The Ombuds Blog: IOA Rolls Out Office Certification Program

July 09, 2025

IOA Rolls Out Office Certification Program

The International Ombuds Association has announced a new Certification Program for Ombuds Programs and Offices, expanding its professionalization scheme beyond individual practitioners. The initiative will allow Ombuds offices to demonstrate alignment with IOA Standards of Practice, Code of Ethics, and recognized best practices through a formal review and assessment process.

Certification will be valid for five years and is intended to help offices signal their commitment to independence, impartiality, confidentiality, and informality. IOA plans to launch the program in Fall 2025 and is currently developing detailed criteria, application procedures, and pricing. This marks the first time IOA has offered organizational certification in addition to individual CO-OP credentialing. (IOA Certification.)

1 comment:

Paul Caffera7/11/2025 6:07 AM
Next, there would be great value in IOA coming up with a trademarkable term, as the National Association of Real Estate Agents did decades ago with "Realtor," for conforming organizational ombuds, perhaps Ombudz (just spitballing, here), so that organizations that want to create non-conforming offices cannot use the same term for ombuds as those with conforming charters and duties.
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Organizational Ombuds

Organizational Ombuds serve as a confidential, independent, neutral and informal dispute resolution resource for a specific entity. They are accessible to a defined population and can advocate for fairness. These unique characteristics distinguish Organizational Ombuds from Classical Ombuds, mediators, arbitrators, and other alternative dispute resolution professionals. The term "Ombuds" is shorthand for "Ombudsman," "Ombudsperson" and "Ombuds Officer," which also are used widely.

Some other variants include:

Brazil -- Ouvidor

Croatia -- pravobranitelji

France -- médiateur/defénseur

Germany/Austria -- Ombudspersonen and Ombudsleute

Italy -- difensore

Netherlands -- ombudspersoon

Norway -- ombudet

Poland -- Rzecznik

Portugal -- provedor

Russia -- омбудсмен

Spain -- ombudsman organizacional

Sweden -- studentombud

Switzerland -- ombudsmann

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