Minutes of the Sixth Meeting of the Resource Mobilization Committee

(RMC)

November 9, 2006

4:00pm-Colon Room- MNB

Participants:

-Albert Ramdin, Assistant Secretary General, Committee Chair

-Irene Klinger, Director of the Department of External Relations (DER) and Technical Secretary of the RMC

-Frank Almaguer, Assistant Secretary, Secretariat for Administration and Finance (SAF)

-Sherry Tross, Chief of Staff of the Assistant Secretary General

-Alfonso Quiñonez, Executive Secretary for Integral Development and Director General of the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development (IACD)

-Ricardo Graziano, Director, Department of Planning, Control and Evaluation (DPCE)

-Carol Fuller, Secretary, Secretariat of the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism, Secretariat for Multidimensional Security (CICTE)

-Louis Ferrand, Legal Advisor to the Secretary General and Director, Department of Legal Services

-Pablo Gutierrez, Secretariat for Political Affairs

-Oneida Adames-Ripky, Office of the Inspector General (OIG)

-John Sanbrailo, Director, Pan American Development Foundation

-Linda Eddleman, Executive Director, Trust for the Americas

-Arturo Garzón, Office of Conferences and Meetings (OCM)

-Rubén Farje, Department of Legal Services (DLS)

-Magdalena Talamás, Department of External Relations (DER)

-Mariana Tarzia, Department of External Relations (DER)

-Nelly Robinson, Department of External Relations (DER)

Agenda:

1-Approval of Minutes of the Fifth Resource Mobilization Committee Meeting

Ambassador Ramdin presented a brief overview of the discussions held at the last meeting and approved the Minutes of the Fifth Resource Mobilization Committee Meeting.

2-Update on ICR process (Ambassador Ramdin)

Ambassador Ramdin briefed the RMC on his recent meeting with the Secretary General regarding ICR, and informed that an agreement had been reached in terms of establishing a new ICR policy of 12%. A meeting has been scheduled for Monday, November 13 at 8:30A.M. in the Miranda Room with all Department Directors and Unit Heads involved in fundraising efforts to communicate this new policy and explain the strategy for its implementation. In addition, a presentation will be made to CAAP on ICR by both Ambassador Ramdin and Frank Almaguer at its next meeting on Friday, November 17. Based on the reaction by the Member States, the Secretariat will move forward to enforce the new ICR policy. This will require that all OAS staff at the executive level take ownership of this new rule in order to guarantee that it is properly enforced, not only for budgetary reasons but also for image purposes; it is imperative that the OAS is presented as one Organization with one same voice. Future discussions regarding ICR will also focus on the issue of the redistribution of funds. The Secretary General will decide on how the monies will be allocated depending on the priorities and needs of the Secretariat. The Secretariat must demonstrate its commitment

3-Discussion on the development of a Secretariat- wide resources mobilization strategy (Irene Klinger)

Irene Klinger referred to the mandate received by Ambassador Ramdin at the last RMC meeting to prepare talking points to discuss the preparation of a draft resource mobilization strategy for the Organization, pointing out that this project had been mandated by the political bodies, in particular by:

i). AG/RES. 2257 (XXXVI-0/06) which on paragraph 9 titled Fundraising, states:

“9.Fundraising

a.To acknowledge the Secretary General’s efforts to centralize the coordination of fundraising activities.

b.To instruct the General Secretariat to prepare and present to the Permanent Council a comprehensive fundraising strategy for the OAS that responds to the Organization’s mandates and priorities.”

And ii) Executive Order 05-14, which created the Committee on Resource Mobilization (the “Resource Mobilization Committee”) under the chairmanship of the OAS Assistant Secretary General, with the Director of the Department of External Relations acting as its Secretary, and reads:

“2. That the objectives of the Resource Mobilization Committee shall be:

(a) First, to develop a comprehensive strategy for the Organization’s fund-raising efforts by assessing the Secretariat’s needs and priorities as determined by the Organization’s mandates, the Secretary General’s vision, and the recommendations of the Project Evaluation Committee; …

3. That the Resource Mobilization Committee shall be responsible for coordinating closely with the Secretariats and other entities of the Organization to identify funding needs, and to share information on opportunities for support.

4. That relations with external funding partners shall be coordinated by the Resource Mobilization Committee in the best interest of the Organization.

as well as by the gave the floor to Ms. Irene Klinger who addressed the Committee on the talking points prepared for the Department of External Relations/Technical Secretariat of the Resource Mobilization Committee for an OAS draft strategy on resource mobilization and proposed the points that should be taken into consideration when we are preparing the strategy emphasizing the fact that is extremely important centralize the coordination, this is a key element in the whole process.

In addition, Ms. Klinger reviewed the points for discussion prepared by the Department of External Relations, Technical Secretariat of the Resource Mobilization Committee, which included the following comments:

-How to stabilize, increase, and make more predictable the financing of the OAS?In light of the Organization’s increasing need to rely on donor contributions to operate effectively, there is an urgent need to strengthen the Organization’s resource mobilization activities with: Permanent Observers, Member States, non-governmental organizations; major groups, including private sector corporations, banks and small businesses; and non-profit organizations, foundations, service organizations and individuals who believe that the OAS is well placed to promote peace and security, democracy, human rights and social and economic development in the Hemisphere.

-How to broaden the donor base, keeping in mind that we already have some traditional partners?Funding for the OAS should be further diversified, with a view to increasing the financial support from industrializing developing Observer countries and countries with economies in transition, and include mutually beneficial partnerships which facilitate the promotion of the OAS, raising awareness of its significance and encouraging contributions.

-How to stimulate creative fundraising? The fierce competition for private funds means that the OAS must be creative andfocus on developing innovative approaches beside its more traditional fundraisingtechniques. These new approaches have to be developed and packaged in a very competitive way, attracting potential sponsors without compromising the strategic interests of OAS.

-How to avoid donor fatigue?The General Secretariat, through the Resource Mobilization Committee, should coordinate more closely the Organization’s fundraising efforts. While the development of relationships between individual areas and donors are encouraged, the negotiation of agreements, and solicitation of funds should be coordinated through the Resource Mobilization Committee.

-How to present a coherent institutional image?A fragmented fundraising approach leads to competition from the same donors and undermines the credibility of the Organization, while at the same time reducing the Secretariat’s ability to forge strategic alliances with partners and effectively generating support for identified priorities and emerging important issues.

-How to ensure proper funding for priority issues?The Technical Secretariat of the RMC, Department of External Relations will meet with Department Directors to review priorities and funding needs.

-How to ensure compliance with standards, rules, and procedures on issues such as ICR, fundraising coordination, project quality, etc?The Resource Mobilization Committee needs to clarify its responsibilities within the General Secretariat as well as with MemberStates and donors.It is urgent that the General Secretariat defines and begins to implement an overhead policy to identify and recover the full and direct costs associated with delivering projects, and inform donors of the newly established policy and it is equally important that Department Directors enforce this new policy. Moreover, the RMC and the PEC will establish a working methodology in order to harmonize the functions of the two Committees.

-How to build donor confidence through positive results of OAS programs and activities?This can be achieved by a more efficient use of available funds, and wide-spreadpromotion of OAS activities and their constructive impact.

How to make OAS products such as program initiatives, international agreements, reports, and publications, more visible, competitive and attractive to the global general public?It is important to streamline processes in this regard, as well as to use innovative tools such as the Internet to promote OAS products (projects and activities).

How to promote strategic, continuous dialogue with major donors, granting recognition to donors for their contributions? Appropriate and timely donor recognition is essential to ensure continued support to OAS programs.

-How to strengthen the role of the OAS offices in Member States in local fundraising? The OAS regional offices have access to additional funding sources from the host government, as well as from local Embassies and private institutions and foundations which should be approached on a more systematic basis. There is a lot of potential to increase funding through the OAS offices in the Member States and Directors in the Member States should play a more proactive role in fundraising for OAS initiatives.

Ambassador Ramdin thanked Ms. Klinger for what he regarded as a very thorough and comprehensive exercise and asked all members to review the points and refer back to the Committee with comments for further discussion. All comments should be submitted to Ms. Klingerby December 15.

He also referred to the need to sit down as soon as possible with Executive Secretaries and Department Directors to identify priorities within each area.

Finally, heproposed that for the next General Assembly the Secretariat prepare a report on four or five best practices which have been funded by external donors. The objective would be to not only promote the work of the Organization but also showcase where it has been successful. The goal would be to have this report ready by March 2007, for which he requested all Directors to submit comments on this initiative as soon as possible.

Ricardo Graziano indicated that the first goal should be information gathering. He indicated that in 2007 a thorough review had been carried out regarding specific funds and that three different categories had been identified: 1) Specific funds that had been received but not expended; 2). Specific funds that had been promised but not received; 3) Specific funds that fell under a “wish list “ category. This information was included in the 2007 budget proposal and a similar exercise would take place so that these same figures are included in the 2008 budget proposal.

Lou Ferrand added that in order to draft a resource mobilization strategy, it is essential that the Secretariat first has a vision and knows what are the specific needs of each area, goals and priorities before the RMC meets with the Department Directors. He suggested that a questionnaire be distributed prior to the meeting with these questions so that Directors can be prepared.

Alfonso Quiñónezpointed out that the key word is coordination, which translates as support to the RMC and support from the RMC to the technical areas, adding that the trust of the individuals involved in fundraising efforts is key to a successful outcome.

Carol Fuller indicated that CICTE will be very much involved in the strategic planning process by working with the RMC, the PEC and SAF, especially since CICTE depends almost entirely on specific funds to operate. Notwithstanding, she also pointed out that she just transferred from the Mission that is the major donor to the OAS, the United States, and that she is aware that there are concerns in the Mission that this process is going too far too fast.

Ambassador Ramdin said that the RMC would take note of this comment, as well as of similar comments made by other donors, but at the same time he expressed his firm commitment to work closely with all actors involved to ensure transparency and accountability. To this end, he expressed his intention to organize a meeting with the international community to inform and explain the new fundraising policies.

4-Presentation of Form prepared by the DER, RMC Technical Secretariat, through which areas will inform about their fundraising activities (Irene Klinger)

Ms. Klinger went over the form prepared by the DER on fundraising efforts by the individual areas. Ambassador Ramdin asked all Committee members to send their comments on this form to Ms. Klinger within the next two weeks.

5-The meeting was adjourned.