IOA Creates Course to Train New Ombuds Setting Up a Program

The International Ombudsman Association has unveiled a new online training program: "The Nuts & Bolts of Setting Up an Ombuds Office."  The four-hour course will be offered in two two-hour sessions on November 17 and 19, 2020. This training is geared for people who have not yet taken the IOA Foundation's course and will help new Ombuds who are establishing or recently created a new Ombuds Office. 

About the Event

This is a two-part online course for new ombuds. IOA members have been working to create a new course that will introduce new ombuds to the fundamentals of setting up an efficient and successful organizational ombuds office.

Participants will be provided a cursory introduction to IOA’s Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics as well as the basic competencies and functions of organizational ombuds. Other topics will include creating a charter that supports your organization’s mission and value, as well as developing proper intake processes, data collection, logistics and marketing. Chuck Howard author of The Organizational Ombudsman and current Executive Director of IOA, will also be contributing his expertise. Facilitators will provide best practices for all topics and there will be a Q&A session as well. This course is best used as a supplement to IOA’s most popular Foundations Course. 

Participants will:

Identify Ombuds competencies and role expectations

Establish a Term of Reference/Charter

Define a data management structure 

Distinguish logistics and marketing plans

Understand available resources and additional training

There are some significant differences for participants:

• The traditional, in-person version of Foundations is offered quarterly and lasts three full days. The new Virtual Foundations takes the same number of hours (about 23.5), but is spread over five weekdays;
• Virtual Foundations will be offered much more frequently than the in-person version;
• The in-person class is capped at about 34, while the virtual class is limited to 24;
• IOA also is gently excluding aspiring Ombuds: The description states that the sessions are aimed at "recently appointed ombuds"; and
• Virtual Foundations costs the same (IOA members pay $1,695 and non-members pay $1,995), but participants save on travel and hotel costs.

The instructors will be Susan Casino, a coach and Ombuds consultant with the UN World Food Programme, Don Greenstein, University Ombuds at Brandeis University, and Jennifer Smith Schneider, Student Ombuds at the University of South Florida. In addition, Chuck Howard, IOA's Executive Director, will be a speaker. The course costs $195 for IOA members ($475 for non-members) and is capped at 24 participants. (IOA Webinar Info.)

Related posts: IOA's New Virtual Foundations Course is Already Selling Out; COFO to Train New Federal Ombuds in Response to IOA Backlog.