Last changes adopted on 21 October 2007 by the Legislative Meeting held in St.Gallen.

 

 

ARTICLE 1 - NAME

“oikos International - Student Organisation for Sustainable Economics and Management“ referred to hereafter as “oikos International” is an association under Article 60 of the Swiss Civil Code located in St.Gallen, Switzerland.

 

ARTICLE 2 - NEUTRALITY

oikos is a neutral, non-political and non-religious organisation offering a non-partisan platform for discussion on sustainability.

 

ARTICLE 3 - OBJECTIVE

oikos seeks to strengthen action competence for sustainable development among tomorrow’s decision makers. To target this objective, the organisation

a) increases awareness for sustainability opportunities and challenges focussing on students of Management and Economics;

b) fosters their ability not only to analyse long-term economic, environmental and social trends, but also implement sustainability-driven innovation;

c) creates institutional support for these learning processes through the integration of sustainability issues in research and teaching at the world’s faculties for Management and Economics.

 

ARTICLE 4 - ACTIVITIES

I. oikos International supports local oikos groups primarily by

a) assisting promoters of local groups in the start up phase;

b) permanently providing the groups with organisational know how and seminars to further skills in applying them, helping them to establish contacts to key decision-makers in their region, providing them with an IT-infrastructure and PR-material as well as coordinating common projects, communication and encounters between local groups;

c) and sustaining an international network of oikos alumni.

II. oikos International pursues several key projects on an ongoing basis to empower students as change agents and drive institutional change. The international key projects also provide a platform to develop the oikos organisation and strengthen its impact.

 

ARTICLE 5 - NO COMMERCIAL INTEREST

oikos International has no commercial interest. Assets are solely used to target the association’s objective. oikos International does not run a commercial business.

 

ARTICLE 6 - MEMBER GROUPS

I. oikos International shall consist of local student groups according to Articles I-IX in the appendix.

II. Applications for membership shall be submitted to the association’s Executive Board. Together with its application, the applying group shall submit a report including an English translation of its constitution, a list of its team members, CVs and letters of motivation for the members of the board, a letter of recommendation from a local professor as well as information about the activities that it has conducted so far and plans for the future. Admission to membership shall be decided by a two-thirds majority vote of the Legislative Meeting.

III. Any member group not complying with articles and policies of the association or not performing reasonable activities consistently shall forfeit its membership. After consideration of the relevant facts, the Executive Board may propose the expulsion of any member group. Expulsion shall only be valid upon a two-thirds majority decision of the Legislative Meeting. No member group shall be expelled except upon four weeks notice from the Executive Board in writing specifying the ground upon which expulsion is based.

IV. Any member group may resign at any time by giving four weeks notice to be delivered in writing to the Executive Board which shall so inform the Legislative Meeting of member groups.

V. A member group who resigns or is expelled may not utilize the oikos name and logo for any purpose, activities or communication.

 

ARTICLE 7 - ASSOCIATION BODIES

I. The bodies of the association are

a) the Legislative Meeting;

b) the Executive Board;              

c) the Advisory Council;

d) and the External Auditor.

 

ARTICLE 8 - LEGISLATIVE MEETING

I. Representatives of the member groups shall together constitute the Legislative Meeting of member groups of the Association.

II. The Legislative Meeting comes together on the two occasions of the Association’s Spring and Autumn Meeting. Additional sessions of the Legislative Meeting may be convened on request of the Executive Board, two members of the Advisory Council, or at least one fifth of the association’s member groups.

III. The Legislative Meeting shall be convened in writing at least four weeks prior to the meeting.

IV. Each member group has one vote at Legislative Meetings. In general, member groups are represented by their Presidents. The Executive Board shall be notified in writing, if a member group is to be represented by a person other than its president.

V. Decisions of the Legislative Meeting shall be taken by a simple majority vote of all members present or represented, except if the constitution provides otherwise.

VI. The Legislative Meeting of members shall have all powers for the performance and execution of the purposes of the association, unless otherwise stated in this constitution. Powers include

a) election of the Executive Board;

b) election of members of the Advisory Council;

c) election of the External Auditor;

d) admission and expulsion of member groups;

e) acceptance of the annual financial statement and the annual report of the board;

f) discharging the board;            

g) amendments to the constitution;

h) dissolution of the association.

 

ARTICLE 9 - EXECUTIVE BOARD

I. oikos International shall be administered by an Executive Board consisting of a President and 2-7 Directors, all physical persons.

II. Members of the Executive Board shall be elected individually by a simple majority vote of the association’s members at the Legislative Meeting. Their term of office shall be one calendar year.

III. Members of the Executive Board can be re-elected.

IV. Within the Executive Board each member shall have one vote. Decisions shall be taken by a simple majority vote of the Executive Board members present.

V. The Executive Board shall have full power of management and administration, subject to the prerogatives of the Legislative Meeting.

VI. The Executive Board shall delegate the day to day management of the association to the President.

VII. The Executive Board shall be responsible for           

a) planning and carrying out the association’s activities;

b) budgeting and securing funding;

c) preparing the Legislative Meeting;

d) implementing the decisions taken by the Legislative Meeting.

VIII. The Executive Board will be discharged by the Legislative Meeting during the Spring Meeting based on the submission of an annual report and the financial statement as well as on the report of the External Auditor.

 

ARTICLE 10 - ADVISORY COUNCIL

I. The Advisory Council comprises a minimum of three and a maximum of twelve representatives from academia, business, politics, NGOs and other interest groups who actively support the association. At least one member of the Advisory Council should be a former member of a local oikos group.

II. Members of the Advisory Council are elected for three years by the Legislative Meeting. Re-elections are possible.

III. The Advisory Council supports the activities of the association primarily by

a) supporting the planning process for the overall strategy and specific activities;

b) helping to establish contacts to key-decision makers;

c) and supporting funding efforts.         

II. The Advisory Council shall meet at least twice per year with the Executive Board. Meetings of the Advisory Council are convened by the Executive Board in writing at least three months prior to the meeting.

 

ARTICLE 11 - COMMITTEE OF PATRONAGE

I. The Association may establish a committee of patronage.

II. Members of the committee of patronage are elected by the Executive Board.

 

ARTICLE 12 - EXTERNAL AUDITOR

The Legislative Meeting appoints a qualified public auditor as External Auditor. The External Auditor submits his report to the first Legislative Meeting of the following year.

 

ARTICLE 13 - FINANCES

I. The revenues of the association shall consist of membership fees, donations and revenues from events and publications.

II. The annual fee per member group is 50 Swiss Francs.

III. Upon dissolution of the association the remaining assets are donated to a non-profit making organization that works for the public interest and that is to be determined by the Legislative Meeting.

IV. The association’s financial responsibility shall be limited to its assets. Members shall not be liable.

V. Members have no financial claims of any kind towards the association.

 

ARTICLE 14 - AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION AND DISSOLUTION OF THE ASSOCIATION

I. Any proposal regarding amendments to the constitution or the dissolution of the association shall emanate from the Executive Body, two members of the Advisory Council or two members of the association.

II. The Legislative Meeting can amend and revise this constitution or dissolve the association with a two-thirds majority vote of the members represented.

 

ARTICLE 15 - REPORTING AND FINANCIAL YEAR

The association’s reporting and financial year starts on January 1 and ends on December 31.

 

ARTICLE 16 - EFFECTIVE DATE

This constitution comes into force on October 21, 2007.

 
 

 

ARTICLE I - LOCAL OIKOS GROUPS, OBJECTIVE         

Local oikos groups work towards the oikos objective as stated in Article 3 of this constitution.

 

ARTICLE II - LOCAL OIKOS GROUPS, ACTIVITIES

I. Activities of local oikos groups comprise the organisation of lectures, conferences, simulation games, seminars, as well as practice-oriented learning projects.

II. The activities are conducted within the framework of a constructive and open-minded dialogue and reflect local realities. They network students with representatives from academia, business, NGOs, politics and media.

 

ARTICLE III - LOCAL OIKOS GROUPS, NON-PROFIT ORGANISATION, NAME

Local oikos groups are independent non-profit organisations. They do not run a commercial business. They usually bear the name oikos together with the name of the city where they are located.

 

ARTICLE IV - LOCAL OIKOS GROUPS, MEMBERS         

Members of local oikos groups are students of the university where the group is located. Other interested persons can be admitted as group members.

 

ARTICLE V - LOCAL OIKOS GROUPS, ASSOCIATION BODIES

The bodies of local oikos groups comprise

a) the Member’s Assembly;

b) the Board;

c) the Advisory Council;

d) the Auditing Body.

 

ARTICLE VI - LOCAL OIKOS GROUPS, MEMBER’S ASSEMBLY

The Member’s Assembly is the highest-ranking body of local oikos groups. It decides on all issues which are not explicitly part of the responsibilities of other bodies.

 

ARTICLE VII - LOCAL OIKOS GROUPS, BOARD

The Board signs responsible for the following tasks

a) planning and carrying out the association’s activities;

b) budgeting and securing funding;

c) preparing the Member’s Assembly;

d) implementing the decisions taken by the Member’s Assembly;

e) submitting a half-yearly activity report in English to the Executive Board of oikos International.

 

ARTICLE VIII - LOCAL OIKOS GROUPS, ADVISORY COUNCIL     

The Local Advisory Council comprises a minimum of three representatives from academia, business, politics, NGOs and other interest groups who actively support the local oikos group. At least one member of the Advisory Council should be a former member of a local oikos group.

 

ARTICLE IX - LOCAL OIKOS GROUPS, AUDITING BODY             

Local oikos groups appoint an Auditing Body to submit an auditing report on the yearly financial statement to the Member’s Assembly.