I C A R D A    N e w s

INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN THE DRY AREAS

P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria
Phone: (963-21) 2213433, 2213477, 2225112, 2225012
Fax: (963-21) 2213490, 2225105;
E-mail: ICARDA@CGIAR.ORG
Website: www.icarda.cgiar.org
For more information contact: Dr Surendra Varma (s.varma@CGIAR.ORG)
 
 
31 March 2005
Board Chair Shows Pathway to 2006
Holding a copy of "Healing Wounds" in her hand, Dr Margaret Catley-Carlson, ICARDA Board Chair, during her meeting with ICARDA staff, praised the Center's outstanding achievements in rebuilding agriculture in some of the countries in the region under the leadership of
Prof. Dr Adel El-Beltagy, Director General.
In a meeting with ICARDA staff on 28 March, Dr Margaret Catley-Carlson, Chair of the ICARDA Board of Trustees (BOT), announced that the search for a new Director General for the Center wll begin in April 2005.

"This is an enormously important task and we want to give you as clear and transparent a view as possible," Dr Catley-Carlson said.
Dr Catley-Carlson said that she had visited the Syrian Minister of Planning and the Syrian Minister of Agriculture in Damascus the previous day to inform them of the upcoming change in ICARDA leadership, and both ministers spontaneously praised ICARDA's scientific results and relationship with NARS in the region.

"Dr Adel El-Beltagy has an extraordinary record of achievement, which is to say that you have had an extraordinary record of achievement under his direction. The Board is very proud of what we hear from governments and national organizations," Dr Catley-Carlson said.

Dr Catley-Carlson described the process and timeline that the Board of Trustees will follow for the recruitment of a new DG. The Board will be working through a four-person Search Committee. The members of the Committee are: Drs Mohamed Zehni, Mouin Hamze, Guido Gryseels, and Margaret Catley-Carlson, with Ms Joan Joshi serving as Committee Secretary. In the first week of April, the Search Committee will send around 300 letters to ICARDA stakeholders, agricultural ministers, deans of universities, heads of agricultural departments, important agricultural organizations around the world, and donors announcing the position and requesting names of suitable candidates. Advertisements will also be placed in The Economist and Al Hayat. The deadline for the application will be 30 May 2005.

Based on selection criteria that have been identified by the Board and ICARDA staff, the Search Committee will reduce the number of candidates to five in July/August 2005. They will then solicit references and, if necessary, do additional recruitment, before narrowing the number to three.

In September/October 2005, either the Board or the Executive Committee will interview the top three candidates and select one. The new DG will be formally installed at the Board Meeting in April 2006.

Dr Catley-Carlson said that ICARDA staff have responsibilities in three areas of the search and selection process. She invited the staff to suggest names of people who should receive the announcement letter, and forward their suggestions to Ms Houda Nourallah, Administrative Officer to the DG and BOT. Also, if any ICARDA staff member wanted to suggest potential candidates for the position, s/he should email those suggestions to the Search Committee Secretary, Joan Joshi, at jhjoshi@aol.com.

The third and most important area of staff participation is in establishing the selection criteria based on which the new DG will be chosen. Dr Catley-Carlson asked the ICARDA staff present at the meeting to identify the potential challenges that the Center and the new DG will have to face in the coming decade. "The Board will choose the best candidate with regard to his/her ability to take on these challenges," she said.

She identified four key domains of responsibility of the ICARDA DG, and invited the staff to identify challanges in each domain: (1) Science, Food Security, and Protection of the Environment, (2) Relationships with NARS, particularly within CWANA, (3) Managing ICARDA at its headquarter at Tel Hadya and around the world, and (4) Within the CGIAR System. Several ICARDA staff members suggested the challenges that would need attention to successfully lead ICARDA into a new decade. The suggestions of the staff members will be passed on to rest of the Board of Trustees, Dr Catley-Carlson said.

Dr Catley-Carlson emphasized the goals for ICARDA staff this year. "Your tasks include continuing a productive work agenda, making this the best year ever, and preparing to celebrate Dr Adel El-Beltagy's achievements."

About ICARDA: Established in 1977, ICARDA (www.icarda.cgiar.org) serves the entire developing world for the improvement of barley, lentil, and faba bean; and dry-area developing countries for the on-farm management of water, improvement of nutrition and productivity of small ruminants (sheep and goats), and rehabilitation and management of rangelands. In the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region, ICARDA is responsible for the improvement of durum and bread wheats, chickpea, pasture and forage legumes and farming systems; and for the protection and enhancement of the natural resource base of water, land, and biodiversity.

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) (www.cgiar.org) is a strategic alliance of countries, international and regional organizations, and private foundations supporting15 international research centers that mobilizes cutting-edge science to promote sustainable development by reducing hunger and poverty, improving human nutrition and health, and protecting the environment.
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