Future IATI Governance and Funding Arrangements

Future IATI Governance and Funding Arrangements

Introduction

At the last IATI Steering Committee meeting in March 2013, members discussed options for future governance and funding arrangements for IATI put forward by the Secretariat. A consensus emerged in favour of governance arrangements based on all members being invited to attend two Steering Committee meetings each year, with greater use of ad hoc sub-groups to take forward specific issues. Members supported the proposal for a standing sub-group to oversee the implementation of the work-plan and budget, for which Terms of Reference (TORs)were requested. Members also sought clarification with regard to the categories of membership and a clearer articulation of the proposal for decision-making by two-thirds majority where consensus was not possible. A consensus could not be reached on funding because it was seen as being linked to the unresolved governance issues. However, members clearly supported a mix of annual fees and voluntary contributions.

On the basis of this discussion, and following further consultation with individual members who expressed an interest in these issues, the following revised proposals are put forward by the Secretariat.

Membership

Consensus at the last IATI meeting was in favour of moving towards a clearer membership structure. All existing donor signatories,partner country endorsers, CSOs and other organisations already engaged in the Steering Committee are confirmed as eligible IATI members.The Secretariat makes the following proposal with regard to membership:

a)Providers of development co-operation: Membership of IATI is open to all providers of development cooperation (including traditional donors, multilateral institutions, philanthropic foundations and providers of South-South Cooperation that 1) endorse the IATI Framework for Implementation[1], which includes a commitment to commence implementation within a year and submit to monitoring in the Annual Report, and 2) agree to pay the annual membership fee, the level of which will be set by the Steering Committee.

b)Partner countries: Membership of IATI is also open to all partner countries that endorse the Framework for Implementation, commit to using IATI data to the greatest extent possible, contribute their expertise to relevant sub-groups and agree to contribute to the Annual Report.

c)CSOs and other organisations: CSOs and other organisations can become IATI members if they fulfil one of the following criteria: 1) publish to the IATI standard 2) advocate for the use of the IATI standard or 3) provide expertise for implementing the IATI standard. To join, an organisation will be expected to: 1) endorse the Framework for Implementation and 2) to contribute to and submit to monitoring by the Annual Report (if publishing to the standard). In instances where more than three organisations are publishing in one country and are part of a broader platform, the platform (national, regional and/or global) will be invited as the proxy representative for members.

Publishers who choose not to join IATI will not have an individual stake in the governance of IATI but may join the Technical Advisory Group.

An exchange of letters with the IATI Secretariat (endorsing the IATI Framework for Implementation) will formalise all new memberships.

IATI Steering Committee and sub-groups

Two annual Steering Committee meetings open to all members (as defined above) would offer overall direction to the IATI Secretariat, while sub-groups appointed by the Steering Committee would be created to address specific issues, as has happened recently on hosting and on the budget identifier. The majority of these sub-groups would be ad hoc, issue-specific and time-limited, drawing on volunteer members who have the necessary time and expertise, and represent the interests of each stakeholder group appropriate to the issue they are set up to address.

The exception would be a standing sub-group to review the implementation of the work-plan and approve annual budgetsas delegatedby the Steering Committee from 2014. The standing sub-group will have an equal number of seats for each type of member (as defined below) and will be governed by the Terms of Reference being drawn up by the IATI Secretariat in consultation with the consortium.

In addition to IATI members, Steering Committeemeetings can also be attended by the TAG Chair (as a voting member), and by ex-officio members (without voting rights) including the OECD and UNDP as representatives of the Global Partnership and representatives of the IATI Secretariat. The Chair of the OECD-DAC WP-STAT, non-members (especially those considering membership) and other interested parties would be able to attend as observers.

In addition, IATI’s spirit of openness would be maintained by ensuring that agendas and papers for IATI meetings are published at least three weeks before meetings. Efforts will be made to ensure papers are translated into French.

An updated version of the originalTORs for the IATI Steering Committee is attached as Annex 2, revised in line with the structure described.

Chairing arrangements

The Steering Committee agreed that a chair and vice-chair be elected by IATI members. They should serve for a period of one year, after which the positions would rotate, with the possibility of renewal. Nominations will be invited in advance of the next Steering Committee meeting via email with prospective candidates asked to secure proposers and seconders. An online election will then take place on the basis of one vote per member organisation. The first place candidate will become chair, with the second placed candidate becoming vice-chair.

Decision-making

As has been IATI’s practice to date, decisions will be made by consensus. Provision will be made for those who are unable to attend in person to register their views ahead of a meeting. In exceptional circumstances where consensus cannot be achieved, decisions will be taken by a three-quarters (75%) majority of all members, with the vote taken after the meeting, online, on the basis of one vote per member organisation.

Funding

As decided at the last IATI Steering Committee meeting, members will be required to pay an annual membership fee to provide predictable funding to IATI. The level will be determined by the IATI Steering Committee but is expected that donor membership should cover 70% of the agreed budget for each of the next 3 years. Donors with development co-operation budgets below US$250 million – none are IATI members at present – will be expected to pay 50% of the donor fee. The donor membership fee will be revised periodically in light of agreed requirements. However, efforts will be made to keep the fee as stable as possible, relying on voluntary contributions to fill funding gaps.

Based on the proposal submitted by the new host, the annual budget would be about US$2.1 million for the first year, 70% of which divided between 36 donors would translate into US$40,000 per donor per year. There was no consensus on the issue of fees for CSOs and partner countries. Donors and some partner countries expressed a preference for all members to pay at least a nominal fee, whereas CSOs and several partner countries indicated that they would be unable to pay, and this would create a barrier to their participation. As a compromise, the IATI Secretariat propose that partner countries and NGOs should pay an annual fee of US$1,000, and are actively seeking a donor or group of donorsto make a voluntary contribution to meet the cost of these fees (currently around US$25,000 in total for existing endorsers and Steering Committee NGOs) on behalf of countries and organisations for which paying a fee would be a real barrier to membership. The balance of the budget is expected to be made up through voluntary contributions, and in the interests of predictability, it is proposed that donor membership fees would not exceed US$50,000 per year in 2014 and 2015.

As decided at the last IATI Steering Committee meeting, all members will fund their own participation at IATI meetings, with an exception sought through voluntary contributions to establish a small, fixed fund to assist partner countries genuinely unable to meet the cost of travel so that this requirement does not become a barrier to participation.

Role of Technical Advisory Group and TAG Chair

The TAG is a vibrant, open group that brings together members of the development cooperationand open data communities. It plays a vital role in the design and continuing development of the IATI Standard. Until now, the TAG Chair has chaired the TAG Secretariat (hosted by Development Initiatives), chaired the annual TAG workshop, served on the IATI Secretariat and Steering Committee, and been responsible for putting forward TAG proposals and papers to the IATI Steering Committee.

As the current TAG Chair has indicated his intention to step aside once the first IATI Annual Report is published and the new hosting arrangements are in place, the IATI Secretariat has reviewed the TAG role and structure. With the Standard agreed and much of the support infrastructure in place, it is proposed that in future, the TAG should focus on ensuring that the IATI Standard continues to deliver, improve, develop and adapt in a way that meets the needs of all IATI stakeholders, with the TAG Chair leading this process among the TAG membership. The TAG Secretariat functions are part of the IATI Secretariat structure under the new hosting arrangement.

The IATI Secretariat therefore makes the following recommendation:

a) The TAG membership should consist of organisations or individuals with a clear interest in IATI. All IATI members are de facto TAG members. Others can become TAG members by registering with the IATI Secretariat (those currently registered need not take further action) in order to receive IATI-related news, invites to TAG events and so on. These membership rules will be revised should TAG membership expand to a size at which it becomes unmanageable.

b) The role of the TAG Chair should focus on facilitating, engaging and consulting the wider TAG membership and seeking feedback and advice from the TAG membership on live IATI issues and feeding in their views to the TAG and IATI Secretariat and membership.In addition, communicating the views of the TAG membership would be done through sharing the minutes of TAG meetings, reporting back to the IATI Secretariat after TAG meetings, through the TAG newsletter and through representation at the IATI Steering Committee.

c) The TAG Chair will chair the annual TAG workshop and will be a full member of the IATI Steering Committee. S/he should be elected by the TAG membership. As no datehas been set for the next TAG workshop, it is proposed that an online election takes place. Further details and a timetable for this election will be circulated by the IATI Secretariat in due course.

d) The IATI Secretariat will support the TAG Chair by administering and helping to facilitate TAG-related activities.

It is envisaged that the new TAG Chair will undertake this role from May 2013 until the end of 2015. Updated TORs for the role of the TAG and TAG Chair are attached.

Implementation of new governance arrangements

Subject to any objections received by 23 May 2013, the following arrangements will be put in place by the new hosts of IATI. The IATI Secretariat will:

1)Write immediately to all donor signatories inviting them to pay their annual membership fees for 2013 as soon as possible, and no later than by the time of the next IATI Steering Committee meeting in September. If this is problematic, donor signatories are asked to advise the Secretariat immediately. Support the IATI members in selecting a Chair and Vice-Chair.

2)Support the TAG in selecting its Chair.

Agreed action to be taken

The IATI Secretariat proposes putting the following arrangements in place:

a)The terms/categories for IATI membership.

b)The proposed structure of Steering Committee meetings and sub-groups

c)The Chairing arrangement.

d)The process for decision making.

e)The funding structure.

f)The role and membership of the TAG and the role of the TAG Chair.

g)The implementation arrangements for the new governance structure.

Annex 1: Framework for Implementation

Preamble

1.We join together in this common framework for implementation (“framework”) to respond to the strong commitments to aid transparency expressed in the September 2008 Accra Agenda for Action(see Box 1) the IATI “Accra Statement”, and the Busan Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (BPd – see Box 2) . This framework spells out the key elements, processes and timetable for how we shall do so.

2.The International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) is embedded in and contributes to the principles of ownership, alignment, harmonisation, management for results and mutual accountability of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA). The increased transparency implemented through IATI allows all development actors -- governments, parliaments, the private sector, civil society and publics and individuals -- in developing and donor countries to know how external resources are allocated and spent. In so doing, it helps developing countries build their capacity to manage aid more effectively, so that externalresources and related domestic financing go as far as possible in fighting poverty.

3.In keeping with the AAA and BPd, we recognise that transparency in the use of complementary domestic resources by developing countries is also vital in achieving development objectives. We call on developing countries to pursue corresponding transparency in use of domestic as well as external resources. And given the important role of civil society organisations in the development process, we encourage CSOs, through their own joint processes of accountability and transparency, to do the same.

The IATI Standard

4.This framework sets out a number of key steps that we are taking in response to our undertakings in the IATI Accra Statement and for those that endorsed them the AAA and the BPd, with processes and a timetable for doing so, including through our submission and implementation of individual action plans (‘implementation schedules’). The framework constitutes part of the “IATI Standard” (see Box3) together with the common definitions and common electronic data format. The Standard provides a common basis for the publication of aid information that can be tailored to the circumstances of individual donor and developing countries, and mapped to national systems in developing countries. It builds on and adds value to existing processes of aid information and transparency, most notably the OECD/DAC Creditor Reporting System (CRS). It seeks neither to create a new database nor to impose a one-size-fits-all solution.

5.The Standard is applicable to all providers of assistance for development – official donors, multilateral organisations and financial institutions, global funds, civil society organisations, foundations, and private sector firms – who endorse it or are willing to implement it. In this context we welcome the broadest possible adherence to make the standard universal with comparable information for all providers.

Operation of the Standard

Phasing

6.We will implement the IATI Standard as rapidly and thoroughly as possible with details of our plans spelled out in our individual implementation schedules). We aim to implement the full IATI standard within one year of implementing the first phase[2] and certainly no later than December 2015. We call on other providers willing to adhere to the IATI standard to begin implementation within a year of their adhesion.

7.We will prepare, and consult with the IATI Secretariat[3]on, individual implementation schedules that specify the phasing and details of our implementation. These implementation schedules will cover phasing and indicate the staff and system resources to be applied to meet the Standard and specify thresholds and exceptions, if any, to the Standard. We will hold exceptions to the minimum required and will seek to address constraints to full implementation. These implementation schedules will be published. The Secretariat will provide an updated synopsis of implementation schedules, including its commentary on issues raised, for each Steering Committee meeting.

Applicability to implementing agents

8.We will ensure that these transparency standards apply to our own direct financing and will strongly encourage similar standards of transparent reporting by implementing agents down to those delivering services at the community level[4].

Aid information in the public domain

9.Wewill publish aid data and information in the public domain according to the agreed definitions and formats set out in the Standard.We willencourage their use for purposes of planning, monitoring and accountability in both donor and developing countries. This use is subject to the IATI licensing arrangements.

10.We acknowledge that while some preliminary data may change, early publication will help call attention to missing or inaccurate data and so help us to improve overall accuracy as well as speed of publication. However, coverage of preliminary data is still likely to be incomplete, leading to underestimation of external flows, whether by donor (or other provider), developing country, or category of assistance. We will submit revisions on a timely basis.

Communication

11.We will activelyinform relevant stakeholders in our own and developing countries, including through our own websites, about the availability of information on aid and where it can be found. These stakeholders include parliamentarians, media, civil society representatives, and communities directly affected by aid. The IATI website will provide timely notifications of updates to information available online.