The members of the External Programme Review Panel wish to express their sincere appreciation to the Board, management and staff of ICRISAT for their full and cordial cooperation throughout the review. The Panel is particularly thankful for their constructive and open attitude, and for their generous time and help given whenever requested.
Ms Martha Stone, the outgoing Board Chair and Dr Uzo Mokwunye, the incoming Chair, Dr William Dar, Director General, Dr Dyno Keatinge, Deputy Director General (Research), and Dr Cynthia Bantilan, Chair of the ICRISAT External Review Task Force fully cooperated with the iSC Secretariat throughout the Review, from its planning stage to completion of this report. They deserve our special thanks for this and for ensuring that our work could be done efficiently.
The arrangements made for our visits to the HQ and to the subregional locations in Africa were excellent. We appreciated the briefings and support received from ICRISAT staff during our country and field visits. We express our special thanks to the Regional Representatives Drs. Geoff Heinrich, Said Silim, and Saidou Koala and the regional teams in Africa for the frank and stimulating discussions.
We are pleased to acknowledge with grateful thanks the help received from several of the staff of ICRISAT during the course of the review. We are particularly thankful to Mr V. Balji, Ms Rama Gururaj, Mr G. Chandraiah and Mr Edward Joseph from the Computer Services for maintaining our computers and networking arrangements in excellent order; and to Mr K. Ravi Shankar, Senior Manager, Housing and Food Services, and his staff for ensuring that all our basic human needs were fully met. We express our particular thanks to Ms C.Geetha, Manager in the DG Office, Mr N.V.N. Chari, Senior Administrative Officer, and Ms V. Aruna, Senior Administrative Assistant, for their kindness and care which they extended in abundance to ensure the smooth running of the review process.
The Panel members wish to record their appreciation to the iSC Secretariat for the efficient logistical and administrative support. The Panel is grateful to Ms Rosanna Corrazzi and Ms Tanya Alexander for compiling and formatting the Report and to Ms Irmi Braun Castaldi for providing assistance with the travel itineraries and air tickets.
