Report of the Twentieth Meeting of the CGIAR Oversight Committee

Report of the twentieth meeting of the CGIAR Oversight Committee, held in Washington between October 20 and 27, 2000 in conjunction with ICW 2000, Andrew Bennett presiding. Members considered that the report of the Synthesis Group on issues of governance, organization and structure fulfilled the charge to the Oversight Committee to produce a synthesis. They participated actively in the discussions at ICW 2000, and emphasized the need to reach clear decisions at MTM 2001.The Committee considered the retrospective review of the System Review it had commissioned by a panel chaired by Martin Piñeiro. It decided to release the report to the members of the CGIAR and, subject to their views, implement the recommendations and assume an oversight role for the review process in the System. The Committee endorsed the orientation program offered for new board members, and noted the processes for selection of directors general at CIFOR, ICRAF, ILRI, and IITA. It found the discussion of external program and management reviews (EPMRs) at CGIAR meetings to be of limited value and recommended that members receive and comment on reviews electronically. Difficulties for WARDA staff created by the political situation in Côte d'Ivoire were noted. The Committee urged that consideration of the proposed merger of IBSRAM into IWMI be fully transparent. It welcomed the arrival of a new CGIAR Chairman and Director, and noted the important role of the cosponsors. Other topics considered included the review of plant breeding methodologies, funding issues, agendas for the 2001 CGIAR meetings, and the work of GFAR.