Key Achievements in 2005

Substantive Progress in Establishing the Alliance of the FH Centers of CGIAR

The FHAO was created in 2003 and staffed in 2004 by the Center Directors Committee (now the Alliance Executive [AE]). Until the end of 2005, the Alliance Office consisted of two part-time staff: an executive officer and an executive secretary. The FHAO has operated virtually (in 2005) from Penang, Malaysia, Washington, DC, San José, Costa Rica, and UK; it works closely with Center staff on projects and contracting consultants as required for special activities. A major priority for the FHAO was providing strategic policy support to the AE and the Committee of Center Board Chairs (now Alliance Board, AB) in developing the foundations of the Alliance. In 2005, the FHAO provided support to the teams developing the Alliance Principles and Procedures document and, on behalf of the Centers, contracted consultants and assisted the Steering Committee with developing draft conflict-resolution guidelines for the Alliance.

Institutional Development of the AB and AE

The FHAO worked consistently with the Executive Committees of the AB and AE to improve the operations of both committees. The improvements made to date include proactive development of strategic and routine committee agendas, creation of a rigorous and timely system for developing and collating agenda papers, and improved recording of meeting minutes and follow-up on meeting decisions. A system for joint AB and AE records management has been instituted, and linkages have been created to ensure that relevant Center documents are registered and soon to be stored in the CGIAR Core Collection. Progress was made in 2005 on the Centers Archive collection: important documents dating back to the 1970s were recorded and scanned and are now stored on the Collaboration's website.

The FHAO also is responsible for policy briefings and the collating of briefings for Center representatives to the CGIAR Executive Council meetings and other. In 2005, support was lent to two Executive Council meetings, the CGIAR Business Meeting at AGM, two Executive Committee meetings for the Alliance, and the standard two meetings of the full Alliance (a meeting in the spring and one at AGM).

Strengthening Communications to Raise Awareness for Collective Action

The FHAO's role in communications is to help raise awareness of the collective work of the FH Centers. To that end, strong communication linkages have been established with the Centers, including the Alliance Deputy Executive (the former Center Deputy Directors Committee) and other partners in the CGIAR system. On request, the FHAO provided briefings on the SSA Medium-Term Plan (MTP) process to donors and the SC Secretariat. The FHAO also initiated a quarterly e-newsletter highlighting the collective activities of the Centers, their partners, and the SO units as well as activities of the systemwide and ecoregional programs and CPs. To cut costs and avoid duplication of effort, the e-newsletter is released as a link within the CGIAR Chair and Director's quarterly Letter to Members.

The FHAO facilitated the exchange of information within CGIAR concerning efforts to reconstruct lives and livelihoods after the December 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. The Alliance Office assisted the World Agroforestry South East Asia office (which is based in Indonesia) in establishing a CGIAR tsunami website. The AE provided seed funding for this initiative, and technical assistance was provided by the CGIAR Secretariat (additional information is available at www.cgiar.org/tsunami/). The FHAO also helped organize the Centers and Members Day at the 2005 AGM.

Collaboration with Other SO Units

CGIAR Private Sector Committee Activities: Scientific Knowledge Exchange Program (SKEP) and the CGIAR-Private Sector High level Meeting

On behalf of the Centers, the FHAO was an active partner in developing two important activities led by the CGIAR PSC. The first of these was the SKEP, which was developed by the CGIAR Centers and the CGIAR Secretariat in collaboration with six international research-oriented agribusiness companies. The first staff exchange-a senior private sector research manager assigned to a CGIAR Center-took place in August 2005.

The FHAO also worked with the CGIAR Secretariat and the PSC to design and support a high-level workshop involving the chief executive officers of agriculture-oriented corporations in the international private sector and CGIAR and Center management. The workshop took place in September in Washington, DC, and resulted in the initiation of the development of a joint work plan.

Increased Collaborative Activities with the SC Secretariat: MTP Assessment

In October, at the request of the AE, the FHAO provided an overview assessment of the SC commentaries on the Centers' 2006-2008 MTPs. The FHAO prepared a set of good practice points and brought them to the attention of the Center Directors General for future reference. The overview assessment and feedback on the utility of the commentaries were shared with the SC Secretariat.

Contribution of the Collaboration Calendar to the Launching of CGXchange

The Centers' Collaboration site-the private website established in 2004 for the AE-is home to a collective calendar, to which all Centers and key partners within the CGIAR, including the SO units, contribute. The calendar serves as the most comprehensive accounting of activities and important dates for the entire system. Contributions and updates are provided by the Collaboration Team (consisting of one designated staff member from each Center and SO unit), and technical support is provided by CGNet. In 2005 the calendar went "live" and is now featured on CGXchange, a project of the ICT-KM program.