Who? A global collective intelligence network

The high ambition of the Panel is to offer a unique contribution to further the social progress agenda in the years to come. It requires to carefully set up the operational structure, to develop a strong and efficient organization as well as to gather adequate multi-year funding.

Structure

The International Panel for Social Progress is a non-profit association registered in France in 2017. The association has co-opted sixty-four members who play an active role in the current activities of the Panel. It does not have yet any permanent staff.

For the launch of the new IPSP (i.e. from 2023 onwards), the association is currently supported administratively by a scientific co-operation foundation, the French network of Institutes for Advanced Study (RFIEA). The foundation has more than 15 years of experience in managing international multi-partner initiatives. It dedicates administrative staff to the Panel and provides —thanks to the collaboration with the Paris Institute for Advanced Study— adequate office space in Paris (for meetings and residential work). It handles the partnership contracts for the launch of the second work cycle of the Panel.

As it aims at becoming a permanent organization, the Panel has started the process to become an international NGO, registered with the United Nations. In April 2023, the International Panel for Social Progress has been officially registered with the United Nations. In June 2023, the Panel has applied to obtain the consultative status of a non-governmental organization recognized by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

The dual structure of an association supported by a foundation is transitory. Based on the perspectives of funding and development, the Panel will select the legal status that will ensure its full scientific and operational independence. Such independence is instrumental for establishing collaborations and partnerships with a large and diverse set of organizations as well as gathering funding from various sources. We expect the transitory administrative period to come to an end in 2025.

Organization

The governance of IPSP involves three main bodies. All IPSP organs gather scholars and actors from civil society organizations, business leaders, international organizations with a balanced distribution across genders, experience, geography, disciplines and themes.

The Honorary Committee

The Honorary Committee is composed of 25 high-level personalities who will give moral and political traction to the Panel activities. The first list of personalities has been approved by the Advisory Board and the Committee has been constituted at the end of 2023.

The Advisory Board

The Advisory board is composed of 64 high-level/high-impact personalities with relevant competence and experience: international scholars, civil society organizations actors, social innovators, business leaders, (former) policymakers, etc. It meets once a year to discuss thematical proposals and projects, to determine priority activities, and to identify potential team leaders for the approved activities (reports, briefs, events). Task forces have been formed to help guide the work on the panel on transversal as well as topical issues.

As a sub-group of the Advisory Board, the Coordination Council meets every month to supervise the activities decided by the Advisory Board. Since 2023, it has been composed of twelve members who represent a mix of personalities involved in the first IPSP and new actors: Merike Blofield (political scientist, Finland), Olivier Bouin (international relations, France), Pedro Conçeicao (development and innovation policy, Portugal), Marc Fleurbaey (welfare economics, France), Ravi Kanbur (development economics, USA/India), Takyiwaa Manuh (social development, Ghana), Elisa Reis (sociologist, Brazil), Marie-Laure Salles (governance, France/Switzerland), Dennis Snower (macroeconomist, Germany), Margo Thomas (inclusive growth, United States of America), Ingrid Volkmer (digital communication, Australia), Hossain Zillur Rahman (power and participation, Bangladesh).

As a sub-group of the Coordination Council, the Executive Bureau will be composed of three members (President, vice-president, Treasurer) who will interact with the Secretariat to monitor the activities of the Panel and the appropriate functioning of the governing bodies. The Secretary General will participate in all meetings of the Executive Bureau.

Once the legal structure has been put in place, by-laws will be written to define the respective tasks of the Advisory Board and of the Coordination Council, the co-optation and/or election procedures of its members, the duration of the mandates, the responsibilities of the chairs, etc.

The Secretariat

The Secretariat is in charge of the overall functioning of the Panel and based in Paris, France. It is responsible for the management of the research and dissemination activities, the organization of events, the development of the online platform, communication and social media, fundraising, human resources, and financial reporting.

It is estimated that a permanent team composed of 12-14 people organized in four poles will be needed: coordination/administration (4), project collaborations (3), digital platform (3), dissemination and impact (3).

The Panel will organize four concentric circles around the core institutional bodies:

  • the Experts’ network (1,000+ co-opted by the Advisory Board and the Secretariat),
  • the Contributors Network (all those who will be partnering with the Panel such as the leaders of projects published on the platform, leaders of dissemination/outreach initiatives, helpers, ambassadors, journalists, students, etc.)
  • the target audiences (NGOs, private sector corporations, local/national governments, funders) that will be prioritized by the impact work of the Panel
  • the general public who will be hopefully reached out by mass communication around the key global events organized by the Panel

Funding

As the Panel wants to remain fully independent, funding is searched from a wide range of academic institutions, international foundations, international organizations, and philanthropists. The careful selection of institutional funders as well as the diversification of funding sources ensures that the Panel operates and develops its activities without interference.

The unique embeddedness of the scientific work with stakeholders through a strong co-design and co-implementation procedure will help mobilize the needed resources. The Panel welcomes various funding opportunities ranging from:

  • general support of the Panel activities,
  • grants for thematic activities of the Panel or main/specific events,
  • in-kind contributions (IT development, communication, etc.).

All levels of contributions are welcome as the Panel is an inclusive collection intelligence for action initiative.

The Panel may wish to formalize alliances with four types of partners:

  • Universities and research organizations (contacts have been established with several networks such as Open Society University Network OSUN, the University-based Institutes for Advanced Study Network UBIAS, etc.)
  • Large cities (contacts have been established with the C40 network)
  • International organizations (such as UNDP, UNESCO, UNU, ILO, OECD, ISC, etc.)
  • Leading international foundations (the Task Force on Funding of the Coordination Council has initiated a work on the potentially interested foundations on the five continents).

A funding plan has been prepared for the 2024-2027 period with a progressive rise of the budget resources needed from €M1.5 to €M2.5 at the end of the period. It is expected to gather this financial support from a variety of sources and/or contributions. It is an ambitious target but this is the budget the Panel requires to be meaningful and impactful.

During the first phase of the Panel (2015-2018), with few credentials, the collected resources amounted to €M1.2 from a variety of funders and sponsors. This is much more modest than the resources needed for the second cycle of the Panel, but does represent an interesting indication of the IPSP fund-raising potential.

Still at an initial stage of its second cycle, the Panel has already secured support by several important organizations such as the European Climate Foundation, the Global Solutions Initiative, the Women’s Economic imperative, The Sustainable Development Solutions Network, BRAC International, the Scholars Strategy Network, the Institute for Futures Studies, the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Cornell University, the University of Melbourne, the Paris School of Economics, Thinkers and Doers, etc. Many other partnerships are currently under way.

Resources will allow for a stable and permanent secretariat and will fund research and dissemination initiatives as well as digital tools. Funding for report-writing activities will be allocated to the team leaders who will be identified by the Advisory Board. Relevant additional funding will be provided for dissemination and participatory dialogue events.

Future leaders of IPSP initiatives, in their home institutions and through their professional networks or project funding, will help co-fund their actions while benefitting from the overall IPSP infrastructure.

During the transition period, the financial contributions will be formalized via bilateral conventions with the not-for-profit association “International Panel on Social Progress” or with the RFIEA scientific foundation, both based in Paris, France.

Independently audited financial reporting will be provided annually and will be available to each financial partner based on a solid analytical accounting system. All financial reporting will be approved by the IPSP Executive Bureau.