International Activities International Ombudsman Institute (I.O.I.) The AOB has managed the General Secretariat of the International Ombudsman Institute (I.O.I) since September 2009. The I.O.I, with Ombudsman Peter Kostelka as its Secretary General, is a permanent, independent, non-partisan international organisation founded in Edmonton, Canada in 1978. It helps drive cooperation among independent ombudsman offices around the world. Its members are national, regional and local ombudsman offices from around 90 countries, and in total it has around 140 institutional members. It is organised into six regional groups (Africa, Asia, Australasia & Pacific, Europe, the Caribbean & Latin America and North America). Structure and tasks Following a period of transition after the I.O.I had moved from Edmonton to Vienna, in 2010 the I.O.I General Secretariat became fully operational. It currently employs three people, and functions as a competence centre for effective administration and upholding of the rule of law, and as an information source and service provider for its members worldwide. General Secretariat now fully up and running One of the I.O.I’s top priorities is to function as an interface and platform for the exchange of information. The new communications platform www.theioi.org provides comprehensive information about I.O.I member organisations via an interactive member database. It also provides updates and information on events in the ombudsman field, and makes a variety of publications available for free download. In addition to its virtual archive, a physical archive containing over 3,000 published items is housed at the I.O.I. General Secretariat. New communication platform and archive Training courses for the employees of ombudsman offices are another key area of activities. The first of these, created by the Ombudsman of Ontario, Canada and entitled "Sharpening Your Teeth", was held in November 2010 at the General Secretariat in Vienna. 38 people from 18 different countries from 5 of the 6 I.O.I regional groups took part in this 3-day seminar, which helped them acquire specialist skill sets for carrying out systemic investigative proceedings. The seminar was available to member organisations free of charge, First I.O.I. training course in Vienna 17