The Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA) Secretariat operates under the oversight of the Board of Directors, whose responsibilities are outlined in the Charter establishing CCARDESA. The Board convenes two Ordinary Board meetings every year, usually around June/July and December. When the need arises, the Board may hold Extra-ordinary meetings within the year to deal with urgent matters that cannot wait for the ordinary meetings.
CCARDESA held its 25th board meeting on 15th December 2020. It was the 2nd board meeting of the year. The meeting took place on Microsoft Teams virtual platform under the new normal due to the global COVID 19 pandemic.
The objectives of the meeting of the Board were to review the implementation of resolutions and directives taken during the 24th Board meeting and review progress made by the Secretariat in the technical, financial, and administrative areas since the last meeting in July 2020.
Some of the key issues reviewed during the Board meeting were the status of the 2020 Work Plan implementation, Medium Term Operational Plan (MTOP), Resource Mobilization Strategy and Action Plan (RMSAP), 2021 Annual Work Plan and Budget, the Finance report for the second half of the financial year 2020, revision of the Human Resources and Procedure Manual and Governance issues.
The Board approved the 2020 Work Plan Implementation Progress Report, and the 2021 Work Plan and Budget. The Board also approved the incorporation of activities for the new subprojects into the Work Plan once the signing of their financing agreements has been concluded. The projects include the COVID-19 Mini proposal and GCCA+ funded by the European Union and the GIZ-COVID-19 Project funded by the German Government - BMZ.
The CCARDESA Medium Term Operational Plan for the period 2021 – 2025 was also approved including the Finance and the Executive Director‘s expenditure reports for the ten months ended 31 October 2020 and the cash flow projection report for the year ending 31 December 2021. It is exciting and noteworthy that the board approved the CCARDESA’s newly developed Resource Mobilisation Strategy and Action Plan for the period 2021 to 2025 and the Compliance and Internal Control Report, Risk Matrix, and the External Audit Recruitment report among other things.
In his closing remarks, the CCARDESA Board Chairperson, Dr Castro Camarada thanked committees for the good work they have done in their respective sub-committees and in addressing the full Board agenda. He said the meeting was a great success and commended the Secretariat for organizing the meeting. He further appreciated the achievements made during the reporting period despite the COVID-19 challenges. He also applauded the Secretariat for finalising the MTOP and developing the RMSAP and urged Board members to support in the implementation o the two strategic documents. He emphasised on the importance of sharing result-based information with the countries and the need to develop a business model to ensure that we deliver results that will motivate the countries to support CCARDESA programmes. Dr Camarada thanked the secretariat for hosting the CCARDESA 10th Anniversary webinar which was attended by several partners in the region and beyond. He urged the Secretariat to compile achievements and knowledge products that can be shared with CCARDESA stakeholders.
