Strategies to address cross-organizational issues
Six strategies to address cross-organizational issues are identified. They relate to the implementation of all FAO programmes and, consequently, to the implementation of the strategies to meet Members' needs.
Ensuring excellence
FAO is in a unique position to build on its existing strengths, including its recognized leadership in a number of technical areas and the wide range of disciplines it gathers under a single roof. It must identify and nurture those areas where it expects to be able to maintain technical leadership and ensure the required action to enhance its capacity for excellence in those areas.
To ensure excellence, FAO will:
- identify and select areas of excellence where it has good prospects for either reaching or maintaining this status;
- address the question in all its dimensions (information and "institutional memory", etc.);
- put in place the necessary measures for human resource development and enhance quality control of outputs; and
- ensure monitoring of progress and encouragement of "organizational learning".
Enhancing interdisciplinarity
Given the fundamental need for interdisciplinarity to ensure successful sustainable rural development, FAO will:
- strengthen capacity for cross-sectoral programme planning and implementation;
- implement the new programme model and, where appropriate, formulate interdisciplinary programmes in the Medium-Term Plan;
- enhance inter- and intradepartmental mechanisms to facilitate cooperation and partnership;
- improve procedures to increase incentives to work in an interdisciplinary manner; and
- in introducing indicators of success, recognize the benefits to be obtained from interdisciplinary approaches.
Broadening partnerships and alliances
FAO is first and foremost a member of the UN family of organizations, and the partnerships deriving from this status constitute an important comparative advantage. FAO needs to broaden and strengthen cooperation with its partners, giving particular attention to the Rome-based organizations - WFP and IFAD as well as IPGRI.
FAO will:
- maintain and extend its partnership with UN system organizations at both the international and national levels;
- maintain responsibility, in cooperation with IFAD and WFP, for running the ACC Network on Rural Development and Food Security;
- remain an active partner of funding programmes and participate in CCAs and UNDAF;
- further strengthen cooperation with international financing institutions and with CGIAR;
- improve cooperation with technical and regional NGO networks;
- facilitate specific cooperation with CSOs, in particular on the use of the resources that they invest in agricultural development and food security programmes;
- explore avenues of cooperation with intergovernmental organizations; and
- in the light of the corporate policy with regard to private sector partners, promote their support for FAO's programmes and for investment in agriculture.
Continuing to improve the management process
The internal management process must meet FAO's needs in the context of a changing external environment and, specifically, of the Strategic Framework with its renewed emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches and broadened partnerships. Management imperatives affected by these changes include:
- the need to realign authority, responsibility and accountability;
- the need to be increasingly cost effective and responsive in the light of competition;
- the need to provide the management and developmental support required to implement the strategy for enhancing interdisciplinarity;
- the need for administrative and management information systems to underpin the overall process; and
- the need for increased flexibility to meet the demands of programmes for new skills, particularly in FAO's areas of excellence.
Leveraging resources for FAO and its Members
FAO's capacity to perform its mission is constrained by the level of available resources. Emphasis needs to be placed on expanding the total resources applied to FAO's principal programmes - not only on the resources managed by the Organization. The challenge will be to mobilize domestic and external, public and private resources for the agricultural and rural sector, including forestry and fisheries.
FAO will:
- improve the programme design, efficiency and effectiveness of its Regular Programme and of its technical assistance and investment programmes;
- target programmes better so as to mobilize resources to support normative activities while ensuring the continued independence of the Organization's work;
- for the Field Programme, apply interdisciplinary solutions aimed at sustainable results that have a catalytic effect and are responsive to demand; and
- consolidate, diversify and expand funding sources, including newly emerging middle-income countries, developing countries themselves, the private sector, subnational entities and private individuals.
Communicating FAO's messages
Communication must be regarded as an integral part of FAO's substantive programmes. The Organization's ability to secure the necessary support to fulfil its mandate depends to a considerable extent on the quality of its communication activities and their effectiveness in maintaining a credible, coherent public image. The Organization needs to communicate both general and specific messages.
FAO will:
- concentrate on priority issues targeted at strategic external audiences;
- reach out to civil society and the general public to improve awareness and understanding;
- improve its information products, including the projection of a consistent corporate image;
- enhance communication planning and budgeting; and
- promote a positive communication culture among its staff.