This is the Report of the External Review Panel appointed to review the programme and management of the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA). The membership of the Panel and their backgrounds are listed in Appendix I.
This Third External Review of WARDA (main phase January 1993) was commissioned in October 1990, simultaneously with the commissioning of the Fourth External Review of IRRI (main phase September 1992) and the Inter-Centre Review of Rice (main phase February 1993). To provide effective links between the three rice review panels, a member from the WARDA Panel and a member from the IRRI Panel are also serving on the Inter-Centre Panel. The reports of the three rice reviews are scheduled to be considered by TAC in March 1993 and by the CGIAR in May 1993.
The detailed Terms of Reference for the Third Review of WARDA are shown in the Appendix II. In broad outline, the Panel was asked to:
· assess the recent evolution of WARDA, its mandate, strategy, programmes, organization and management;· review the methods and processes used by WARDA to ensure quality and relevance in its activities, services, and outputs;
· assess the effectiveness of management, including leadership, values, and organizational culture;
· review the ways in which WARDA collaborates with other institutions within and outside the CGIAR;
· assess WARDA's achievements and impact; and
· assess the adequacy of the facilities and resources available to WARDA in relation to its current and future scale of activities.
The Panel's approach to the Review has been open, participatory and forward looking. In conducting it, the Panel has followed the general guidelines for the CGIAR review process.
The Panel gathered information and evidence in a number of ways. The Panel Chair and one Panel member visited WARDA, Bouaké, in April 1992 to attend the meeting of the Board of Trustees, and to interview the members. In June, the Panel Chair met with the Inter-Centre Review Panel in Rome.
The Panel spent a week at WARDA in August 1992 to familiarize itself with the Centre. It received presentations from management and staff, and met them in groups and individually. The Panel also had a meeting with the Executive Committee of the Board.
The initial visit to the Centre was followed by visits to the national programmes in Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso and Nigeria. The Panel also visited WARDA's Irrigated Sahel Programme in Senegal, the Mangrove Swamp Programme in Sierra Leone, and the lowland breeding programme based at IITA, Nigeria. A list of institutions visited and persons met is given in Appendix III.
In addition to visiting national programmes, the Panel gathered information through three surveys: a questionnaire was sent to a cross-section of rice scientists and research leaders in the WARDA region (the results are summarized in Appendix IV); a survey of WARDA Board members was conducted; and information was sought from CGIAR Centres collaborating with WARDA.
The Panel also benefitted from the Report of the Fourth External Review of IRRI.
Finally, the Panel had access to a large array of documents and data made available by WARDA. Additional documents were made available by the TAC and CGIAR Secretariats. A list of the documents furnished to the Panel is shown in Appendix V.
The Panel has been able to obtain sufficient information and evidence to put forward with confidence the analysis, conclusions and recommendations in this Report.
