Letter from Alvaro

One of the remaining pieces of the reform was to appoint standing committees for the Board. This process is nearly complete and all committees are quorate and ready to go. I would like to congratulate everyone appointed to a standing committee (see attached), as well as Sami Natsheh, who joins the Board pending final approval by the General Assembly. Their expertise and skills will further the work already underway to strengthen IPPF’s governance, and I am extremely grateful for the passion and energy they bring. 

In tune with the call for greater transparency, the Board has created a new page on the MA Forum website, called Board Matters. The full documents from the Board meeting are now available for you to view in English and French.  

Below I have highlighted some of the points of discussion at the November Board: 

• In line with our commitment to MA Centricity, the Board approved more of our unrestricted income for MAs. For this reason, the 2021 unified Secretariat budget has been reduced to 30% of Stream 1 income. At US$20.2 million (33%) this has nearly been achieved. 

• The means of fairly and transparently distributing unrestricted funding through Stream 1 will be the new funding formula that was developed by the Redstone consulting company. The Board recognized the extensive consultation with over 100 MAs. They approved it and lauded it as best practice in our sector. The formula will be applied for the 2022 calendar year, with the first three-year cycle running from 2023 to 2025.

• The first funding cycle for Stream 2 will run in 2021-2022.  The BoT reviewed and approved the four-pillar framework and the theme for the cycle which is abortion selfcare.  For a synopsis of the framework, see the Board paper here.

• Over the last four months, there has been a concerted effort to build IPPF back better in the Americas and Caribbean, an effort led by the MAs in the region. The Board was impressed with the pace and outcomes of the build back program. The region is now formally known as Americas y Caribe in Spanish, and The Americas and Caribbean, in English. The abbreviation will be ACR. The Regional Office will operate as one office in two locations, working together as equals. One office will be in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and the other in Bogota, Colombia. The recruitment of a new Regional Director will be announced in the coming weeks. 

• In other regional news, the Board considered the legal status of the European Network (EN), based in Belgium. For mostly strategic reasons, the region has historically had a separate legal status, which has enabled it to apply for EU funding, among other benefits. Following the Delhi reforms, however, the legal status has needed reform, and a new set of Articles of Association (AoA) have been drawn up that cover the legal integration with IPPF and associated safeguards.  Following review and subject to amendments, the AoA were approved.

• Lastly, the Board and the DLT have been proactively seeking to address the impact of racism in the workplace. As part of the IPPF Business Plan, the Secretariat has developed a much-needed Program of Action to ensure that IPPF’s values and behaviours are aligned. The programme will raise awareness of the impact of racism in our workplace, with a commitment to progressing an intersectional approach that will require many of us to unlearn. The Board is absolutely committed and agreed unanimously to take shared accountability for the success of the program.

As I hope the above attests, we have come a long way over the last few years together. I am delighted to see how much progress we have made towards shaping an IPPF that is not only able to withstand the pressures of these difficult times, but an IPPF that is able to once again transform the sexual and reproductive health and rights agenda. We are not yet there, but I am now more hopeful than ever that we will get there, together. 

In Solidarity,

Alvaro