160th FAO Council
Let me start by saying that some weeks ago, as you know, the Programme and Finance Committees met to discuss many issues that are part of the agenda of this Council Session.
The meetings, particularly the Joint Meeting of the Programme and Finance Committees, progressed in a very serene atmosphere.
Member Countries debated in a constructive way, among themselves and with management, seeking to find consensus in all matters.
The Informal Seminars, like the one we had last Friday, are certainly contributing to make the meetings of the governing bodies more positive and productive.
Since only 15 members of the FAO Council participated in the meetings of the Programme and Finance Committees, let me refer to some points that were discussed.
First of all, I would like to highlight once more the findings of the 2018 edition of the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World.
SOFI 2018 shows clearly that the rise of hunger in the world is not the only big malnutrition problem we are facing nowadays.
Obesity is growing at a steady pace, affecting developed and developing countries, and accounting for 672 million people nowadays.
Furthermore, more than two billion people suffer from micronutrient deficiency globally.
The coexistence of undernourishment, obesity and micronutrient deficiencies, what we know as the triple burden of malnutrition, is spreading and affecting almost every country in the world.
The international community needs to urgently address this situation by promoting transformative changes in our food systems.
The SDG 2, our Zero Hunger Goal, is not just about feeding people, but nourishing people by providing everyone with the necessary nutrients for a healthy life.
In this sense, I want to congratulate FAO Member Countries for agreeing to develop the Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition, within the Committee on World Food Security (CFS).
It is very important that the CFS approve sound and concrete policies on nutrition, establishing clear roles and responsibilities for governments, civil society and the private sector.
FAO is highly engaged in taking part of this debate.
One month ago, FAO organized in Madrid the First World Parliamentarian Summit on Hunger and Malnutrition, alongside IFAD, the Spanish Government and the European Union.
More than 200 parliamentarians from 80 countries attended the event.
They stressed the importance of specific legislation for promoting healthy diets, and exchanged ideas and experiences on labelling, advertising, nutritional education and also the ban on harmful substances in food production.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We are about to enter the Decade on Family Farming 2019-2028.
I am glad to notice that the reports of FAO technical committees, which will be discussed during this Council, highlight the importance of supporting family farmers in adopting and scaling up effective and sustainable practices.
As you know, just two weeks ago, FAO organized here at Headquarters the First International Symposium on Agricultural Innovation for Family Farmers.
The event had an excellent and diversified turnout, from high-level officials to representatives of farmers’ associations, and included the participation of European Commissioner Neven Mimica, African Union Commissioner Josefa Sacko, and the President of ECOSOC, Ambassador Inga Rhonda King.
The Symposium produced recommendations that will help to guide FAO’s work on innovation, particularly with focus on creating more employment opportunities for youth and women.
Excellencies,
The Joint Meeting of the Programme and Finance Committees approved a proposal to make some adjustments in the structure under the Deputy Director-General of Programmes (DDP).
Let me highlight the two most important aspects of this proposal:
First, we want to redefine the name of the existing Technical Cooperation Department (TC) to better reflect its future activities.
After the FAO reform, and especially since 2012, the current TC has been focused on coordinating and supporting decentralized activities related to project operations.
It is no longer as it was in the past, when TC was responsible for consolidating and centralizing at headquarters all functions related to FAO services provided to members at country level.
In this context, the Joint Meeting has recommended the TC Department to be renamed as the Programme Support and Technical Cooperation Department (TS).
The second aspect of the adjustments is to harness the potential of South-South Cooperation by establishing a dedicated office for South-South and Triangular Cooperation.
Furthermore, we are adjusting the reporting line of some divisions under DDP. All these adjustments are on a budget-neutral basis.
Let me also highlight that the workload of DDP has increased a lot in terms of projects and resource mobilization over the last two years, since it was created.
FAO is mobilizing increased extra-budgetary resources, especially coming from big projects related to GEF and the Green Climate Fund.
For example: FAO is now the fourth largest partner of GEF, with a USD 700 million project portfolio, and was just selected to be the leader of the new GEF7 Dryland Landscapes Impact Program, for a value of USD 109 million.
Regarding the Green Climate Fund, FAO has supported countries in the approval of projects worth USD 218 million. Four more Green Climate Fund proposals are expected to be approved early next year, and all of them are big projects.
So there is a need to strengthen FAO’s capacity in relation to programme delivery and monitoring. The proposed adjustments will allow the DDP to move forward in this regard.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to refer to two other topics discussed in the Joint Meeting.
First, the RBA collaboration.
The Joint Meeting has recommended a greater engagement with Members in the preparatory and follow-up activities.
We agreed that this recommendation should not be understood neither as a creation of a new bureaucracy layer nor as an encouragement for Members to promote micromanagement on the work of the RBAs.
It is basically about establishing an information mechanism to keep members engaged in the global aspects of the collaboration among the three Rome-based Agencies.
The second topic I wish to highlight is the prevention of harassment, sexual harassment and abuse of authority.
As requested, Management has elaborated an action plan on this issue, which was presented last Friday during the Informal Seminar.
Sexual harassment was also discussed during the UN Chief Executives Board, CEB, in New York last October.
It was agreed on a common definition and common policy to be implemented across all the UN System.
It was also agreed that the survey that is currently being made across the UN system will be processed and the results will be made available as soon as possible.
So we are moving forward in tackling sexual harassment and sexual exploitation not only at FAO but in the UN System as whole.
Let me take this opportunity to mention that FAO has succeeded in hiring more women over the last years.
Last August, I received a letter from the Executive Director of UN Women congratulating FAO for having “met” or “exceeded” 93 percent of all performance indicators in the period 2012-2017.
The letter highlighted that, at the close of 2017, nearly 43% of all professional posts were held by women. This percentage has increased as we are concluding 2018. We are now above 43%.
This is FAO’s highest representation of women in the last years.
In relation to geographic representation in FAO`s staff, I am also happy to announce that we have made further progress over the last weeks, and the number of non-represented countries has now decreased from 17 to 14. The percentage of equitably represented countries is now 87.6%.
The new appointees are from Timor Leste, Belize and Saint Kitts and Nevis, countries that had remained non-represented in FAO for many years.
Ladies and gentlemen,
FAO is fully engaged in the implementation of the UN Development System Reform, and the Organization has to find an additional USD 2.55 million to pay the new Resident Coordinator system in 2019.
During the Informal Seminar last Friday, Management informed Members about the difficulties in obtaining this amount from the liquidation of the Commissary and the Working Capital Fund, as discussed during the Finance Committee.
Considering that finding additional efficiency savings during the implementation of the current PWB will be more difficult than before, we appreciate if countries could suggest another areas to be explored.
An option, as approved by the Joint Meeting, is that Members transfer voluntary contributions through a dedicated Trust Fund for this purpose.
Let me recall that in the original proposal of the UNDS Reform, there was a call for voluntary contributions from Members to fund the new Resident Coordinator system.
Let me also highlight that there is a third via to be explored in the search for new efficiency gains and savings, not only at FAO but in the whole UN System, which is reviewing the UN common system compensation package for staff under the responsibility of the authority of the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), in New York.
As you know very well, staff costs account for 75 percent of FAO`s budget. It has been impossible to reduce this percentage mainly because the high number of entitlements related to staff.
Some years ago, the ICSC carried out a review of the Compensation Package, which was approved by the UN General Assembly on December 2015.
However, the expected savings from this reviewed compensation package have not materialized.
For FAO, the changes in the compensation package actually contributed to an increase of USD 1.7 million in staff costs in the implementation of the PWB 2018-19.
In order to identify areas for further efficiency savings, Members could promote in New York another round of discussions to review the Compensation Package.
The President of ECOSOC, Ambassador Inga Rhonda King, has recently visited FAO and welcomed the idea that new efforts and recommendations could be made in this regard.
In relation to FAO’s financial situation, I would like to stress that FAO faced a difficult moment during the third quarter of 2018.
To mitigate liquidity risk, we implemented some slowdown in FAO’s activities, particularly new staff appointments and promotions.
Fortunately, some significant contributions have recently been received, and FAO has now sufficient liquidity until the end of March based on our average monthly expenditures.
Let me take this opportunity to highlight that according to FAO Financial Regulations, Members have to pay their contributions by 1 January of each year.
I urge Members that have not yet done so, to pay their assessments immediately.
I also urge all Members to pay their 2019 contributions early in the new year to avoid any further liquidity challenges that would negatively affect our ability to implement FAO’s mandate.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Before concluding, I would like to list some important events in 2019 in which FAO will be involved.
In mid-February, we will co-organize the Food Safety Conference in Addis Ababa together with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the African Union.
In April, we will join WHO and WTO in the organization of the Trade and Food Safety Conference, in Geneva.
In May, FAO will support the Rural Revitalization Conference, in Beijing (China).
Also in May, we will organize alongside IFAD and WFP the Family Farming UN Decade Conference here in Rome to celebrate the launching of the UN Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028.
Furthermore, FAO will participate in other important events, such as Green Week in Berlin on Innovation, the AgriFish Investment Forum in Oman, and the UN South-South Cooperation Summit in Buenos Aires, as well as the Rural-Urban Migration Conference, in Mexico City.
To conclude, I would like to ask all of you to keep in this Council Session the same positive atmosphere that prevailed during the Programme and Finance Committees, and focus our debates on substantive matters for the fight against hunger and all forms of malnutrition in the world.
Thank you very much
