1. Partnership Forum report

A report was presented to the board by the chair of the committee that planned the Fund's first biennial Partnership Forum, attended by 400 participants in Bangkok in July.

The strongest opinions articulated at the Partnership Forum related to the need for Round 5 to be launched soon, and for certain requirements to be imposed regarding CCM procedures. These views were cited at various times during the board meeting, and definitely were a factor in helping bring about the decisions that the board made on these two topics.

Board members complained, as did the Partnership Forum steering committee, that the PartnersGF electronic forum (outsourced by the Fund to another organization) was never made available in French, Spanish and Russian as had originally been planned.

1. Board committees

Ever since the Fund was established, much of the board's work has been carried out by four major and two minor board committees. Whenever it is clear that a particular topic requires a considered board decision, a board committee is asked to evaluate it in depth, seeking support as needed from the Secretariat. The committee then makes its recommendations to the board, which accepts, modifies, or rejects the recommendations.

At the Arusha meeting, the board received the findings of a major study that it had commissioned, on a pro bono basis, from a consulting firm. The board adopted "in principle" the study's main recommendations, which were focused on replacing the original six board committees with four new committees, and streamlining committee procedures in various ways. The four proposed new committees will deal with Strategy & Policy, Finance & Audit, Portfolio (i.e. Grant) Management, and Ethics.

A temporary committee consisting of the chairs of the six current board committees plus a seventh board member acting as chair will recommend how to set about implementing the recommendations.