RWQOL - CONSTITUTION

Our Mission Statement

“Our mission is to promote quality of life of Rwandans in general
and of chronically ill people in particular by disseminating information about quality of life throughout the country, the region, the continent and over the world and enhancing research in the field”.

The Rwanda QOL Centre constitution defines the basis and the ground rules of the Centre. It describes the framework in which our Centre is built.

Section I. Name/Seat

Art. 1. In accordance with the law N° 20/2000 of July, 26th 2000 that regulates non profit and non governmental organizations; an organisation known as Rwanda Quality of Life
Centre. The association is hereinafter also referred to as: the Centre.
The official abbreviation shall be RWQOL.

Art. 2. The seat shall be established in Kigali City, Rwanda.

Section II. Nature

Art.3.  The centre is an independent and non profit organization (NPO) of volunteers willing to help society promote their quality of life (QOL).

Section III. Principles

Art. 4 The Centre:
  - pursues its aims without political, religious, social, racial, national, sexual or any
other discrimination;
  - promotes humanitarian ideals among its members;  
   - respects the autonomy of its members.

Section IV. Membership

Art. 5 Membership to the Centre shall be classified into three categories:
   - Founder– which refers to all members who have signed this constitution.
- Ordinary- who will join the Centre having been accepted by the General Assembly upon application for membership.
  - Honorary- those who will show interest in the activities of the Organization and who will support it morally and materially.
In those categories the members can be:
- personal members
- institutional members
 

Section V. Objectives

Art. 6 The goal of the Centre is to serve society and its members by:
A. Increasing awareness of and helping provide solutions to safety and health hazards  
within the Rwandan society through cooperation with various other quality of life  
associations.
Promoting research on QOL by encouraging especially young investigators to get  
actively involved in the matter;
C. Translating QOL instruments from foreign languages into Kinyarwanda ;
D. Promoting and facilitating professional and scientific exchanges as well as projects and
extracurricular trainings for its members and healthcare professionals, thereby sensitising  
them to the importance of the quality of life in the development of the society ;
E. Providing a link between members, quality of life associations and international
organisations, and to encourage the cooperation between them for the ultimate benefit of society.

Section VI. Structure

Art. 7 The Centre shall be composed of two fundamental bodies: the Executive Committee and the General Body. All organization members shall belong to the either one or the
other one.

Art. 8 The Executive Committee
8.1. Definition and organization
(i) is the highest decision-making body of the Centre ;
(ii) shall consist of the officers of the Centre ;
(iii) members of the Executive Committee shall be chosen in accordance with the
“the Evaluation and Renewal Process” as described in this Constitution.
8.2. Meetings
(i) The Executive Committee shall meet at least once a month as decided by the
Executive Committee;
(ii) Quorum shall be one half of the number of the Executive Committee members.
8.3. Decision-making
(i) Approval of constitutional changes are to be reached by the following procedure :
- Two-thirds of the Executive Committee must agree on the proposed change
and present it to the Executive Committee;
- After discussion, three-fourths of the Executive Committee must agree on the
  final form of the proposed change for it to be passed.
(ii) Constitutional interpretations shall require two-thirds approval of the Executive
Committee.
(iii) All other RWQOL decisions are to be reached by majority vote of the
Executive Committee except in the Evaluation Committee where matters pertaining to Elections are to be reached by a majority vote of the Evaluation Committee.

Art. 9 Officers
9.1. The officers of the centre shall be the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer,
Webmaster and Members at large.

Art. 10. Official duties of the officers are:
 10.1. President:
(1) Preside over all Executive Committee meetings ;
(2) Prepare for the meetings of the Executive Committee :
(3) Represent RWQOL on all official matters and maintaining contacts;
(4) Plan for the promotion of good external relations ;
(5) Ensure that the Constitution and Process Rules are followed ;
(6) Ensure that all Centre-related events are carried out successfully and in the Merit of this constitution;
(7) Raise funds for RWQOL
10.2.   Vice-President:
(1) Replace the President in his/her absence or when s/he is incapable of performing his/her duties;
(2) Head the Evaluation Committee ;
(3) Help the President in his/her duties.
(4). Maintain the registration of RWQOL and its Constitution to the Chamber
of Commerce.
(5) Update the Constitution and Bylaws with the changes decided upon the
General Assembly, by September 1 for changes made at the August Meeting.
(6) Prepare and send out invitations, provisional agenda, and other relevant  
information concerning General Assembly Meetings.
(7) Be responsible for updating the Officials Manual and the Member Manual.
(8). Inform National Member Organizations that they have lost membership status or having been excluded from RWQOL immediately after the General Assembly Meeting.
(9) Raise funds for RWQOL.
(10) Assist the webmaster in maintaining an updated database of RWQOL  
Honorary Life Members and RWQOL Externals
10.3. Treasurer:
a.  Be responsible for the financial administration and bookkeeping of RWQOL.
b.  Collect membership fees.
c. Be responsible for the official bank accounts of the RWQOL.
d.Present a written financial report at each Executive RWQOL Meeting, which
includes accounts, statements of assets and liabilities of RWQOL and a list of the financial transfers made since the last Executive Committee Meeting.
e. Propose the budget of the next financial year to the Executive Committee.
f. Present an annual financial report, preferably reviewed by a professional auditing company to the Executive Committee
f. Audit the financial report of Organizing Committees of a General Assembly Meeting.
g. Present a list of Members having debts to RWQOL to the Evaluation
Committee.
i.  Review the budgets of all RWQOL projects and events.
j. Deliver receipts received during his term to General Secretariat at the end of  
his term
k. Raise funds for RWQOL.
10.4. The Secretary :
(1) Accept and execute all correspondence. If s/he is not capable of performing it, s/he must seek assistance from the Executive Committee.
(2) Keep minutes of all Executive Committee meetings and provide the Executive Committee members with a copy of said minutes within 5 days of the meeting.
(3) Archive all records, including copies of pertinent correspondence, publicity
Material, official forms, and all minutes of Executive Committee meetings.
10.5. The webmaster shall :
(1) Maintain and update the Centre webpage to keep all information update ;
(2) Maintain all mailing lists unless otherwise agreed by the Executive Committee ;
(3) Help other officers with computer-related Centre work upon request.
 
10.6. The members at large shall :
(1) Be available to help with the organization and execution of organization
events;
(2) Addition or deletion of an office.

Art 11. Terms in the office:
11.1. The length of office shall be two years;
11.2. No one shall be able to run for the same office more than twice total.
11.3.Any officer can run for a different office after his/her term is served.

Art 12. Impeachment and removal from office:
a. An officer can be impeached only by the unanimous vote of the other members of the  
Executive Committee;
 b. An officer can be removed from office only by the unanimous vote of the other members of
the Executive Committee ;
 c. Failure to perform official duties or duties agreed upon by the Executive Committee shall  result in:
1. First time, warning
2. Second time, warning and a private meeting with the President or, if the President fails to perform his/her duties, with the officer of next-highest power.
3. Third time, impeachment proceedings.
  d. Any member of the Executive Committee who misses more than two Executive  
Committee meetings without a valid excuse shall automatically be removed from the
Executive Committee. A valid excuse must be given before a meeting. Only in cases of  
an  emergency shall an absence be excused after the meeting.
 e.Any member of the Executive Committee who misses more than six meetings total shall automatically be  removed from the Executive Committee.
   f.Re-election in the case of vacancy:
      1. In case of vacancy in the presidential office, the Vice President shall assume the position of  Active President. The Vice Presidential position shall remain empty.
       2. In case of vacancy in another office, the Members at Large shall be asked if one of them
wishes to fill the available office. If one agrees, then the position shall be filled. The  
vacant Member At Large position shall remain empty. If no Member At Large wishes to
fill the empty office, then an election shall be called. This election shall follow the rules
of the election.

Art. 13. The General Body:
a. All active members shall belong to the General Body.
b. All active members shall belong to the mailing list.
c.Active members shall be placed in a database on the Centre webpage.

Section VII. Activities Process.

Art. 14. The Executive Committee may receive project proposals from its members

Art. 15. The Activities Process shall involve the following stages:
a. Submission of a written proposal to the Executive Committee at any time.
b.  Investigation of the idea by the Executive Committee.
c.  Discussion of the proposal by the Executive Committee and the person who presented the proposal.
d. Decision on the proposal by the Executive Committee.
e. If approved, the proposal shall be executed under the direction of the appropriate Sub-Committee assigned to the project by the Executive Committee.
f. Update on the project as necessary.
g. Submission of a written summary report to the Executive Committee by the appropriate Sub-Committee after completion of the activity.

Section VIII. Evaluation and Renewal Process

Art. 16. Evaluation Committee:
Six weeks before the Election, an Evaluation Committee shall be appointed by the  
Executive Committee. It shall consist of members of the Executive Committee as    
stipulated by bylaws. No running candidate can be on the Evaluation Committee. The
Committee shall be headed by the Vice-President or, in the case that the Vice-President  
plans on re-running for office, another member of the Executive Committee.
a. The Evaluation Committee shall prepare an annual report of activities to be presented to the General Assembly before election and archived by the secretary.
b. The Evaluation Committee shall screen candidates for office starting the first day of year based on the following rules:
1. Candidates for office must have been active members for at least two years.
2. Candidates may be nominated for only one office on the Executive Committee.
3. Candidates must present a statement of candidacy to the Evaluation Committee
between the first day of year and one week before election.
4. Ensure that there is at least one candidate for each office.
c. The list of candidates shall be presented to the public four days before election.

Art. 17. Election rules
a. Election shall be held on the third Saturday of year every two years.
b. Write-ins are allowed.
c. Proxies are allowed.
d. Voting privileges are open to active members only.
e. During election, each candidate shall give a speech no longer than three minutes, and will  have five minutes to answer questions from the Assembly.
f. Candidates may run for only one office on the Executive Committee except Presidential candidates not elected may run for Vice-President and any candidate not elected may run for Member At Large.
g. Votes shall be made by written ballots and will be tabulated immediately after all voters have turned in their ballots for each office.
h. The candidate with more than 50% of the votes will be the officer-elect. If no majority is achieved in this first round, the two candidates with the highest votes will be voted for. The one voted by simple majority will be elected.
i. The officers will be elected in the following order: The Secretary, Treasurer, Webmaster, President, Vice-President, Members at Large.

Section IX. Finances

Art. 18. The income of the Centre is composed of contributions of members, subsidies, gifts,  
legacies and other contributions. 

Art. 19. The financial year of the Centre runs from the first of October up to and including the  
thirtieth day of September of the next year.

Art. 20. The Executive Committee is responsible for all financial actions of the Centre.
Section X. Amendments to the constitution

Art. 21. Amendments to the constitution have to be decided upon by the General Assembly by a  
two third majority at a meeting in which at least one third of the members are present.
Section XI. Bylaws

Art. 22. To regulate matters not described in this constitution the centre has bylaws.
The bylaws have to comply with this constitution. Amendments and changes to the
bylaws have to be decided upon by the General Assembly.
Section XII. Dissolution

Art.23. The dissolution of RWQOL shall be decided by the General Assembly by a three quarter  
majority of all full members. Voting by registered mail or email is possible.

Art.24. A proposal for dissolution shall be send out to all members at least six months before
the beginning of the General Assembly meeting. The proposal shall be sent out by
registered mail or email.

Art.25. Any funds remaining at dissolution will be spent according to the objectives of the
Centre to an institution of general benefit.

 Drafted and adopted 20th of April 2004 in Kigali, Rwanda