PC 92/7 |
|
PC 92/7 |
NINETY-SECOND SESSION |
Rome, 27 September – 1 October 2004 |
POLICY AND OPERATIONAL FRAMEWORK OF THE TECHNICAL COOPERATION PROGRAMME: RESPONDING TO A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT |
IV. KEY ISSUES IN THE TCP REVIEW PROCESS
| CCA | COMMON COUNTRY ASSESSMENT |
| IFAD | INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT |
| FAOR | FAO REPRESENTATIVE |
| FPC | FIELD PROGRAMME COMMITTEE |
| FPMIS | FIELD PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM |
| MDG | MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL |
| PIR | PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION REPORT |
| PPRC | PROGRAMME AND PROJECT REVIEW COMMITTEE |
| PRSP | POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY PAPER |
| PWB | PROGRAMME OF WORK AND BUDGET |
| ROB | REGIONAL OPERATIONS BRANCH |
| SWAp | SECTOR-WIDE APPROACH |
| TCA | POLICY ASSISTANCE DIVISION |
| TCDC/TCCT | TECHNICAL COOPERATION AMONG DEVELOPING COUNTRIES/TECHNICAL COOPERATION AMONG COUNTRIES IN TRANSITION |
| TCP | TECHNICAL COOPERATION PROGRAMME |
| UN | UNITED NATIONS |
| UNDAF | UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE FRAMEWORK |
| WFS | WORLD FOOD SUMMIT |
| WFS:fyl | WORLD FOOD SUMMIT: five years later |
| WTO | WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION |
1. At the 125th Session of the FAO Council, the Council:
“agreed with the comments made by the Programme Committee regarding the Technical Cooperation Programme, including the initiation of a process to adapt it to evolving circumstances since it had been launched many years ago”.
2. It should be recalled that a paper on the “Policy and Operational Framework of the Technical Cooperation Programme” (TCP) was presented to the 90th Session of the Programme Committee. During discussions, the Committee identified a number of issues for further consideration by the Secretariat. In particular, the Committee:
“expressed the view that a more programmatic approach to TCP should be explored, so as to, for instance, encourage a closer linkage between field and normative activities, taking account of the demand-driven nature of the Programme.”
“recognized that the criteria and project categories applied by the TCP had been developed many years ago and needed to be adapted to fit the realities of present time. The Committee agreed that a process be initiated to explore possibilities for modernizing and adapting TCP such that it responds to change in the international environment, including follow-up to the WFS and the WFS:fyl, and reflects the evolving needs of member countries. It was, however, important to bear in mind the usefulness of such characteristics of the Programme as its flexibility and responsiveness to urgent demands.”
3. During further discussions at the 91st Session of the Programme Committee, the Committee:
“recalled that it should consider at its next session a review of the TCP, including inter alia, an examination of the allocation and expenditure of TCP resources, its importance in relation to other Major Programme areas and the criteria that are used to determine TCP eligibility.”
4. In addition, the Independent Evaluation of FAO’s Decentralization1, also submitted to the 92nd Session, and the Report of the External Auditor,2 have identified a number of important issues with regard to the TCP and the changing environment both inside and outside FAO.
5. Accordingly, this document is intended to provide a basis for an initial discussion by the Programme Committee on the major issues to be addressed in adapting the TCP to evolving circumstances. It outlines the main changes in the international environment and within FAO that have a bearing on the TCP and lists some of the key issues which the Secretariat believes needs to be addressed. It is expected that the Committee’s preliminary consideration of these issues will provide an orientation for the preparation by the Secretariat of a substantive set of proposals for review at the 93rd Session, following which, a final proposal would be submitted to the Programme Committee at its 94th Session for approval.
6. This document, therefore, constitutes the first step in the review process to be undertaken by the Secretariat with the guidance of the Committee. It is organized into five sections. Section I being the Introduction; the second section recalls a number of key considerations regarding the TCP; the third section provides an overview of the changing circumstances, both within and outside of FAO, that the Secretariat considers should be taken into consideration to ensure that the TCP would continue to respond to the evolving needs of member countries; the fourth section identifies a number of key issues in the TCP review process and the final section indicates the approval and guidance that is sought from the Committee.
7. The Technical Cooperation Programme was established in 1976 to enable FAO to provide “unprogrammed short-term, flexible assistance”3 in response to the “unforeseen needs of developing countries”4. Since then, over 8 000 national and regional TCP projects have been approved, with a total approved budget of US$952 million.5
8. The Programme is driven exclusively by demands from Member Governments for technical assistance. It therefore provides governments with an instrument for accessing FAO’s technical resources in direct and immediate response to their unforeseen needs and problems in the key sector of food and agriculture lato sensu. Support is provided in the form of short-term, practical, small-scale projects that resolve specific problems or fill critical gaps in the knowledge or capacity of governments and civil society, including the private sector. Given the relatively limited time-frame (up to 24 months) and financial resources (maximum US$400 000) available for each project, TCP assistance is only provided when there is a clear indication that the government will undertake any necessary follow-up action to ensure that project outcome is sustainable and/or will lead to the mobilization of additional resources or set in motion new development processes.
9. These basic characteristics are reflected in the TCP Criteria that have been agreed by Council (see Annex 1). The Criteria enable the Secretariat to determine the eligibility of each request received from governments through a process managed and coordinated by the Technical Cooperation Department in close collaboration with FAO’s decentralized offices and technical departments. 6 All TCP projects formulated in response to requests and approved by the Director-General must comply with the Criteria and correspond to one of the Council-approved TCP Categories (see Annex 2), that define the range and scope of technical assistance that can be provided by the Programme.
10. Responding to unforeseen needs of governments requires flexibility. Although this is most obvious in the case of emergency projects, which are often requested in the aftermath of natural or human-induced disasters, unforeseen needs also arise from the inherently unpredictable nature of agriculture and the fast-evolving international situations which also confront governments with many unplanned requirements for assistance within the Organization’s mandate. For this reason, TCP resources are not programmed but, instead, are allocated on the basis of demand as reflected in the eligible requests received by the Secretariat. Final approval is dependent on a positive assessment by the Programme and Project Review Committee (PPRC) which reviews all final non-emergency project proposals to ensure their compliance with the general orientation and policies of the Organization.
11. The world has changed in many ways since 1976. Governments, for example, are disengaging progressively from productive activities in favour of a concentration on the provision of core public goods and services and the establishment of a framework conducive to sustainable economic growth and poverty alleviation. Likewise, increasing demands are placed on the regulatory functions of the state, in particular, in a context of competition for natural resources, together with expanding privatization and globalization. The increasing integration of agriculture into the world trading systems has led to new needs amongst member countries with regard, for example, to ensuring that agricultural policies are compatible with multilateral trade rules established by the relevant World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreements and to strengthening national capacities to participate effectively in multilateral trade negotiations. In addition, the growing interdependence of national economies with regional and global economies has led to the formation of new Regional Economic Organizations among developed and developing countries alike.
12. Several high-level international conferences and meetings (e.g. World Food Summit [WFS]; Millennium Assembly of the United Nations; International Conference on Financing for Development; World Food Summit:five years later [WFS:fyl]) have led to a renewed high level political commitment to agriculture and rural development as a vehicle for achieving substantial and sustainable reductions in hunger and extreme poverty. In particular, the WFS and the WFS:fyl have prompted new commitments from governments to fight hunger and food insecurity and to halve the number of undernourished people in the world no later than 2015 (from 1996 levels). Furthermore, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have provided an additional and broader point of reference for the international development community. In addition to affirming the world’s commitment to halve the proportion of poor and hungry people in the world by 2015, the MDGs also stress, inter alia, the absolute imperative of government, civil society, the private sector, the international development community and other stakeholders to work together, in partnership, to achieve these goals.7 These new commitments have led to the emergence of new ways of working between governments and international development partners at the country level. Heightened emphasis is now placed on the need for harmonized approaches, coordination and greater coherence between the various stakeholders and actors involved in national development processes. Of particular relevance in this regard, has been the emergence of new programmatic frameworks for coordinating international development assistance, such as United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), Common Country Assessments (CCAs), Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), Sector-Wide Approaches (SWAps) and new financial instruments such as direct budget support and sector budget support.
13. FAO already participates in many of these new frameworks through its country offices and contributes to ensuring that agricultural and rural poverty issues are given adequate attention in the many policy and related strategic outputs that are produced. The Organization’s influence in these processes is, however, limited by the lack of resources to fund inter-agency initiatives within these new frameworks. Indeed, the linkages between the TCP and these new programmatic approaches at country level are limited, mainly because its demand-driven and rapid response nature are difficult to reconcile with the programmatic nature of these approaches that aim at medium- and long-term programming and mobilization of external resources.
14. Whilst at this stage it may be premature to identify the precise form and content that increased linkage between the TCP and these emerging programmatic frameworks at the national level might take, it is clear that this issue should be reviewed further.
15. A further challenge for the TCP has emerged in recent years. In absolute terms, the level of requests for TCP-supported technical assistance from governments, has increased significantly. During the 2002-2003 biennium, a total of 1 226 requests for TCP assistance were received from governments, an increase of approximately 30 percent over the levels prevailing ten years earlier. This has placed further pressures on the Secretariat with regard to the discharge of its TCP-related responsibilities, and in particular, in terms of ensuring that the Programme continues to provide a means for member countries to receive the urgent technical assistance they require from FAO in response to their unforeseen needs and problems. It also makes it all the more important that the limited resources available should be applied to activities that can be expected to have the greatest development impact.
16. FAO has undergone a number of significant programme and structural changes since 1976, many of which create important new opportunities for improving the responsiveness of the TCP to Members’ needs. In some cases, the Programme has already responded, but there remains further scope for exploring how the TCP could best respond to, and benefit further from these recent changes. In doing so, it would be necessary to focus on three principal areas of change: (i) FAO’s Strategic Framework and related planning systems; (ii) decentralization; and (iii) strengthening the Field Programme.
17. The Strategic Framework for FAO, 2000-2015, establishes the overall definition of the priority areas in which Members look to FAO for services. It emphasizes the synergy between the Organization’s normative and operational activities, and the Field Programme’s dual function of, on the one hand, translating into action concepts and findings developed through its normative activities and, on the other hand, enriching normative work with feedback from field experience. It provides the main point of reference for shorter-term planning by the Organization through the Medium-Term Plan and the Programme of Work and Budget.
18. The Strategic Framework and its translation into the Medium- Term Plan and Programme of Work and Budget, should provide a broad orientation for the TCP at country and regional levels in light of the Organization’s mandate and corporate priorities. At the same time, the nature of the demand for TCP should also contribute to the future evolution of the Strategic Framework by drawing attention to trends and new directions in the needs of member countries.
19. Considerable effort has been made since the late 1990s to strengthen FAO’s decentralized structure. By 2003, budget holder responsibilities had been delegated to 78 FAORs. Together, regional operations branches (ROBs) in the regional offices and FAORs were accountable for 80 percent of total TCP delivery in 2003, excluding TCP-funded emergency projects. As part of the devolution of responsibility, the ROBs are now required to review and appraise TCP project proposals for operational feasibility.
20. In its initial stages, the decentralization process and the related changes in financial management systems within the Organization, contributed to a slowdown in TCP approval and delivery rates and a corresponding rise in unspent allocations. Most of these problems have been addressed by Senior Management through a combination of improvements in approval procedures, clearer definitions of accountability for implementation, better monitoring and training. This led to significant improvements in TCP approval and delivery rates during the last biennium.8
21. Several other initiatives seek to improve the basis for planning and the setting of priorities for Field Programme activities at country and regional level. The Policy Assistance Division (TCA), through the policy assistance branches and units in the regional and subregional offices, has begun the preparation of Country and Regional Field Programme Development Strategies that reflect regional and country priorities (including their linkages with UNDAF, CCAs, PRSPs and MDGs) and the Organization’s Strategic Framework. At its meeting in July 2004, the Organization’s Field Programme Committee (FPC) endorsed a proposal for piloting the formulation by selected FAORs, working closely with host governments, of In-country Activities Planning Frameworks to identify priority areas for technical cooperation in the medium-term. These frameworks would be built around a consultative decision-making process, linked to the other programmatic approaches, described above, that would provide a basis for both ongoing dialogue with government and the engagement of FAO technical divisions at the country level.
22. The previous section has highlighted a number of issues that could be taken into consideration during the next stage of the proposed TCP review process. These include, for example, the question of country eligibility for TCP assistance and whether greater reference should be made to national and sectoral development priorities and the programmatic approaches that have been increasingly adopted by international development partners at the country level or whether the unprogrammed nature of the TCP endows it with comparative advantages at a time when other resources are becoming increasingly pre-programmed. Similarly, it would be necessary to assess the benefits that would result from the establishment of more direct and deliberate linkages between TCP activities in a country and region and the Organization’s Strategic Framework and shorter-term planning activities. Lastly, it would be important to assess the possible benefits for member countries that would result from the establishment of closer linkages between the TCP and initiatives to improve the strategic orientation of the Organization’s Field Programme at country and regional levels.
23. The Secretariat therefore intends to initiate a consultative process, involving the Technical Cooperation Department, technical departments, the FPC and FAORs, to explore these issues in more detail. This process would identify substantive proposals for adapting the TCP to evolving circumstances, that would be submitted for consideration to the 93rd Session of the Programme Committee and, based on guidance received, for final approval at the 94th Session. At this preliminary stage, the Secretariat intends to examine the two following key issues during the consultative process.
24. At present, TCP Criteria require that an individual project request is accompanied by a statement from the government that the specific technical assistance requested is “accorded a high priority by the Government”.9 The FAOR and the Policy Coordinating Service (TCAR) of the Policy Assistance Division (TCA) review each request once it has been received by the Secretariat, to ascertain the linkages between the proposed activity and national and sectoral priorities. In instances where a government has submitted a number of separate requests for TCP assistance, which exceed the funding capacity of the Programme, it is invited to rank these in terms of priority and to confirm that they are linked to national programmes or frameworks that are supported by national funding and resources. While these procedures ensure that any approved TCP project has formally been endorsed as being of priority to the concerned government, the setting of priorities does not benefit from a longer-term dialogue between governments and FAO with regard to the most strategic use of the limited TCP resources available within a biennium.
25. The consultative process would therefore consider whether it would be feasible to establish a purposeful dialogue between the government and the Organization that would identify indicative areas of future TCP concentration based, on the one hand, on a prior assessment of national and sectoral priorities and national programmatic frameworks, and on the other hand, making reference to the priority areas identified in the proposed FAO/Government In-country Activities Planning Framework referred to previously. Consideration would also be given to the extent to which, within an improved environment for setting priorities, the effectiveness of the TCP as a rapid response instrument, could be enhanced by delegation of increased approval authority to FAORs. The consultative process would provide a basis for examining whether dialogue of this type at country level could lead to improved TCP project impacts while respecting the essentially demand-driven, flexible and responsive character of the TCP.
26. The Programme Committee has recognized that the TCP Criteria and Categories need to be adapted to respond to changing circumstances. As a result, and based on the preliminary outcome of the consultative process, and guidance provided at the 92nd and 93rd Sessions, the Secretariat would prepare substantive proposals in this regard for consideration by the 94th Session.
27. As reported to the 90th Session of the Programme Committee, the Secretariat has initiated a dynamic process aimed at progressively improving TCP procedures. This process will continue and will respond to the External Audit (see Footnote 2), the recommendations of the Independent Evaluation of FAO’s Decentralization and to the findings and guidance provided by the Programme Committee emerging from the review process initiated by this document. The Secretariat will provide information to the Programme Committee on progress in this regard.
28. In 1976, the TCP was established to respond to requests from “developing countries”. In 1990, Governing Bodies agreed to the principle that TCP resources should be made available to all FAO Members. This has remained the case until now. The Programme Committee is invited to confirm that this principle remains valid. Subject to the guidance received at the 92nd Session, the consultative process would then be required to review this issue in further detail. Different country groups are provided for information in Annex 3, in particular the DAC List of Aid Recipients as at 1 January 2003.
29. The Secretariat has responded to the request of Council to initiate a process that would lead to the adaptation of the TCP in response to the changes in the international environment and within FAO that have taken place since 1976, when the Programme was established, and that would strengthen its country focus.
30. In this regard, the Secretariat is seeking the endorsement of the 92nd Session of the Programme Committee of its plans to initiate a consultative process that would prepare proposals for discussion at the 93rd Session, and, based on guidance received from Members, would prepare final substantial proposals for consideration and approval at the 94th Session (para 23). The consultative process would examine ways to strengthen TCP processes at the country level (paras 24-25) and, TCP Criteria and TCP Categories (para 26).
31. Members are also requested to provide guidance on country eligibility for TCP assistance (para 28).
32. Members are invited to provide their views and guidance with regard to the issues raised in this report. Members are further invited to suggest any additional issues which should be considered by the Secretariat as part of the TCP review process.
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1 PC 92/6a) Independent Evaluation of FAO’s Decentralization
2 Comments and recommendations with regard to the Technical Cooperation Programme are contained within the Value for Money Audit section of the “Report of the External Auditor on the Financial Statements of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for the Financial Period 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2003”.
3 CL69/2, paragraph 4.8.
4 CL69/2, paragraph 4.1.
5 Figure based on TCP project approvals up to 8 July, 2004.
6 TCP processes and procedures were described in PC90/5 “Policy and Operational Framework of the Technical Cooperation Programme”.
7 See: United Nations Millennium Declaration (A/RES/55/2). There are, in fact, slight differences in the commitments made at the World Food Summit and the MDGs: the Rome Declaration on World Food Security, commits governments to halve the number of food insecure people by 2015, whereas the MDGs see to halve the proportion of hungry people by 2015.
8 See: PIR 2002-03
9 See Annex 1: Criteria two states that requests from Government should “be accorded high priority by the Government, which must also ensure that the required local support facilities and services will be available and that follow-up action will be taken.”
In seeking to ensure that the core characteristics and principles of the TCP are both respected and reflected in the identification, formulation, approval and implementation of TCP projects, Governing Bodies have established a series of TCP Criteria and TCP Categories to be used in determining the eligibility of a Government request for TCP assistance. These therefore represent the principle tool with which the Secretariat is able to ensure that the wishes of Member Nations are respected in regard to the type and scope of technical assistance that is provided to governments with TCP resources.
Although TCP Criteria represent only one aspect of the whole approval process, they constitute a very important element. They are used to screen all requests upon receipt by the Secretariat and provide the basis for the “appraisal” of a project proposal, and are used to determine a project proposal’s eligibility for TCP assistance, based on the aims and objectives of the Programme that have been established by the Governing Bodies.
At present, these Criteria require that TCP project proposals:
In addition, the Secretariat also assesses whether requests reflect the other basic principles that have been identified by Governing Bodies. This secondary assessment is based on a specific statement contained in the TCP Guidelines:
The main features of TCP are its unprogrammed and urgent character; its flexibility in responding to new technical issues and problems; speed in approval; clear focus; limited project intervention with short duration; low costs; practical orientation; and catalytic role. By design and in practice, TCP meets unforeseen needs, fills critical gaps, complements other forms of assistance and promotes resource availability for technical cooperation in the above-mentioned fields, whether channelled through FAO or otherwise.12
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10 In 1976, the Criteria proposed a maximum duration of 12 months. The ceiling was revised to 24 months in 1991.
11 In 1976, the Criteria proposed a maximum cost of US$250 000. This figure was revised to US$400 000 in 1991.
12 TCP Guidelines, May 2003: paragraph 3.
Project Categories both define and describe the possible scope and purpose of TCP assistance. They also perform an important descriptive function for monitoring and reporting purposes. The Categories were originally called “Purposes”. In 1976, four purposes were identified by the Governing Bodies: emergencies; investment; training; and small-scale unforeseen requirements. Today, seven purposes have been approved by the Governing Bodies. They are now termed “Project Categories”. At present, TCP assistance can be rendered under one or more of the following categories:
These are projects designed to meet urgent and immediate needs arising from disasters and unexpected calamities which affect, or are expected to affect, the country's food, agriculture, fisheries and forestry situation. They are directed towards resumed productivity or the limitation of the decline in production, by the provision of essential inputs, including seeds, pesticides, vaccines, etc. TCP is not intended to provide emergency food aid. TCP may help to monitor the situation (food crop assessments by the Global Information and Early Warning System for Food and Agriculture [GIEWS]), assess emergency requirements, determine the humanitarian impact of the emergency in relation to the nutritional and food security situation, evaluate non-food rehabilitation needs and contribute to the continuous process from emergency relief to rehabilitation and development.
When an emergency occurs and help is requested, FAO will normally make an on-the-spot assessment, using expertise closest at hand, and assist the government in drawing up a plan of action for immediate assistance, if required. On the basis of this assessment, TCP may provide expert advice together with limited amounts of the most urgently needed equipment, supplies and supporting services, pending the arrival of more substantive assistance from other sources. While TCP emergency aid is thus of a transitional nature, it may also include the services of FAO in mobilizing larger external resources for rehabilitation programmes, and in starting up coordination of emergency assistance.
Investment (I)
Projects in this category are aimed at stimulating increased investment, by the government itself or with the support of external funding institutions, in agriculture, fisheries, forestry and rural development. These projects provide technical cooperation in the form of pre-investment activities, or by actions that will make an existing investment project more effective.
When assistance is not available from other sources, TCP may provide short-term consultancy services for the identification of investment projects directed to national or external funding sources, including the World Bank, IFAD, regional banks, multilateral and bilateral development funds, private credit institutions, etc. These services are also available for small feasibility studies, for completion and improvement of existing technical data, for the updating of data from previous surveys and for conducting limited additional surveys/studies required for the timely preparation of investment projects or proposals.
Specialized consultancy services may be provided to help the government formulate and introduce certain policy changes which may be a prerequisite for obtaining external investment funds for development and which fall within the Organization's mandate. TCP may also offer appropriate advisory services to fill missing links in current investment projects, or limited amounts of essential equipment, when required, to bring investment projects to fruition.
TCP gives priority to practical training of those directly involved in agriculture, fisheries, forestry and related fields. Academic training is excluded except in rare cases where it is directly related to a specific development problem. Whenever possible, training will be provided locally.
Emphasis is placed, for example, on the following types of activities: practical training courses for farmers; training in the identification, formulation and execution of investment projects; refresher courses; courses in technologies new to the country and of direct practical application; specialized courses for agricultural, fishery and forestry technicians and workers, and training programmes for rural women. Special training may also be arranged in connection with technical assistance projects outside the country, dealing with specific problems relevant to the country's agricultural development.
Training projects financed by TCP are of short duration and are normally implemented on site or at local training facilities. They may include limited amounts of equipment and other inputs and the production of teaching materials not available from other sources and considered essential for the strengthening of a national training institution.
Governments frequently need assistance in policy matters in specialized fields to meet urgent requirements that could not have been programmed. TCP can finance such services which are usually covered by short-term missions and, under exceptional circumstances, can involve repeated assignments over a period of time. The topics covered by such missions are very diversified and may include: public sector development; support to improved agricultural credit provision; assistance with strengthening of marketing systems including, where appropriate, cooperatives and similar bodies; agricultural planning; pest and disease management and control; seed production; agronomic research; forestry development; introduction of new technologies for increased production or productivity; food and nutrition programming and planning; formulation of new legislation or new policies in the agriculture sector including natural resources; establishment of disaster preparedness programmes; sector and subsector reviews, preparation of technical documentation required for round tables and consultative group meetings; capacity building and institutional reform.
Formulation and programming missions (F)
Governments may need the advice of a multidisciplinary mission to determine the sectors that require strengthening and to identify technical assistance requirements, including the identification and formulation of project proposals, for the preparation of country or rehabilitation programmes or similar exercises conducted by donors, which are required for the preparation of donor conferences, round tables, etc.
There are also cases where donors have expressed an interest in financing a development project, but need a basic document to negotiate its grant with the recipient government. In this case FAO can field a mission to assist in formulating a development programme and in identifying the inputs to be financed by the donor.
Small amounts of supplies may be urgently required to stimulate production, even though not related to an emergency, such as limited quantities of seeds, pesticides, vaccines, drugs, spare parts, specialized equipment, or even assistance for the repair of equipment. Assistance under this category is provided in exceptional cases only when the essential nature of the input required has been clearly demonstrated. Assistance for Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS) projects is covered by this category.
As part of FAO’s support to technical and economic cooperation among developing member countries as well as those in transition, TCP assistance may be used to provide a catalytic input in promoting such “horizontal cooperation” in clearly identified and priority areas of FAO’s concerns. TCP assistance must be focused on the transfer of cost-effective and appropriate technologies, based on the existing arrangements for sustained and longer-term cooperation among the participant institutions/countries. In addition to complying with TCP criteria, such TCDC/TCCT activities should meet the following prerequisites:
Once these four prerequisites have been met, TCP may be used to facilitate the technology transfer and the sharing of ecperience between those national programmes by financing the external cost of self-contained operations.
TCP may also be used to support research networks, twinning of institutions etc., on condition that TCP criteria are met.