneWorld International Foundation
ii) OneWorld International Ltd.

OneWorld International Foundation is a 'company limited by guarantee'. It has no shares: it is controlled by 'members' rather than by shareholders, and is governed in accordance with a Constitution (which in the UK is called 'the Memorandum and Articles of Association').

OneWorld International Foundation wholly-owns OneWorld International Ltd. The latter is a not-for-profit company, which covenants back to the Foundation any balance it makes.

How was this structure determined?
To appreciate the process properly, one must go back to January 1995, when OneWorld was first launched - named 'OneWorld Online' - under the aegis of a small British charity, the OneWorld Broadcasting Trust (OWBT).

But OneWorld Online's unprecedented success, coupled with the enormous growth of the Internet, meant that its expansion was rapid, and it soon outgrew the parent body, both in size and scope. Both Trustees and Directors felt, by early 1999, that it was becoming a genuinely global organisation, not a British one with an 'overseas' outreach.

OWBT's Board, however, was composed entirely of British residents - and under UK law, the majority of its members had to remain so. Further, many of OWBT's trustees were uncomfortable with the prospect of serving on a Board with a global remit, and also of overseeing Internet broadcasting when their expertise was limited to radio and television.

It was agreed that an International Governance Group (IGG) would urgently be appointed to research and report on the best way forward. The IGG included members from OneWorld teams in Asia, Africa and continental Europe as well as from OneWorld Online and OWBT. Later the IGG was widened to include an advisory group that included OneWorld representatives from South and North America.

Much research was done: for example, IGG studied the expansion processes of Oxfam, the International Save the Children Alliance, Transparency International, WWF and BOND, among others. It also took advice from a range of legal and organisational experts.

The upshot of many months of global deliberations was that OneWorld Online should now separate from OWBT: no longer regarding OWBT as its mothership but as a sister organisation. It was further agreed by OWBT's Board that OneWorld should adopt the new structure that had emerged collectively through the consensual and harmonious IGG process.

A separation of the two bodies followed, also conducted in an exemplary manner, and excellent relations have since been maintained between the two bodies.

The implementation of the new structure
The inauguration of a new body, OneWorld International Foundation, was the first step in the implementation of the new structure. Next, OneWorld International Foundation formally became the owner of OneWorld Online Ltd. - which was then re-named OneWorld International Ltd.

A task for OneWorld International over the coming years is to support the development of the many OneWorld centres so that they can become stronger parts of the interdependent whole.

The governance of OneWorld International Foundation
OneWorld International Foundation Board of Trustees reflects the diversity of OneWorld's network, as each OneWorld centre nominates a local trustee. Thus the Board is democratically formulated, on the principle of one centre, one trustee.

There are two exceptions to this simple rule. To guard against unwitting imbalances (for example, every centre could nominate a male Trustee), provision was made in the Constitution to co-opt up to a third of the Board to redress imbalances in, for example, gender or geographic diversity.

It was also agreed that OWBT would be invited to have a Trustee on the Board of the Foundation - just as a Director of OneWorld International would be invited to be on the Board of OWBT.

What is the structure of the network?
The OneWorld network currently consists of eleven OneWorld centres. They are:
OneWorld Africa (Lusaka, Zambia)
OneWorld Austria (Vienna, Austria)
OneWorld Canada (Montr�al, Canada)
OneWorld Netherlands (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
OneWorld Finland (Helsinki, Finland)
OneWorld Italy (Unimondo) (Trento, Italy)
OneWorld Latin America (San Jos�, Costa Rica)
OneWorld South Asia (New Delhi, India)
OneWorld Spain (Barcelona, Spain)
OneWorld UK (London, UK)
OneWorld US (Washington, USA)

Each of the centres in the network houses a partnership manager who administers partners in the centre's locality. OneWorld International looks after those partners who as yet have no local centre to which they can belong.

Each centre also houses an editorial team that puts together their local editions (when they have one). The editors also make available, each day, their local partners' material to all of OneWorld's global sections. An example would be the forthcoming thematic channels that some centres will produce. The Indian Channels editor, for instance, manages OneWorld Learning Channel, from India, but it incorporates relevant material from OneWorld partners all over the world.

Thus it is essential that the network's many centres work well together, in an interdependent and co-operative way. One of OneWorld International's major tasks is to ensure this global interchange, both at the practical level of technology, and through teamwork and knowledge sharing.

Who owns and governs these OneWorld centres?
OneWorld centres are owned and governed by not-for-profit entities in their own countries. For example: OneWorld UK is owned by the Panos Institute, and OneWorld Italy (Unimondo) is owned by the Fondazione Fontana.

OneWorld South Asia, OneWorld Latin America and OneWorld Africa are, for the moment, wholly owned by OneWorld International, though they are working towards self-governance. They are currently organised as a project of OneWorld International, funded through OneWorld International Foundation by DFID and DGIS, and staffed locally by indigenous teams.

How do OneWorld centres come about?
A potential centre is admitted into the OneWorld network only if the Board of Trustees agrees that it shares the vision and values of the OneWorld International Foundation, as described in its Guiding Principles. Centres must also sign a Network Agreement that defines their practical obligations to the whole, as a member of the OneWorld network.

Many groups in other parts of the world are making approaches to OneWorld International in the hope of beginning new OneWorld centres - e.g. in Germany, Chile, Russia, Pakistan, Nigeria and Spain. OneWorld International Foundation Board of Trustees needs to be satisfied that these organisisations are capable of a viable independent existence - while also interacting co-operatively with the rest of the OneWorld network.

OneWorld International welcomes approaches from organisations interested in potentially becoming a OneWorld centre.