NARRATIVE REPORT 2009 - The ICHRP

International Council on Human Rights Policy - Narrative Report 2009
REPORT ON THE YEAR
During 2009 the Council’s Executive Board and Secretariat took steps to review the work of the
International Council, assisted by an independent impact evaluation (which DFID and the Finnish
Foreign Ministry commissioned) that became available in December 2009. When combined with the
Council’s current strong research and publications programme, the Review will ensure that ICHRP is in
an excellent position to develop and promote its work from 2010, under the leadership of a new
Executive Director, Mr Maina Kiai, who was appointed at the beginning of March 2010.
The Board Review has examined the Council’s governance, mandate and research methodology as well
as the organisation’s communications and dissemination strategy, and will also consider the role and
contribution of Members of the International Council. Board members have already concluded that,
while adjustments must be made to the Council’s methods of work, the organisation’s mission and
overall role are appropriate and do not require fundamental alteration: ICHRP will continue to assist
human rights organisations to carry out their work by providing timely and relevant policy analysis.
However, its approach should be sharpened, the annual Council Meeting should be refreshed, Council
members should be given more active and more innovative roles, and the Council should disseminate
and communicate its research more effectively and imaginatively, using shorter and more accessible
forms of document. These conclusions were matched in important respects by the findings of the
DFID/Finland evaluation.
The Board Review will continue into 2010: final decisions and conclusions, which will take account of
the DFID/Finland evaluation, will become available in mid-year, when the Council will produce a
strategic plan covering the period 2011-2013.
During the year the Board and Secretariat took a number of additional steps to prepare for the future.
First of all, in 2009 the Secretariat stabilised ICHRP’s finances, after a very difficult year in 2008 when
the organisation made a loss of CHF500,000 (including almost all its reserves), obliging it to make two
members of staff redundant, cut elements from the 2009 research programme, reduce office space,
and cancel the 2009 Council meeting. During 2009, having restructured management of the Council’s
finances following the death of the Finance Officer in post in 2008, expenditure was brought back
under control and at the end of the year income and expenditure were again broadly in balance. The
Secretariat succeeded in reducing expenditure sharply (by CHF400’000) without deeply harming the
Council’s research activity. (Indeed, the volume of research fees doubled.) Though income did not rise,
which remains a matter of concern, and the Council’s financial and cash position will remain fragile
while it lacks a reserve, it reversed the very critical situation that existed at the end of 2008 and
restored the traditional quality of the Council’s reporting and monitoring procedures. The Council is
now in a position from which it can start to rebuild the organisation’s finances.
Secondly, at the end of 2009, following the resignation of Robert Archer, the Board took steps to
appoint an Executive Director to take the organisation forward into a new phase. As the Council’s first
Director, Robert Archer put in place the methodology that has established the Council’s reputation for
innovative, sound and consultative research. With the appointment of Maina Kiai in March 2010, there
is now an opportunity to build on this foundation, by increasing the organisation’s public profile and
the effectiveness of its communication strategies.
In that context, the Board has considered how the Council can reframe the research programme to
achieve maximum relevance and value. As noted above, it is exploring the development of a three or
five year plan of work that will cluster the Council’s research around a small number of critical policy