FAO welcomes final evaluation report

18 October 2007, Rome – FAO today welcomed the final report of the Independent External Evaluation (IEE) of the Organization, which diagnoses institutional performance and charts a way
forward for FAO, as a “major milestone” in its history.

It said that the management appreciated the extensive information gathering and analysis carried out by the IEE team.

“The report offers a timely opportunity for the membership to take action towards a more strategically oriented, effective and responsive Organization, fit to meet the challenges of the 21st
century and the evolving expectations of its constituents,” FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said.

FAO said the Director-General and the entire management team were fully committed to leading a process of transformation and to realizing all follow-up actions and decisions of strategic,
programmatic or organizational nature that would stem from the guidance of the governing bodies, however far-reaching in scope or arduous to implement.

The IEE report will be considered by FAO’s governing Council and Conference in November.

FAO said management agreed with most of the 109 recommendations in the report, though some would require further study and consideration and others deserved some additional elements of
information for consideration by the membership.

The IEE final report was being presented by the IEE team at a press conference in Rome today and published on the FAO website at: fao.org/pbe/pbee/en/219/index.html

A formal management response to the report from FAO will be released next week.