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Donald Winkelmann, Chairman
26 April 1997
Mr. Ismail Serageldin
CGIAR Chair
World Bank
1818H Street, N.W.
Washington, DC, 20433
USA
Dear Mr. Serageldin,
It is my pleasure to submit to you TAC's Report on CGIAR Priorities and Strategies for Resource Allocation During 1998-2000. This is a revised, up-dated, and expanded version of the draft presented at MTM96.
You will recall that work on the current review of CGIAR priorities and strategies was initiated at TAC 66 in March 1995 with emphasis on the major dimensions of priority setting. At TAC 67, the Committee discussed themes of major importance to CGIAR priorities and strategies, assisted by expert consultants. This led TAC to invite the Group at ICW95 to comment on its interpretations of the Group's important underlying concerns, particularly poverty, natural resources, and collaborative research. At TAC 72, and after interaction with centres and further interactions with NARS in regional and global fora, TAC finalized its recommendations on resource allocations. Those are contained in the Medium Term Resource Allocation 1998-2000: Centre Proposals and TAC Recommendations.
TAC's framework for priority setting consists of research and related activities, production sectors, commodities and Systemwide work. TAC's point of departure for recommendations was the 1997 allocations to centres, any changes to those allocations being based on new information on certain key parameters. In the analytical process, TAC has emphasized the importance of the related goals of people-centred poverty alleviation and natural resources conservation, of alternative sources of supply for the CGIAR products, and of how new science and other considerations influence the chances of success. TAC also carefully considered the outcomes of the regional fora of NARS and the global forum on NARS/CGIAR partnership at ICW97.
The attached report reflects the views of TAC as a whole and I would like to express my appreciation to the Members for their insights and hard work, especially during the marathon session at TAC 72. The task could not have been accomplished without the support of the staff of the TAC Secretariat. I would also like to express my gratitude to Centre Directors for their collaboration and inputs throughout the exercise. Finally, we express our sincere thanks to FAO and the CGIAR Secretariat for their valuable assistance.
We look forward to a stimulating discussion of the report at the Mid-Term Meeting of 1997 in Cairo.
Yours sincerely,
Donald L. Winkelmann
Chair, TAC
