Technical Advisory Committee Fifty-First Meeting, 12-18 March 1990: Report of the Meeting

Abstract

Report of TAC 51 held in Rome, March 12-18, 1990, Alex McCalla presiding. TAC reviewed the external program and management reviews of CIP and IITA, and forwarded them with comments (included in the meeting report) to the CGIAR. TAC met jointly with the center directors and center board chairs to discuss items on the TAC agenda. A paper on activities and modes of operation in the CGIAR was presented to this meeting.Most of the work on assessing non associated centers for CGIAR support was conducted in closed session. The Chairman summarized the process for the benefit of center directors, board chairmen and observers. He described the preparation of desk studies and the work of seven TAC panels each involving outside experts. TAC held over some issues, including vegetables, for consideration at TAC 52. It reached consensus on the institutional options for forestry and agroforestry, and decided to present its conclusions on this topic to the CGIAR in May 1990.The chairman of the Standing Committee for Priorities and Strategies reported on extensive consultations, including discussions with NARS in different regions, on the first part of the report on a possible expansion of the CGIAR. The committee had developed an annotated outline for a new priorities and strategies paper. TAC heard a progress report from the chair of the CGIAR ad hoc committee reviewing the resource allocation process. The chair of TAC's Standing Committee for Resource Allocation reported on steps taken by a CGIAR ad hoc committee to deal with the expected shortfall of funding for 1990, and other matters. TAC discussed a draft overview of management at the CGIAR centers, prepared by Selcuk Özgediz of the CGIAR Secretariat.