Minutes and Actions of the 71st Board Meeting of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact

Board Members

Tamsyn Barton (Chief Commissioner and Chair)

Hugh Bayley (Commissioner)

Tarek Rouchdy (Commissioner)

Attendees

Akua Brew-Abekah (Secretariat)

Andrew Forbes (Secretariat)

Anne Hammerstad (Agulhas – item 6 & 7, remotely)

Ekpe Attah (Secretariat)

Goknur Ozer (Secretariat)

Lizzie Palmer (Secretariat)

Marie Staunton (Strategic Coherence of ODA-funded Research Board – item 6)

Mireille Evagora-Campbell (Secretariat)

Neala Hickey (Secretariat)

Nigel Thornton (Agulhas – item 6 & 7, remotely)

Pauline Worthington (Secretariat)

1. Minutes and Actions from June 2023 Board

Commissioners discussed progress on the actions from previous board meetings and agreed the minutes and actions from the June 2023 board meeting.

The Head of Secretariat updated Commissioners on his work with the sponsorship team to mitigate recruitment and retention issues including length of time taken by FCDO for onboarding processes and length of tenure on appointment.

2. Business Update

Commissioners noted the items raised in the Business Update.

Commissioners discussed the recent notification of an increase in ICAI’s programme budget to £2.8 million for the period 01 April 2023 to 30 June 2024 and the likelihood that the full amount could not now be spent because of FCDO’s late decisions to extend this Phase to 30 June 2024.

Commissioners discussed how ICAI’s annual budget allocations had changed during the third commission and the impacts and implications. Commissioners were clear that ICAI’s preferred option was to revert to the arrangement in place under the former DFID whereby ICAI was given a 4-year programme budget to use flexibly over the whole four years.

Commissioners discussed the likely programme spend in this financial year and for the 3-month period April to June 2024, noting that delays to the workplan could push spend from 2023/24 into 2024/25.

Commissioners noted that accurate pay forecasts were not possible because of the lack of transparency from FCDO systems on the breakdown of pay costs.

Commissioners noted responses to recent FOI requests and discussed whether ICAI ought to have its own ‘reporting concerns’ inbox and process. Commissioners agreed that, as set out in its published policy, ICAI should continue to use FCDO’s facility.

Commissioners discussed possible topics for the planned information notes and agreed to continue discussions outside of the board meeting.

3. Corporate Risk Register

Commissioners discussed the Corporate Risk Register. The risks relating to recruitment and most aspects of transition to Phase 4 had reduced while the risks around delivering ICAI’s workplan to the required quality and timescales had increased.

Commissioners discussed two new risks relating to the delay in recruiting a new Phase 4 Chief Commissioner and the risks to publication dates in the event of an election in May 2024, as some reports in the press were suggesting was a possibility.

Action 1: Head of Delivery to review and update the risk register to incorporate Commissioners’ comments on existing risks and adding two new risks.

4. Communications Update

The Head of Communications and Engagement updated Commissioners on activity over the last 3 months and introduced the refresh of ICAI’s communications strategy.

Commissioners discussed the importance of stakeholder engagement events, the options for finding partners to reduce the load on the Engagement Team and communicating clear summaries, key messages and findings in support of each published review.

Commissioners discussed the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relating to the reach of ICAI’s publications.

Action 2: Head of Communications and Engagement to provide statistics on engagement with ICAI’s reviews at the December board meeting.

Action 3:  Head of Communications and Engagement to write to Commissioners with the updated version of the communications strategy incorporating Commissioners’ feedback.

Action 4: Head of Communications and Engagement to investigate future engagement events including increased inclusion of diaspora communities and to contact Bond to discuss whether there was an interest in hosting future events with Bond’s Working Groups as before.

5. Transition to Phase 4 – verbal update from Head of Secretariat

The Head of Secretariat advised that the process to procure a new supplier for Phase 4 had moved to the next stage and Invitations to Tender would be sent out that week.

Interviews for the Phase 4 part time commissioners were now scheduled to go ahead over the next month.

The exercise to recruit a new Chief Commissioner had been unsuccessful and an executive search firm would help to identify candidates for the role when it was re-advertised.

A final decision on the senior independent panel member for the re-launched Chief Commissioner recruitment had yet to be made.

Commissioners expressed their disappointment that it was unlikely the new Phase 4 Commissioners would be appointed in time to be involved in the process to recruit the new supplier for Phase 4 and that a new Chief Commissioner had not been appointed in time to be involved in the selection of the new part time Commissioners.

6. Guest Speaker – Marie Staunton, Chair of the Strategic Coherence of ODA-funded Research (SCOR) Board

Marie Staunton explained the purpose and role of SCOR, discussed examples of their work and took questions from the board.

7. Future workplan – Agulhas in attendance

A Review Manager updated Commissioners on progress with the workplan to the end of Phase 3 which had now been extended to 30 June 2024.

Commissioners discussed the challenging timelines, the importance of country visits taking place this year, the option of virtual country visits, the timing of citizen engagement activities and the busy publication schedule between April and June 2024.

The Service Provider confirmed they understood the challenges and were ready to mobilise quickly to ensure delivery of reviews in the required timescales.

Action 5: Head of Secretariat to reach out to the sponsorship team in FCDO for their assistance with planning country visits.

Action 6: Review Managers to reach out to posts which might be visited this year.

Action 7: Delivery Manager to monitor progress on the programme of work pending the arrival of the new Head of Reviews in November.

Action 8: Review Managers to provide proposed timelines for the two planned full reviews by the end of the week.

Action 9: Executive Assistant to review validity of SAFE training and medical clearances for Commissioners.

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