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Enhancing efficiency and transparency |
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In November 1993, the FAO Conference requested the newly elected Director-General to review the working methods of the Conference. The first outcome of this review was to change the duration of the Conference. Traditionally, Conference sessions had been relatively long, lasting between 19 and 21 days. As one of several measures aimed at improving the efficiency of the sessions, the Director-General proposed that their duration should not exceed two weeks, and that their agenda should contain only those matters that require action by the Conference, as opposed to the Council.
In approving the proposals in November 1994, the Council stressed that this first step should be viewed as only part of a continuing process to improve the governing bodies' cost efficiency and effectiveness. Significantly, the 1995 session of the Conference lasted only 12 days and the 1997 session 11 days.
In 1995, the Council decided that a standing item on achieving savings and efficiency in governance should be included on the agenda of Joint Meetings of the Programme and Finance Committees and agreed that the next step should be a review of all FAO statutory bodies and panels of experts, the number of which had increased considerably over the years. To eliminate obsolete statutory bodies and ensure more task-oriented and time-bound working arrangements for those remaining, a small contact group (which consulted the regional groups of Permanent Representatives), thoroughly examined the work of the bodies concerned. At its 1997 session, the Conference decided to:
The 1997 Conference also called on the members of regional bodies set up under Article XIV of FAO's Constitution to provide such bodies, where appropriate, with their own financial resources - either through cooperative programmes or other voluntary contributions, or through the establishment of autonomous budgets financed from mandatory contributions. Two years after this Conference resolution, about 100 commissions, committees, panels and working parties had been abolished. Additional suggestions to improve the work methods of the Conference further will be considered by the 83rd session of the Programme Committee in November 2000.
Since taking office, the Director-General has established a general policy of making systematic recourse to external, independent experts for review, evaluation and advice. At the outset of his mandate, he requested three high-level external experts to assist him in identifying measures to make the Organization more effective. As a result, broad-based measures were recommended to shape the orientations and structures of the Organization and proposed by the Director-General to the 106th Session of the Council in June 1994 for approval.
Subsequently, panels of high-level experts were set up to provide independent policy and strategic advice on FAO's response to the evolving challenges in its fields of activity. Thus, world-renowned external experts and specialists were invited to participate in high-level panels for:
These panels, in the spirit of peer review, analysed the framework of policies, programmes and procedures in their respective sectors and submitted recommendations on how FAO could engage more effectively in the global dialogue on related issues. While the panels initially reported directly to the Director-General, it was decided that, in order to ensure increased transparency and allow for greater interaction with Member Nations, the recommendations of the panels should be drawn to the attention of the governing bodies concerned.
Recourse to external expertise has also been applied in other key areas of the Organization's work. Following the restructuring of all departments, the Director-General instructed that the Administration and Finance (AF) Department be reviewed further to ensure that its management and organizational structure was fully aligned with FAO's current and future requirements and to identify areas for improvement in efficiency and quality of service. The management consultants Coopers and Lybrand were hired to carry out the review and, in addition, external consultants (Montage IT Service, Canada) were asked to support the implementation of the Oracle financial system. The organizational changes recommended for the AF Department have now been made, and installation of the Oracle system has essentially been completed, with its deployment to departmental and divisional budget holders throughout the house under way. Parallel to the review of the AF Department, external advice was sought regarding a management review to determine the appropriate staffing levels and grade structure of the Organization. The follow-up to the grade structure review will be a long-term undertaking, building on past and present efforts to rationalize the grade structure for Professional staff and to lower the ratio of General Service to Professional posts.
The Conference, the Council and the Programme Committee have underlined the importance of evaluation both as a means of accountability and as a tool for learning lessons for future improvement. As a consequence, consultations have been extended to include external expertise for in-depth evaluative assessments of selected programmes and activities. Specialist consultants were engaged for the thematic review of participatory approaches as well as the thematic evaluation of TCP food quality control projects. The reports produced were then commented on by external peer reviewers and, in the case of the Programme on Agricultural Support Systems, external specialists reviewed the draft report with the programme staff concerned.
One other area where external advice is consistently sought is in the management of the Organization's investments. At its 24th session in May 1998, one of the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Investments was to combine the former internal Credit and Investment Committees to form a single Investment Committee. The responsibilities of the new Committee are to: manage short- and long-term assets; to advise on investment policies for each distinct pool of assets; formulate strategies for each pool of assets - including the mix of external and internal management, the number and type of external managers and the benchmarks for such managers as well as appropriate investments and the currency composition of such investments; and advise on credit risk policy and specific treasury hedging and borrowing transactions.
One major project in the improvement and streamlining of FAO's administrative and financial control procedures is the replacement of the custom-made, mainframe-based FINSYS/PERSYS administrative and accounting systems, which have proved inadequate, with a modular system based on Oracle and other software packages.
The new system has been designed to streamline administrative procedures and reduce the cost of administration and financial control. It is based on a modern philosophy of budget accounting, which requires line managers, i.e. the budget holders, to be fully accountable for the use of funds allocated for their projects and programmes. It also improves the productivity and efficiency of transaction processing and the flow of financial information. The system is being implemented in two phases: the first, covering the financial stream, became operational in May 1999 following the initial revision of the financial, administrative and operational manuals in 1998 and 1999; the second, to replace PERSYS and the Payroll component of FINSYS, is to be implemented later. A thorough evaluation of administrative procedures, functions and tasks is foreseen after the new system has been operational for some time.
A key aspect of the reform process has been the widespread deployment of modern office and information technologies throughout the Organization. This has required a considerable investment in terms of both human and financial resources, but it is essential for achieving efficient decentralization and improving the speed and quality of work at headquarters.
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The use of modern communication technologies has increased FAO's efficiency and enhanced its global outreach |
Between 1994 and 1999, more than 3 000 new personal computers incorporating advanced workstations were deployed at headquarters. They are continuously upgraded with the latest software and allow staff members to work simultaneously with different applications, from word-processing and spreadsheet software to e-mail and numerous other applications available at headquarters through the FAO Intranet. The installation of the new workstations and applications was accompanied by a large-scale computer training programme for staff.
Similar developments have gradually been introduced in the equipment and communications of decentralized offices, and this has greatly improved the electronic exchange of information. Decentralized offices use software similar to that in use at headquarters and can access headquarters services and information through the Internet. The effect has been a radical improvement in the volume and quality of communication within the Organization as well as a reduction in the time taken to address critical issues. By May 1999, all Regional, Subregional, Liaison and FAOR offices had e-mail services, and all except 13 offices also had full Internet access and were thus able to use the FAO Internet site and access information through it. The few offices that continue to be without Internet access are handicapped either by the absence of a local service provider or by the poor quality of available providers.
Donation of used computersFAO's desktop computers are assumed to have a working life of four years. In 1988, a programme was instituted to donate machines that are still operable but not sufficiently powerful to run FAO's current standard software. Distribution of used FAO computers as of December 1998
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In 1995, only a small number of the Permanent Representations to FAO had e-mail addresses that could be accessed by FAO, which restricted the possibility of communicating information quickly and inexpensively to these Representations. Although a few countries were already moving towards electronic communication, it was decided to assist developing countries by providing their Representations with a used computer, an e-mail address and access to the Internet through a local service provider. Training for a number of staff of the Permanent Representations and limited technical support were also provided. Thanks to these measures, Permanent Representations have ready access to all the information available on FAO's Web site and can receive and download documents electronically, with corresponding savings in time and money for both the Organization and the installation of facilities. Other rooms have been equipped with upgraded technical facilities, such as new audiovisual and microphone systems.
Several other rooms will be built or renovated in 2000. Projects include the construction of a Conference Registration Centre, to be funded by the Government of Turkey, and improvements to the Japan Lounge, the Austria Room, the Nordic Lounge, the Georgia Room, the Mexico Room and the Cuba Room, to be funded by the respective governments. A new FAO Shop will also be built.
With generous support from the Government of Italy, major structural works have either been completed or are in progress, including the extension of the air-conditioning system to all headquarters premises, the installation of a centralized power generation system, the upgrading of the electrical system in one headquarters building and the fencing of the FAO compound. Among the projects planned for the immediate future is the restructuring of the David Lubin Memorial Library.
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