Webinar
Systemic Investigations
Tuesday, June 08, 2021 / 10 AM (SA, GMT+2)
The African Ombudsman Research Centre (AORC) was established in 2011 as the research and training arm of the African Ombudsman and Mediators’ Association (AOMA). AORC is mandated to promote capacity development, knowledge generation and professionalism within African Ombudsman institutions in furtherance of good governance, the rule of law, and human rights. AORC provides practical regional and tailored training to Ombudsman Offices on topics such as Ombudsman principles and evolution, case handling, investigation skills, report writing, and mediation amongst others.
Webinar: Systemic Investigations
Systemic Investigations are conducted when the Office of the Ombudsman, on its own initiative, investigates government activities and practices to ensure that policies and procedures are being followed and are fair. The aim of systemic or own initiative investigations is to address systemic problems with a view to improving the public administration and to hold it accountable.
Therefore, the scope of the Ombudsman’s inquiry is concerned not only with identifying individual or systemic failure but to engage with the systems of government in order to ensure systemic redress with the purpose of preventing repeated administrative failure.
The discussion will focus on the following:
- What is a systemic investigation?
- What is the purpose of conducting systemic or own initiative investigations?
- What does a systemic investigation entail?
- A discussion on systemic investigation methodology.
- Planning and conducting a systemic investigation.
Webinar Goal: This Webinar is an excellent opportunity to enhance the capacity of African Ombudsman throughout the continent in their tasks relating to Systemic Investigations. It will also contribute to the development of skilled resources within the Ombudsman institutions to the benefit of each participating country and Africa as a whole.
Webinar Method: Each Speaker will incorporate a mix of presentations and responses to questions raised before and during the Webinar.
Please note: There will be no live question and answers due to time constraints.
Participants: Ombudsman, their staff and other interested participants.
Language: Simultaneous interpretation will be available in English, French, Arabic, Portuguese and Spanish.
Agenda: Tuesday, 08 June 2021 (10AM SA) GMT+2
The duration of the Webinar will be 1 ½ hours, which will be broken down as follows:
- 3 – 5 minutes: Welcome by Professor Brian McArthur Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Head
(Acting), College of Law and Management Studies, University of KwaZulu-
Natal (UKZN)
- 3 – 5 minutes: Welcome by Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, Public
Protector, South Africa, President of AOMA, Chairperson of AORC Board
- 3 – 5 minutes: Introduction by Facilitator - Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, Public
Protector, South Africa, President of AOMA, Chairperson of AORC Board
· 10 – 15 minutes: Speaker 1 –Advocate Arlene Brock, former Director of AORC and former
Ombudsman of Bermuda.
- 10 – 15 minutes: Speaker 2 – Hon. Martha Chizuma – Ombudsman of Malawi.
- 10 – 15 minutes: Speaker 3 – Ms Barbara Finlay - Deputy Ombudsman of Ontario.
- 20 minutes: Response to questions raised before and during the session. If there is
insufficient time to respond to all, the questions and answers will be made available on the AOMA/AORC website http://aoma.ukzn.ac.za
- 3 – 5 minutes: Wrap up by Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
- 3 – 5 minutes: Thank you by Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
Other Logistics:
- Speakers are responsible for the design and delivery of presentations and drafting of relevant materials.
- AORC will be responsible for:
- Creating the platform
- Collating the questions received and communicating them to the speakers
- Making presentations and video link available on the AOMA/AORC website http://aoma.ukzn.ac.za
- Ombudsman offices will be responsible for making a staff member available to provide the translation/interpretation service for the languages that AORC caters for.