Membership Terms and Conditions

IAHAIO is very proud of its growing international membership base. We aim to provide opportunities for networking and collaboration for our members, as we work with them to ensure the well-being of humans and animals in human-animal interactions and in the delivery of AAI. To ensure a positive, fruitful partnership between IAHAIO and its member organisations, by joining IAHAIO, all membership organisations agree to the following terms and conditions:

  1. To notify IAHAIO promptly of any changes in contact details and significant changes in the activities of the organisation
  2. To respond in a timely way to IAHAIO notices of the Annual General Meeting
  3. To pay the IAHAIO annual membership fee within the stipulated time frame
  4. To adhere to the principles set out in the IAHAIO White Paper: Definitions for Animal Assisted Interventions and Guidelines for Wellness of Animals Involved
  5. To adopt the IAHAIO Declarations and IAHAIO Position Statements
  6. To adopt the rules of the Facebook Closed Group
  7. To receive emails and postal correspondence from IAHAIO about its work
  8. To notify IAHAIO promptly of any corrections that need to be made to the organisation’s details as listed on the IAHAIO website

IAHAIO Full and Affiliate members may use the IAHAIO Member logo on their materials to indicate their membership of IAHAIO, subject to the specific terms and conditions outlined here.  Please email director@iahaio.org if you would like the authorised IAHAIO Member logo to be sent to you.

COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

IAHAIO members should also be aware of, and adopt, IAHAIO’s Complaints Procedure and Grievance Committee, outlined below.

To protect both human and animal welfare in our programs and to promote sustainability and professionalism in the field, it is important that IAHAIO has a transparent procedure in place to handle grievances/complaints from, and/or concerning our member organizations. Such complaints might involve practices affecting patient or client welfare or the welfare (housing, care, handling) of animals involved in interventions; violation of IAHAIO policy documents; or inappropriate use of the name or logo of IAHAIO. To this this end, on July 10, 2016 at its Annual General Meeting in Paris, France, IAHAIO has formed and approved the procedures for an

IAHAIO Grievance Committee

  1. Complaints must be submitted in writing with supporting documents and may not be made anonymously. However, the name of the complaining person or organization will not be made public.
  2. The substance of the complaint will first be investigated by the Committee and if found to be a probable violation of IAHAIO policies, the alleged transgressor will be informed of the complaint and given the opportunity for rebuttal within 30 days in writing.
  3. The Grievance Committee will be chaired by a person co-opted by the IAHAIO board and serve for a three-year term, with possible renewal of the assignment.
  4. Two further members of the Grievance Committee are to be elected from the full member organizations of IAHAIO and also serve for three-year terms with possible re-election.
  5. The three Grievance Committee members must declare no personal interest or conflict of interest in the case under consideration.
  6. Should the complaint involve a question of animal welfare, the Grievance Committee may call upon the services of a local (national), reputable animal welfare organization for an investigation that is independent of IAHAIO.
  7. Costs of such an investigation are to be kept to a minimum, but might involve a local expert for a site investigation at a reasonable honorarium and reimbursement of local travel expenses.
  8. The Grievance Committee may also seek the advice of other local entities, e.g. ethics committees or patient organizations, to reach its decision.
  9. The chair of the Grievance Committee is to report the (majority) decision of the Committee to the president of IAHAIO for further action.
  10. The person/organization deemed to have transgressed a policy violation will be given a limited grace period to correct the situation before being removed from IAHAIO’s membership list; in the case of a disagreement with the board’s decision, the next following AGM will have the final say.