Guidelines for the Transition from  �CGIAR’s 2022-2024 Portfolio to the �2025-30 Portfolio �Annex 1: Close-out Budget Guidelines for the Initiatives��Q&A Session

9 September 2024

Grant and Contract Services, Communications & Outreach, People and Culture, Portfolio Performance Unit, Program Finance, Project Coordination Unit, & Risk Management

Transition Guidelines

On the P&R Hub for the 2022-2024 Transition Guidance you will find:

• Transition Calendar
• The Guidelines and Latest Updates
• Upcoming Events and Recordings of Past Events
• Resources; and
• FAQs

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Annex 1: Close-out Budget Guidelines for Initiatives

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Close-out Budget – Key Guiding Principles  

1. The Initiatives funding cycle ends as of December 2024; hence, an administrative close-out is required.
2. Some 2024 closing and reporting activities will be performed in Q1 2025; therefore, the 2024 budget must cover these activities. No additional funding will be provided for these tasks.
3. A process has been designed to estimate the close-out budgets which is described in ANNEX I of the Transition Guidelines.
4. Close-out budgets are meant to fund activities that need to be implemented in Q1 2025 to support the delivery and approval of Initiatives final financial and technical reports and support to ensure that Initiatives/Platforms settle financial obligations, close contractual relationships, reassign or transfer assets or resources, and communicate effectively with stakeholders about the transition. 
5. Close-out budgets may include staff costs and related personnel chargebacks, such as facilities and IT chargebacks, and overhead. No other types of costs (travel, operations, etc.) should be included.
6. Close-out budgets do not include Inception costs related to New Portfolio.

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Close-out budget process

• The People & Culture team have shared the 2024 People Plans with the Initiative Leads. 
• Initiative Leads will identify the staff involved in the closing/reporting activities and determine the LOE required in Q1 2025.
• Initiative Leads will submit the updated People Plan, including the corresponding level of effort for each staff member, to the Center Finance Leads by September 10th, to initiate the costing exercise. A close out budget template will be provided.  
• Center Finance Leads should incorporate staff costs and related operational expenses (e.g., facilities, IT, overhead, and other chargebacks) and send the total close-out budget and People Plan to Initiative Leads and Program Finance team by September 30th, for review and consolidation.  
• During the review and consolidation process, Initiative Leads, with Program Finance team support,  based on best estimates, should determine how to accommodate these costs within the approved 2024 budgets.   
• The final consolidated close-out People Plan and budget should be submitted to FSI-Transition-Task-Team@groups.cgiar.org and Initiativepeopleresourcing@groups.cgiar.org by 15 October. 

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Initiatives/Platforms execution, as of July 2024

1. Assuming a linear execution, the portfolio should be at 58%, as of July.
2. Based on the linear execution, projected scenarios expect between USD 20M – USD 40M of unspent balances, as of December.

3. The analysis by WP, shows an execution of 38.4 % for WP0 – Cross Cutting activities, where this type of costs may be included.

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People Plans

Use the 2025/Q1 People Plan Template to indicate the staff members assigned to your Initiative to deliver on the Closeout and Final Reporting activities in 2025/Q1.

You are only required to input/update of the following fields:  

• Assignment Status: update the status to ACTIVE to indicate the staff planned to work during the 2025/Q1 period. 
• Type of Activity (NEW FIELD): assign the type of activity for the assignment. Reminder: activities that are considered closeout activities are Technical or Financial Reporting. 
• Define the %FTE: indicate the %FTE, of the staff members planned to work during 2025/Q1. 
• Note that we are not looking at the full year, only Q1. If an employee spends 50% of their time during Q1 on closing out activities, please indicate 50%. 
• Additional Notes for 2025/Q1: if needed, use this field to provide additional comments. 

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People & Culture : Key Resources

Research Initiatives:

People Dashboard 

P&R Hub 

Initiative Contact list 

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Open for Questions