TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR EXTERNAL PROGRAMME AND MANAGEMENT REVIEWS OF CGIAR CENTRES
BACKGROUND
Context
The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) is an informal association of over 50 members that supports a network of 16 international research centres in agriculture, forestry and fisheries. The CGIAR aims, through its support to the Centres, to contribute to promoting sustainable agriculture for food security in developing countries. Because the Centres constitute the core of the CGIAR, the effectiveness of each Centre is crucial to the continued success of the CGIAR (as a System).
Each Centre is an autonomous institution operating within the mandate assigned to it by the CGIAR, and is governed by a legally constituted Board that has full fiduciary responsibility for managing the Centre. To ensure accountability in an essentially decentralized system, each Centre is expected to be responsive to the CGIAR, which provides financial support for its work.
The CGIAR has established a tradition of External Programme and Management Reviews (EPMRs) to provide a mechanism of transparency and accountability to the Members and other stakeholders of the CGIAR System. EPMRs are the joint responsibility of TAC and the CGIAR Secretariat, and are conducted for each Centre approximately every five years. As each Centre is autonomous, EPMRs provide a measure of central oversight and serve as an essential component of the CGIAR's accountability system.
Integrated System of Reviews of Each Centre
Besides the EPMRs, Centre Commissioned External Reviews (CCERs) are undertaken at each Centre. These CCERs are commissioned by the Centre Boards to periodically assess the quality and effectiveness of particular aspects of a Centre's work. The terms of reference (ToRs) for each CCER are determined by the Centre, based on broad principles endorsed by the CGIAR at ICW95 (ref. document entitled Improving the Quality and Consistency of CGIAR's External Centre Reviews, dated October 24, 1995).
EPMRs complement the CCERs by providing a CGIAR-commissioned and comprehensive external assessment of the Centre's program and management, especially its future directions and the quality and relevance of its research. The ToRs for the EPMRs (which update the "standard ToRs" endorsed by the CGIAR at MTM95) are provided below. Guidelines for undertaking the reviews are issued separately.
TERMS OF REFERENCE
Objectives and Scope
EPMRs seek to inform CGIAR members that their investment is sound, or recommend measures to make it so. Members of the CGIAR and other stakeholders can be informed whether the Centre is doing its work effectively and efficiently, EPMRs are both retrospective and prospective; and help ensure the Centres' excellence, relevance and continued viability, and the CGIAR System's coherence. Each review is expected to be strategic in orientation and as comprehensive as the situation warrants.
The broad objectives of EPMRs are to:
a) provide CGIAR members with an independent and rigorous assessment of the institutional health and contribution of a Centre they are supporting; andb) to provide the Centre and its collaborators with assessment information that complements or validates their own evaluation efforts, including the CCERs.
The EPMR panel is specifically charged to assess the following:
a) The Centre 's mission, strategy and priorities in the context of the CGIAR's priorities and strategies;b) The quality and relevance of the science undertaken, including the effectiveness and potential impact of the Centre's completed and ongoing research;
c) The effectiveness and efficiency of management, including the mechanisms and processes for ensuring quality; and
d) The accomplishments and impact of the Centre's research and related activities.
The topics expected to be covered by the EPMRs are listed below.
TOPICS TO BE COVERED
A. Mission, Strategy and Priorities
· The continuing appropriateness of the Centre's mission in light of important changes in the Centre and its external environment since the previous external review.· The policies, strategies, and priorities of the Centre, their coherence with the CGIAR's goals (of poverty alleviation, natural resources management, and sustainable food security), and relevance to beneficiaries, especially rural women.
· The appropriateness of the roles of relevant partners in the formulation and implementation of the Centre's strategy and priorities, considering alternative sources of supply and the benefits of partnerships with others.
B. Quality and Relevance
· The quality and relevance of the science practised at the Centre.· The effectiveness of the Centre's processes for planning, priority setting, quality management (e.g., CCERs, peer reviews and other quality and relevance assurance mechanisms), and impact assessment.
C. Effectiveness and Efficiency of Management
· The performance of the Centre's Board in governing the Centre, the effectiveness of leadership throughout the Centre, and the suitability of the organization's culture to its mission,· The adequacy of the Centre's organizational structure and the mechanisms in place to manage, coordinate and ensure the excellence of the research programs and related activities.
· The adequacy of resources (financial, human, physical and information) available and the effectiveness and efficiency of their management.
· The effectiveness of the Centre's relationships with relevant research partners and other stakeholders of the CGIAR System.
D. Accomplishments and Impact
· Recent achievements of the Centre in research and other areas.· The effectiveness of the Centre's programs in terms of their impact and contribution to the achievement of the mission and goals of the CGIAR.
