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Impartiality Policy
Complaints Policy and Procedure
Website Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Global Association of Excellence in Health and Wellness (GAEHW)
Global Association of Excellence in Health and Wellness (GAEHW) GAEHW is in formation. Membership, certification and accreditation services are not yet operational. This Policy sets out the principles on which the organisation is being built, and will be developed further as its governance structure is established.
1. Why impartiality matters
A certification body is funded by the people and organisations it assesses. That creates an obvious question, and any serious body has to answer it: can a decision be trusted when the person affected by it is also paying for it?
GAEHW is being designed around that question rather than around it. The principles below are not aspirations for some later stage — they are the constraints within which the organisation is being built, and they determine how its governance, its finances and its agreements are structured.
This Policy is published in full because a commitment of this kind is worth nothing unless it can be read and tested by the people it is meant to protect.
2. Principles
GAEHW is committed to the following, and applies them to every decision it takes about its own structure:
Decisions rest on evidence and published criteria. Certification and accreditation will be determined by assessment against criteria published in advance, and by nothing else.
Commercial interest does not reach the decision. No owner, director or commercial party may make, direct, reverse or override a decision about an individual applicant or programme.
The fee is for assessment, never for a result. A fee buys the consideration of an application. It does not buy the outcome, is not refunded on an unsuccessful assessment, and is not increased on a successful one.
Nobody decides where they have an interest. Anyone taking part in an assessment must declare any personal, professional, commercial or teaching connection to the applicant, and take no part in the matter where one exists.
Teaching and assessing are kept apart. No person will assess a candidate they have taught, supervised or mentored. GAEHW will not offer any service that improves a candidate’s prospects of a successful outcome.
Refusal is a normal outcome. Criteria that nobody fails are not criteria. GAEHW is building its standards on the expectation that some applications will not succeed.
3. How impartiality will be protected
The following controls are being built into GAEHW’s structure and agreements.
Separation of governance from assessment. Decisions on certification and accreditation will be made by a body constituted for that purpose, independent of the Board in its decision-making. The Board will have no power to direct or reverse an individual decision. This separation will be recorded in GAEHW’s constitution, not only in this Policy.
Two assessors. Every certification decision will involve at least two independent assessors, each of whom has declared any connection to the applicant.
Representatives are excluded from assessment. Country Representatives introduce applicants. They have no role in assessing, deciding, or handling complaints and appeals. Their remuneration is payable per application submitted, irrespective of the outcome — a term already set out in the Country Representative Agreement.
Separation of certification from accreditation. Decisions about individuals and decisions about the programmes that train them will be taken by different people.
No influence through sponsorship. Sponsorship, partnership or organisational membership will confer no influence over any assessment decision.
Documented reasons. Every decision will be recorded with its reasons, provided to the applicant, and available for review on appeal.
Independent oversight. As the governance structure develops, GAEHW will establish an oversight function exercised by people independent of its commercial operations, with authority to examine decision records and to raise concerns directly with the Board.
4. Transparency
GAEHW intends to publish:
- the criteria and procedures for certification and accreditation, in full;
- the composition of the bodies that take those decisions;
- the rights of appeal available to every applicant;
- a public register allowing the status of a certified individual or accredited programme to be verified.
The scope and operation of the register will be defined as the certification framework is finalised.
5. What GAEHW does not claim
GAEHW does not claim government authority, statutory recognition, or the power to license any profession in any country. Membership or certification will not replace any licence or registration required by a national regulator.
Its authority will rest on the transparency of its standards and the integrity of its procedures — and on nothing else.
6. Raising a concern
Anyone who believes that a GAEHW decision has been influenced by an interest other than the published criteria may raise the matter through the contact channel published on the GAEHW website.
No person raising a concern in good faith will be disadvantaged for doing so.
7. Development of this Policy
This Policy will be reviewed and expanded as GAEHW’s governance structure, procedures and services are established.
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How to Become a Representative?
If you are passionate about promoting high standards in health, wellness, and mentoring in your country — we’d love to hear from you. Contact us to learn more about the responsibilities, expectations, and opportunities associated with representing GAEHW.