Working principles:

Our working language is English, but concerns can be expressed in any of the working languages of Belgian research, education and knowledge institutions.

The coordinating committee of our network is composed of staff from a diversity of Belgian knowledge institutions.  

We value efficiency but are not willing to sacrifice democracy. As such, participation and inclusion, are fundamental, which means we aim to make decisions, via consensus, that all members (whether precarious, public or strategic) support.

We have established 9 ground rules to properly function as a network:

1. BIND has a mission statement that precises why it exists and what it wants to achieve.
2. BIND has three core activities in order to achieve its mission:
   2021. Bringing together people from Dutch and French speaking higher educational institutions to create impact on a systemic level by (b, c en d). Example 4 network meetings held between sep 2020 en June 2021.
   2022. Amplifying existing initiatives (bottom-up and top down) and binding them if desired by the initiative takers. Example open letter to Rector of UGent
   2023. Organizing events or activities to inform and sensibilise members and others about what the systemic problems are in our higher educational institutions (with real life impact) and be and show the change that is needed present in bottom-up and top-down initiatives. Example Event 26/11/2021
   2024. Helping victims of institutional violence to find kindred spirits and where to find specialized support.
3. Agreeing with this mission statement and helping BIND to realise its mission is the main condition to be able to become a member for people working in higher educational institutions in Belgium (Staff and Academics). The other condition is to adhere to the ground rules.
4. Being a member means you are on the mailing list and have reading access to all documents produced by BIND.
5. If a member clearly violates the mission statement or the ground rules they will no longer be on the mailing list and have no more access to BIND documents. They will be informed about this by the organizing cell.
6. BIND is a network organisation that strives for more inclusive, divers and just learning institutions all over Belgium.
7. BIND depends on the collective responsibility of all its members to make it grow and function well. Therefore all strategic decisions about BIND are a collective responsibility.
8. BIND has an organizing cell, a group of Dutch and French speaking people that have a mandate for 1,5 year to take up organizing tasks including the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle.
9. Decisions are made based on consensus or any other manner that has been decided collectively by the network participants.