A number of governance reviews have been held since IFAD’s establishment in 1978.

Special Committee on IFAD’s Resource Requirements and Related Governance Issues (1994)

In accordance with Governing Council Resolution 80/XVII, a Special Committee on IFAD’s Resource Requirements and Related Governance Issues was established to consider:

• The appropriate relationship between contributions and voting rights;

• Incentives for individual contributions to IFAD by Member Countries, especially developing countries;

• The important role of developing countries in the governance of IFAD; 

• The problem of arrears in the payment of contributions, as well as against drawdown calls and mechanisms for adjusting the votes of the Members in arrears;

• The appropriate relationship between voting rights and Executive Board representation;

• The degree to which voting rights/contributions should be a consideration in the membership of the Executive Board;

• Minimum annual lending levels and implications for Replenishments, particularly IV Replenishment; and,

• Policies on liquidity and loan reflows, and their relationship to IFAD’s replenishment requirements.

The Committee completed its work and presented a report to the 18th session of the Governing Council in 1995, GC 18/L.7 [Arabic] [English] [French] [Spanish]. The report was reviewed by the Executive Board, which subsequently proposed amendments to various legal texts of IFAD, GC 18/L.10/Rev.1 [Arabic] [English] [French] [Spanish]. Resolution 86/XVIII, adopted by the Governing Council, inter alia gave us the current voting system and set down the procedures for the election and appointment of members and alternate members of the Executive Board.

According to the IFAD Policy on the Disclosure of Documents [Arabic] [English] [French] [Spanish], governing body documents prior to 1998 are not publicly disclosed. Access to such documentation may, however, be requested by sending an email to igmr@ifad.org.

Ad hoc committee to review Member States’ voting rights and the role, effectiveness and membership of the Executive Board (2006)

The Consultation on the Seventh Replenishment of IFAD’s Resources, having been presented with proposals by Lists B and C on voting rights of Member States and Executive Board membership established, at its Fourth Session, a working group to review these two issues as well as the role and effectiveness of the Executive Board. At the Consultation’s Fifth Session the working group presented a report Repl./VII/5/R.3 [Arabic] [English] [French] [Spanish] recommending that the breadth and importance of these issues would benefit from further and more extensive discussions. The Consultation agreed that discussions should continue outside the Replenishment Consultation within the Executive Board. 

Accordingly, it recommended that the Executive Board set up an ad hoc committee to review the issues mandated to the working group, with the same List composition as other Executive Board committees (four members from List A, two members from List B and three members from List C). It further recommended that this ad hoc committee meet with the objective of concluding its discussions and recommendations by the end of 2006.

At its eighty-seventh session in April 2006, the Executive Board established the ad hoc committee to review Member States’ voting rights and the role, effectiveness and membership of the Executive Board. EB 2006/87/R.36 [Arabic] [English] [French] [Spanish]. 

The Committee presented its report to the Executive Board in December 2006, EB 2006/89/R.46 [Arabic] [English] [French] [Spanish] with the following outcome as recorded in the Minutes of the session: "The Board took note of the report of the Ad hoc Committee to Review Member States’ Voting Rights and the Role, Effectiveness and Membership of the Executive Board (EB 2006/89/R.46). The recommendation on the purpose and procedures of meetings of Convenors and Friends contained therein was endorsed. More time was required to allow for adequate consideration of the report, which will be discussed by the Convenors and Friends, to agree on a future process to consider these issues."

It was further reviewed in April 2007, EB 2007/90/R.36 [Arabic] [English] [French] [Spanish] and the Minutes record that "The Convenor of List C, on behalf of that list, and some members of List B proposed that the Ad hoc Committee be revitalized. Members of List A were not of the same opinion and suggested that the Convenors and Friends could be used as a forum to decide on the process for moving forward. The Convenor of List C, on behalf of that list, and two List B countries informed the Board that they could not consider the discussion of IFAD governance issues at the informal forum of Convenors and Friends and expressed their disappointment that, in their view, a commitment made under the Seventh Replenishment on these governance issues had not been fulfilled."

Ad hoc Working Group on Governance (WGG) (2015)

The Ad hoc Working Group on Governance (WGG) was established by the Governing Council at its thirty-eighth session in February 2015, GC 38/L.4/Rev.1 [Arabic] [English] [French] [Spanish].

The WGG was tasked with considering governance issues, in particular, reviewing and assessing the structure, appropriateness and relevance of the IFAD List system; reviewing and assessing the composition of the Replenishment Consultation and the length of replenishment cycles in IFAD11 and beyond; and making proposals thereon for consideration by the Executive Board for submission to the Governing Council, as appropriate. 

The WGG was composed of nine members from among IFAD’s Member States; four members from List A, two members from List B and three members from List C. It elected ad personam one chairperson from List C (Argentina) and two vice-chairpersons: one from List A (United Kingdom) and one from List B (Indonesia). IFAD Members who were not members of the WGG were able to participate in meetings as observers with the right to speak.

In 2015 and 2016, the WGG held nine meetings. It also held several informal meetings and consultations with the Lists and IFAD Management. Its deliberations were documented by meeting syntheses, as well as progress reports presented to the Executive Board.

The WGG discussed several proposals regarding the List system and matters related to IFAD’s replenishments.  It reached consensus on some replenishment issues, and agreed on guidelines for List definitions. The WGG finalized its report and presented it to the Executive Board in December 2016, EB 2016/119/R.39/Rev.2 [Arabic] [English] [French] [Spanish]. 

The Governing Council at its fortieth session in February 2017, considered the report and adopted Resolution 194/XL entitled, Approval of the Recommendations of the Ad hoc Working Group on Governance, GC 40/Resolutions/Rev.1 (p. 5) [Arabic] [English] [French] [Spanish].