News and Views From the CBC and CDC Chairs

Centers Seek to Better Serve Poor People by forming an Alliance

Meeting at CIMMYT the week prior to AGM, the Committee of Center Board Chairs (CBC) and Center Directors Committee (CDC) unanimously agreed to form an Alliance of the Future Harvest Centers. The commitment formalized agreements already in place and, for the Centers, took the reforms currently underway in the CGIAR System to the next level.

The CBC and CDC produced a joint statement for their Framework for Collective Action, which laid out both immediate and longer-term goals. The Alliance will work to build on:

• Existing collaboration in programs, administration and policies;
  
• An analysis of deficiencies for collective action in the past, via a new focus on agreed upon guiding principles;
  
• Existing entities and mechanisms, such as the CDC, CBC and the Medium Term planning process and others; and
  
• The determination of the Centers to improve and streamline programming efforts in Sub Saharan Africa, in collaboration with the Task Forces, as a first priority, and then extend into other regions.

The CDC Chair, Kanayo Nwanze, during a presentation on Collective Action at AGM, stressed that the Alliance will focus on the collective work of the independent Centers, by establishing mechanisms for conflict resolution and help the Centers speak with a common voice to raise visibility of issues addressed collectively, such as ongoing and planned work on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

In addition, the CBC and CDC acknowledge the importance of involving their regional and national partners from the outset in framing collective actions, in order to ensure as mentioned in the guiding principles, "Our allegiance is first and foremost to the poor."

The CDC is to immediately transform itself into the Executive of the Alliance, the CBC will act as the Alliance Board. Before meeting again in May, 2005, the Executive Committees of both CDC and CBC will meet to discuss progress and review priorities regarding the implementation of the Collective Action Framework. The support for the Alliance Executive will be further developed in the coming year, and will build upon the work currently underway through the Future Harvest Alliance Office (a member of the System Office). A joint working group of CBC and CDC members will draft a charter for the Alliance, for discussion during their meetings in May, 2005, at WorldFish Center.

Uzo Mokwunye, CBC Chair
Kanayo Nwanze, CDC Chair