6.1 Management of Human Resources
6.2 Budget and Finance
6.3 Support Services
6.1.1 Staff Morale
6.1.2 Human Resources Planning and Development Process
6.1.3 Staff Performance Appraisal System
6.1.4 General Observations on Personnel Policies
Effectively managing the human resources at IIMI is a challenging endeavour. IIMI's work force is highly diverse, composed of men and women of many nationalities, ethnic groups, and professional disciplines, based in various locations around the world. (Table 2.3 shows "Total Staff Strength - 1989 and 1993".)
The Human Resource Office is responsible for the development and administration of IIMI's personnel policies for nationally-recruited staff in Sri Lanka and for all internationally-recruited staff. The Office, which reports to the Director of F&A, is headed by a Senior Manager (a national professional), assisted by four national staff. The style of human resource management, however, reflects the management style of the DG as well as that of other managers. This section addresses broad aspects of human resource management at IIMI, then moves to some specifics on personnel policies.
IIMI staff are committed to their work and believe that, given the resources of the Institute, there is a great potential to achieve. Staff salaries and benefits are highly competitive, and turnover during recent years has been low (approximately 5% annual average for national staff and 8% for international staff during the past four years). Nonetheless, while many staff within the organization are quite satisfied at IIMI, and report positively on the working relationships in their units, there is a strong undercurrent of staff frustration and dissatisfaction. In the view of the Panel, the sources of this discontent are complex and may be related to a number of issues, discussed in earlier chapters of this report:
· changes in IIMI's strategy and programmes, along with three moves of IIMI's location within the past few years;· the difficult and largely uncharted subject matter;
· lack of continuity in scientific leadership and clear programme focus;
· rapid growth from a small, family-type organization in a campus-type environment to a larger one, that may have outgrown its somewhat informal management systems;
· inclusion in the CGIAR, the new demands accompanying that, and the unfulfilled expectations of the financial benefits;
· recent financial constraints and staff cuts;
· lack of consultation on important issues (e.g. national staff reclassification and senior staff cuts);
· insufficient delegation of authority, or clarity in delegation;
· lack of teamwork and collegiality.
Unfortunately, instead of finding staff unified to meet present challenges, the Panel found that they lacked cohesion and were distracted by these problems from the work they came to IIMI to do. In the view of the Panel, IIMI is not making the most of its human capital.
Clearly, guiding IIMI through this stage of its development will require strong leadership (see section 5.2), to move the Institute forward firmly on its course. One component of this will be renewed attention to the human side of the organization. While the principal policies supporting this and the values they reflect would come from the top of the organization, initiatives and responsibility for creating a positive work environment should lie - and be seen to lie - with the divisions and programmes. In this regard, managers may consult the Director of F&A, who has organizational responsibilities for and experience in this field.
Certain issues that impact heavily on morale should be addressed at an institutional level, in particular, internal communication and team-building. Concerning the former, staff at IIMI need to feel more informed than they currently do. This is particularly important during a time of financial difficulty, as individuals are concerned about the future of their programmes as well as their jobs, and rumours spread to fill information gaps. At the institutional level, the Panel suggests that the Management Committee be used more effectively to channel relevant information in both directions between Management and staff. Below this level, efforts are needed to strengthen communication within programmes/units of the organization and across these, between headquarters operations and the field, and across levels of the organizational hierarchy. Managers need to bring people together to discuss substantive issues, and to foster an environment in which people feel valued and free to speak openly, and are also willing to listen. This will help to engender better teamwork, which -while effective in some parts of the organization - needs more attention overall in order to make work groups more productive.
As noted above, the Panel links problems of morale with a host of wide-ranging issues. A number of these problems seem to stem from similar or related causes. We have gathered together our views on these, into a recommendation that we regard as the keystone of our Report.
The Panel recommends that IIMI stabilize its organizational structure, decentralize responsibility as advised in the Report, and concentrate upon improving management for maximum effectiveness and establishing an organizational climate to stimulate excellence.
IIMI's budget and staff numbers have grown rapidly over recent years. Given the financial prospects, a period of consolidation is now needed. As IIMI clarifies its programme priorities, within the framework of the MTP and in the light of financial prospects, a plan will be required to develop the 1994 staff mix to that needed in, for example, 1998. The Panel suggests that IIMI initiate a human resource planning and development process. While the DG must establish the broad guidelines and be responsible for such a process at the institutional level, the detailed inputs (to the "big picture") would come from the programmes and divisions. Considerations should include:
· Staff mix, which relates to the balance of skills, experience and support functions within programmes and divisions and across these (taking into account disciplinary balance, managers to subordinates, etc.), as well as the mix in terms of nationality balance, gender, age and tenure with the organization. Table 6.1 illustrates a few dimensions of staff mix, and how these have changed in recent years. In view of IIMI's change of mandate to "irrigated agriculture" between 1989 and 1993, it is unexpected that the numbers of agriculturalists and management staff should have declined, whilst those of engineers have increased. This may need consideration.· Staff development, which is intended to strengthen IIMI's staff mix - both in the interests of individuals' career goals and to meet future institutional needs - is integral. This should include developing, through on-the-job or organized training, leadership and managerial capacity as well as technical and other skills that will enable international and national staff, at headquarters and in the field, to take on more challenges within current positions or in other parts of the organization, as opportunities arise.
· Cost implications will clearly need to be weighed at the institutional level, in terms of costs and benefits of training and development, as well as the opportunity costs associated with staffing decisions. In this regard, IIMI needs to develop explicit criteria and processes, that are public, regarding which positions require international recruitment, and when.
An effective performance appraisal system is an essential ingredient for successful human resource planning and development. The performance appraisal process can be a valuable tool in staff planning and review, motivation and development, and can be beneficial at the individual, programme, and institutional levels.
The 1990 Donor-Sponsored External Review noted that management had introduced "an excellent performance planning and evaluation system during the past year" for international staff. The system has now been in operation for about four years and, while the Panel considers it to be sound in form, in practice it is not being used to full advantage. For example, according to staff surveyed and/or interviewed, meaningful criteria are not uniformly established between supervisors and subordinates, nor are the appraisals consistently used as a basis for discussions of the following year's workplan. While the process may be used rigorously by some, this is not the case across the Institute. The Panel suggests that the process should: (a) be given more importance at the institutional level, (b) be conducted according to a schedule that is adhered to, (c) include measurable objectives for all staff, (d) link institutional goals with individual objectives, giving attention to publishing and other research outputs, institutional strengthening and the management of relationships with collaborators, cost efficiency (e.g., adherence to budget in the first place), and management of people, (e) distinguish clearly between all different levels of performance (f) entail feedback to employees on strengths and weaknesses, so that individuals and their managers can plan a future course accordingly, (g) link personal, unit and institutional plans. The Panel recognizes that, appraising staff performance in an IIMI-context is a difficult endeavour; it considers that the current system is basically sound and that it could be used to significant individual and institutional advantage.
Table 6.1 Staff Mix 1989 and 1993
|
|
1989 |
1993 | ||
|
TOTAL STAFF COMPOSITION | ||||
|
International Managerial Staff |
15 |
5% |
18 |
5% |
|
Other International Staff |
16 |
5% |
20 |
5% |
|
National Professionals |
71 |
24% |
132 |
33% |
|
Other National Staff |
190 |
65% |
226 |
57% |
|
Total |
292 |
100% |
396 |
100% |
|
INTERNATIONAL STAFF NATIONALITIES | ||||
|
North America |
10 |
32% |
10 |
26% |
|
South America |
2 |
6% |
2 |
5% |
|
Europe |
8 |
26% |
14 |
37% |
|
Asia |
11 |
35% |
12 |
32% |
|
Africa |
0 |
0% |
0 |
0% |
|
Total |
31 |
100% |
38 |
100% |
|
Lesser-Developed Countries |
11 |
35% |
14 |
37% |
|
Developed Countries |
20 |
65% |
24 |
63% |
|
Total |
31 |
100% |
38 |
100% |
|
DISCIPLINES OF INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME STAFF |
| |||
|
Engineering |
10 |
37% |
18 |
55% |
|
Social Sciences |
5 |
19% |
7 |
21% |
|
Management |
5 |
19% |
2 |
6% |
|
Agricultural Science |
3 |
11% |
1 |
3% |
|
Economics |
4 |
15% |
5 |
15% |
|
Total |
27 |
100% |
33 |
100% |
As the data indicate, IIMI's staff mix has undergone many changes in the past five years. Among others, there has been a significant increase of engineers and decrease of management and agricultural scientists (which seems odd at a time when the mission has been changed to irrigated agriculture); there has also been a large increase, among the total staff, of national professionals. While IIMI international staff are highly diverse, representing 15 nationalities, IIMI has not yet recruited any Africans to the international ranks.
The Panel was pleased to learn that IIMI has introduced two new appraisal systems for national staff in the past year, one for the professional and the other for the general staff. IIMI staff consider the systems to be sound overall, better targeted to individuals, and in general an improvement over the old system. The Human Resources Office has conducted training and provided instructions to supervisors in carrying out the appraisals; as is inevitable in such a system, implementation is not uniform. While implementation must be managed at the divisional level, the Office of Human Resources can (and intends to) help ensure that supervisors are adequately trained in the process, and that uniform procedures are followed. The Panel commends IIMI for progress in this area, and urges that the new system be used fully to encourage, identify and reward performance that exceeds pre-established output-based criteria. It suggests that, as a next step, the appraisal system be linked with a clearly articulated and active training and career development policy (specifically including national research staff). While staff training does occur in some parts of the organization, practices and opportunities vary.
The Panel found IIMI's personnel policies and practices to be sound overall. Policies are found in staff manuals; the one for headquarters-based national staff is in the process of being revised, and the one for international staff will soon be. Staff noted ambiguities in policies that presumably will be clarified. In addition, there are policies that will require further study (such as that concerning whether to appoint national staff on fixed-term contracts or a continuing basis). Given the importance of these policies for individuals' welfare, potential changes should incorporate staff input, where practicable, and the rationale for decisions taken should be clearly explained.
The Panel also explored issues of compensation of IIMI staff. IIMI's policy is to place itself in the top quartile of "the market" for national staff, and the Human Resource Office commissions periodic surveys to ensure that the Institute stays within its range; the policy for international staff is to stay competitive with comparable (e.g., other CGIAR) organizations, and IIMI reviews their practices periodically in this regard. The data, as well as comments of national and international staff, would suggest that in this regard IIMI is a very generous employer. The Panel believes that IIMI should be competitive to attract and retain high calibre staff, but is concerned that its practices may be above the market, and overall the compensation cost structure is quite high. The Institute has already taken action in this regard, by reducing the increment levels awarded after the annual appraisal for both national and international staff (and the post allowances for international Headquarters' based staff). In addition, it has hired a consultant to review the compensation packages of international staff, relative to other CGIAR centres. If results show that IIMI's practices are out of line with those of other centres, the Panel suggests that appropriate changes be introduced rapidly.
In terms of gender balance, IIMI is unusual among CGIAR centres in that it has two women in the management ranks; below that level, however, there is only one woman among the international staff, and the percentage of women on the international staff, currently 8%, has remained fairly constant over the past five years. Among the national staff, women constitute about 40% of the 40 or so professional staff and about 43% of total (142) national staff at headquarters. In another part of Colombo, in the Sri Lanka Field Operations Office, however, women constitute 6% of the 35 professional and 15% of the total (60) national staff. While these proportions reflect to some extent the number of women in these professions, in the Panel's view, there is an imbalance here that should be considered at an institutional level. The Panel suggests that IIMI should, as part of the human resources planning and development process described above, consider gender balance of its staff and goals in this regard for the future, given availability in different national and international labour pools. An explicit strategy should involve consideration of recruitment and other personnel policies (e.g., job-sharing). Management should also consider how it might foster a gender friendly work environment throughout the Institute, in order to help achieve its gender-balance goal.
The difference in gender balance at these two offices raises a broader issue -oversight from headquarters of national staff personnel policies at IIMI's field operations. While the Panel commends the decentralized approach IIMI has taken here, in allowing country-based staff to manage their local staff based on best local practices, the Panel believes that headquarters should practice more oversight in this regard. The Panel suggests that the Director of F&A (or Senior Manager of Human Resources) review the terms and conditions of staff at all country operations and examine how these have been set. The information concerning country-based staff is currently maintained in the Office of International Cooperation and, while this is sensible for programmatic purposes, for administrative purposes it should also be retained in F&A.
6.2.1 Financial Management
6.2.2 Integrated Planning and Control Systems
6.2.3 External Audit
6.2.4 Internal Audit
Since joining IIMI in January 1993, the Director of F&A has introduced several changes to improve the efficiency of the budget and finance functions she heads. The Panel found that the quality of the budget guidelines and the financial reports have improved significantly since her arrival. In addition, the Panel felt that the F&A division understands its priorities and is headed in the right direction (see Section 6.3.3).
During the period 1984-93, IIMI's funding has increased from less than US$ 1 million to nearly US$ 10 million (see Sections 2.4 and 7.5). This represents a compound rate of growth of approximately 26%. During the period 1984-93, IIMI generated an operating surplus in all years except 1989-91, when it incurred a loss. IIMI's current ratio (current assets/current liabilities) during the past four years have ranged from 1.32 to 1.47. Although IIMI's target for the current ratio is 2.0, the Panel has no concern about IIMI's ability to meet its short-term financial commitments.
IIMI has been sensitive to the importance of overhead recovery, and its overhead cost recovery as a percentage of direct cost has steadily increased from 1.96% in 1987, to 12.26 in 1990 and to about 24% in 1993. The increasing trend in overhead cost recovery is an excellent indicator of IIMI's financial management, since it should lead to improved cost control through more complete assignment of costs to the appropriate cost centre. The Panel is pleased to note that among the CGIAR centres, IIMI has one of the highest overhead recovery rates. However, during the three year period 1990-1993, IIMI's headquarters' overhead cost as a percentage of direct cost has increased from 33% to 38%. (This increase was mostly on account of adding the DDG and a portion of the compensation of the Director of Research, Director of International Cooperation, and heads of PDO and Information to the overhead calculation.) The Panel suggests that IIMI should carefully monitor and control its overhead expenses to maintain and improve its competitive edge among its donors.
During the Panel's stay at IIMI, a consultant visited to develop cost efficiency indicators to gauge IIMI's cost structure, to help the Institute understand trends (such as fixed and variable costs) and make better informed management decisions accordingly. The Panel agreed with the preliminary conclusions and recommendations of the consultant and believes they should be implemented. The Panel suggests that IIMI senior management, as a priority, continue to initiate new measures to ensure that IIMI's financial resources are used effectively and efficiently.
In order to involve staff in cost containment, management is in the process of planning and establishing a Cost Cutting Task Force. This is expected to include staff from all sections of the organization who will work together to find opportunities for cost reduction. The Panel suggests that the mandate of the task force should be expanded so as to address not only cost cutting, but efficiency and effectiveness maximization. Based on the Panel's observations concerning the weak level of internal communication at IIMI - and the fact that many staff have perceptions (somtimes wrong) of waste in other areas of the organization - such a task force could be of value in clarifying misunderstandings, identifying savings, and commenting to management on related cost matters.
Although IIMI has adopted the CGIAR procedures for planning and control systems, in the Panel's view, IIMI's 1994 MTP has not been translated into medium-term project priorities, projects in the pipeline for funding, and project milestones for current projects. This has resulted in managerial objectives that are moving targets. Consequently, commitment to and clarity about the 1994 Medium-Term Plan has declined. The Panel met with many employees who said that they would prefer IIMI to accept any one plan and get down to implementing it. The Panel suggests that the DG should recognize the possibility of flat funding, and ask the Programmes and Projects Subcommittee (see Section 5.4) to develop a clear set of project priorities with such a scenario. The DG should also clarify soon the details of operations that will continue, continue in a different way, or be closed. The current uncertainty about IIMI's future operations is a major distraction and is a hindrance to IIMI's progress.
IIMI's project-based budgetary controls provide essential information (monthly and annual reports by selected categories and a transactions journal to help trace the source of costs allocated) both to project managers and programme leaders. However, better controls are needed to prevent the over-spending of budgets. The Panel suggests that procedures need to be strengthened and managers with budget responsibilities need to receive a clear signal that they are going to be held accountable for their performance against budgets.
IIMI's monthly and annual project reports are not being utilized as management tools. They are used frequently to verify the accuracy of the costs allocated to their area of responsibility, but the Panel found that some but not all managers understand how to use the reports to utilize project resources effectively. The Panel is pleased to learn that the Director of F&A is planning to upgrade the project reporting system by installing a proven software system that is more user friendly and flexible. In the Panel's view, IIMI should educate non-financial managers and proactively take steps to encourage more discussions between F&A and the users of project reports to enable the F&A to improve its service to internal clients.
The Budget Subcommittee of the Management Committee is currently chaired by the Director General. Concomitant with the observations in Section 5.2 to decrease the DG's workload, the Panel suggests that the Budget Subcommittee be chaired by the Director of F&A. The Budget Subcommittee can serve as an effective forum for cooperation and collaboration during the budgetary process among the senior management group. In addition, by making the budgetary targets more specific and output-related, the Budget Subcommittee can contribute to increasing IIMI's effectiveness and efficiency.
In June 1989, the Board approved the appointment of Coopers and Lybrand to act as IIMI's external auditors, and have annually renewed the appointment. The Executive and Finance Committee holds an annual closed session meeting with the external auditors to review their external auditor's Management Report. Based on a closed session meeting with three representatives of the external auditor, including the past and new partners-in-charge, the Panel is fully satisfied with the process and content of the external audit.
The Panel suggests that IIMI's external and internal audits should be better linked by ensuring that each year's external audit verifies, among other things, satisfactory implementation of the internal auditor's recommendations. The external auditors should also be given an opportunity to provide inputs to the Board to identify priority areas for internal audit.
Based on a cost-benefit analysis, the Executive and Finance Committee of the Board, on management's recommendation, appointed an external firm, KPMG Ford, Rhodes, Thornton & Company, to conduct its internal audits. The Board was actively involved in discussing the role of internal auditors and they approved the appointment of the current internal auditor. Internal audits are conducted in accordance with a yearly audit plan, proposed by the internal auditor, and modified as needed by the DG. The Executive and Finance Committee had an opportunity to review the 1994 Internal Audit Plan before it was finalized.
Each quarter, the internal auditor submits a report to the DG. During its December meeting, the Executive and Finance Committee reviews a summary annual report from the internal auditor. Based on a review of two quarterly reports submitted by the internal auditor and IIMI's Annual Internal Audit Plan, the Panel is satisfied with IIMI's approach to improving its internal controls. The Panel suggests that the Board should utilize internal auditing efforts to better fulfil its fiduciary responsibilities by having an annual closed session meeting with the internal auditors and by participating in the selection of projects to be undertaken by the internal auditors.
The focus of the internal auditing efforts has mainly been in the compliance testing area i.e. verifying the adequacy of internal controls. The Panel suggests that the Board should selectively utilize the internal auditor to conduct operational and management audits to obtain an independent and objective assessment of the scope for improving specific operations.
6.3.1 Administrative Services and Facilities
6.3.2 Information Services
In addition to its functional responsibilities for human resources and financial management, the Finance and Administration division provides services in transport, maintenance, travel, conference coordination, purchasing and supplies, office support (telecommunications, mailing, etc.), government liaison in Sri Lanka (for logistical matters), leasing housing for international staff, and negotiating and overseeing contractual services at headquarters (staff cafeteria, janitorial, gardening, and security).
The F&A division is very visible at headquarters, as approximately 50% of national staff there work in F&A. Perhaps as a result, there is a perception that this division has expanded at the expense of IIMI's research programmes. The data would suggest that this has not been the case. During the period from 1989 to 1993, while - in real terms - IIMI's total budget increased by 29%, research programme expenditures rose by 43% and F&A declined by 5% (using data in Table 2.1 and assuming 4% annual inflation). The Panel commends management for cost containment in this area.
When the new Director of F&A assumed office in 1993 she reorganized the division, streamlining the structure to give herself fewer direct reports, in order to move her concentration from operational to more strategic divisional matters, including the initiation of studies and measures aimed at improving the quality and reducing the costs of services.
The Panel did not study the efficiency or quality of services in the different areas. In general, while certain departments perform better than others - and there may be opportunities for improved efficiency - users are satisfied overall with service quality.
In terms of the management of the division, the Panel was pleased to note that there are monthly meetings of the Director and department heads, work programmes seem to be understood well, and communication appears good (although improvements should be explored at the lower staff levels). Since 1993, the division has prepared an operational workplan. The plan specifies goals and objectives by department, a time frame, and resources required. The workplan for 1993 appeared to be well thought out and used to monitor progress against objectives, with a focus on improving effectiveness and efficiency. Thus far, cost savings have been identified in assorted areas (e.g. transport, e-mail), and efforts are expected to continue.
During 1994, the Director of F&A will be working with F&A department heads to develop performance indicators for their work (that are expected to be tracked on a monthly basis) - an idea that, the Panel believes, should be considered for implementation in other divisions in IIMI.
Outside of IIMI headquarters, each IIMI field office is responsible for its own administrative arrangements and reports to the Director of International Cooperation on these matters (except for IIMI-Pakistan, which is accountable to its Director on these matters, who reports to the DG). With the exception of IIMI field offices in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, country offices contain only one to two international staff, for whom administrative matters consume a great deal of their attention - particularly in the light of the often difficult conditions in which they work. Based on discussions the Panel had with staff (and comments written in response to the Panel's staff survey), there should be opportunities to improve these arrangements. In order to explore possibilities, the Panel suggests that the Office of International Cooperation, in consultation with the Director of Finance and Administration, organize a meeting with all out-posted staff during their next visit to headquarters, to address general management-related concerns of this group of staff and develop a joint action plan for improvement.
Headquarters. Unlike the larger CGIAR centres, IIMI does not have a campus with experimental fields. Its facilities consist primarily of the headquarters building outside Colombo (purchased by the Government of Sri Lanka for IIMI and made available to the Institute at a rent of US$ 1 per year), and rented (or shared) office facilities in country-based operations. The building outside Colombo, which IIMI has occupied for about two years, is well laid out, spacious, attractively decorated, and provides an excellent working environment.
Developments in Pakistan. The Memorandum of Agreement between IIMI and the Government of Pakistan indicates that the Government will provide IIMI with a building for its operations in that country. IIMI has been renting space in Lahore that, while not ideal, appears comfortable and adequate for the Programme's needs. At its meeting in April 1993, IIMI's Board of Governors reviewed a proposal for the construction by the Government of Pakistan of a new building designed for IIMI (which will cost about US $1.8-2.0 million and be financed as part of a World Bank loan), which IIMI would lease upon its completion. The Board resolved that the construction cost (including internal construction and outfitting) and operation of the new building must be cost neutral to IIMI; if this condition cannot be met, the Board instructed management to continue to lease its offices in Pakistan.
In mid-1993, the Government of Pakistan began construction of the building. The plan for the main office building is quite impressive and, despite some scaling-down of the original plan, still appreciably larger than the current space; IIMI would occupy less than half of it. Expenditures associated with moving in and operating the building are still uncertain, as are opportunities for revenue IIMI might be able to generate by renting out unused space, until a lease arrangement is worked out. The Panel, like the Board, believes that IIMI should not enter into a lease unless it is cost neutral and, in addition, provides an adequate balance of security and flexibility for the Institute's operations.
6.3.2.1 Publishing and the Review Process
6.3.2.2 Library
6.3.2.3 Computers
The Communications Division has done a good job at implementing IIMI's policy on publications, in printing an array of types of in-house publications, and in distributing materials to a reasonably wide audience. IIMI publishes the following in-house materials (in parentheses is the number of publications between 1984 and 1993):
· Scientific research materials: monographs (8), research papers (13), country papers (Malaysia 1, Nepal 3, Pakistan 6, Philippines 2, Sri Lanka 11, or a total of 23), conference proceedings (19), project reports (2), working/discussion papers (28).· Extension materials: IIMI Review (twice a year), FMIS Newsletter (14), newsletter of the Research Network for Irrigation Management for Crop Diversification in Rice-Based Systems (IMCD, 3), West Africa Newsletter (3).
· Administrative and public relations materials: annual reports, donor-specific materials, management briefs (4), brochures, public-awareness materials.
The number of publications has increased steadily over the years, with a total of 25 in 1993 for all the categories above. Those are, however, modest numbers for an institute of IIMI's size. The IIMI Review is published in English, Spanish, and French and the FMIS Newsletter in English and Spanish. The first is printed in runs of 5,000 and the second of 1,750. For monographs, 1,000 copies are printed.
In the Panel's view, IIMI maintains too many types of publications. There is insufficiently sharp distinction between publications, too much heterogeneity in presentation within the same series, and often an insufficient number of issues in each category. We suggest that a more clear distinction needs to be made between publications directed at a scientific audience and publications for the community of irrigation managers and policy makers.
For the scientific community, priority attention should be given to strengthening the monograph series which, besides journal articles and commercial books, should be IIMI's main scientific outlet with strict quality control. For this purpose, we suggest the following:
· IIMI should appoint a Publications Review Committee that has full responsibility for implementing and actively participating in the review process. According to the current review policy, the review of monographs is "to be determined in each case by the Director of Research" which the Panel finds inadequate. Membership to this committee should be on a rotating basis. Responsibility of this committee is not only to insure quality control in the monograph series but also to assist authors improve the quality and the presentation of their manuscripts.· The review policy should be explained in the monographs and the names of the members of the review committee given. This should replace the current disclaimer of IIMI's responsibility for the contents of published materials. Ultimately, the DG must in principle have final responsibility for publications from IIMI.
· For each monograph reviewed, at least one referee selected by the Publications Review Committee should be from outside the Institute.
· The format of these monographs needs to be homogenized and they must be numbered sequentially so they can be easily identified by external readers.
· Research papers should also be refereed but in a more expeditious and simple fashion.
· More incentives should be given to publish research results in the refereed monograph series, as opposed to publication in non-refereed country papers and project reports or more lightly refereed research papers. Most research papers and country papers are in fact already of monograph length. The number of monographs published has been insufficient, with 0 until 1990, 3 in 1990, 0 in 1991, 2 in 1992, and 3 in 1993.
Conference proceedings should be differentiated. For conferences which are aimed at policy makers and practitioners, one-page briefs for each presentation should be prepared before the conference. Conference proceedings should only be published for those conferences with a professional audience at which significant research or policy papers have been prepared.
Publication of the IIMI Review is the direct responsibility of the Head of Information and the DG. It is a high quality review that circulates widely information about IIMI's achievements. Only one issue has been published in 1993. It appears difficult to maintain a flow of materials derived from research results to support the Review. We suggest that oversight for the Review, as well as for the publications programme in general, should be formalized by appointment of an Editorial Committee (noted below) in order to enlist greater commitment in the Institute for the provision of materials as well as for general oversight of the Institute's publications performance.
The FMIS Newsletter is an important and successful enterprise started in 1990 which has grown to link 1,357 irrigation professionals from 77 countries. Published twice a year, it is now the shared responsibility of Headquarters and the Nepal office, and the Newsletter is assembled in Nepal. A survey of readers' opinions indicated strong satisfaction and interest by respondents. However, it is not clear that this network has a clear vision of where it is going and what it will be trying to achieve in the future (see Chapter 4).
The Panel suggests that IIMI put much greater effort into sustaining a flow of high quality scientific publications, both in-house publications and in the international peer-reviewed literature.
The Panel recommends that an Editorial Committee, and a Publications Review Subcommittee, be appointed to manage IIMI's publications and ensure quality.
In this regard, clear information should be given to all professional staff that periodic publication in the monograph series, in addition to refereed journal articles, is a fundamental requirement in a CGIAR Centre.
The services IIMI's library is offering can be summarized as follows:
· Development and implementation of a resource base of books, journals, serials and newsletters in the field of irrigated agriculture, irrigation management, economics, social sciences, water resources management and related topics;· Assistance in the development of an irrigation management information network (IMIN) database;
· Publication of a two-weekly library contents page bulletin containing facsimiles of title pages of periodicals for distribution to IIMI's country staff;
· Inter-library services to the 24 agricultural libraries of the Sri Lankan universities and research organizations; and
· Free access to outside users.
The library services are run by a team of motivated and dedicated staff, consisting of the head librarian, two assistants, a documentalist and an assistant documentalist. The latter two have as primary task entering new additions to the IMIN- and library database.
The library contains about 4,000 books and as many reports and reprints. The number of journals available is 150, of which 80 are received on an exchange basis, and 70 purchased. Due to the increase of the subscription fee of most journals, the budget available for books is decreasing, since priority is given to maintain the resource base of journals. The latter is a good policy since journals are the first resource of information for the research staff to keep in touch with the newest publications. The immediate consequence, however, is that the number of recent books is decreasing. The research staff submit their requests for new books to the librarian, and he consults with the Information Office and the Finance and Administration Office, before orders are placed.
The IMIN-database contains bibliographic information of literature on irrigation management and related subjects available in the libraries of 38 international organizations, institutes and other CGIAR Centres. From the IMIN-database, IIMI derives annually a selected bibliography on irrigation management. Up to now, 6 volumes, containing a total of 11,098 citations on irrigation management and related disciplines have been published. The citations contain the following information: an entry number, title of publication, collation, keywords, location of the publication and an abstract. The citations are classified according to generalities, social sciences, pure science, technology and irrigation management. The new additions to the library are stored in a similar way in the library database. The library has also access to the following outside databases: AGRICOLA, AGRIS, AQUALINE, CABI, CCOD, CD-DIS, Engineering & Applied Science, SOILCD, TROPAG + RURAL, and WRA. These databases, in addition to the journals, are a very important source of information.
The library receives about 200 newsletters from various institutes and organizations. A routing procedure is in operation through which the newsletters are passed to the research staff in HQ. The procedure is developed in such a way that research staff see only those newsletters which are of interest.
Another interesting service developed by the library, which is very much appreciated by the country-based staff, is IIMI's library contents page bulletin. This bulletin contains copies of title pages of periodicals and is distributed every two-weeks to country staff. The content of the bulletin is based on the personal requirements of the individual researcher.
In addition, the library is integrated into two local networks, AGRINET and ENVIRNET. AGRINET networks the 24 agricultural libraries of Sri Lanka, and ENVIRNET is a network linking all institutes and organizations in Sri Lanka engaged with the environment. IIMI's library takes a leading role in both networks, and organized in 1993 at IIMI a one-week workshop for the participants of AGRINET.
The library, albeit situated within IIMI's HQ, supports the research staff at the HQ and the overseas country projects to the satisfaction of the users. The staff attached to the library seem to be adequately trained, well equipped with computers and electronic media, and certainly not oversized in staff number for the workload they carry.
IIMI headquarters has a rather large PC platform, consisting of about 80 personal computers, which over the past year have been upgraded from XT to 486 machines. In addition, most of the research staff possess a powerful portable computer, which facilitate their work when in the field or abroad. Preparations are underway to integrate the PCs in a LAN network, starting with the research group. The foregoing will certainly assist IIMI in better utilizing its data resources, but more importantly the network will offer research staff the opportunity of having direct access to E-mail. At present E-mail is available only at one station, located in the Communications Office. Infrequent use is being made of this facility, by which the research staff more easily could interact with the outside scientific world, at low cost. Through E-mail the research group will also have the possibility of consulting databases of outside libraries and institutes.
The computer infrastructure is served by the Computer Services Office. If problems cannot be solved internally, outside services seem to be amply available within Colombo. The moment that the PCs are linked in a network, this service or specialized people from outside should be asked to offer IIMI's administrative and research staff short training sessions in the proper use of the network's hardware and software.
IIMI's research staff is actively working with basic software packages for text and data processing, and the statistical analysis of field data. There is a clear need for the use of more domain specific programmes (in the field of irrigation management and engineering), and the processing of geo-referenced information. For the latter a variety of GIS-software, with varying degrees of complexity, are available. GIS-software enables the user to better process information for small (an irrigation scheme), medium (a watershed) and large (world) scale studies. So far, only the ILWIS GIS-software has been used in one of the country projects (Pakistan).
Other computer packages used in country projects are software for the hydraulic simulation of open channel flow, water and salt balance models, models for the planning of irrigation schedules, management information systems, management simulation models, linear programming packages, and expert systems. Over the past eight years IIMI staff have been exposed to about 20 different software packages. The introduction of software was most of the time done with the help of an external intervention (consultant, country project, etc.). Unfortunately, due to lack of continuity in personnel and staff interest many of these software packages are not actively used.
There is considerable scope for the use of software tools and other advanced information technologies (e.g. CD-ROM's) in research and training. However the senior research staff at Headquarters does not seem to fully appreciate the relevance and utility of information technology as a tool with which the research work can be given a more quantitative dimension.
As IIMI gets more actively involved in environmental studies, and the system-wide water management programme, the need for data handling and simulation modelling will increase. The modelling applications will range from simple simulations (e.g. soil water balance computation) to the modelling of very complex systems (e.g. hydraulic routing of water flow in branched canal networks). The use of models will require monitoring, processing and interpretation of large sets of primary and secondary data. To be able to do this in an effective way it is desirable that IIMI develop capacity in the handling and processing of large sets of data including statistical processing. Data handling and the use of summary and process oriented lumped models might require with time the introduction of more advanced hardware and software, which in turn will require a stronger support unit for computer services. Ideally, the Centre should have a proper strategy for computer developments, to ensure that the Centres needs are met in the most effective and timely way. In principle, IIMI needs a staff member who is highly skilled in advanced numerical analysis and modelling, even though such an appointment may not be possible now.
