1. Why decide to work only with 10 to 14 countries when the budget allowed to involve all the countries of Sub-Sahara Africa?
2.
Why reject certain candidates that obviously deserved to be supported?
(like the application from Ivory Coast by Pr Pascal Bogui)
3. Why pick up candidates without any experience in tobacco control instead of active advocacy groups existing in the same countries? (like the CRES in Senegal or the University of Yaoundé, bias in favor of "research" groups with previous link with IDRC against "advocacy"?)
4. Why such a high/frequent turn over of program leaders?
5. Why select a senior program officer with limited or no previous experience of Africa?
6. Why select a senior program officer with limited knowledge of French when one third of SubSahara Africa is French speaking?
7. What is/has been the global cost of travel and hospitality?
8. Why so much travel at the age of the internet?
9. How does the cost of traveling for IDRC staff compares with the already very high IDRC average: "FTE travel budget is $37,969 adjusted at 5% per annum")
10. Why such delays in the signature of the contracts with the selected grantees? (More than a year for most of them)
11. Why so many extensions for the achievement of contracts?
12. Why so little -no- information about the evolution of the project(s)?
13. Why no detailed and public annual report?
14. Why no use of the blogs (modern internet based communication tools) for the program officers and the grantees?
15. Why no governance structure including African partners? (contrary to the output of the meeting in Ottawa in January 2008 and the terms of the contract with the Gates Foundation, see first paragraph page 27 about "the next wave of colonisation"?)
16. What amount of leverage, additional funding from other sources/partners has been obtained, if any?
17. Why wait almost one year after their creation to support the African coalitions (ATCRI and ATCA) despite a recommendation to that effect from the communications consultant as early as December 2008?
18. Why also ignore/reject a recommendation in December 2008 by the communications consultant to support a coalition of African journalists to report about issues and activities when there is such a lack of communication? (ATCRI will develop such a project but on a more limited basis 11 months later).
19. Why wait almost two years to increase the number of countries involved when it could/should have been done from the very start?
20. Why neglect offering any "small grants" ($5,000 and less) when they had been recommended as very cost effective in the previous RITC review and were/are used effectively by other organizations (like -for instance- FCA or ACS)?
21. What percentage/amount of the global budget went directly to Africans?
22. What percentage/amount of the global budget went to "administrative costs"?
23. Why suggest the use of the ELDIS server to communicate when the senior project manager has previously worked with a very effective, already existing, specialized network, UICC's Globalink?
24. What lesson is learned when the communications consultant leaves because his contract is reduced to almost nothing without any previous warning and he is asked to use a system (ELDIS) that he knows does not work and that will in fact not be used after his departure?
25. Why such a lack of transparency in the management of the information published on the IDRC's website? Why not collecting all the relevant information about the on going grants in one place?
26. Why stick to a traditional pdf newsletter format and fail by producing only two very small issues instead of blogs and a listserve that should have been activated from the very start?
27. What about having as Chair of the IDRC Board of Governors a person who is a member of the board of a tobacco company?
28. What mistakes (if any) is IDRC ready/willing to admit and are the reviewers ready/willing to expose?
3. Why pick up candidates without any experience in tobacco control instead of active advocacy groups existing in the same countries? (like the CRES in Senegal or the University of Yaoundé, bias in favor of "research" groups with previous link with IDRC against "advocacy"?)
4. Why such a high/frequent turn over of program leaders?
5. Why select a senior program officer with limited or no previous experience of Africa?
6. Why select a senior program officer with limited knowledge of French when one third of SubSahara Africa is French speaking?
7. What is/has been the global cost of travel and hospitality?
8. Why so much travel at the age of the internet?
9. How does the cost of traveling for IDRC staff compares with the already very high IDRC average: "FTE travel budget is $37,969 adjusted at 5% per annum")
10. Why such delays in the signature of the contracts with the selected grantees? (More than a year for most of them)
11. Why so many extensions for the achievement of contracts?
12. Why so little -no- information about the evolution of the project(s)?
13. Why no detailed and public annual report?
14. Why no use of the blogs (modern internet based communication tools) for the program officers and the grantees?
15. Why no governance structure including African partners? (contrary to the output of the meeting in Ottawa in January 2008 and the terms of the contract with the Gates Foundation, see first paragraph page 27 about "the next wave of colonisation"?)
16. What amount of leverage, additional funding from other sources/partners has been obtained, if any?
17. Why wait almost one year after their creation to support the African coalitions (ATCRI and ATCA) despite a recommendation to that effect from the communications consultant as early as December 2008?
18. Why also ignore/reject a recommendation in December 2008 by the communications consultant to support a coalition of African journalists to report about issues and activities when there is such a lack of communication? (ATCRI will develop such a project but on a more limited basis 11 months later).
19. Why wait almost two years to increase the number of countries involved when it could/should have been done from the very start?
20. Why neglect offering any "small grants" ($5,000 and less) when they had been recommended as very cost effective in the previous RITC review and were/are used effectively by other organizations (like -for instance- FCA or ACS)?
21. What percentage/amount of the global budget went directly to Africans?
22. What percentage/amount of the global budget went to "administrative costs"?
23. Why suggest the use of the ELDIS server to communicate when the senior project manager has previously worked with a very effective, already existing, specialized network, UICC's Globalink?
24. What lesson is learned when the communications consultant leaves because his contract is reduced to almost nothing without any previous warning and he is asked to use a system (ELDIS) that he knows does not work and that will in fact not be used after his departure?
25. Why such a lack of transparency in the management of the information published on the IDRC's website? Why not collecting all the relevant information about the on going grants in one place?
26. Why stick to a traditional pdf newsletter format and fail by producing only two very small issues instead of blogs and a listserve that should have been activated from the very start?
27. What about having as Chair of the IDRC Board of Governors a person who is a member of the board of a tobacco company?
28. What mistakes (if any) is IDRC ready/willing to admit and are the reviewers ready/willing to expose?
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