> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.therisk.global/organization/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.therisk.global/organization/governance-in-operation/nwg.md).

# National Working Groups (NWG)

The National Working Groups (NWG), which do the expert work of a National Nexus programme through bounded, supervised assignments that follow competence. Ordinary participation has no fee. The six dom

**Where this fits.** Governance in operation › national and local levels › participation · Foundry (sources, models), Universe (exercise support), Reports (country-edition drafts), Standards (national profiles), Academy (assessed tasks) · experts, practitioners, students and volunteers; GCRI supplies methods and supervision standards · monthly delivery · canonical page.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Status.** No working group is constituted. No national programme is recorded as constituted or active, and the current service level is R0, information and enquiries ([Working groups](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/nwg/)).
{% endhint %}

## In brief

"The National Working Groups (NWG) do the expert work of a [National Nexus](/organization/governance-in-operation/national-nexus.md) programme. Experts, practitioners, students and volunteers take bounded, supervised assignments with stated prerequisites, review points and closure criteria." GCRI supplies methods, tools and supervision standards. "Assignments follow competence. Ordinary participation has no fee" ([Working groups](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/nwg/)).

**Boundary.** A working group drafts and recommends; it does not adopt. Participation confers no professional licence and no employment. Unqualified contributors never take safety-critical tasks, and no one gets an unsupervised high-consequence assignment.

## How an assignment works

"Assignments and responsibility follow competence." Each assignment goes through five steps (Nexus Consortium model, as published on [How Nexus Consortium works](https://therisk.global/consortium/)):

1. Explore current work calls
2. Competence and availability
3. Bounded assignment with a supervisor
4. Contribution record and review
5. Recognition and next assignment

**Boundary, as the model states it:** "Ordinary participation has no fee. Paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements, and unqualified contributors never take safety-critical tasks."

## Four kinds of contributor

| Contributor                           | Role                                                   |
| ------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| Senior experts                        | Domain specialists, reviewers and technical leads      |
| Practitioners                         | Operators and professionals bringing working knowledge |
| Students and early-career researchers | Supervised tasks with a mentor and a learning plan     |
| Volunteers                            | Safe, bounded tasks with clear supervision             |

## Typical assignments

Assignments come from the national agenda and the year's missions. Each states the competence it needs and how the work will be reviewed. Typical kinds are:

* source qualification and data stewardship;
* mapping and geospatial analysis;
* model building and testing for the National Model;
* evidence review;
* exercise support and observation during Action Week;
* drafting country-edition sections of [Nexus Reports](/organization/programme/reports.md) for review.

Assessed assignments become completion evidence in [Risk Academy](/organization/programme/academy.md) (handoff F10). For the [Nexus Standards](/organization/institutions/nexus-standards.md), a National Working Group is the national mirror of one or more technical committees under the proposed working model. It forms the national comments in a global review, drafts the national profile, the deviation register and national-language editions, runs the national public comment and runs pilots that produce implementation evidence. Decision rights DR-04, DR-20 and DR-21 give it the role of proposer, never decider; see [Decision rights](/organization/governance-in-operation/decision-rights.md).

## Charter and decision rule

Under the proposed Nexus Standards working model, a National Working Group is:

* **chartered by record** for a fixed timebox of at most twenty-four months, renewable by record. The charter states scope, deliverables, timebox, lead committee, handling, members and roles, decision rule, outputs and correction;
* **dissolved by default** at the end of the timebox;
* **governed by rough consensus with recorded dissent.** Only recorded decisions are valid, and no decision is taken through a back channel.

The [National Standards Council](/organization/governance-in-operation/national-standards-council.md) charters, renews or closes a working group for the standards (DR-22), on the NLC's proposal.

## Competence Cells: the atomic units of the NWG fabric

The working groups are a fabric woven from **Competence Cells**. A Competence Cell is the smallest unit of bounded, supervised expert work: a small team with a stated competence, a host, a lead and a review route. Competence Cells are formed at three levels:

| Level       | Formed by                                                                  | Typical cell                                                                     |
| ----------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Institution | A university, institute, operator or professional body that hosts the cell | A hydrology modelling cell at a university; a grid-reliability cell at a utility |
| Community   | A community, Indigenous or place-based institution                         | A local observation and knowledge cell for a river reach or a coastline          |
| Agency      | A public agency, within its own mandate                                    | A data-stewardship cell at a statistical office or meteorological service        |

A Competence Cell takes an assignment through the same five steps as any NWG contribution, keeps its host's own rules and liabilities, and is reviewed on method. A Competence Cell can serve as a CERT: a cell with the right competence and readiness can be recorded as one of the six domain response teams below, under the same limits. Forming a cell confers no authority, employment or licence, and a cell hosted by an agency never acts outside that agency's mandate (owner ruling, 21 October 2026).

## Six domain response teams: the CERTs

Six domain response teams sit under the working groups, each made up of one or more Competence Cells recorded for the domain: **WCERT, ECERT, FCERT, HCERT, BCERT and CCERT**. The model states their scope and limits:

> The six CERTs support preparedness, observation, verification, mapping, exercises, evidence and learning in their domains. Interest, qualification, readiness, activation request, authorised support, recovery and demobilisation are distinct states. They are not emergency services, incident command or privileged network-access teams.

The CERTs issue no warnings. Only the competent public authority may warn, alert or command. An activation request is not an activation; support is given only when a competent authority authorises it. In immediate danger, people contact their local emergency services ([Working groups](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/nwg/)).

## Safeguards and fair terms

* Ordinary participation has no fee. Paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements with their own terms.
* Unqualified contributors never take safety-critical tasks.
* Safeguarding concerns use a restricted route.
* Contribution records are kept, so that recognition follows the record.

## The NWG in the programme year

Working groups deliver **monthly**. The National Desk keeps that rhythm, and the NNC and NLC align each quarter. Through the year, working groups supply sources and inputs for readiness preparation (G2), support the one-month controlled build (G3) and the exercise in Action Week (G4), and draft sections of the quarterly country editions. See [A national mission](/organization/governance-in-operation/a-national-mission.md).

## Earlier texts

Earlier pages describe working groups as legal entities or as bodies accountable to Regional Stewardship Boards. In this documentation they are national delivery groups, chartered by record, with no legal personality of their own:

* [National Working Groups (GCRI governance structure)](/organization/organization/governance/structure/national-working-groups-nwgs.md), which describes GCRI's own corporate arrangements
* [Guild chapters](/organization/cooperation/nexus-guilds/membership/xx.-chapters.md), the source of the charter rules above

## Sources

* GCRI: [Working groups](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/nwg/); [National Nexus](https://therisk.global/consortium/national/).
* Nexus Standards: [Governance](https://nexustandards.com/governance/) (National Working Groups, decision rights DR-04, DR-20 to DR-22, PROPOSED).
* [Sources library](/organization/reference/sources.md).


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