UIMLA (the Union of International Mountain Leader Associations) is pleased to announce that it has relocated to Switzerland. From July 19th 2021, the official base of UIMLA is in the commune of Villars-sur-Ollon in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland.
UIMLA has 21 full member associations and 7 aspirant associations representing the professional mountain leaders or accompagnateurs. These associations represent the profession in their country, in Switzerland the UIMLA member is ASAM, the Association Suisse des Accompagnateurs et Accompagnatrices en Montagne. ASAM already works with tourism office of Villars-sur-Ollon with the “rando festival” which will take place on the 4 & 5 September 2021.
In 2020 a working group considering the UIMLA statutes and how UIMLA might adapt for growth and future challenges proposed that another working group was established to consider the official location of UIMLA.
UIMLA benchmarked against partner organisations like the UIAA, IFMGA, ICAR and MountainSafety.info who are all based in Switzerland to find out if this was the best practice. UIMLA found that Swiss federal laws were highly supportive of international organisations and that we would have access to a lot of support services.
UIMLA found the canton of Vaud and the city of Lausanne were especially welcoming. The Lausanne Olympic Capital organisation, a project of Lausanne and the canton Vaud, offered great advice and support. There’s already more than 60 international federations and sporting organisations based in and around Vaud and Lausanne.
The city of Lausanne was welcoming but we picked another home in the Vaud Alps, the mountain centre of Villars-sur-Ollon with the support of the commune administration and tourism office.
Back on 30th May 2021, UIMLA delegates held an Extraordinary General Assembly and overwhelmingly approved the establishment of UIMLA in Switzerland giving the UIMLA Executive the legal authority to complete all the required steps.
In fact, “steps” is the right word as the legal footwork and choreography are quite complex!
Then, on July 19th 2021 UIMLA delegates held a “constitutive assembly” as required by Swiss law to formally establish UIMLA in Switzerland. So, as of 20h00 CET July 19th 2021, UIMLA became a Swiss based organisation.
This is part of a newly invigorated UIMLA developing the tools and governance to be agile and effective. UIMLA is building itself to be an organisation that can effectively build consensus and agreement, take decisions and execute them.
It’s been a busy lockdown year in UIMLA turning into a most productive time. During the last year some of the landmarks have been:
- With an overwhelming mandate from member associations a change to the voting system so that it properly represented all member associations.
- A new statute, or constitution, for UIMLA reducing the number of misleading and contradictory documents of the past.
- New relationships with MountainSafety.info and ICAR so UIMLA takes our proper place in the development of safety standards.
- A webinar program, some events had more than 600 members in the online audience with amazing learning from the presenters.
UIMLA would like to thank our colleagues in SNAM, the French UIMLA association, for their support over so many years and the use of their HQ in Chambéry as the location for UIMLA. This support, and so much more over so many years has helped build UIMLA into the global organisation it is today.
Ian, UIMLA President, July 20 2021