FAO looks for more efficiency and effectiveness by proposing to adjust its Programme of Work and Budget
1 June 2020, Rome - The FAO Director-General QU Dongyu held today a virtual informal seminar for Members’ Permanent Representatives to the UN agency in order to provide them with information and listen to their views regarding the proposed adjustments to the FAO’s Programme of Work and Budget (PWB) for the current biennium 2020-2021.
“The proposed structural and programmatic adjustments are to improve the Organization’s efficiency and effectiveness while avoiding silos and establishing transparency and accountability,” Qu highlighted.
In order to avoid the emergence of silos between offices and divisions, one of the proposals is to implement a more modular and flexible organigramme, thereby ensuring agility, optimal cross-sectoral collaboration and better responses to emerging needs and priorities. This includes grouping the core leadership team at the centre of the Organization, consisting of the three Deputy Directors-General, the Chief Economist and the Chief Scientist, who will support the Director-General in all areas of FAO’s mandate. “We also want to avoid silos at the top, co-leadership is fundamental for joint work,” Qu said.
The proposed adjustments also aim at strengthening the accountability of the heads of Offices, Centres and Divisions, who will report directly to the core leadership as experts in their respective areas. This is aimed at promoting “professionalism, inclusiveness and concrete results,” Qu added.
Other proposals to adjust FAO’s Programme of Work and Budget include the creation of a new Office of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a new Division of Food Systems and Food Safety, and the strengthening of the Organizations centres of cooperation. These are the Investment Centre that collaborates with the International Financial Institutions; the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre, which reflects the longstanding strategic partnership in sustainable agriculture development and food security using nuclear science and technology; as well as the Joint FAO/WHO Centre that will house the Codex Alimentarius Commission and address issues related to zoonotic diseases.
“Working in partnerships is increasingly critical to address complex and multifaceted issues and by strengthening the Centres we propose to make catalytic use of FAO’s resources,” said the Director-General, who today completed ten months in office. During this period, he held bilateral meetings with hundreds of representatives from Members as well as various institutions, including the private sector, development banks, civil society and academia.
The informal seminar was followed by more than 200 participants among permanent representatives and FAO staff. The proposed adjustments to the PWB will now be presented for consideration by the Programme and Finance Committees. After that, a second informal seminar will take place on 26 June, in preparation to the 164th Session of the FAO Council in early July.