Update from the TC Chair

Dear IPPF

In line with our commitment to keep stakeholders informed, this is the first update from the Transition Committee (TC). Going forward, we intend to provide you with a monthly update until the Governing Council meeting in May to ensure that you are well informed about the steps that we are taking to implement the reforms.

With thanks to our donors, I am happy to report that we have managed to raise enough restricted funds to cover the full budget for the transition phase (to June). We will therefore not have to draw on unrestricted funds for the transition work. In fact, the Central Office is in advanced talks with our donors about funding the next phase of the reform also (June – December).

The funds will support the work of four cross-secretariat teams that were convened in late December 2019:

1. The Governance Support Team
2. The Legal Support Team
3. The Resource Allocation Support Team
4. The Communications and Operations Teams

All four teams are up and running, and they are working with urgency on their respective tasks to ensure that the TC can review all papers and proposals in time to meet the many critical deadlines.

The TC will have a chance to meet with the leads of the four teams during a face-to-face meeting planned in Kuala Lumpur for the 3^rd and 4^th of February. This will be an opportunity to discuss and address key considerations and challenges.

In further good news, we recently appointed two new members to the TC:

• Julia Bunting, President and CEO of the Population Council. Julia is familiar with IPPF, having been the Director Programmes some years ago. Julia will focus on the Resource Allocation track.
• Gunilla Carlson, the former acting UNAIDS Director, will be taking on the role of TC donor liaison.

In order to be as efficient as possible, the TC has decided to perform our tasks along two parallel tracks: Governance/BoT and Resource Allocation. Sharman Stone and Julia Bunting are going to focus on the Resource Allocation work. They will provide continuous support to the secretariat support team.

On the governance track, the biggest current priority is to appoint the external search firm. I am pleased to report that we had 5 responses to the tender. A tender selection panel (comprised of Tracy Robinson, Mariama Daramy-Lewis, Lynette Lowndes, and me as Chair) shortlisted two of the firms. After careful consideration, the group chose the bid of a firm called Perrett Laver. Now that this important step has been taken, we will start the recruitment process for internal and external Board candidates.

The TC will ensure that Federation is kept informed about the recruitment process. We will send out regular communications to all MAs to make sure that the application and the skills-based selection processes are clearly understood. Further to this, we will ask MAs to help us widen the search by encouraging candidates to apply for the Board of Trustees and Nominations and Governance Committee positions from among their board.

On the Resource Allocation track, the main priority is the recruitment of a financial consultant firm that has the skills to help develop the new resource allocation formula and associated guidelines. The Terms of Reference for the recruitment tender were published on the IPPF website on Friday 30 January, and it has a 7-day deadline.

Please continue to engage with this process through the website, or other designated communication channels.

With warm regards,

Andreas Prager

Transition Committee Chair