Governance Structure

Governance duties are shared by the Donor Committee and the Facility Coordination Committee, each supported by a Joint Secretariat.

The Donor Committee and the UN/World Bank Facility Coordination Committee, both supported by a joint Secretariat, oversee the Facility’s activities, ensure program coherence, and enable joint planning, monitoring, and reporting. The committees maintain working relationships with Iraqi authorities.

 The Donor Committee comprises donors whose paid-in contributions or binding commitments to either or both of the trust funds amount to a minimum of US$10 million. In addition, two seats on the Donor Committee are given to representatives of other donors who do not meet this contribution threshold, according to a procedure to be decided upon by the Committee. The World Bank, UNDG, IMF and the MoPDC hold observer status. The Donor Committee may be expanded to include other institutional observers. The Donor Committee Chairmanship will be drawn from among the international donor members of the Donor Committee. A detailed description of the role of the Chair is attached in annex to these Terms of Reference.

The Donor Committee endorses overall priorities for, and provides strategic guidance to the Faciliity's two trust funds. Based on the priorities of the Government of Iraq, the Committee will:

• Ensure coherence and collaboration between the Facility, NDS, and ICI;
• Review progress of the Facility's operations and ensure reporting to all its donors, including the results of periodic Facility-level monitoring and evaluation studies, which may be commissioned by the Donor Committee and financed through the Facilitiy;
• Ensure that the Facility supports activities consistent with the priorities of the Government of Iraq and that the Facility is sufficiently flexible to adapt to changes in those priorities;
• Review the programme progress reports and recommend actions to be taken to respond to identified opportunities and/or addressing constraints;
• Oversee monitoring and evaluation results of IRFFI programmes;
• Work to attract new funding to the IRFFI Trust Funds and new international donor members to the Donor Committee.

The Donor Committee will meet on a semi-annual basis or more frequently as its members deem necessary, in such locaion as it may decide. Donor Committee representatives in Baghdad shall have regular informal meetings.

The IRFFI Executive Committee   is chaired by the Chairperson of the ISRB, and is comprised of the Donor Committee Chairperson and representatives of the UNDG and the World Bank.

The Executive Committee ensures close coordination among the UNDG ITF, the World Bank ITF, the donors, and Government of Iraq. The Executive Committee reviews the Facility's program, for purposes of conformity with its objectives, makes recomendations, and coordinates the overall programmes of activities to be financed by both trust funds. It ensures that IRFFI programmes are coordinated with those funded from the national budget and bilateral donors. The Executive Committee may advise donors on the most appropriate allocation of their resources, based on needs, priorities, and absorptive capacities. The Executive Committee shall liaise closely with the Iraqi Government, on a continuing basis, to assure both programme and implementation coherence with Iraqi priorities. In addition, the Executive Committee shall:

• Facilitate coordination among IRFFI, and the NDS and ICI;
• Ensure cooperation among the IRFFI, ISRB, and ICI Secretariats;
• Ensure timely completion, and maintain close oversight, monitoring and evaluation activities, and ensure that the synthesis and conclusions are available to all stakeholders;
• Coordinate such monitoring and evaluation exercise and studies as required by eithe the IRFFI mandate, or by the Donor Committee.

The Bank and the UNDG Trust Funds, according to their internal governance structures, have fully authority in the allocation of funds within their agreed purpose and the priority programme of Iraq. Broadly the processing of programme/project proposals for financing by either of the trust funds will be as follows:

• For the World Bank Trust Fund:Potential recipients, in consultation with World Bank staff, submit their programme/project proposals to ISRB, which vets them to determine if they support Iraqi development priorities. The World Bank is responsible to determine the eligibility of the proposals for funding from the World Bank Iraq Trust Fund in line with World Bank policies and binding legal agreements with donors to the Trust Fund. The World Bank appraises the proposed project, following which a grant agreement is negotiated and signed with the recipient. Appropriate disbursement arrangements are determined during project appraisal and negotiations, which may include the establishment of a designated account and/or a direct payment process.
• For the UNDP Iraq Trust Fund:Based on the Iraqi priorities and plans, the UN, in consultation with the Government of Iraq, develops a time-based and costed programme of assistance for Iraq. This assistance strategy is reviewed and approved by the ISRB.

The Administrators review reports prepared or circulated by the Secretariat on the activities of both trust funds in connection with their submission to the Facility's donors. The Administrators prepare a formal report and bring recommendations to the Donor Committee at every meeting of the latter, or more frequently as needed.

The IRFFI Secretariat is staffed by representatives of the donors, MoPDC, the World Bank and UNDG, and will be based in Baghdad. Its responsibilities are informational, administrative, and secretarial.

The Secretariat reports directly to the Chairperson of the Executive Committee on substantive matters. The Executive Committee coordinates the overall work programme of the Secretariat. 

The Secretariat answers inquiries from donors. It handles logistical arrangements for meetings of both the Donor Committee and the Executive Committee, and prepares and distributes minutes of the meetings. In addition, the Secretariat shall:

• Coordinate the flow of information and maintain IRFFI-related databases;

  • Ensure maximum possible co-ordination with the MoPDC and ICI Secretariat, to strengthen alignment of mutually supportive priorities, and optimize the complementaries of the two Secretariats;
  • Promote public dissemination of IRFFI information;
  • Provide logistical support to the Executive Committee and its staff and consultants.