Chapter 3: Cooperation And Partnerships

(All amounts in US$ 000)

Major Programme 3.1: Policy Assistance

(All amounts in US$ 000)

Programme 3.1.1: Coordination of Policy Assistance and Field Programme Development

(All amounts in US$ 000)

93. The reduced resources will hamper TCA’s efforts to support the development of the Field Programme and will affect planned activities to enhance capacities of countries and regional partners, in particular Regional Economic Organizations, to prepare, implement and evaluate sectoral and sub-sectoral policies. A number of training materials, workshops and Field Programme development activities will have to be eliminated or curtailed. Under 311P4, the reduction is due to efficiency gains, thus not affecting outputs.

311A1 - Development of FAO's Capacity to Provide On-line Training in Food, Agriculture and Rural Development Policy and Planning

Biennial Outputs

• On-line training courses implemented by cooperating institutions
• Modular electronic learning resources on food security policies
• Modular electronic learning resources (conceptual & methodological texts, case studies and exercises) on regional integration and food security and on agricultural policy and poverty

311P1 - Coordination of Policy Assistance

Biennial Outputs

• Policy papers, notes and reports prepared by PABs and PAUs reviewed and technically cleared
• Methodological material on constraints analysis applicable to SPFS up-scaling initiatives
• Guidelines on the organization of a policy formulation and implementation process, including participation of stakeholders
• Operational guidelines and briefs on the formulation of national and regional strategies for food security and agricultural development 
• Updated national strategies for about 100 countries reviewed
• Support to NEPAD Action Plans preparation at continent level and to 9 African Regional Economic Organizations
• Analytical and methodological material on the impact of agricultural policy on poverty and on the formulation of common agricultural policy mechanisms 
• Two workshops on agriculture strategy formulation and regional policy integration (agricultural trade, food safety measures and support to national food security efforts) organized to increase advisory capacity of policy staff

311P2 - Coordination of Field Programme Development Activities

Biennial Outputs

• System for monitoring and evaluation of regional field programme development strategies
• 40 National and 10 sub-regional mid-term technical cooperation programmes developed 

311P3 - Development of Training Materials and Methods in Food and Agriculture Policy Analysis

Biennial Outputs

• Training materials on agricultural and rural development strategy and policy formulation and implementation, and on the policy cycle 
• Training material on selected sub-sectoral policy themes 
• Training material on strategic area development, regional integration, and policies for food security and poverty reduction 

311P4 - Coordination of Country Focus

Biennial Outputs

• Unified electronic tool-kit for the preparation of country and regional entities' briefs
• Corporate-wide system to facilitate access to and utilization of country and regional entities briefs
• Briefs on Member Nations and Regional Entities

311S2 - Technical Support to Capacity Building in Food, Agriculture and Rural Policy Development Planning and Policy Analysis

Biennial Outputs

• Demand-driven direct policy advice provided to member countries and regional economic organizations 
• Contributions to UNDAF and CCA processes, as well as PRSPs, in LIFDCs to include food security & rural development issues
• Support to regional initiatives, in particular follow-up to FAO/Development Banks programmes in food security 

Programme 3.1.2: Policy Assistance to Various Regions

(All amounts in US$ 000)

94. As the TCA division was obliged to eliminate several posts in its decentralized policy advisory teams, the dislocation to planned activities will be particularly harmful in the regions, although maximum effort has been made to keep non-staff resources to acceptable levels. Regrettably, this budgetary restraint is taking place in a context of the growing complexity of tasks assigned to the decentralized units, in terms of servicing country task forces, maintaining analytical databases, and continuously updating assessments of requirements. Support to FAORs, the implementation of capacity-building workshops and TCA’s assistance to resource mobilization and rehabilitation strategies and programmes following emergencies are also to suffer from resource constraints.

312P1 - Enhancement of Country Focus

Biennial Outputs

• Country task forces, analytical database and up-to-date assessments of technical assistance requirements at national level 

312P2 - Field Programme Development

Biennial Outputs

• Updated regional field programme development strategies
• Resource mobilization support to national/regional technical assistance programmes 

312P3 - Advice, Support and Training in Agricultural Policies

Biennial Outputs

• Policy advice to member countries and support in policy analysis and preparation 
• Policy papers, notes and reports
• Technical support to the preparation of national strategies horizon 2015 on food security and agricultural development
• Capacity-building workshops on policy-related issues 
• Support to the preparation of plans and strategies for rehabilitation and development following emergencies

312S3 - Technical Support to Field Programmes

Biennial Outputs

• Direct advice on policy to countries, including constraints analysis 
• Technical support to field projects (including formulation, implementation and backstopping)
• Technical and organizational support to 5 FAO Regional Conferences

Programme 3.1.3: Legal Assistance to Member Nations

(All amounts in US$ 000)

95. The reduced allocation reflects inter alia the loss of two posts (one Professional and one GS). The impact will be felt across the whole spectrum of activities implemented by the Development Law Service of LEG, particularly the provision of technical advice to countries under 313S1.

313A1 - Support to the Development of a Regulatory Framework for Food and Agriculture

Biennial Outputs

• Preparation of guidelines, manuals, codes of conduct and action plans to provide the basis for national legislation related to international legal instruments in the priority areas of food law and fisheries law 

313P1 - Collection and Dissemination of Legal Information

Biennial Outputs

• Merger of FAOLEX and ECOLEX and constant updating of the database
• Dissemination of legislative studies 

313S1 - Provision of Technical Advice

Biennial Outputs

• Direct advice, including draft legislation, and on-the-job training of national legal staff, for up to 30 countries 

Major Programme 3.2: Support To Investment

(All amounts in US$ 000)

96. The Investment Centre division (TCI) spearheads FAO’s response to the growing consensus among the international financing institutions (IFIs) that there is a need to raise the share of agriculture in their portfolio, so that the goals set by the WFS/WFS:fyl and the UN Millennium Declaration could be met. With the reduced level of resources, TCI’s capacity to leverage funds for investment promotion will be diminished and the division may not be able to respond to all of the demands from partner IFIs in the requisite manner.

97. In view of the continuing strong increase in demand from the World Bank, TCI will aim at meeting existing commitments in the level of cooperation with this key partner. On the other hand, as regards the Investment Support Programme covering other partner institutions, the much reduced allocation and attendant staff cuts will not support the volume of work carried out in the past with these important partners which have been built up over a long period of collaboration. Moreover, TCI will have to curtail support to key programmes within the Organization, as only priority work for which compensatory resources can be provided will be carried out.

Major Programme 3.3: Field Operations

(All amounts in US$ 000)

98. Resource cuts will concern primarily programme 3.3.2. Further enhancement and development of the FPMIS will not be possible, beyond what available funding from arrears would allow to achieve. The intended improvements in the operational capacity of the FAOR country office staff through interactive workshops and consultations in the Regions, may also be negatively affected. Furthermore, HQ participation in and facilitation of these activities would be impaired. Therefore, training and backstopping efforts will be limited to streamlining procedures, long-distance learning packages with inter-active CDs and the web-based Field Programme Manual. There would also be reduced flexibility to respond to unforeseen problems in the regional and country offices.

Major Programme 3.4: FAO Representatives

(All amounts in US$ 000)

99. The net reduction under this Major Programme results from vacancy management of FAO Representation staff and the phased abolition of some 40 GS posts. At HQ, OCD will reduce its support staff capacity by abolishing two GS posts and by further reducing the already-limited non-staff provisions. This will result in lower operational and administrative support from HQ to the FAOR Network.

100. Mitigating measures will, to the extent possible, be put in place to reduce the adverse impact of the above reductions. For instance, FAORs are expected to have enhanced access to the resources previously channelled through the Small-scale Facility and the TCP Facility to facilitate use of local technical and policy expertise. Strengthening of technical capacities will be sought through budget-neutral measures, such as the placement of South-South Cooperation/ SPFS experts in FAO Representations, use of APOs and volunteers from various sources. Internal reimbursement and cost-recovery schemes will be reviewed to establish a better linkage between the functions performed by, and workload of, FAO Representations and the resources at their disposal.

101. The reductions described above, despite mitigating measures, are bound to have negative implications on the functional and operational capacity of the FAOR Network and may result in reduced responsiveness of – or less efficient service delivery by – FAO Representations. They may reduce the scope for participation in UN Country Team activities (e.g. CCA/UNDAF), country-level support to normative programmes or the advocacy/outreach work of FAORs. The impact on the visibility and effectiveness of FAO’s work at country-level may, of course, vary from country to country.

Major Programme 3.5: Cooperation with External Partners

(All amounts in US$ 000)

102. Under Programme 3.5.1, beyond the limited cut to the provision, the expected negative impact is on account of the loss of decentralized posts, which were to have greatly assisted with key activities. Therefore, more limited progress can be expected in three priority areas:

• the expansion of the Unilateral Trust Fund (UTF) programme;
• the consolidation of donor partnership programmes, the adoption of national execution modalities, and the fuller integration of normative with operational activities;
• the mobilization of resources decentralized to regional and national levels by many donors and multilateral institutions.

103. The abolition of one GS post in support of the Associate Professional Officer (APO) programme will hamper capacity to fully promote and develop this very useful programme.

104. Under Programme 3.5.2, planned outreach initiatives to NGOs and private sector partners would have to be revised downwards, to ensure essential tasks in the light of available resources. Efforts will be made to identify extra-budgetary resources to offset partially the shortfall under Regular Programme resources.

105. Programme 3.5.2 also includes the work of the General Affairs and Information Department and other units for coordination, planning and implementation of World Food Day activities, the use of FAO Ambassadors and promotion of country level involvement and civil society participation through the dissemination of information. In order to continue this work within a reduced level of resources, including less staff, the information campaigns for WFD and TeleFood, including the use of FAO Ambassadors, will be more fully integrated. Greater use of the Internet will be made, wherever pertinent, while the advocacy role of FAO Ambassadors will be supported only with extra-budgetary funding. There will be greater reliance on FAO National Committees for awareness-raising in respective countries.

106. Under programme 3.5.3, the abolition of one Professional and one GS post will reduce OCD’s capacity to fully promote Partnership Programmes. Where possible, efforts will be made to mitigate the adverse impact through further streamlining of procedures.