AVRDC-THE WORLD VEGETABLE CENTER
2nd EXECOM Meeting, 30 November 2008
Maputo, Mozambique
MINUTES
Meeting of Executive Committee (EXECOM)
1. Present:
EXECOM members: Mark Holderness (EXECOM Chair)
Marlene Diekmann
Paul Sun (Board Chair)
Dyno Keatinge (ex officio member)
Nicole Senécal (conference by phone)
Board members unable to attend: Molly Jahn
Yu-Tsai Huang
Sally Smith
AVRDC staff: Jackie Hughes
Kola Olatifede
Invited observers: Eugene Terry
Su-san Chang
Keiichi Sugita
Secretary to the Board/ Minutes: Kathryn Hamilton
2. General Business
Opened at 14:03 in Room 2, Joaquim Chissano Conference Centre, Maputo, Mozambique
2.1 Approval of the minutes of the EXECOM meeting 15 April, 2008 and agenda.
The minutes were reviewed and accepted. Moved Dyno Keatinge, seconded Marlene Diekmann. Minute taker was thanked for the clear and concise minutes.
3. Board Issues
The action points from the 41st Board of Directors meeting were reviewed and everything was noted as having been done or in progress with the exception of the salary review which will be taken up by the incoming Director of Human Resources.
Discussion on Charter Document and Board of Directors Reference Manual was discussed later on the agenda.
3.1 Liability Insurance: Cover was initiated with AIG insurance as of 1st July for $10 Million in line with other CGIAR centers and will be maintained henceforth.
3.2 Relationship with Asian Development Bank and The Government of the Philippines: DG visited Philippines 8-12th September accompanied by Dr. Joel Rudinas (Director, Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of Agriculture) and visited the Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Mr. Jesus Paras to assure him of AVRDC’s continued close collaboration with Filipino Institutions and to request the restitution of the contribution of the Government to the core budget of AVRDC. This issue is being considered again following the cessation of funding by the Philippines Ministry of Foreign Affairs in late 2005. It is hoped that the Philippines will continue their contribution in 2009 but they are currently in default. The DG also visited the ADB and was received by the Vice President, Dr. Ursula Schafer-Preuss, the Acting DG Dr. Xianbin Yao and the Director of the Agriculture, Environment and NR Division of the East Asia Department, Dr. Kunhamboo Kannan. The DG presented evidence to ADB of the excellent impact experienced in SE Asia as a result of recent RETA projects. In addition, it was suggested to them that they might wish to re-establish their presence on the Board of Directors of AVRDC as they were one of the individual founding entities of the Center and are thus entitled to a Directorship. They requested that AVRDC write formally to them requesting this and on 17th September, 2008 a letter was sent to Dr. U. Schafer-Preuss, Vice President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development. ADB’s increased interest in agricultural matters presently suggests that they may be more willing to accede to our request than previously.
3.3 Relationship with The Government of Vietnam: The Vietnamese Ambassador to Taiwan visited the Center on 22nd August and was briefed on the history and future opportunities of AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center. The DG then visited Vietnam on the 25-29th August accompanied by the Regional Director SE Asia, Dr. Peter Ooi. The idea of Vietnam providing a new Member of the Board of Directors was well received by His Excellency Dr. Bui Ba Bong, the Vice Minister of Agriculture and also by the President of VAAS, Professor Nguyen Van Bo and there was also some recognition that this should be associated with a contribution to the Center whether in cash or in kind. However, to proceed further the Minister requested that the DG send an official request letter detailing the responsibilities of the potential Board Member and the types of contribution deemed acceptable by the Center. It is evident that this decision rests at a high political level but progress has been made informally and it now requires a formal and patient approach. The formal letter was sent September 3rd 2008 and was received by the Vice Minister. A reply was received dated 23rd September from the Vice Minister and sent to the Board on 2nd October. In summary it says that they have no precedence for Board membership in international organizations. It was proposed that they assign the Vietnamese Academy of Agricultural Sciences as our contact point in future and stated“we will resume the discussion on the said issue when we are ready”. For the foreseeable future we are assuming this to be a polite rejection of our request. However, this does not stop us collaborating with them in the future.
3.4 Relationship with The Government of Japan: Mr. Ito has been formally replaced in his role on the Board by His Excellency Mr. Naohiro Tsutsumi. He was welcomed by the DG and DDG Administration during a visit to Taipei on 23rd September and was requested to pay a visit to the Center. The DG also visited Japan for the APAARI meeting and JIRCAS sponsored conference on climate change (20-24th October). Through the good offices of the Interchange Association (Japan) Taipei office, the DG also visited the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo (MOFA and MAFF officials).
3.5 Taiwan COA: Dr. Yu-Tsai Huang has been promoted to become Deputy Minister of the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan and will be standing down from the Board of Directors of AVRDC. Dr. Su-san Chang, Director General of the COA International Affairs Department was welcomed as an observer to the EXECOM meeting and as a putative nominee to replace Dr. Yu-Tsai Huang
Resolution 1: EXECOM recommends to NOMCOM that Dr Su-san Chang be
nominated.
Action: NOMCOM needs to replace Dr. Yu-Tsai Huang before the next Board Meeting so the nomination needs to be ratified by NOMCOM by email before March 2009.
4. Management Issues
4.1 Staff Appraisal Process: Completed successfully by Dr. Hughes and colleagues in May 08. Used as a basis for determining new contract extensions.
4.2 IRS Salaries and Banding Study: IRS salaries and other personnel issues will be tackled by the new Director of Human Resources (Ms. Lilia Tan-Habacon resigned in August to take up other employment in the Philippines). DDG Administration is in the process of reviewing salary data and will work together with new Director HR to make recommendations.
4.3 Human Resources: A new Director of Human Resources has now been identified and will start 16th February 2009. The individual Dr. I. R. Nagaraj has considerable private and public sector experience and has the capacity to focus on strategic HR development and policy setting as well as the required higher-level administrative work. Dr Nagaraj has a lot of experience in team building, working with the gender program and personnel training. Dr. Nagaraj was unanimously selected by the management interview panel and had the support also of the scientific staff. The DG indicated “conflict of interest” at the beginning of the process owing to Dr. Nagaraj being a previous ICRISAT colleague but the decision by the selection committee was straightforward and did not require the DG to make a casting decision (the absence of Dr. Hughes being on leave in UK at the time made the DGs participation in the selection process mandatory). It is expected that the Director of HR will be able to assist in a broader range of administrative and policy making activities than the previous incumbent and this is appropriate for a Center growing from small (regional) to medium (global) scale that is becoming highly de-centralized.
4.4 Decentralized Approval System: Introduced in July and appears to be functioning effectively in most instances. It has incorporated leave, operational procurement, appraisal and local hiring issues. Contractual issues have been deliberately retained at a central level.
4.5 Financial Management System and Position of Comptroller: A new Director of Finance was appointed as of October 11th (Ex-WARDA) from a short list of 4 good candidates. The Financial Management System options were discussed later on the agenda.
4.6 Full Cost Recovery Implementation: This policy intent was announced to the staff immediately after the Board meeting and was implemented and further discussed at the Global Strategic Planning. Director of Finance and Program & Partnership Development Officer will ensure this matter becomes fully internalized by all staff members when preparing or managing project proposals.
4.7 Risk Management Committee: Established as of July 08 with members representing IT, finance, TSO and research. First meeting held under the Chair of the DDG Administration. The Center’s risk management policy and guidelines are being drafted.
4.8 Research Committee: An Institutional Research and Development Committee has been established under the Chair of the DDG Research. Committee consists of Jackie Hughes as Chair, Theme leaders and Regional Center Directors. Others may be added as necessary.
4.9 Management Committee: A Management Committee has been established under the Chair of the DG with the DDG Administration and Services as Vice-Chair. Other members include DDGR, Director of Finance, Director of Human Resources and Program and Partnership Development Officer. The primary task of the Committee is to ensure that Center management is in line with the policies and financial parameters set by the Board. The committee will meet three times a year, the first meeting was held November 13, 2008.
5. Donor Issues
5.1 Interaction with DFID: DG and Chair of EXECOM (Mark Holderness) visited DFID together on 29th May 08 and were positively received. 2008 funding will be at the same level as 2007 but there is the expectation of some additional funding in the next 3 year phase. Some uncertainty however remains in the mechanism by which this might be received by a non-CGIAR center. However, Jonathan Wadsworth (DFID) was confident that support to AVRDC would continue. A DFID review of financial support for CGIAR Affiliated Centers is presently underway and we are assisting them in that process. AVRDC provided information and had a conference call with DFID Consultant Dr Michael Scott. Mark Holderness added that GFAR is also competing for the same tranche from DFID and so we need to wait for the outcome of the consultant’s report.
5.2 Interaction with MOFA, COA and ICDF Taiwan: The Chair of the Board, the DG and the DDG Administration visited the Vice-Minister Andrew Hsia at MOFA and the DDG Department of International Organization Dr. Lily Hsu on the 11th June. Very positive reception from MOFA and issues such as Phase 3 of the Shanhua campus redevelopment, longer term funding projections, relations with the People’s Republic of China and potential developments in Southeast Asia and Central America were raised. Meeting was also held with His Excellency Minister Wu-Hsiung Chen, Council of Agriculture Executive Yuan and Su-san Chang, DG of the Dept. of International Affairs of COA on 4th June (Dr. Chang is the putative nominee to replace Dr. Yu-Tsai Huang who has been promoted recently to become Deputy Minister of the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan). Strong support for AVRDC also evinced by His Excellency on subjects such as collaboration with COA institutes, The World Bank Development Report, Developments in Central Asia and Central America, nutritional and prophylactic health benefits derived from vegetables and AVRDC’s new global themes. Funding issues were also raised and they were well received. Later on 4th June the group visited ICDF and met Dr. Pai-Po Lee, Deputy Secretary General of ICDF and staff from Technical Cooperation Department. Issues regarding GlobalHort and the appointment to GlobalHort of Professor Lai (Ping Tung University) were discussed and Professor Lai’s contract details were decided. At the request of Dr. Man-Jung Chan, Senior Adviser to the National Security Council who visited the Center on the 13th August and is responsible for multilateral collaboration, a significant financial paper for the future support of the institute by the Government of Taiwan was prepared and submitted on 3/10/08 in Mandarin by Dr. Yin-Fu Chang. The English translation and Mandarin original were attached to the Board documents for reference.
The financial situation from Taiwan is in transition. AVRDC needs to wait for the outcome of the paper that was submitted. Funding from Taiwan appears to have been lumped into one pocket and may invalidate other potential sources but we need to await outcome of this major bid. Taiwan still can not contribute more than 50% of AVRDC’s total budget.
5.3 Interaction with MOFA and Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Netherlands: The DG and Dr. Huub Loffler Executive Secretary of the Wageningen University Plant Sciences Group (Representing a Challenge Program Key partner) visited the MOFA CGIAR representative, Dr. Monique Calon on Friday 18th July. An AVRDC presentation was made in the hope of attracting funding for the first time given the Netherlands new strategic position which is in harmony with AVRDC’s medium term planning. A push was also given for potential funding for the proto-Challenge program. Similar meetings of introduction were held with Dr. Jan Deelstra, Director International Affairs at the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and his senior policy officer Dr. Desiree Haggars who were interested in our potential links with the private sector vegetable industry in Holland and elsewhere. The Dutch appear to still be figuring out what to do with the money and so although response was positive, we still need to wait. The DG also visited Ms. Caroline Ernst of the Netherlands MOFA who is in charge of the Associate Professional Officer Scheme and she asked if AVRDC could be included as a candidate international organization in this scheme for 2009. No decision was reached yet but there remains a possibility of success.