PC 90/7

Programme Committee

Ninetieth Session

Rome, 15 – 19 September 2003

Progress Report on the Follow-up to Past Programme Committee Recommendations

1. This Progress Report provides in tabular format the status on Programme Committee items for which specific follow-up action was requested by the Committee, or jointly with the Finance Committee.

2. The Committee is invited to note this Progress Report.

  

Schedule of the Programme Committee and Joint Meeting Recommendations and
Status of Follow-up Action

Reference

Recommendation

Status

CL 124/14

Paras. 12 and 20

 

Para. 17

 

 

Para. 19

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Para. 29

 


Para. 41

Programme of Work and Budget 2004-2005

The Committee agreed that it would be useful to review progress under PAIAs at a future session in the next biennium and felt that HIV/AIDS was a particularly suitable subject for a PAIA.

The Committee reaffirmed its call to fund IPPC at the level of its biennial business plan under any budget scenario and urged the Secretariat to seek to identify additional resources for IPPC at organizational level.

The Commmittee reaffirmed the recommendation of the 17th Session of COAG that FAO provide its share of the additional resources required for the recommendations of the Joint FAO/WHO Evaluation of Codex Alimentarius and other FAO and WHO Work on Food Standards to be implemented in full, noting that this should normally apply irrespective of the budget level.

The Committee agreed that the resources allocated to the proposed new entity, 221P8 – Food Quality and Safety throughout the Food Chain, be reduced as the Secretariat undertook, and that the corresponding savings be reallocated to Codex (221P2) and Codex-related (221P6) work.

The Committee recommended that for Major Programme 2.4, the budget under the Zero Real Growth scenario should be restored to at least the same level as in the PWB 2002-03.

The Committee regretted that the information included in the SPWB on the Technical Cooperation Programme had been too succinct, and looked forward to more comprehensive information being provided in future documents.

 

A review of PAIAs will be initiated in the 2004-05 biennium.
 

Action has been taken in the full PWB 2004-05.

 

Action has been taken in the full PWB 2004-05.

 

 

 

Action has been taken in the full PWB 2004-05.

 

 

Action has been taken in the full PWB 2004-05.

 

Action has been taken in the full PWB 2004-05 and a paper on this topic will be presented to the Ninetieth session of the Programme Committee.
 

CL 124/14

 

Para. 57

Joint FAO/WHO Evaluation of the Codex Alimentarius and Other FAO and WHO Food Standards Work

The Codex Alimentarius Commission and both FAO and WHO management have already put in process a programme of work to consult further with members and move forward in developing strategies to implement the main thrusts of the evaluation recommendations. The Programme Committee will review the progress in two years’ time with a view to maintaining the momentum of change and requested a follow-up report at that time.
 

 

 

This follow-up report will be presented to the Programme Committee in May 2005.

Reference

Recommendation

Status

CL 123/12

 

Para. 57

Thematic Evaluation of Strategy A.3 (Preparedness for, and effective and sustainable response to, food and agricultural emergencies)

  • The Committee requested a progress report in one year’s time on the actions taken in implementing the recommendations of the evaluation.
  • The Committee further requested that the Secretariat prepare a concise paper covering the main issues and lessons on its emergency and rehabilitation activities, to facilitate an inter-governmental discussion on this topic.

 

 

A progress report on the implementation of the recommendations and the paper requested, will be submitted to the Programme Committee it its Ninetieth session in September 2003.

CL 124/14

Paras.70 and 71;

PC 89/7

Paras. 4 and 7

Evaluation Topics for the period 2003 to 2005

Following biennial consultation, the Committee endorsed with two changes the priorities for evaluation as proposed in PC89/7, recognising that this would entail some changes in the coverage of topics in the original work-programme. With flexibility for new and urgent demands it is thus proposed to initiate the following evaluations in the period to the end of 2005:

  • Decentralization of FAO's Programme and Services
     
  • Cross-organizational Strategy for Communicating FAO's Messages
     
  • Cross-organizational Strategy for Partnerships and Alliances
     
  • Programme 2.3.3 Fish Exploitation and Utilization
     
  • Programme 2.1.3 Livestock Production, Information and Policy aspects

And one or two of the following:

  • Strategic Objective B1 (International instruments concerning food, agriculture, fisheries and forestry, safe use and fair exchange of agricultural fishery and forestry goods)
     
  • Strategic Objective C.1 (Policy options and institutional measures to improve efficiency and adaptability in production, processing and marketing systems, and meet the changing needs of producers and consumers);
     
  • Strategic Objective D.2 (Conservation, rehabilitation and development of environments at greatest risk); and
     
  • Strategic Objective E.2 (Regular assessments, analysis and outlook studies for food and agriculture).

 

 

 

 

 

Already initiated.

 

 

 

 

 

Already initiated.

Reference

Recommendation

Status

CL 124/14

 

Para. 60

The Evaluation of Programme 2.2.2 (Food and Agricultural Information) – Activities Related to Agricultural Statistics in the Context of FAOSTAT

The Committee requested a report, in two years’ time, on progress being made in improving coordination of statistical activities in the Organization.

 

 

This report will be submitted to the Programme Committee in May 2005.
 

CL 124/14
 

Paras. 63 and 64

The Thematic Review of FAO's Training Activities - An Update on follow-up action

The Committee noted that experience with the established corporate focal point and Training Network is still recent and it is thus too early to draw conclusions on their effectiveness in improving the quality of training provided by FAO. The Committee therefore requested a follow-up report on this topic to be submitted to the Committee in 2-3 years’ time.
 

 


A follow-up report will be submitted to the Programme Committee in May 2006.

CL 124/14

Para. 72

Report on Important Programme Developments

The Committee asked that greater efforts be made in the future to be more precise as to the cost effect on the Regular Programme budget and the impact on approved programmes, so as to increase the usefulness of this type of report for enlightenment of the membership.
 

 

This comment will be taken into account in future reports of this nature.

CL 124/14

Para. 49

Priority Setting

The Committee agreed that it would need to return to this topic at its next session, with the benefit of additional documents prepared by the Secretariat, where the latter would seek to address two aspects with respect to priority setting for the PWB and MTP:

  • possible improvements to the internal methods within the Secretariat which could facilitate the process of prioritising resource proposals at Programme Entity level in line with the identified shortcomings; and
     
  • information requirements, arrangements and procedures which could enhance the involvement of the Membership, in particular the Programme Committee itself, in priority setting and enable the Programme Committee to strengthen its advice to the Council.

 

A paper on the latter aspect will be presented to the Ninetieth session of the Programme Committee.

A paper on the former aspect will be developed, following internal consultations, and presented to the Ninety-first Session of the Committee.

CL 124/14

Para. 76

Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP)

The Committee requested that a paper be produced providing an overview of the TCP the, including its underlying policy framework.

 

The requested paper will be submitted to the Ninetieth session of the Programme Committee.
 

Reference

Recommendation

Status

CL 124/14
 

Para. 73 and

CL 124/4

Para. 27

Reports of the United Nations Joint Inspection Unit (JIU)

The Committee requested the Secretariat to provide a document to its next session to enlighten it on the institutional relationship of the JIU and the Organization, and the revised procedure for handling recommendations addressed to Legislative Bodies.

Furthermore, the Committee in its Joint Meeting with the Finance Committee agreed that further discussions of the JIU report, Review of Management and Administration in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, should be supported by an additional document containing a detailed time-bound action plan with action offices indicated, covering on-going or planned follow-up activities.
 

 


The first requested paper will be submitted to the Ninetieth session of the Programme Committee.

Accordingly, this second document will be prepared for the September session, so as to enable the Committees to advise the Council more fully on the possible reactions from FAO Governing Bodies to the JIU report, at its session in November 2003.

CL 123/8

Para. 7

New Arrangements for Enhancing FAO’s Presence at Country Level

The Committees requested that the issues raised under this item be addressed in the Evaluation of FAO’s Decentralization Process.

 

The issues raised will be addressed in the forthcoming evaluation of the decentralisation process to be submitted to the Committees in 2004.
 

CL 124/4

Para. 16

Independence and Location of the Evaluation Service

The Committees requested that a paper be prepared for consideration at their September session, expanding on the various issues raised by the Committees, identifying alternative scenarios for ensuring greater independence, including a fully independent unit, as well as strengthening independence further under the current organizational location of PBEE. The paper should also take into account practices and lessons of selected international organizations that would be relevant in considering alternative models of arrangements for independence.
 

 

This paper will be presented to the Joint Meeting in September 2003.