Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

In 2008, the FAO Conference approved the Immediate Plan of Action (IPA) for FAO Renewal, with over 35 percent of the IPA actions focusing on governance-related matters. The IPA foresaw that ‘the Conference will assess the workings of the governance reforms, including the role and functioning of the Regional Conferences, with an independent review as an input to this process’ (Action 2.74). Such an assessment was undertaken in 2014 by an independent review team, which prepared a draft report on governance reforms covering the work of the FAO’s Governing Bodies, namely the Conference, the Council, the Programme Committee, the Finance Committee, the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Matters, four technical committees, and five regional conferences. The draft report was preliminarily examined by the FAO Council in December, which provided initial comments on its findings and recommendations, appreciating, in particular, that the reforms had led to more dynamic governing...