FAO Serving its members

FAO’s mandate

Resources

Reform

Management, control and oversight

Normative activities

Operational activities

Looking ahead

FAO’s mandate

When the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations was founded in October 1945, its membership comprised 42 nations that were committed to ensuring humanity’s freedom from hunger through the promotion of agricultural development and trade, improved nutrition, rural development and the pursuit of food security, whereby people could have access at all times to the food they need to lead active and healthy lives. Today, FAO serves 187 Member Nations and one Member Organization, the European Community, and focuses on the reduction of hunger and poverty in the world.

FAO is a crucial source of expertise in agriculture, fisheries, forestry, economics, nutrition and sustainable development. The Organization assists its member countries by disseminating information, providing policy advice and technical assistance, setting standards and organizing fora to forge agreements aimed at promoting food security and the sustainable use of natural resources. Consequently, a substantial proportion of its resources are devoted to securing the best expertise available worldwide in the areas of its mandate.

Resources

FAO’s activities are funded by Regular Programme resources and voluntary extrabudgetary contributions. The Regular Programme, which is developed and approved for a two-year period, is financed through assessed contributions from Member Nations. The scale of contributions used by FAO is derived from the system adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. Since 1994, the FAO Regular Programme budget has declined in real terms by 24.3 percent. For the 1994–1995 biennium, the Organization’s budget was US$673 million. To maintain the same purchasing power, despite the depreciation of the US dollar, a budget of US$ 931.3 million would have been required for the 2004-05 biennium. Instead, a budget of US$749.1 million was approved, which implied a programme reduction of US$51.2 million compared to the 2002-03 biennium. The extrabudgetary funds consist of voluntary contributions to the Organization primarily by governments, United Nations entities (e.g. United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) and international financing institutions (e.g. World Bank). While there has been a continuous decrease of activities funded by UNDP which are expected to reach an amount of only US$12.2 million in 2004-05 compared to US$148.4 million in 1994-95, the total amount of development projects funded by other voluntary contributions remained rather stable during the period and even increased substantially during the last three biennia from US$245.8 million in 1998-99 to US$286.7 million expected in 2004-05 (see graph). During the same period, the extra-budgetary resources mobilized for emergency assistance work varied considerably depending on the circumstances from about US$55 million in 1994-95 to a peak of US$325 million in 2000-01 due to the programme in Iraq, and are expected to reach US$200milion in 2004-05.

Reform

Since 1994, FAO has been engaged in a major programme of reform and has made consistent efforts to overcome organizational weaknesses and to deliver its services more effectively. A comprehensive plan to refocus, reorganize and reinvigorate the Organization was introduced with the approval of the Governing Bodies. The plan included a series of specific measures:

• Restructuring – FAO embarked on one of the most significant restructuring efforts since its founding. A new Technical Cooperation Department was established to reinforce field programme operations. While the separation of the Organization’s normative and operational functions provided a greater focus, these functions required a synergistic relationship. This led to the creation of the Office for the Coordination of Normative, Operational and Decentralized Activities. A Sustainable Development Department was also established to devote attention to cross-sectoral issues of sustainability. Within this Department, a new Division was set up to focus adequately on issues related to gender. At the same time, the former Office for External Relations was abolished and the responsibility for dealing with other organizations and institutions was redistributed among the departments concerned.
• Downsizing of personnel – During the ten-year period from January 1994 to April 2004, FAO reduced its staff (Regular and Field Programme) by some 29 percent, from 5 560 to 3 972. This effort concentrated on reducing the layers of management as well as the number of higher-graded positions and increasing the proportion of junior-graded staff. This strategy resulted in a 27 percent decline in director-level staff and a 42 percent increase in junior-level professionals.
• Increasing equitable representation of Member Nations and gender parity – In 1994, 32 percent of Member Nations did not have any national among the professional staff of the Organization. Today, that figure has been reduced to 17.6 percent, notwithstanding an increase in membership (from 169 in 1994 to 187 in 2004). In November/December 2003, the FAO Conference adopted a revised formula for the calculation of geographic distribution which led to a substantial improvement in the status of representation of the Organization’s Member States. Accordingly, as of March 2004, 66.8 percent of Member States are equitably-represented while only 4.8 percent are over-represented, compared to 21.3 percent of Member States being equitably-represented and 37.9 percent over-represented in 1994. In addition to implementing measures aimed at mainstreaming gender issues in the Organization’s activities, the Director-General made efforts to enhance gender parity among the staff in the professional and higher categories. At Headquarters, the percentage of professional women increased from 22.9 percent in 1994 to 33 percent in 2004. Particularly noteworthy is the appointment, since 2000, of four women to the level of Assistant Director-General – the first women appointed to that level in FAO’s history. This period has also been marked by an increased presence of women in the Director and FAO Representative categories. These actions have enriched the fabric of the Organization and have contributed positively to its continuing pursuit of excellence.



• Streamlining – These measures included, among others, a reduction in the average grade of Professional posts and leaner management arrangements, leading to a total estimated annual saving of US$11 million. Outsourcing of most of the printing and translation work has led to savings in the order of US$6 million per annum. Reduction of support staff through office automation and outsourcing of some of the Headquarters building maintenance services resulted in additional savings of about US$12 million. New procedures were implemented to reduce international travel costs, allowing savings of US$2 million per annum. A further US$2 million is being saved each year due to the reduction in the number and duration of meetings.
• Decentralization – In order to bring operations closer to where they were most needed, the Organization created five new Sub-regional Offices with multidisciplinary teams to serve clusters of countries with similar characteristics. Groups of technical, policy assistance and operations staff were transferred from Headquarters to the field. The extent of decentralization was significant, resulting in a 71 percent increase in the number of Professional positions in decentralized offices. The ratio of staff in decentralized offices to those at Headquarters, which was 18.5 percent in 1994, increased to 27.3 percent in 2004. During the 2004–2005 biennium, FAO expects to be represented in a total of 133 member countries, compared with 106 in 1994. Links at the national level were further reinforced through the appointment of qualified national professional staff at costs much lower than those of international staff.



• Assigning responsibilities to staff in the field – FAO has moved to rationalize its country offices and make them more effective. More authority has been delegated to Regional and Sub-regional Offices as well as to FAO Representatives in the management of projects, and direct contacts with donors have been forged at the field level. FAO Representatives have strengthened their involvement in UN country team efforts, including the Common Country Assessment (CCA) and the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). Some US$2 million is set aside in each biennium to enable FAO Representatives to respond to needs for urgent local programme support. The Organization also undertook the Communication Infrastructure Project with the aim of significantly expanding contacts between Headquarters and the field. The new systems provide electronic links with all field offices and allow most of the country offices to access FAO databases and publications through the Internet.
• Modernization – The Organization has significantly increased its use of information technology by, among others, standardizing its hardware and software, expanding the use of electronic mail and placing the World Agricultural Information Centre (WAICENT) on the Internet and on CD-ROM. The FAO Web site currently receives some 50 million hits per month, corresponding to over 2 million user-visits of which 65 000 to the WAICENT Portal at http://www.fao.org/waicent. An electronic library of FAO publications has been created and is freely accessible at http://www.fao.org/documents. It currently receives more than 250 000 visits on average per month. FAO has also replaced its financial systems with a new commercially supported software program, and is in the process of replacing its human resources and payroll management systems.
• Forging new partnerships – New approaches were adopted to strengthen the links with development and financing institutions and to reinforce the collaboration among the three Rome-based United Nations system organizations dealing with food and agriculture. The Organization also developed a number of new agreements with governments and institutions, including Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC) and Technical Cooperation among Countries in Transition (TCCT). Agreements were also concluded for cooperation with academic and research institutions and for the services of retired experts. By the end of 2003, 131 countries were participating in TCDC and TCCT experts programme, 90 countries in the retired experts programme, and 65 countries (as well as 7 international institutions) in the academic exchange programme. Despite a reduced budget for consultants, between 1994 and 2003, 2 800 assignments were carried out under TCDC and TCCT experts programme, 3 600 under the retired experts programme and 600 under the academic exchange programme. The cost of these services is considerably lower than that of regular international consultants. A new Unit was set up to expand cooperation with the private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
• Strengthening Cooperation with Donor Countries – Cooperation with the European Commission and Japan was strengthened through the establishment of liaison offices in Brussels and Yokohama. Contacts are being made with developed countries with a view to having their nationals assigned to FAO programmes through various arrangements.
• A Communication Strategy – has been developed, reinforcing the Organization’s ability to effectively communicate messages to the public, in particular to the media. The strategy includes the FAO Ambassadors Programme, World Food Day celebrations and the TeleFood annual campaign of broadcasts, concerts and other events dedicated to raising awareness about hunger and mobilizing resources for food security projects at the grassroots level.
• Gains from reform measures – The streamlining and efficiency measures, together with decentralization and the restructuring of Field Programme Operations, have allowed savings in the range of US$55–62 million per annum over the period 1994–2004. Further savings are planned for 2004-05.

Management, control and oversight

FAO has developed a consistent and coherent framework to support the management process, comprising the following elements:

• Systematic application of advanced strategic planning and results-based budgeting principles translated into key policy documents: a Strategic Framework covering 15 years, a rolling Medium-Term Plan covering a six-year period and a biennial Programme of Work and Budget.
• Coordination mechanisms include regular Senior Management Meetings (at the level of Assistant Director-General), Programme and Policy Advisory Board Meetings (at the level of Director) and Departmental and Divisional Meetings at Headquarters, as well as regular staff meetings in Regional and Subregional Offices.
• Evaluation systems independently examine the relevance and effectiveness of implementation of corporate strategies, programmes and interdisciplinary areas and themes, either through the use of the internal Evaluation Service or through external evaluators.
• Internal controls are implemented through the conventional application of internal control principles (e.g. separation of duties, validation procedures). These measures are reinforced by the work of the Office of the Inspector-General, which focuses on internal audit, inspection and investigation functions. Further, in 2003, the Director-General decided to establish an Audit Committee to provide him with assurance that these functions are operating effectively and efficiently.
• External audits are carried out by the External Auditor, who is appointed by Members and reports to them.

All activities of the Organization are approved by its Governing Bodies. The FAO Conference, comprising all Members of the Organization, meets every two years to adopt policies and approve the Programme of Work and Budget following an extensive review of work and achievements in the previous biennium. Various subsidiary committees, such as the Finance and Programme Committees, the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Matters, as well as the technical committees (Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, Commodity Problems and World Food Security), are convened periodically to review in a substantive manner the Organization’s structure, programmes, performance, management and operations. The findings of these committees are subsequently transmitted to the FAO Council, which meets every year, and then submitted to the biennial Conference.

Normative activities

Normative activities are of major importance for an organization recognized as a centre of excellence in setting standards and servicing international conventions and intergovernmental instruments in the areas of its mandate. These activities include:

• Providing a neutral forum for policy dialogue among nations and for the negotiation of international agreements. Significant international agreements and undertakings have been concluded under the auspices of FAO, such as the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the related international plans of action, and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
• Developing international norms, standards and conventions. Activities in this area include, among others, the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which develops food standards, guidelines and codes of practice under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme; the International Plant Protection Convention under which standards are developed to facilitate the international movement of plant materials while avoiding the spread of harmful plant pests and diseases; and the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade. The PIC Convention, adopted in Rotterdam in September 1998 in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme, represents an important step towards ensuring the protection of people and the environment.
• Maintaining and updating databases and statistical information.
• Disseminating information. In this regard, WAICENT, which consolidates more than 40 databases, provides governments, research institutions, universities and private users with fast, economical access to the knowledge and information gathered by FAO in its various fields of activities. FAO publishes periodically major reports on the state of food and agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and food insecurity in the world.

Operational activities

Operational activities serve as the main vehicle for the provision of the Organization’s technical assistance to its member countries. FAO has reinforced several major operational initiatives and programmes to mobilize governments, international organizations and all sectors of civil society in a coordinated campaign to eradicate hunger. These include:

• The Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS), which aims at improving household and national food security primarily in low-income food-deficit countries by helping small farmers to increase their productivity and income, thus ensuring more stable access to food. As of March 2004, the Programme was operational in 100 countries and mobilized US$688 million in funding as compared to US$3.5 million in 1994. SPFS activities have been further reinforced by FAO’s South–South Cooperation initiative which facilitates the assignment for two to three years of developing countries’ experts and technicians in SPFS recipient countries. As of March 2004, over 28 South–South Cooperation agreements had been signed between countries to mobilize 2 800 experts and technicians to work on SPFS activities. A further 15 agreements are being formulated. In the first phase of the SPFS, pilot projects are being carried out, covering water control with small-scale water harvesting and irrigation and drainage systems; crop production intensification; diversification of activities with short-cycle animal production, artisanal fisheries and aquaculture; and identification of socio-economic constraints to production, trade and access to food. In the second phase, the focus is on macroeconomic issues: formulation and adoption of appropriate agricultural policies to have an enabling environment for the sector development, investment plans to address the physical and infrastructure constraints, and feasibility studies of bankable projects to increase financing.
• To help Member Countries in their endeavour to reach the World Food Summit target, National Strategies for Food Security and Agricultural Development have been prepared in cooperation with the Ministries responsible for agriculture, economic affairs and planning of 150 developing countries and countries in transition. They were reviewed by the relevant UN system organizations, including the Bretton Woods institutions, and submitted to the Ministers for Agriculture for discussion and endorsement by the respective government authorities. They are currently being updated within a framework which allows for the involvement of farmers’ organizations, the private sector and NGOs. In cooperation with the secretariats of regional economic organizations, these national documents are also being integrated into Regional Strategies for Food Security.
• In order to translate these strategies into action, the Anti-Hunger Programme was prepared in 2002 with a view to providing a framework for reducing hunger at global level through agricultural and rural development and wider access to food. Similarly, where appropriate, FAO is providing assistance in formulating such programmes at a continental level, as was the case for the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), within the framework of NEPAD, or at regional or sub-regional level in formulating Regional Programmes for Food Security (RPFS), in cooperation with the secretariats of regional economic organizations, or at national level, through the formulation of National Medium-Term Investment Plans, covering a period of five years and related profiles for bankable projects.
• The Emergency Prevention System against transboundary animal and plant pests and diseases (EMPRES) was set up as a medium for early warning and early reaction to address emergencies of this nature. In addition, EMPRES provides a research network to ensure sustainable control techniques.
• The allocation in the budget for the Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP), which provides quick response to urgent and unforeseen needs for technical assistance, was protected even when the overall budget level decreased. It represented 12.5 percent of the Regular Programme budget (US$84 million) in 1994-95, against 13.75 percent (US$103 million) proposed for 2004-05.
• The Emergency Operations and Rehabilitation Division (TCE) was constituted to allow for a more effective and rapid response to food and agricultural emergency needs in countries affected by exceptional natural or human-induced disasters. TCE uses information provided by the Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture (GIEWS), which monitors the crop and food supply and demand situation and warns of emerging food crises.

Looking ahead

The World Food Summit (WFS) in 1996 adopted the goal of halving the number of hungry people in the world by 2015. While several countries have made some progress towards achieving this target at the national level, global progress has been disappointing. At the June 2002 World Food Summit: five years later (WFS:fyl), governments reaffirmed their determination to fulfil their earlier commitment. They acknowledged that the goal could only be attained by the combined efforts of all countries, rich and poor, and through partnerships between governments, international institutions, civil society and the private sector. They agreed, inter alia, to act as an International Alliance Against Hunger to achieve the WFS goal.

During the WFS:fyl, FAO initiated an “Anti-Hunger Programme” to bring global hunger reduction efforts back on track towards meeting the WFS goal. The Programme will benefit from, and contribute to, existing major FAO programmes, in particular the SPFS. It will also build on the work of the Millennium Project Task Force on Hunger and other measures being taken to attain Millennium Development Goals.

Because cutting global hunger ultimately depends on the success of national efforts, the Organization is urging its Members to realize national programmes along the broad lines suggested in the Anti-Hunger Programme and inviting them to form alliances at the national level. These alliances could be instrumental, inter alia, in ensuring that explicit attention is paid to the hunger problem in the formulation of poverty reduction strategy papers and follow-up action programmes, and in promoting priority to hunger issues in the allocation of resources from national budgets and international sources, including funds available from the Debt Initiative for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC).

The Organization is already providing support to this endeavour and stands ready to respond to further requests from Members for assistance, through its various programmes.

FAO will continue to strive, together with all its partners, towards achieving food security for all, responding to the views and aspirations of its Members in pursuit of its ultimate mission– helping to build a world without hunger.