Preamble

Dr Jacques Diouf was elected Director-General of FAO for a six-year term, beginning in January 1994, at a time of great change and high expectations. Accordingly, he was charged with the task of preparing FAO to face the challenges of a post cold war era.

In 1997, FAO published an interim document entitled Reforming FAO: the challenge of world food security. This reviewed the measures taken by the Organization to improve its efficiency and effectiveness, decrease costs and ensure the relevance of its work to the needs and expectations of Member Nations.

The present document complements the 1997 edition and extends the analysis to cover the initiatives taken and the changes made in key areas of the Organization over the 1994-1999 period. The information and analysis presented here reveal that the past six years of reform have resulted in a leaner, fitter and more focused organization. In partnership with Member Nations and civil society at all levels, a transformed FAO continues to strive towards the difficult but vital goal of universal food security. FAO is now better prepared for the challenges that lie ahead and is entering the new millennium with confidence. Nevertheless, the Organization needs to consolidate the changes made and to explore new opportunities for implementing its mandate better and for achieving, in particular, the goals set by the 1996 Rome Declaration on World Food Security and World Food Summit Plan of Action as well as, more recently, those defined in The Strategic Framework for FAO: 2000-2015.