Hub Cymru Africa - Partnership Board Meeting
Hub Cymru Africa - Partnership Board Meeting
2pm Friday 15th January 2016
Temple of Peace, Cardiff
AGENDA
- Review of previous minutes and matters arising
- Progress report October – January 2016 and activities for Q4
- Presentation of 2016 work and monitoring plan
- Policy discussion paper
- Board meeting schedule 2016
- A.O.B.
In attendance: Mutale Merrill; Phil Fiander (for Peter Davies); Zed Sibanda (for Tony Jewell); Noel Lloyd; Chris Johnes (Chair); Simon Pickard; Cat Jones; Liz Rees
Apologies: Peter Davies; Tony Jewell
Agenda item / Discussion / Action1 / Review of previous minutes and matters arising
The minutes of the board meeting on the 15th September 2015 and away day on 10th October 2015 were approved as submitted, with no actions outstanding.
2 / Progress report October – January 2016 and activities for Q4
The board considered the Q3 board report produced by the Head of Partnership, and discussed progress made in all four areas of activity: grants and development support, coordination and communications, policy and advocacy, and programme delivery and operations.
Activities for Q3 were then discussed, including the new grants round opening on 1st February 2016. The Head of Partnership informed the board of the key dates of this grants round and changes to the criteriawhich were currently being written up within the team.
Discussion took place around whether funding should centre on small scale third sector work, or be available to larger organisations such as universities. It was agreed that funding would be open to all, but that there would need to be internal processes to safeguard smaller groups, such as limiting the number of grants given to organisations with above a certain level of annual turnover. The Chair noted a potential issue of transparency in having different internal/external criteria, and highlighted the need to publicise both.
It was agreed that partners should be more involved in planning the HCA events schedule in order to maximise both attendance and impact, and that further discussion was requiredsurrounding topics of events and planning. / Cat to circulate criteria changes and proposal on access by size of organisation to board prior to next grants round opening.
All partner organisations to consider topics for partnership events and feed back to Cat.
4 / Presentation of 2016 work and monitoring plan
The board considered tab 1 of the work and monitoring plan developed by the Head of Partnership and M&E consultant. As tabs 2 and 3 were not available to the board during the meeting, members were asked to look at these before the next meeting in April.
The need to report on grant activity and impact rather than just numbers was discussed, including the issue of how to monitor work in Africa.
Much discussion centred onthe capacity of the team to deal with incoming grant reports; the board agreed that it would not be feasible for HCA staff to shoulder this alone, and that they should instead make use of the expertise of partner organisations, particularly for the 5-15K grants. The issue was raised of those who received a grant in 2015/16 and intend to apply for another in 2016/17 – they will need to submit a report on their first grant and have this reviewed by an external assessor prior to beingable to access a second grant, within a period of 6 weeks.
It was noted that the wording of the indicators section was occasionally opaque – for example in 2.1, and also that mention of the medium of Welsh was absent and will need adding to the work plan. / All to look at tabs 2/3 prior to next meeting, and to feed back any further information they need HCA to collect.
Cat/team to identify which grants will require external assessment, from where and with what timescale, and maximize individual board member support where possible
Cat to review the work plan in light of board’s comments and earlier discussions around event planning with partners.
5 / Policy discussion paper
The board considered the discussion paper on policy work prepared by the Grants and Policy Manager; consensus was that the paper was very clear. The paper detailed a number of options for policy work that the board discussed in turn.
Following a discussion about the project’s principles and limited staffing capacity, the board agreed that the following policy issues should take priority:
-Well-being of Future Generations Act: implementation of goal 7 on a globally responsible Wales
-Meeting the Fair Trade Nation second stage criteria and persuading new businesses to go Fair Trade
-Relevant health policies including special leave and supporting health boards to establish links.
It was suggested that additional policy issues surrounding health should be considered if WFAHLN felt that these were priorities, and the WFAHLN representative confirmed that support from HCA on health policy issues would be required. The board discussed the need for maximum partner involvement in informing HCA policy focus development and asked for the priorities of all partners to be made available for consideration.
It was agreed by the Board that FGM was not an appropriate policy priority for HCA, and that it would be more appropriate to signpost to more specialist organisations on this issue.
In addition to the issues identified in the paper it was noted that Bond/Cada/Nidos have been monitoring the outcome of the DFID Civil Society Partnership Review, with the expectation that they may put out a call to proposals from smaller groups. By April it should be clear as to whether HCA is in a position to apply for funding in order to do so and we should review the issue then. Board members recommended that wider opportunities such as those offered by DFID should not be ignored in favour of focusing on Welsh policy. / Cat to action the focus on these three agreed issues within the team.
All partner organisationsto read policy options 8-11 and highlight any additional priorities for discussion at the next meeting.
Catto review the policy priorities and prioritise the 3 identified areas
Cat to report back on potential DFID proposal at next board meeting.
6 / Board meeting schedule 2016
The board agreed to meet quarterly, with the next meeting in mid-April 2016 and subsequent meetings in July and October. It was agreed that dates for all three meetings should be arranged and diarised as soon as possible by the Head of Partnership. / Cat to send out doodle poll and confirm future meeting dates throughout 2016.
7 / A.O.B.
The WFAHLN representative noted their approval of positive developments surrounding the health conference and other shared health events, but also their concern that WFAHLN was still not getting the full level of support it required from the partnership.
It was agreed that board meeting minutes should be hosted on the HCA website, if necessary in a slightly tempered format. / Cat/Zed to confirm a venue for the Cardiff health conference.
Catto arrange for minutes to be hosted online.
Hub Cymru Africa, Temple of Peace, King Edward VII Avenue, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3AP +44(0)2920 821 057