CGIAR Secretariat · Mailing Address: 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. · Office Location: 701 18th Street, N.W. Tel: (1-202) 473-8951 · Cable Address: INTBAFRAD · Fax: (1-202) 473-8110 · E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research - CGIAR
From: The Secretariat
July 1995
CGIAR Mid-Term Meeting
May 22-26 May, 1995
Nairobi, Kenya
ICLARM Mid-Term Review 1/
1
/ Extract from "Summary of Proceedings and Decisions - Report from the Ad Hoc Evaluation Committee II", CGIAR Mid-Term Meeting 1995, Nairobi, Kenya.
ICLARM's first External Program and Management Review was conducted in early 1992, leading to ICLARM joining the CGIAR at MTM92. The 1992 Review Panel recommended, and TAC and the CGIAR agreed, that a Mid-Term Review be held to monitor the implementation of the Panel's numerous program and management recommendations, and more particularly the progress made in building the new programs, which were outlined in ICLARM's strategic plan, and in improving its organization and management.
Within a year of its joining the CGIAR, ICLARM experienced an internal crisis that led to significant changes in its governance.
The Mid-Term Review submitted to the Nairobi Mid-Term Meeting was carried out in January-February 1995 by a two person panel, chaired by Mr. E.T. York, Jr. and assisted by the two Secretariats.
The Panel acknowledges the good progress made by ICLARM in implementing most of the recommendations of the 1992 review, particularly in the areas of human resources management; an integrated system for project and program planning, monitoring, and review; financial management; the emphasis on research in the statements of the Center's goals and objectives; changes in its Inland Aquatic Resource System, Coral Reef Systems, and Coastal Resource Systems Programs; and, better formulated strategies for training and information.
The main issues raised by the Panel are summarized below:
· ICLARM's science capacity: while there is a high level of scientific expertise among the current program directors, there is a need to strengthen further the scientific and management capacity below the director level to ensure a sustainable long-term effort by the Center.· ICLARM's research strategy: ICLARM's position in the CGIAR enables it to interface with, and contribute to, the CGIAR terrestrial science expertise. Therefore, ICLARM should broaden its participation in inter-Center program activities from genetic resources to coastal resources, policy research on common property resources, and water management. ICLARM now has a range of possible strategic research partners in stronger NARS and in advanced science institutes more interested in applying their expertise in the South.
· ICLARM's legal status, and research and headquarters facilities: in considering the Egyptian offer of extensive facilities, which offer tremendous opportunities particularly for ex situ conservation, ICLARM should give due consideration to the technical issues surrounding the feasibility of the proposed sites for its research activities, against its strategic plan and the implications for its priorities. ICLARM should also continue to investigate the opportunities for a headquarters facility and agreement in The Philippines.
· The CGIAR should give a higher priority to aquatic research, which contributes vitally to nutritious food production and food security in the developing world, and translate this into stronger and less restrictive financial support to ICLARM.
Ad hoc Evaluation Committee II discussed several aspects of the Panel's report as well as the status and prospects of the negotiations with the Government of Egypt regarding the acquisition of physical research facilities.
The meeting commended the Panel chair for the excellence of the review report, and ICLARM's Board and management for the significant progress made since the 1992 review and the most recent review. The meeting endorsed the recommendations of the Panel, particularly those relating to:
· the need to reach, soonest, a headquarters agreement with the Government of The Philippines;· pursuing vigorously the strengthening of ICLARM's managerial and scientific organizational structure;
· calling on the CGIAR (and other sources) to increase its funding base and diversify the funding mode from project to program based, thus providing ICLARM with the necessary flexibility in managing resources; and
· pursuing the enhancement of the scientific capacity of the Center.
With regard to the acquisition of physical research facilities in Egypt, the Committee saw it as a unique opportunity for a CGIAR Center to work closely, from the onset, with many NARS (in Africa and worldwide). It supported ICLARM's strategy and proposed plan of action, while emphasizing the need for caution with regard to:
· the impact of such expansion on ICLARM's strategic capacity;· the financial implications of operating the facilities, which should be funded from non-competitive sources vis-à-vis other CGIAR undertakings; and
· the program implications of moving in a sub-tropical ecoregion, which ought not divert ICLARM's efforts in the tropics.
The Committee recommended that the Group should endorse the recommendations of the Mid-Term Review; and encourage ICLARM to proceed cautiously, with due respect to the financial, organizational, and research program considerations in its proposed plan of action concerning the Egyptian facility. The Group concurred.
