Minutes of the Fifth Meeting of the Resource Mobilization Committee
(RMC)
October 12, 2006
3:00pm Miranda Room
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
Linda Fealing, Inspector General (OIG)
Santiago Canton, Executive Secretary, Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights (CIDH)
Alfonso Quiñones, Executive Secretary for Integral Development
Ricardo Graziano, Director, Department of Planning, Control and Evaluation
(DPCE)
Magdalena Talamás, Public Relations Section Chief, Department of External
Relations (DER)
Pablo Zúñiga, Secretariat for Political Affairs
Linda Eddleman, Executive Director, Trust for the Americas
María Claudia Pulido, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH)
Cecilia Lobo, Office of the Inspector General (OIG)
Rubén Rudolph, Department of Legal Services (DLS)
Rubén Farje, Department of Legal Services (DLS)
Javier Arnaiz, Department of Budgetary and Financial Services (BFS)
Diego Yrivarren, Department of Budgetary and Financial Services (BFS)
Fernando Lopez, Department of Budgetary and Financial Services (BFS)
Jean Ricot Dormeus, Advisor to the Assistant Secretary General
Yadira Soto, Office of the Assistant Secretary General
Mariana Tarzia, Department of External Relations (DER)
Agenda:
1- Approval of Minutes of the Fourth Resource Mobilization Committee
Meeting and of Revised Work plan of RMC
Participants had no objections with the minutes of the Fourth Resource Mobilization
Committee and revised work plan submitted by the Department of External Relations and
they were thus approved. Ambassador Ramdin made general comments on the
discussions held at the last meeting and stressed the fact that Department Heads had not
been attending the RMC meetings on a regular basis, but rather sending their
representatives. In light of this, he informed that a memo would be sent out to all
Department Directors to remind them of the need for them to attend the RMC meetings
since it is a policy making body and important decisions are taken that only Department
heads have the authority to make. With regard to the request in the last session to
Committee members to send their comments in writing to the RMC Secretariat, those
were received from IACHR and distributed timely. The Committee was informed by
SAF (Almaguer) that it had also received comments from the Secretariat of
Multidimensional Security.
2- Presentation by Frank Almaguer of a second draft of the proposed ICR
Policy (includes the input from the different departments)
Mr. Almaguer summarized the discussions on overhead which had taken place at the
previous RMC meeting and thanked the areas for the submittals he had received on this
issue. Based on this feedback, he explained that his Department went through a complex
process of identifying the indirect costs within the Secretariat associated with rendering
services and concluded that there were four focus areas: the Secretariat for
Administration and Finance, Legal Services, the Office of the Inspector General and the
Department of Planning, Control and Evaluation. The Department of External Relations
stressed the fact that at least 50% of their time and effort is devoted to mobilizing the
specific funds, so these costs should have been included in the calculations, and not only
those of the departments listed above. Furthermore, the findings based on 2005 data,
reflected that of the $181 million of the total Secretariat’s budget, $150 million (83%)
was allocable and $31 million (17%) was non-allocable. Moreover, of the $150 million
which was allocable, $53 million (35%) were indirect costs and $97 million (65%) were
direct costs. This rate of ICR is similar to ICR rates of many universities and other
similar institutions. However, he pointed out that because we are in a competitive market,
as stressed in earlier discussions by the Department of External Relations and the
technical departments, we cannot charge such as a high rate. In addition, he indicated that
many units in the Secretariat are including in their budgets indirect costs which should
actually be included under direct costs. Training will be provided by the PEC to ensure
that units do a better job in identifying those direct costs.
Mr. Almaguer also noted that if the current ICR policy of 2% remains, the Secretariat
would experience a shortfall of $5,5 million in 2007. As a result, the Secretariat has to
adopt a new policy and take a series of measures to address this problem. One first step
would be to eliminate the exemption of ICR for projects under $100,000. Also, the idea is
that all specific fund projects should include the new ICR rate once defined, with the
exception of: disaster relief, conferences and meetings co-financed by the Regular Fund,
and contributions for feasibility studies. This would not apply to existing agreements
which would not be renegotiated. Other exceptions would be decided at the highest level
by the SG.
In conclusion, Mr. Almaguer pointed out that in order to meet the minimum ICR
requirements in 2007, the Secretariat would need to collect no less than 11% of
overhead from all partnerships. There was a working consensus by the Committee on
this proposal and agreement that it should be submitted to the SG for his consideration.
The RMC was informed that once the ICR rate has been established and the gap is
closed, criteria will need to be developed to distribute the income from ICR between the
administration and the technical components of the Secretariat.
Ambassador Ramdin thanked Mr. Almaguer and his team for the presentation and
indicated that a certain level of flexibility would have to be applied to this policy in the
end but that Mr. Almaguer´s presentation reflected a clear picture of the needs of the
Secretariat.
The Inspector General thanked Mr. Almaguer for his clear presentation and noted that
many issues had been clarified as a result. She also stressed the importance of achieving a
standardized ICR rate and suggested that the Secretariat contact the donor entities to
inquire how much they would be willing to pay in overhead.
Santiago Canton suggested that the highest authorities of the OAS should meet with the
donor community to negotiate the ICR.
Alfonso Quiñonez, on the other hand, stressed the importance of putting as much as
possible under direct costs in order to reduce indirect costs, in view of the fact that the
OAS has to deal with a very competitive market and we don’t want to risk the
partnerships we have.
Ambassdor Ramdin concluded the discussion by informing that he would meet with the
Secretary General within a week to finalize the proposal on ICR and that he would
subsequently discuss the findings and decisions with the representatives of the regional
groups before informing the CAAP. After these consultations the Legal Department
would have to propose the necessary revision of legal standards. Regarding the proposal
for distribution of the ICR income, participants proposed that it had to be based on
priorities, fairness and collegiality. At the same time they stressed the need for clear and
transparent criteria.
3- Discussion on the coordination of the RMC with Department Directors
Ambassador Ramdin expressed the need for the RMC to coordinate more closely with the
areas and requested the technical Secretariat (DER) to be in communication with
Department Directors in order to inform them about the work of the RMC and to work
together with them devising a resource mobilization strategy. He referred to Executive
Order 05-14 and indicated that also the technical areas should notify the technical
secretariat of the RMC about their external funding activities. He also indicated that
Department Directors should notify the RMC before they approached a donor directly to
ensure that OAS priorities are being met and in order to avoid donor confusion and
fatigue. The RMC, in turn, would guarantee a response to the Departments within 36
hours. To this end, he asked the Technical Secretary of the RMC and Director of the
Department of External Relations, to develop a form that areas would submit indicating
requirements for external funding and identification of donors. He also stressed the need
for departments to include the already identified or potential sources of funding in the
proposals submitted to the Technical Secretary of the Project Evaluation Committee. He
also pointed out that the Department of External Relations is developing an institutional
fundraising strategy in follow up to the Executive Order mandates, for discussions at the
RMC in a future session.
Follow up and Actions to be taken:

Ambassador Ramdin will meet with the SG to present the conclusions on
the ICR policy discussions as well as the revised ICR proposal, and will discuss
process to share this new policy with regional groups and CAAP, as necessary.

The Legal Department will look into the needed revisions of legal
standards.

Frank Almaguer will propose a mechanism for implementation of the new
ICR policy once approved.

The Technical Secretariat of the RMC/Department of External Relations
will develop a standard form through which areas will provide information about
their fundraising intentions prior to contacting donors.

The RMC will give the go-ahead to the areas within 36 hours.

Projects submitted to the PEC should include information on identified or
potential donors.

DER will set up meetings with Secretariat Directors to discuss their
fundraising needs and priorities.

The next RMC meeting will take place on the 9th of November at 3:00pm.