CAREC Institute Held the Third Meeting of Its Financial Sustainability Working Group
On June 2, the CAREC Institute held the 3rd Meeting of its Financial Sustainability Working Group to discuss voluntary contributions from member countries, alternative funding sources, resource mobilization action plan, and the institute’s financial resource management.
Director of the CAREC Institute, Mr. Kabir Jurazoda, in his welcoming speech, noted that from 2019 to 2023, the institute received steady support in annual donations from the People’s Republic of China and technical assistance from ADB, a one-time donation from Pakistan in 2021, and project support from other international development financial institutions. The CAREC Institute recognizes the importance of member country contributions as a reflection of member country ownership of the institute and its activities. This will also help improve institutional capacity to produce new and wider range of knowledge services. The Institute will be better able to meet the specific needs of an individual member country. This mutual relationship will further strengthen the ties between the member country and the CAREC Institute, and expand cooperation networks with international and domestic research institutions, think tanks, and the private sector, which in turn will also benefit member countries.
Mr. Josh Hu, Chief of the Human Resources and Finance Division of the CAREC Institute, spoke about funding projections of the institute for 2023-2025. The CAREC Institute has already experienced a significant gap between the budget and actual contributions received, which has created a budget implementation problem with potential liquidity risk. He presented three financial scenarios for the CAREC Institute for 2024-2025. All three scenarios indicate an urgent need to mobilize financial resources to cover the operational costs and expenses for the institute’s expanding research work. He noted that the CAREC Institute will prioritize own activities through reorganization, review staff roles and work, continue attracting more research grants or contributions from other institutions, and introduce pay-for-service activities.
Mr. Khalid Umar, Chief of Strategic Planning of the CAREC Institute, provided information on the progress of implementing the CAREC Institute’s Resource Mobilization Work Plan. In May 2022, the CAREC Institute formed an internal Resource Mobilization Task Team. Since then, the task team has prepared a list of 67 potential donors with information sheets for each donor, a calendar of calls for grant proposals by major donors, CAREC Institute’s pitch documents, factsheets, publicity documents, and other documents for meetings with third-party donors. “Based on these outputs, the CAREC Institute is in the process of uploading CAREC Institute profiles on high-potential donor databases, preparing engagement plans and concrete proposals for potential grants,” said Mr. Khalid Umar.
Members of the Financial Sustainability Working Group also discussed how to strengthen the institute’s resource mobilization work, outlined a process for providing financial and in-kind contributions from their countries, and provided recommendations for the CAREC Institute’s engagement with third-party donors and development partners. The meeting participants also discussed the possibilities of co-sponsoring activities and events at the country level and creating country-level research funds aimed at joint research with the CAREC Institute.
The Financial Sustainability Working Group of the CAREC Institute was established in 2020 on the advice of the Governing Council of the CAREC Institute. The group draws its membership from all member countries and is mandated to deliberate upon various options for diversifying CAREC Institute’s financial resource base.