Article of association of Iran association of social workers

Official Translation

Iran Social Work Association

Article of Association

Chapter 1: Generalities & Objectives

Article 1

Name: Iran Social Work Association: this is a non-profit and non-political (specialized – guild or scientific – guild) association that is referred to as “The Association” in this article of association

Note: In this Article of Association, Social Worker Specialist refers to those professionals who have been approved by the official authorities of the country as expert in the field of social services and social work or at least they hold associate degree.

Article 2

Location of Social Work Association

Head office (Interim Secretariat) of this association is located in the faculty of social sciences, Ketabi st., Pasdaran juncture, Shariati Ave., Tehran City and, if necessary, it may establish branch, office or agency in other cities of the country upon approving commission of Article 10 of political parties and associations act.

Note: In case of changing the location of the Interim secretariat, the Interior Ministry will be informed.

Article 3

Nationality of the Association

This association is Iranian and its members announced to observe Islamic Republic of Iran System & the constitution

Article 4

Objectives of the Association

A- To study and examine different professional problems of social workers working in public & private sections, to propose opinions, suggestions & necessary plans to the related authorities for pursuing these cases and supplying guild support & welfare of the members.

B- To research in the field of social issues and benefiting from practical and scientific findings of social working services in order to help professional and scientific promotion of Iranian Social Workers.

C- To help promotion and development of theoretical and practical education different aspects of social working and social services for scientific and qualitative enhancement of the field of social working, to help and encourage enthusiasts and volunteers of social working.

D- To make scientific and cultural communication & cooperation with scientific and professional associations inside and outside the country via holding and attending the conferences, seminars, lectures, book, articles, magazines, etc. publishing.

E- To cooperate with different public and welfare organizations for promoting the affairs related to social working.

F- To presenting proposals to public and private institutions of Islamic Revolution Organizations, and the legal and natural entities in order to invest for developing social services and appropriate utilization from social workers services.

G- To celebrate Imam Ali’s Birthday and social worker day annually.

Article 5

The plans, programs and other measures not stipulated therein and are related to the Ministries or state organizations, shall be implemented upon obtaining agreement of due ministry or state organization.

Chapter 2: Membership conditions and method and its different types

Article 6

Each specialist in the field of social work shall be elected as member of the association upon having the following conditions and approval of the Board of Directors:

• Having specialty degree certified by state official authorities (only the permanent members)
• Accepting the contents of the Article of Association
• Not being deprived of civil rights
• Having social & professional reputation 

Article 7

The association has two kinds of membership

۱- Permanent members who have right to vote and shall pay for membership fee and considered as main members.

۲- Honorary members who have been elected from Iranian & Non-Iranian scientists who have excellent scientific research and studies, upon proposal of the board of directors, by the general assembly.

۳- Associate members: graduates of other field of humanities who works in social working positions.

Note: Non-Iranian Honorary members shall be in line with the objectives of IRI system or at least they shall not be aligned with the goals of global arrogance and be approved by Article 10 commission.

Note: Honorary & Associate members have no right of vote or board of director’s membership

Chapter 3: The Association Main Parts

Article 8

۱- General Assembly

۲- Board of Directors

۳- Inspector(s)

A- General Assembly

Article 9

General assembly is the highest authority in the association that shall be held ordinarily or extraordinarily.

Article 10: Ordinary general assembly will be held once in a year in May upon observing the formalities mentioned in the appendix. The quorum forms when half plus one of permanent members attend the meeting and every approval is bound to vote of the majority. In case the quorum was not obtained, re-invitation would be made for 15 days later. The next meeting is formal with presence of whatever number of shareholders. The Extraordinary general meeting would be held by invitation of the board of directors or one third of the whole members, any time necessary. 

Article 11

Responsibilities of Ordinary General Assembly

۱- Electing members of the board of directors or the inspector(s)

۲- Hearing & auditing the report of the board of directors and the inspector(s)

۳- Determining the general policies of the association

۴- Examining and approving the proposals of the board of directors

۵- Determining the amount of annual membership fee and approving the balance sheet and the budget of the association

۶- Selecting the wide-circulation daily for publishing the announcements and invitations of the association

Article 12

The extraordinary assembly shall be held upon observing the formalities of announcement in official gazette, the same as the ordinary general assembly and the following conditions:

۱- Upon the request of the board of directors or the inspector(s)

۲- Upon the request of one third of the association members

Note I: the invitation for the extraordinary general meeting is I written and will be informed to the members at least in two weeks.

Note II: the extra ordinary general meeting will be held upon the same conditions as the ordinary general meeting.

Note III: decisions of extraordinary general meeting will be valid upon two third vote of the present members.

Article 13

The responsibilities of extraordinary general meeting:

۱- Approving the changes in the contents of the Article of the Association

۲- Examining and approving the association’s liquidation

۳- Board of Directors’ dismissal

Note: The board of directors will be dismissed upon notice of the ministry of interior that shall be done by the assembly.

Article 14

The general assembly will be managed by an executive committee including a chairman, a secretor and two supervisors.

Note: the members of the executive committee will be elected upon informing the candidacy acceptance.

B) Board of Directors

Article 15: The Association has a board of director comprising of 7 principle members and 2 alternate members.

Note 1: The branches of the Association in the centers of the provinces will be governed by a committee of 2 persons who will be selected by the members of the branch and will be appointed by the approval of the central board of directors and the members of these committees will act in accordance with the instructions of the central board of directors. The minimum number of members for establishing a branch is 10 persons and in case it is not met, an agency would be established.

Note 2: The meetings of the board of directors will quorum with presence of half plus one members and the adopted resolutions will be valid by majority of agreeing votes.

Note 3: Members of the board of directors would hold a meeting by maximum of one week from the date of appointment and will elect a head, a vise-president and a treasury from among themselves. The scope of their activities will be determined by the bylaw.

Note 4: It is mandatory for the members to take part in the meetings and absence of any member without advance notice and legitimate excuse, up to 3 or 5 sessions, is treated as resignation.

Note 5: In case of resignation, death or deprivation of conditions of any member of the board of directors, the alternate member will hold the position and serve instead for the remaining period.

Note 6: the board of directors, in addition to the general assemblies which are held routinely every two weeks, extraordinary sessions will be held upon exigency, written or phone-call invitation of the head or vice-president of the board of directors. The interval between the phone or written invitation and the meeting of the board of directors will be at least 3 days.

Article 16: The general assembly elects the board of directors for a period of 3 years. Reappointment of the board of directors for the following periods is permitted and the board of directors is obliged to hold the election session of the new board of directors no later than 2 months prior to the termination of their course and announce the result 1 week prior to the termination date.

Article 17: The board of directors is the legal representative of the association and benefits from the following scope of responsibilities: maintaining and guarding the moveable and immoveable properties, dealing with the accounts of the association, paying debts and collecting the claims, execution of decisions made by the general assembly, opening a bank account in one of the banks, fulfilling the legal honors of following the judicial, financial, and registration events through all the legal procedures in courts of law, issuing the order and empowering the attorneys and dismissing them, terminating the arguments by compromise, assigning its responsibilities wholly or partially to any other entity including legal or real or right of substitution.

In general, the board of directors is allowed to fulfill any action and transaction which deems necessary on transferring, upturn, mortgaging, releasing the mortgage, and borrowing of immoveable properties in name of the association except for selling the immoveable properties which is bound to the approval of the general assembly.

Note 1: Except for deciding upon and accomplishing of the issues which are in special capacity of the General Assembly by means of the provisions of this Articles of Association, the board of directors has the capacity for administering the affairs provided that it observes the scope of the association.

Note 2: All the securities and binding documents will be valid by the signature of the head or vice-president, treasury bearing the seal of the association.

Note 3: The Board of Directors would appoint a real person from among themselves or otherwise as the managing director and define the scope of his activities.

The managing director, along with his scope of activities authorized by the board of directors, is the representative of the institute and has the right to sign on behalf of the association.

Note 4: In case the managing Director is a member of the board of directors, his management course will not exceed his membership period in the board of directors.

Note 5: The board of directors, with the approval of the Interior Ministry, is entitled to form special committees in line with the accomplishment of the goals mentioned in this Articles of Association.

Note 6: the administrative bylaw of this Articles of Association will be applicable pursuant to the approval of the board of directors and confirmation of the Interior Ministry.

C) Inspectors

Article 18: General meeting will select 1 person as the principle inspector and 1 person as the alternate for a period of 1 year.

Note: reappointment of the inspector(s) is permitted.

Article 19: The responsibilities of the inspector(s) are as follow:

۱- Investigating all the financial papers and documents and providing a report for the general Assembly.

۲- Studying the annual reports of the board of directors including the financial and nonfinancial ones and providing a report on the performance of the association for the General assembly.

۳- Reporting any breach of the obligations of the General Assembly Articles of Association.

Article 20: The inspector(s) can do the investigation at any time and without any conditions and get the documents and instruments of the company, including the financial and nonfinancial, for review from board of directors.

Chapter 4- Budget and Miscellaneous

Article 21: the budget of the association is supplied by the gifts, allowance, acceptance of will, endowment and membership fee.

Article 22: the income and expenditure of the association will be recorded in legal books and the explanation and balance sheet will be submitted to the Article 10 Commission of Associations and Parties Law for investigation at the end of each financial year.

Note 1: All the financial books of the association will be submitted to the tax officers upon their referral.

Note 2: the financial year of the association is in accordance with the solar year and always terminates by the end of the month.

Note 3: all the income exceeding the expenditure of the association will be deposited in an account in name of the association at one of the banks of Islamic republic of Iran.

Article 23: all the formal documents of the Association، files and formal drafts will be saved at the central office of the Association. The formal correspondence of the association will be fulfilled by the signature of the head of the board of directors, and in case of his absence, that of the vice-president.

Note: The approvals and minutes of the board of directors will be recorded chronologically in special books and signed by the pertinent members.

Article 24: any changes and modifications of the provisions of this article of association will be effective upon the approval of Article 10 Commission of Associations and Parties Law.

Note: the location of the Association and domicile of the members of boards of directors and the parties with the authority to sign, and the upcoming modifications should be announced to the Interior Ministry and by the time it is not announced officially, referring to it would not be valid.

Article 25: the association will have exclusive seal and logo which will be prepared and used upon the approval of the Board of Directors and Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.

Note: The board of directors has legal responsibilities in safekeeping and guarding the seal and logo of the association.

Article 26: publication of any journals will be fulfilled after acquiring the approval of Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and obtaining publishing permit, along with complete observance of Press Law.

Article 27: With regard to the noncommercial nature of the association, it is not allowed to accomplish commercial and credential activities.

Article 28: DISSOLUTION: In case of dissolution of the association, the Extraordinary Assembly will elect a board of treatment so as to, under the supervision of Article 10 Commission, pay the debts and collect the claims of the association, and afterwards, transfer the properties and real estate to one of the educational or research centers of the State. The abovementioned committee is obliged to submit a detailed report of it for investigation to the Article 10 Commission of Associations and Parties Law.

Article 29: The Articles of Association comprises of 4 chapters, 29 articles and 29 notes which was approved by the members at the first meeting of the general Assembly held on July 2, 1992.

Signed by the shareholders

True Translation Certified

PA – Feb. 8, 2012