Minutes and actions of the 77th board meeting of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact

Board members

Jillian Popkins (Chief Commissioner) 

Harold Freeman (Commissioner)  

Liz Ditchburn (Commissioner)  

Attendees

Akua Brew-Abekah (Secretariat)  

Andrew Forbes (Secretariat)  

Ekpe Attah (Secretariat)  

Goknur Ozer (Secretariat)  

Grace Pitkethly (Secretariat) 

Lisamarie Wood (Secretariat) 

Lizzie Palmer (Secretariat)  

Nabila Hameed (Secretariat)  

Introduction and welcome

• The Chief Commissioner welcomed everyone to her second ICAI board meeting and welcomed the new secretariat member Grace Pitkethly to ICAI. The Chief Commissioner noted since the last board meeting that the pipeline of reviews was now well underway, and she had met Baroness Chapman, the newly appointed development Minister.   

ICAI formal update

• Commissioners agreed the minutes of the February 2025 board meeting. The Chief Commissioner reviewed the progress on actions from the previous meeting. In relation to the action point about external reference groups, the Chief Commissioner stressed the need to be clear on their purpose so that any additional structure genuinely adds value and does not replicate the quality assurance ICAI’s external supplier was already contracted to oversee.  
• The Commissioners discussed budget delegation by the FCDO.  How this is handled has impact this ICAI’s operational independence and efforts are being made to restore more flexibility and delegation into the process. Commissioners agreed that the Chief Commissioner should write to the FCDO setting out ICAI’s concerns that budgeting processes may be reducing ICAI’s ability to operate as an independent body. 
• Commissioners recognised that ICAI’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) should be formally reviewed once ICAI’s Theory of Change had been refreshed to ensure consistent tracking of ICAI’s impact.  Commissioners also asked the Head of Reviews to check whether our current KPIs captured ICAI’s revised approach to follow up. 

Action 1: Chief Commissioner to write to FCDO on budget process and ICAI independence. 

Action 2: Head of Reviews to ensure current KPIs capture follow up activity.  

Corporate risk register

• The Head of Delivery talked through the Risk Register, highlighting the newly added risks.  
• Commissioners discussed the wording and scoring of risks and proposed changes.  
• Commissioners agreed the Head of Secretariat should seek external expertise to assist ICAI on development of an appropriate risk appetite statement and best practice on decisions trees for moving risks to issues.  

Action 3: Head of Delivery to update the risk register in light of Commissioner feedback. 

Action 4: Head of Delivery to engage external support for development of risk appetite statement and best practice on managing risks when identified.   

Internal audit

• Commissioners discussed proposed options for 2025 Internal Audit. Commissioners agreed on one option and asked the Head of Secretariat to proceed to engage with Internal Audit on that basis.  

Action 5: Head of Secretariat to engage with Internal Audit to progress planning for the 2025 ICAI internal audit.   

Theory of change

• Commissioners noted the background and context to ICAI’s existing Theory of Change. They agreed that it was now appropriate to revise the Theory of Change and include updates that reflected ICAI’s current operating environment. Commissioners agreed that the revised Theory of Change should be a working document which could be updated and asked that the Head of Secretariat seek external support from an experienced facilitator who understood how government operated. 

Action 6: Head of Secretariat to engage external support to facilitate update to the Theory of Change.  

Action 7: Commissioners to provide some wording to communicate ICAI phase 4’s interpretation of its remit to support this process.   

AOB

• The Chief Commissioner thanked the whole team for their efforts on engagement events over the previous two days. She particularly noted the work of the communications and engagement team and discussed their feedback on the events.
• Commissioners asked that future board meetings should be scheduled quarterly for the remainder of the financial year.   

Action 8: Executive Assistant to schedule Board meetings for September 2025, December 2025, March and June 2026.   

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