29 July 1998
Recommendation 1: The Panel recommends that ICRAF review and update its 1993 Strategic Plan, develop both strategic and medium-term plans for each of the Programmes and Regional Offices and use these as the basis for annual planning.
Response: ICRAF welcomes this recommendation and will update its strategic overview of the 1998-2000 Medium Term Plan, and include strategic plans for each Division, Region, Programme and Unit.
Recommendation 2: The Panel recommends that ICRAF do a systematic analysis within the year of the factors associated with the successful and unsuccessful operation in the regions that draws out the lessons for an updated set of guidelines for management of the regional programmes.
Response: ICRAF has recognized the importance of systematically analyzing the lessons learnt from operations in the ecoregions where it works. This was discussed between Management and the Board at its April 1998 meeting prior to the EPMR. The issue will be addressed at our Annual Planning Review meeting in September 1998. ICRAF therefore welcomes the recommendation of the Panel to undertake this analysis and will complete it within the year.
Recommendation 3: The Panel recommends that all IRS and senior nationally recruited staff take part in regular training courses on creating working partnerships, of working in teams and on recognizing the influence of personality and of cultural differences in relationships.
Response: This recommendation stresses the importance of working in teams and partnerships, which ICRAF has actively advocated. ICRAF staff, both professional and support, have participated in various courses, workshops and seminars over the past three years dealing with management, leadership, and team work. For example, in January 1998, ICRAF Regional Coordinators, in conjunction with Coordinators from other CGIAR Centres and NARS partners participated in a course on collaborative partnerships. Subsequently, this course was made available to NARS partners in the Southern Africa region. ICRAF endorses the Panel's recommendation and will, in collaboration and discussion with our NARS partners, continue to support training courses and related activities in this area.
Recommendation 4: The Panel recommends that ICRAF further develop the research and training needed in the area of vegetative propagation and nursery management and establishment.
Response: Access to improved germplasm is one of the key constraints in the wide adoption of agroforestry technologies. ICRAF fully concurs with the Panel's findings and will, giving considerations to priority setting and resource constraints, seek to expand these activities in the regions where we are active.
Recommendation 5: The Panel recommends that ICRAF develops an area of identifiable activity and develop greater capacity at headquarters related to research on dissemination methods and techniques within Programme 4.
Response: In January 1998 ICRAF established a Development Division with the objectives of facilitating, catalysing, and supporting the dissemination, adoption and impact of agroforestry innovations. We recognize that this objective can only be met through partnership with other organizations that have complementary expertise, resources and geographical access. Yet to be an effective development partner, ICRAF must build on its existing core competency - agroforestry research - and acquire in-house capacity and expertise to draw on state-of-the art knowledge on the pathways of dissemination and development and, where necessary, to undertake research on these processes as they relate to agroforestry. Thus, ICRAF welcomes the Panel's recommendation and will pursue it with great vigour.
Recommendation 6: The Panel recommends that ICRAF pursue the establishment of activities and expertise at headquarters in the areas of market development research and strategic planning for value-added activities (including the process of identifying, choosing and developing appropriate post-harvest technologies).
Response: There is a multitude of products from agroforestry trees for which cash value can be enhanced through marketing and commercialization. Tree products can provide added value to farmers and others in the production chain and thereby help reduce rural poverty. ICRAF needs to work with a range of new partners (institutes of food science, new composite materials, the food and pharmaceutical industries, etc.), and acknowledges the Panel's comment that we require in-house expertise to make these links effective. We therefore, concur with this recommendation.
Recommendation 7: The Panel recommends that ICRAF crafts a strategy, operational policies and associated guidelines on partnerships that go beyond its current policy guidelines, and that these new statements be based on the results of a thorough analysis of ICRAF's partnership experience. Special attention should be given to the pathway for NARS strengthening and to ways to handle differences in organizational culture.
Response: ICRAF has and will continue to work in partnerships with other institutions, as collaboration is our primary mode of operation. We therefore fully agree with this recommendation, will expand on the recently concluded partnership survey, and will undertake the analysis required to gain maximum efficiency and effectiveness from our collaborative efforts.
Recommendation 8: The Panel recommends that ICRAF establish a visiting scientist scheme to attract postgraduate researchers and mid-career scientists to work with the Centre's cutting edge scientists.
Response: ICRAF recognizes the value and benefits of visiting scientists, and already has many senior and junior scientists seconded from other organizations or supported directly by ICRAF, as well as post doctoral and postgraduate researchers. We therefore agree in principle with this recommendation and may raise the profile of the scheme, after a cost/benefit analysis of such activities.
Recommendation 9: The Panel recommends that:
a. The Board strengthens its programme oversight by increasing the frequency of Programme Committee meetings, becoming more proactive insetting its agenda and seeking appropriate documentation from management; and
b. The Board institutes a formal procedure to schedule and commission Centre-Commissioned External Reviews and to discuss these, other external review reports and management's responses.
Response to a. The Board Chair and the Chair of the Programme Committee are responsible for setting the agenda of the meetings and request Management to prepare background documents according to the issues on the agenda. The Programme Committee formally meets once a year (November-December) at which time the Programme of Work and Budget is thoroughly discussed with staff. Prior to the April Board Meeting, Board Members visit regions in small groups to discuss programme issues with regional staff, and formally report back to the Board. The Board also discusses programme issues at the April meeting based upon input from the members' field visits and on documents they commission management to prepare (e.g. IPR, the Role of Social Sciences, Partnerships, etc.).
The Programme Committee has developed an improved format to conduct its meetings, which will be implemented at the next meeting. Small groups of Board Members will participate in each of the programme and regional presentations and report back to the Programme Committee as a whole. This will improve the interaction between staff and members of the Programme Committee and allow the Committee to strengthen its oversight responsibilities.
Response to b. The Board and Management fully agree that a formal procedure to schedule, commission, discuss and respond to Centre-Commissioned External Reviews is needed, and fully supports this recommendation.
Recommendation 10: The Panel recommends that Management restrict initial contracts to between three and five years, with the possibility of renewal and without the current ceiling of ten years.
Response: The current ten-year tenure policy originated from an Internally Commissioned External Review of ICRAF's management procedures in 1989. The Board of Trustees approved the recommendation from this review as a ten-year tenure policy in 1990, with immediate effect. The Board reviewed the policy in 1998. The Board, Management and Staff Associations discussed the issue in detail. The Board, at its April 1998 meeting, endorsed the current policy and approved a procedure whereby staff can prolong their tenure at ICRAF, providing clear criteria and a transparent process for continuation in special circumstances. The Board agreed to monitor the implementation of the policy and review it in two years.
The Board and Management believe that the ten-year ceiling is appropriate for the following reasons:
*A ten-year tenure policy meets the need of ensuring a renewal of the scientific acumen in the Centre;*The research and development issues that ICRAF deals with are complex and require a longer time frame than are encountered at the more commodity-oriented Centres. It is therefore felt by ICRAF that a ten-year research horizon is entirely appropriate for scientists working in natural resource management involving the use of perennial species.
ICRAF appreciates and accepts the point made by the Panel about flexibility, and at the same time recognizes the importance of an ongoing review of the need for any position in line with the required disciplinary skills. The ICRAF Board and Management will reexamine the issue of length of initial staff contracts for all new international recruitments, while maintaining the ten-year tenure policy.
