With TAC Secretariat approval, the Inter-Centre Review panel invited Centre representatives (CIP, CIAT, IITA, IPGRI, and IFPRI), technical experts, and a meeting facilitator to a three-and-one-half day workshop (May 30-June 2, 1995) held at the University of Maryland's Conference Center and Inn in College Park, Maryland, U.S.A. Each of the IARCs was asked to prepare background documents, in a suggested format, that were to serve as resource papers for the workshop. Additionally, a "desk study" was prepared by the TAC Secretariat on production and consumption trends of the main root and tuber crops (cassava, potato, sweet potato, and yam; see subsequent section for a discussion of these commodities). These sources of information were supplemented by the recently complete EPMRs at CIP, CIAT, and IITA.
Donal O'Hare, of O'Hare Associates, Inc. was commissioned as the meeting's facilitator, to direct the workshop on the process of identifying the strategic issues, and for generating options appropriate to the collective needs of IARC research on root and tuber crops. Following overview presentations by the five participating IARCs on the first morning of the workshop, the participants were asked to generate issues relevant to the terms of reference presented by TAC for the "stripe review," and in successive breakout sessions, to explore those issues through analysis and the generation of options, and to share those outcomes with the workshop in plenary session.
This process provided an opportunity for the Inter-Centre Review panel to interact directly with Centre representatives, and to obtain from experts independent opinions on topics relevant to TAC's terms of reference for the Inter-Centre Review. Additionally, the process provided the Centres an opportunity to share important and valuable information with the Inter-Centre Review panel, especially in reference to strategies and priorities within the CG System, vis-a-vis root and tuber crops. It was, however, clearly stated to all of the participants that the recommendations from the workshop represented advisory information for the Inter-Centre Review standing panel, with explicit statements that the panel would not be bound by the workshop's outcomes.
The Inter-Centre Review panel was particularly pleased with the energetic participation by all who attended at the workshop. This opportunity to focus on strategies and priorities for root and tuber crops research generated an extensive amount of material, including pre-workshop reports from CIAT, CIP, and IITA that described current and future conditions for root and tuber crop research within the CG System, and in its partner institutions. This productivity was no doubt greatly enhanced by the excellent process facilitation of Donal O'Hare.
