Public Accounts committee  It has always existed, but it was not systematic. We have left copies of the strategic plan on your table that describe the process. Now, prior to the approval of the grant, we establish the parameters for reporting by the people conducting the research, our grantees, therefore, absorbing this information, using it, and matching it with the implementation plan of each of the teams.

Public Accounts committee  That is an excellent question. When I started my mandate as president of the organization in 2013, we were on the edge of getting a new strategic plan. I've been working for 20 years at IDRC. I indicated to the senior management team that it was time to refresh our vision of the future as well as to integrate the best in terms of deliverology and monitoring ourselves against expectations.

Public Accounts committee  The act states that the board—and I have the board charter here—is responsible for the normal board duties and the oversight in terms of strategic direction and advice to management. I am the implementer of the advice provided by the board. I am accountable, whether it is on finance or whether it is on the operational day-to-day business.

Public Accounts committee  Absolutely.

Public Accounts committee  I'm also appointed by an order in council. I accept this, and I will carry it forward to our chair, Margaret Biggs. When we received the invitation, I was advised by the secretary of the board and our legal counsel that I should appear. If we made a mistake there, I'm sorry about it.

Public Accounts committee  Administrative programs also: we are structured with program officers who are based in Ottawa, and that's our base, also in our region.

Public Accounts committee  We currently have a set of five or six large donors: the Department for International Development of the U.K. government, Australian Aid, and Norway's government, through their development agency, as well as large philanthropic ones, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Hewlett foundation.

Public Accounts committee  In the way we do our funding, first we have the parliamentary allocation. We use the parliamentary allocation to do our programming, but also as a lever to do joint activities with other agencies, based on our mandate and our strategic plan. We don't accept money without contributing.

Public Accounts committee  The average size of our funding currently for this year is about $700,000 for a project that will last between three and five years. That's the average. What are the lower and the higher ends? The lower end might be a grant of $5,000 or $10,000. They are relatively small in number.

Public Accounts committee  The gap existed from November 2012 until this past June. Over the past four years, we lost our quorum three times. We had to get rather creative in delaying board of governors meetings until the appointments were made. We have competency skills for the governor, according to our mandate and the legislation.

Public Accounts committee  As stated in the IDRC Act, the president of IDRC is responsible for the running of the day-to-day operations and is accountable on the running of the centre and its financial system as well as its operational system. Therefore, I am the public officer, VC of the organization, and I represent the organization on these matters.

Public Accounts committee  It was actually the risk management plan that was presented to the finance and audit committee in February 2016. They accepted it. It sets out, in sequence, the activities that will be carried out until 2018. You may wonder why they are coming to an end in 2018.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you, Mr. Lefebvre. That's a great question. In 2015, IDRC had an external assessment of its entire risk management system done. We reviewed our risk management system. Under our previous system, risks were relatively buried in a countless number of risks that we would add up year after year.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, honourable members, good afternoon. My name is Jean Lebel, and I am the president of the International Development Research Centre, or IDRC. It is my pleasure to appear before you today on behalf of the centre. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the Auditor General of Canada’s special examination of IDRC.

Foreign Affairs committee  That's difficult for me to answer because we are working thematically, so when we get a proposal from a country, we see already if they have the tools to do the research. If they don't, we are going to work with them to reach that point, but broadly speaking, at the national level, I don't have an answer for you.