RULES AND REGULATIONS OF ISLAND WOMEN’S DEVELOPMENET COMMITTEE

INTRODUCTION:  From the second women’s national meeting held in 1983 they came to an agreement to establish Women’s committees in all the inhabited islands. The first women’s committees were founded in 1st January 1983
Till 1st April 1993 women’s committees were appointed by the Department of women’s affairs. And some members were elected to these committees; among the elected members were health workers, mid wives and teachers. During the time when committees were appointed, in some islands committees were also elected by women voting.
From 1st April 1993, committees were to be elected instead of appointing, and the rules of the committee were reviewed and enforced in 1995. In July 2000 rules of the committee were again reviewed and the name of the committee was changed to Island Women’s Development committee (IWDC).

OBJECTIVES: The main objective of the IWDC’s is to work and carry out activities for girls and women’s development;

Work for the rights of women.
Work to improve the general living standards of island/wards women, working to empower women economically and to increase political participation of women.
Collect useful information and data on island/ward women.
Work to increase the number of women with higher education.
Work to increase the health standard of women.
Increase the motivation to work for community development.
Participate and help in the activities carried out by the government for island/ward development.

WORKPLACE:

The workplace of the IWDC’s is set up by the island/ward office.

MEMBERS OF THE COMMIITTEE:

Members of the committee are elected b casting a vote from all the women who are over 18 in the island/ward.
The number of members in the committee should be between 10 and 20.
If a committee is facing any inconvenience due to the lack of members they can increase the number if the number of members is less than 20.

RESPONSIBILITIES  

Work to achieve the objectives of the committee.
Keep an update of the committees finance accounts.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COMMIITTEE MEMBERS

Should be a Maldivian citizen over 18.
Should be living in that island/ward.
Should not have committed any of the following crimes in the past 5 years.

• Not convicted of crime under the Islamic Shariah.
• Not convicted of stealing, bribery or hiyanai.
• Drug dealing.

Should not have abused a child sexually, physically or mentally.

COMMITTEES TERMS

A Committee’s term is three years.
Thirty days before the committee s three year term is over, the new committee should be elected.
For the active members of the committee a certificate should be given by the new committee as an appreciation for their work.
When the term is over, Ministry of Gender, Family Development and Social Security can increase the term. And the extended date will be announced to the committees through the Atoll office.

COMMIITTEES POSTS

When the committee is elected, members for the following posts should also be elected;

• President, raeeesa (Female)
• Vice president, naaib raeesa (Female)
• Secretary
• Clerk

These posts should be appointed by the committee’s discussion or should be elected by casting a vote among the committee members. An allowance is given to the members in these posts.
Except for president and the vice president men can be appointed.
If a member from any of the above mentioned posts is taking leave for more than one month her/his responsibilities should be handed over to another member.
Presidents responsibilities:

• Conduct and carry out activities according to the objectives of the committee.
• Conduct meetings regularly and chair the meetings.
• Make the committee work as a team.
• Carry out the activities as planned.
• Give approval to use the funds and to monitor  the work of the clerk.
• Make sure all the administrative work is carried out regularly.
• If a member of the committee has resigned another member should be appointed.

Vice president’s responsibilities:

• Assist the president in her work and take over her responsibilities when she is on leave.
• Carry out the administrative work according to her advice.
• Write the reports of the committee’s activities and send it to the concerned offices.
• In case the president resigns vice president has to take over her work.

Secretaries responsibilities:

• With the advice of the president/vice president to carry out the administrative work.
• Make preparations for meetings and write the minutes of the meetings.
• Participate actively in committees activities.

Responsibilities of the clerk:

• Collect and deposit all the committees’ money.
• Keep the record of the daily financial status.
• Make reports of the exhausted funds and send the report to the concerned offices.

SIGNING

All the formal letters and reports must be signed by the president. In case of her absence the letters and reports should be signed by the vice president
In financial writings the clerk has to sign with the president or the vice president.

MEETINGS

At least one meeting should be held in a month but can have more than one meeting a month. Also, a meeting should be held if 1/3 of the members request.
When conducting a meeting the time and place will be arranged by the president or in her absence the vice president.
At least half of the committee should attend in order to carry out the meeting.
Other than the issues raised by the secretariat, the issues raised by the members should also be included in the agenda. Except in emergency meetings members should be informed one day before.
Minutes and the attendance should be recorded.
Minutes of the meeting should be approved and signed by the president or the vice president in her absence
A copy of the minutes should be sent to the island/ward office within 7 days.

APPROVING ACTIVITIES AND TAKING ACTION

Carry out activities by discussing with the committee and if all the members didn’t come to an agreement can go for a vote.
To carry out the activities of the committee, the co-operation of all the members should be given.

FIRING AND RESIGNING

Members will automatically lose their membership under the following conditions,

• When the committees term is over.
• Arrested for any crime for a period of 3 months or more.

A member can be fired from the committee  due to any of the following reasons after discussing with the committee members:

• Missing three consecutive meetings without a reasonable excuse.
• Sending a resignation letter stating the reason for resigning.
• Repeatedly not participating actively in committees work without a reasonable excuse.
• A member acting against the committee’s rules and regulations repeatedly. (In cases like this committee should send in writing saying that she/he is fired).

Members in the posts resigning.
President’s resignationshould be sent to island/ward office. And any decision can be taken after discussing with the Ministry of Gender, Family Development and Social Security.
Except for the president the other members in the posts should send their resignation letter to the committee and a decision can be made by the president only after discussing with the committee.
I f  a member is fired or resigned, the  Ministry of Gender, Family Development and Social Security should be informed.

APPOINTING NEW MEMBERS

If any of the members in a post resigns a new member should be appointed from the committee after discussing with all the members.
If a new member is to be appointed this should be announced through the island/ward office. This member should be appointed from the applicants who fulfills the committee’s conditions and by casting a vote among the committee members.

KEEPING RECORD OF THE IWDC’S BUDGET

An account should be opened in the name of the IWDC.
Money earned to the committee should be spent on activities for island/ward women’s development..
An allowance should be given to the members for every meeting they attend. Allowance is given for a maximum of four meetings per month. (Can have more than 4 meetings per month but allowance is given only for 4 meetings.
President has the authority to use  500/-Rf in cases of emergency. And these details should be discussed in the meetings.

CAPITAL

Should work to increase the capital of the committee to achieve the targets of the IWDC.
These funds should be spent on island/ward women’s development.
Money earned for a specific activity should be spent on that activity and if there is money left can use for another activity after discussing with the committee members.
When spending for activities for island/ward, women’s development, money should be spent as agreed by the committee.
In spending the funds in the committee’s capital the same government regulation applies.

SUBMITTING REPORTS

• Every year at the end of December an activity plan for the coming year should be sent to the Ministry of Gender, Family Development and Social Security.
• Attendance report of the meetings should be sent the ministry every three months.
• The disbursement reports of the administrative allowance, post allowance, meetings allowance, money earned for the committee should be sent to the ministry in every three months.
• The annual report of activities carried out by the from November 1st of the last year should be sent to the ministry by the end of November.
• If any changes need to be brought to the report form ministry should be informed.

DISBANDING THE COMMITTEE

If the committee is not working according to the committees regulations and if the committees work is causing disagreements and splits within the island/ward the Ministry of Gender, Family development and Social Security has the authority to disband the committee.

Copyright © 2006 Ministry of Gender & Family.