United Nations: Improved Reporting and Member States' Consensus Needed for Food and Agriculture Organization's Reform Plan
Highlights
The United States and other member states have long-standing concerns about the management and operations of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a United Nations (UN) specialized agency charged with leading international efforts to defeat hunger. After an external evaluation found that FAO needed to reform, FAO adopted its reform plan, called the Immediate Plan of Action for FAO Renewal (IPA), which includes 272 action items. This report examines (1) the methodology that FAO uses to report on the status of its reform plan, (2) factors that affect FAO's ability to implement its reform plan, and (3) actions the United States has undertaken to support FAO reform efforts. GAO analyzed FAO documents, including FAO's most recent 2010 IPA progress report; interviewed U.S. and UN officials, and representatives of FAO member states; and analyzed 30 IPA action items from FAO's reform plan.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of State | To more accurately reflect the implementation status of some IPA action items and address various factors that could slow the pace of FAO's reform plan, the Secretary of State and the U.S. Representative to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture should work with member states to encourage FAO to develop clear guidance for assessing and categorizing the implementation status of IPA action items. |
State concurred with the GAO recommendation, noting that it would continue to work with FAO and member states to improve reporting on implementation of the reform plan. In response to the GAO recommendation, State Department officials noted that State worked through the Mission to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture, Member States, and the FAO Secretariat to assess and categorize the implementation status of IPA action items, specifically through the Program and Finance Committees and the Council. FAO implemented an action item specifically to monitor the progress of the IPA, specifying "The Council will monitor the progress of implementation of the IPA and report to Conference at its 36th Session and its 37th Session. It will be supported in this by the Programme and Finance Committees and reports from the management." The action item was completed with the presentation of the Final Management Report on the Immediate Plan of Action Implementation to the 38th Session of the FAO Conference in June, 2013. Prior to the Conference, the final management report on IPA implementation was considered by the March 2013 sessions of the Finance and Program Committees and by the April 2013 session of Council.
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| Department of State | To more accurately reflect the implementation status of some IPA action items and address various factors that could slow the pace of FAO's reform plan, the Secretary of State and the U.S. Representative to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture should work with member states to determine before 2013 if consensus can be achieved for IPA action items currently subject to disagreement among member states. |
In response to the GAO recommendation, State Department took action on all three IPA action items that were subject to disagreement among member states at the time of our report. Through FAO working groups which consist of FAO member state representatives, including the United States, FAO reached decision about whether member states could reach consensus on the three action items as of June 2012.
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