oikos International & the Community

Roles, Relationships, Responsibilities

oikos International and its international team of employees and volunteers acts as an umbrella organisation to connect and support the whole oikos community. The reciprocal relationship between the chapters/the community and the oikos International becomes visible in the different responsibilities listed below:

How we coordinate our support to the chapters

Our Chapter Development Team coordinates and facilitates our efforts to accompany our local Chapters. They create new and implement existing Chapter Development Initiatives that tangibly support the creation of a strong and impactful community. We work in four main areas with four different teams through its various activities: oikos Expedition, New chapter applications & membership, Chapter Pathways Initiative (including regional activities) and Community building. See chapter development field guide.

oikos International is an umbrella organisation for all oikos chapters, while each chapter is an important part of our global community. oikos International is mainly connected to the chapters through representatives from each individual chapter. Through our initiatives and the oikosmos, we strive to build further connections and relationships.

Responsibilities of oikos International

• Transparency in communication & development of the organization

• Due diligence in decision making: preparing & conducting Legislative Meetings acc. To the constitution (see chapter x)

• Individual support & company in chapter processes (eg. through chapter pathways, leap for chapters, squads,..)

• Creating platforms for intercultural community building & development

• Providing access to opportunities like international initiatives

• Tracing collective impact

Responsibilities of the chapters

• Attending the Legislative Meetings & contributing to collective decision making

• Participating in community exchange (eg. chapter pathways initiative, oiKosmos Platform)

• Staying up to date & connected to oikos International

• Filling the chapter impact dashboard

What it means to be an oikos chapter representative - roles & functions

Chapter representatives (in several cases, that is the local president), have mainly 2 roles: to represent the voice of the local chapter in the legislative assembly and thereby contribute to all decisions made on that level and to build a bridge between the local work and the international community. This means, they are responsible for staying connected, becoming aware of opportunities and effectively communicating them to their chapter members. They are in charge of filling in the chapter impact dashboard, that allows the chapter & oikos International to gain an insight into the impact of the chapter, and are invited to make use of the chapter pathway initiative to find support and peers that are on the same journey.