Response to Tallinn Letter

Dear Executive Directors of the European Network,

I wanted to thank you for your letter which we received on 23rd June. I very much appreciate your feedback and hope I can provide an appropriate response to the questions you raise.

Since May’s Governing Council meeting things have been happening at pace. It has been a demanding time for us all, but we’re confident that we are now on a path towards lasting and meaningful reform.

I hear your concerns about the speed at which we need to undertake this process, but the politics demand this timeframe. I do not believe it is realistic for us to expect to hold this transitional arrangement – with an interim Panel ExCo in place, a WHR in process of disengaging, donors waiting for resolution – for longer than this period. The demand and need for change from our current system is urgent. We may not be able to find the perfect solution by November, but I am in no doubt the recommendations presented will be so much better than what we have now. Beyond November we will continue this phased approach for improvement and reform.

We do not underestimate how important communicating, engaging and consulting with you over the coming months will be – and we absolutely agree that this must be transparent, participatory and inclusive. Your support and engagement in this process is going to be invaluable.

Over the last few weeks there has been a lot of work behind the scenes to get the Commissions set up. They will meet for the first time in Kuala Lumpur on 5 July, and from this point will formally begin their work.

We have created a new website devoted to the reform process. This will be built further over the next few weeks. We will use this platform to provide updates on the work of the Commissions, as well as resources and details of the consultation plan. We will also be sending out regular email communications with progress reports, and updates from the Commissions, including further opportunities for consultation.

I was tasked with setting up the Commissions and the decision on who to appoint were made independently of Governing Council and our Panel ExCo, to ensure there were no conflicts of interest. Due to the ambitious goals of the Commissions, and the pressing time frame, it required the appointment of Commission Chairs with an excellent understanding of the Federation and its complexity, but with enough distance from the current context to be clearly independent. The Commission members were chosen to provide expertise in governance and financing and the diverse perspectives of our key stakeholders, including young people and MAs. To be clear, the role of the MA Commission members is to provide their perspective, ideas and act as sounding boards. They come from different regions and hopefully they will engage with them but nobody is there representing a region. Please be assured we encourage all MAs to be engaged so that your views will be represented in the Consultation process. It’s also important to iterate that the Commission Chair will be the sole author of the report and recommendations.

The Commissions are currently developing and finalising their consultation plan which will include face-to-face and online channels. The Commissions are independent, we are not in the driving seat when it comes to content, process or planning. However, they are aware that MAs our one of our priority stakeholder groups and we have every expectation they will be reaching out to you at the earliest possibility. I will share your key topics with the Commissioners so that they can incorporate this into their consultation.

In the meantime, we welcome your thoughts on key topics for the Commissions to consider and ask your permission to share these with the Commission Chairs. You can also get in touch with the Commissioners directly if you have questions or input: Governance Reform, C/O Steven Sinding: IGRC@ippf.org; and Resource Allocation, C/O Gill Greer: IRAC@ippf.org.

Both the management team and the Commissions are committed to being transparent with all concerns and feedback raised. If you are happy for us to do so, we would like to publish your letter on the reform website, alongside other feedback we have received. Please do let me know via email if this would be ok.

With best wishes,
Alvaro
Dr Alvaro Bermejo Director-General
International Planned Parenthood Federation Central Office
4 Newhams Row | London | SE1 3UZ | United Kingdom
Email abermejo@ippf.org tel +44 20 7939 8250
web www.ippf.org