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Management Board | Development Committee | Audit Committee | Human Resources Committee

DFID Management Board

Membership | Terms of Reference | Minutes of Meetings

In working towards the delivery of the Public Service Agreement the Management Board will aim to:

• communicate the vision, role, direction and priorities of DFID to staff and other stakeholders;
• ensure DFID's financial resources and staff are allocated and managed effectively;
• monitor and improve DFID's performance;
• protect and enhance DFID’s reputation as a highly effective international development organisation.

Meeting on 29 September 2005

14:30 - 17:00  

Africa and Trade PSA targets

1. Richard Calvert reminded the Board that during the discussion on the Quarterly Management Report at the last meeting it was agreed the 2 most off track PSA targets, Africa and Trade, would be reviewed. The Treasury has since produced a Delivery Report identifying where further work was needed that acted as a basis for the discussion.

2. The Board was asked to note the Treasury assessment, confirm that the relevant actions are being taken forward in 2005, identify further actions that can be taken forward in 2006 and decide whether resources can be mobilised more effectively both within the Department and with external partners to address off track targets.

a) Africa

3. Dave Fish broadly agreed with the HMT assessment and confirmed that the direction of travel was positive. He was pleased with the praise for the Division’s planning and delivery arrangements. The Treasury have highlighted the need for additional finance and for donors to give an indication of what funds from others are going to be available as part of scaling up.

4. In discussion the Board:

• were informed that the HMT have been positive about putting forward firm commitments for 2008/9 and 2009/10. However they want, as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review, to take a hard look at the split between bilateral and multilateral allocation;
• noted that human resource capacity will constrain growth in virtually all the PSA countries and constrain the achievement of the health and education MDGs. The cross-Whitehall initiative to marshal capacity support will be key to addressing this. The World Bank and other key donors will also need to be persuaded to move towards longer term funding of salaries;
• noted that Reports on progress towards the MDGS in each country are due to be published next month;
• praised the effective risk management of the division. Whilst it is a high risk environment, with issues such as HIV AIDS huge risk in Southern Africa, effective measures were being taken by the division.

5. In conclusion the Board:

• emphasised the need to be more proactive in the communication of African success stories, such as Tanzania. There needs to be a much more differentiated public perception of the continent by the end of next year. There also needed greater awareness for our work on corruption. Ministers have a key role to play in this;
• agreed that more attention needs to be given to MDG 1 on poverty reduction and growth, as resources from growth will finance the achievement of other MDGs. This will necessitate a country rather than a donor lead. Africa division confirmed they are already working to ensure PRSPs include growth. There needs to be more focus in submissions on growth;
• noted fluctuations in oil prices implications for our own resource allocation. Africa involved. In Malawi for example this had cost an estimated 4% of GDP;
• stressed we need to be clear about how we are influencing developing country policies and what influence have on politics. Dave Fish confirmed we are becoming increasingly influential in the development of country systems.
• stated they wanted to see more 10 year commitments along the lines of those in Sierra Leone and Rwanda;
• asked Africa Division to consider whether the Management Board were providing them with enough support;
• requested a further discussion on:

  a) pace of adjustment and distribution of headcount. Whilst Africa division expected to reach their target a year early, the inclusion of secondments would be an issue. The Board asked whether staffing could be run down in steady state PRS countries and be increased in failed states where we have comparative advantage;

  
  b) scaling up- what channels will we want to use for the increased funds? The Board suggested we look again at the country allocations and identify where we might want to spend more.

b) Trade

6. Amanda Rowlatt stated that the technical discussions had now taken place but what was now political deal making to ensure the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial is a success. Pressure is now building. Negotiations in the WTO and discussions on trade in other fora are becoming increasingly interlinked. The sticking points are now domestic support for US agriculture and tariffs for EU agriculture.

7. In discussion the Board:

• noted that despite the widespread recognition of the need and political commitment to succeed at Hong Kong, but expressed concern that this was not being translated to affecting the behaviour of the negotiators in the WTO;
• emphasised the need to establish lines of contact to maximise our dialogue with developing and developed world players in the run up to Hong Kong;
• were pleased that a Whitehall strategy had been agreed over the summer and that work is underway on what a minimum deal to ensure development benefits would look like;
• stated we should continue to encourage NGOs to keep up pressure on other EU member states through their European networks.

8. In conclusion the Board:

• agreed on the need for Ministers and senior officials to intensify contacts with the G90 and other key players during the coming months;
• noted that enabling the announcement of the aid for trade package at Hong Kong will also be important. This needs urgent work with a few likeminded donors and with the key multilaterals, on which ITD are already engaged;
• agreed we should now begin to use the Whitehall Senior Officials group to identify contingency plans in case Hong Kong fails to deliver adequately, or at all.

2005 EU and G8 Presidencies

9. The Board was asked to consider DFID’s progress with plans for the G8 and EU Presidencies, and agree any additional action needed.

a) G8 Presidency

10. Graham Stegmann drew the Board’s attention to the remaining challenges for our presidency. The Africa Partnership Forum (APF), which is due to meet next week, is currently on trial as a vehicle for taking forward the Africa agenda. It may not succeed, so we will need to maintain political pressure for change on other channels too. On scaling up there is little prospect of additional committed funds being available from other G7 countries in the short term. He was not sure how far the EU was focused on the African agenda. He was pleased with the consensus on way forward on HIV/AIDS.

11. In discussion the Board:

• thanked the team for all their preparatory warming up of key participants for the APF and agreed that we now need to prime a few participants of the APF to set out the next steps and stress the importance of making this an ongoing success;
• noted that in the short term, the pace of financing is well short of expectations. The IFF has yet to be agreed. Germany Italy, Japan and others will find it difficult to deliver on the commitments they have made. The payoff of the Iraqi and Nigerian debts will also limit available funds. The air ticket levy, due to be launched by France next year, will raise some additional funds but not enough;
• stressed we should continue to work to make aid more effective i.e. by untying the aid currently available as well as pushing for more funds;
• noted an update on the status of Presidency deliverables will go to Ministers in October. We will then need clear prioritisation of our objectives for the rest of the year.

12. In conclusion the Board:

• stressed the need to recognise the achievement of 2005. We now need to maintain political momentum by continuing to maintain expectations that commitments will be delivered. We will need to invest resources in this. Ministers will want to make a statement at the end of the year assessing what has been achieved and setting out next steps;
• requested further advice after next week on the future and function of the APF;
• stated that we should encourage middle income and richer oil exporters to become bigger donors. A key means of doing this will be to get African ministers to approach them directly. Some have already contributed to the CERF;
• agreed to discuss in the next month how to mainstream this agenda. Masood has a draft paper on this.

b) EU Presidency

13. Nick Dyer noted that we are now well into our Presidency business. Key challenges now are to get a sound development policy statement and the updated financial regulations.

14. The Board were:

• informed that the reform of the EU sugar regime is going ahead. This will result in a fall in price by 39% over 5 years. This will undoubtedly lead to criticism from the ACP;
• concerned about the recent developments on the EU development budget. The external budget will grow and the European Neighbour Partnership Instrument (ENPI) is now likely to get a much larger share than originally expected. However the Luxembourg proposal on the EDF looks satisfactory. Even if the EDF grows faster than the budget - which is unlikely - it will still not be enough to ensure we meet the PSA target on EC aid to low income countries;
• pleased that early reflection on the lessons learnt from the Presidency was planned.

15. In conclusion the Board:

• said it was content with the progress so far and thanked the team for all their hard work;
• agreed on the need to engage further with the Development Commissioner and work to improve the Development Policy Statement;
• will discuss further the issues raised on EC fincances;

• suggested an insight notice was drawn up on working presidentially.

Relocation Update

16. Joy Hutcheon gave a presentation setting out the progress and key issues raised as a result of the relocation to AH.

17. In conclusion the Board were pleased with the large increase in the last few years of A band and SCS staff based in Abercrombie House. In 1987 there was only one member of the SCS based there and a handful of band A staff. Now there are 8-10 SCS and 60-70 Band A staff based in AH.

18. The Board agreed that:

• 6 fast stream staff would be based in AH;
• TMG and senior official presence in AH should be more regular and visible;
• guidance would be issued on communication and meeting protocols to ensure the needs to AH participants were further addressed;
• further discussions were needed between the Corporate Services directors to ensure the staffing structure helps career prospects and that there is flexible thinking about posts that can be done in AH.

Next 3 Years Update

19. The direction of movement is good but more progress is needed in the following areas:

a) headcount targets;
b) further prioritisation of funds;
c) improvement in performance management systems.

20. In conclusion the Board:

• agreed on the need core script for Town hall meetings. Richard Calvert was tasked with this;
• requested a submission on the New Financial Perspectives and the impact on the PSA target.

Anna Morgan
Management Board Secretary