In line with our desire to streamline our reporting, this document covers the 12 months of 2005. Also, and for obvious reasons this document will be our last under the “IPTRID Programme Partnership 2003–2005”. We are currently engaged in the framing of our new direction and mandate as will be explained further below.
The year 2005 turned out to be quite an exciting and challenging one. We had a new Programme Manager, who signs this introductory note, from 1 March. It was a year under which we underwent our Triennial External Evaluation or TEE which is summarized for you in the coming pages. Our Governance meetings, held in Beijing in the month of September also brought about a number of changes related to Programme implementation and our Networking that the Programme is already taking into consideration. There was also considerable movement in our staff, some departures and fortunately some replacements and more staff to join in early 2006. Finally, while some of our donors are changing their allocation mechanisms, the support for the Programme continues unabated and the perspectives look still bright.
Concerning the TEE, and for circumstances related to the changes in the Programme's management, the exercise took place after four years instead of the normal three. Thus, the external evaluation covered the period May 2001 to May 2005. Two well known water professionals, Mssrs Douglas L. Vermillion and Alan Vidal did an excellent job in the identification of our strengths and weaknesses and of our opportunities and threats. Through both direct and indirect interviews and surveys they were able to interact with a broad sample of our stakeholders, with a reassuring high percentage of them indicating the need for our Programme and their offer to continue their support. A central recommendation was for IPTRID to emphasize its work on research uptake and the exchange of technology and management innovations. Thus, to make sure that farmers have access to practical information and tools being generated at various levels of the irrigated agriculture community. A number of conclusions reached and their concomitant recommendations will allow us to focus in a way that can further advance our services and benefits to our clients. Our proposed new mission statement, presented in the next section, will be our guiding principle.
Clearly related to the recommendations of the TEE were the results of our governance meetings - Consultative Group and Management Committee - held in September in Beijing, China. The former called for a renewed effort to expand both our network partners and our donor base, while the latter advocated for a more focused programme of activities and a recognition that the IPTRID Secretariat should be more a facilitator than an executor, in line with its limited number of staff. Furthermore, the Programme is to streamline its activities keeping in mind their “added value” and the impact to be achieved. In addition, the related International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID)-sponsored meeting of its Advisory Committee to IPTRID was pleased to note the increased interaction between both entities and was pleased to renew its support and confidence in our organization.
Our interaction with donors was, as always, an important component of the year's efforts. It is my pleasure to report to you that both the United Kingdom, through its Department for International Development (DFID) and France through both its Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Rural Development explicitly manifested their continued support for our Programme. Generous contributions in both cash and in-kind during this reporting period, have been instrumental to our operation. In addition, and related to France, a third collaborator, the French Agency for Development (AFD), has indicated its willingness to become a partner and collaborator. Our main partner and host, FAO, continued its generous support, however has indicated possible changes in their level and type of contribution for the near future, as a result of its on-going restructuring process.The Government of Spain, through its Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, provided an encouraging initial support for our involvement in a couple of projects and in assistance to our Spanish version of our GRID magazine. On the other hand, the World Bank (WB) has changed its mechanism for funding entities like our Programme and 2005 was the last year where we could receive a direct contribution. We are now working to adjust to the new rules and to seek support via their Regional Managers. Likewise, we are dealing with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands, which has been a constant contributor to renew its support as a member of our donors group. Finally, we have approached a number of other potential donors, like Canada, Japan, China and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and conversations are at different stages of progress.
With respect to our partners, once more they have been the backbone of the Programme's efforts and successes. The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) collaboration has translated into a multiplicity of outputs favouring water institutions, farmers and the irrigation community at large. H.R. Wallingford delivered two more R&D Managers oriented-workshops, support for GRID and exchange of information for particular clients. Alterra-ILRI continues its usual support through the dissemination of research results and collaboration through resource persons in various events. The Scientific Information Center-Interstate Committee for Water Coordination (SIC-IWC) from Uzbekistan helped us to bring to closure a first phase of the Aral Sea Basin Initiative and the National Water Research Council from Egypt interacted closely with IPTRID in support of capacity development activities of their member institutions.We interacted with the Water Resources Development and Management Service (AGLW) of FAO we interacted in the Evaluation Study of Paddy Irrigation under Monsoon Regime project (ESPIM) in South East Asia, a food security related project in Cuba, contributions to GRID, and the Financing Water for Agriculture efforts that also involved the World Water Council and the Global Water Partnership. Likewise, we had a very active collaboration with our partners in West Africa (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal) and North Africa (Morocco and Tunisia) in relation to on-going activities under the Virtual Center, our Internet based information system targeting West Africa. Finally, with ICID we interacted on various activities related to India, Ethiopia, Italy and Zambia, among others. Needless to say, partners' activities went hand in hand with corresponding governments and local/national agencies of those countries. The reader will get more in-depth information throughout the pages of this report.
I could not bring to closure this introductory note without giving special thanks to all those friends of IPTRID that supported the TEE exercise, either via their direct participation in the Programme Evaluation survey or indirectly through telephone conversations, letters, etc. Your intervention has been the foundation for shaping our future. Finally, we need to keep in mind our end-beneficiaries, those farmers of the developing countries, who are the sole reason for IPTRID's existence.
Carlos Garcés-Restrepo
Programme Manager, IPTRID
