This report presents TAC's recommendations for allocating resources across the CGIAR centres and programmes for the period 1994-98. These recommendations are presented to the CGIAR at ICW'93 to provide the basis for the Group's decisions on implementing the System priorities and strategies in the medium term, and approval of centre funding requirements between 1994 and 1998. Centres will finalize their medium-term plan (MTP) proposals according to the recommendations of TAC and the CGIAR to complete this round of the revised resource allocation process.
The process of recommending resource allocation in the CGIAR for 1994-1998 proceeded in several stages. First, TAC made recommendations on priorities and strategies for the System, which were endorsed by the Group at MTM'92, TAC used a comprehensive analytical framework for setting priorities which provided the basic mechanism for linking the recommended priorities for the CGIAR to resource allocation. Based on its priority considerations, TAC developed tentative resource envelopes for 1998 for each centre. Second, these indicative envelopes were used by the centres as planning guidelines for developing their MTP proposals. These proposals were presented to TAC and the CGIAR, providing them with an opportunity to raise issues to which centres responded. Third, TAC considered simultaneously all centres' MTP proposals, together with the centre responses, and reconciled proposals with its System-level recommendations on CGIAR priorities and strategies. The outcome of this process is TAC's funding recommendations which are presented in this report.
On the basis of the consensus reached by the CGIAR at ICW'93, centres will revise their proposals in line with their recommended funding and associated programme recommendations, and will finalize their programmes of work and budget for 1994. Between 1994 and 1998, the analytical framework used in the priority-setting and resource-allocation process will provide a mechanism for monitoring the implementation of the CGIAR's priorities and strategies through analysis of annual programmes of work and budget of the centres.
The remainder of this report describes the medium-term resource-allocation process, and the resulting TAC recommendations for resource allocation for the System as a whole, for each centre, and for Systemwide initiatives.
Chapter 2 provides a historical perspective of the process followed by TAC in making recommendations on resource allocation. TAC's main recommendations on CGIAR priorities and strategies are summarized, and an overview is given of the analytical framework which assisted TAC in making recommendations on the allocation of resources within the System.
Chapter 3 sets out the outcome and results of this process for the System as a whole at core funding levels of US$ 270 and 280 million (in constant 1992 US dollars) in 1998. The processes followed, and the considerations and criteria used in developing resource allocation recommendations are described first. The chapter also contains a proposal for core funding in 1994 and for annual core funding in the intermediary years (1995-97) of the MTP period. In Chapter 14 of its report on CGIAR priorities and strategies, TAC had recommended a relative distribution of System core resources to be achieved by 1998, expressed in the form of a proposed allocation among categories of activity, regions, production sectors and commodities. Chapter 3 also discusses the degree of convergence between the originally-recommended distribution among the different parameters, and the distributions which result from centres' aggregate MTP proposals and from TAC's recommended System resource allocations. Furthermore, TAC discussed the implications of a core funding level of US$ 240 million (in 1992 values) and considered that, if sustained over a longer period, such a level of funding would necessitate further major structural changes in the CGIAR, rather than marginal budgetary adjustments. TAC's views on this matter are presented both here and with further details in the revised Chapter 13 of the Review of CGIAR Priorities and Strategies, which is being circulated separately.
Chapter 4 provides, for each centre, a summary of its MTP proposal, TAC's views on the proposal, the issues and questions raised, the centre's response, and TAC's recommendations for the centre's core funding in 1998 - with the rationale underpinning the recommendations a and in 1994. A financial summary for 1990-1998 is given in tabular form for each centre.
