FORMER FAO AND OTHER UN STAFF ASSOCIATION



FORMER FAO AND OTHER UN STAFF ASSOCIATION

FFOA

FFOA/GA/2009/03 Page 1 of 12 pages

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Thirty-ninth Session of the General Assembly

Wednesday, 27 May 2009, at 09:30 hours

Green Room, FAO Headquarters, Building A

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PROVISIONAL REPORT

Thirty-eighth Session of the General Assembly

Thursday, 12th June 2008 at 09:30 hours

Green Room, FAO Headquarters, Building A

1. Opening of the Thirty-eighth Session of the General Assembly by the President of FFOA

The President of FFOA, Mr Anton Doeve, opened the session at 09:40 hours. He recalled the centenary of the “International Institute of Agriculture” (IIA), the predecessor of FAO, in the following speech.

Esteemed guests, members of FFOA, dear friends and all those who, with their presence, enhance the significance of this General Assembly. I warmly welcome you all and thank you for attending this special meeting. You may wonder why this meeting would deserve to be called a special one, and in which way it could be considered to be different from the 37 previous sessions. As you probably know, the date planned originally for this session was the 28th of May. And if we had been able to hold this session on that date I would have mentioned to you that on the 28th of May 1908, exactly 100 years ago, the “International Institute of Agriculture”, the “IIA”, which was the predecessor of FAO, was officially opened in Rome in the presence of the King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele III.

The opening of the International Institute of Agriculture represented the crown on the hard work of David Lubin after whom FAO has named its Library. Some of you may ask: “But who was David Lubin”?

David Lubin was born on the 10th of June 1849 in Klodawa in Poland. He became a merchant and agriculturist who moved with his family first to England, then to New York City and finally, in 1874, to Sacramento in California. In Sacramento he bought a ranch and land for growing wheat and achieved considerable success as a merchant. His knowledge of Agriculture helped him when he founded, with others, the California Fruit Growers Union. He became concerned about the plight of farmers during the depression of the 1880s and 1890s and began to campaign for subsidies and protection for farmers, initially in California, but eventually on an international scale. Assisted by his son, Simon, he developed a proposal for an International Chamber of Agriculture which would be able to collect and disseminate timely information on the conditions of the agricultural markets and thereby strengthen the position of farmers and producers. He went to Europe in 1896 to try to implement the proposal. However, in the various countries of Europe which he visited his attempts failed. The only person who gave him real attention was Victor Emanuel III, the King of Italy, who became his sponsor and, being himself very much interested in agricultural problems, convinced the Italian Government to accept the idea of international cooperation in the field of agriculture. Finally, the project was internationally accepted and at a conference, convened by the Italian government, the Convention which founded the International Institute of Agriculture was signed in 1905 in Rome by the representatives of 40 governments.

The Institute functioned continuously from 1908 to 1945 although its functions were seriously hampered by the two World Wars. The creation in 1945 of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations led to the absorption by FAO of the functions and assets of the Institute which ceased its activities in 1946. The basic and fundamental guidelines of the Institute can be found in the Constitution of FAO and the defence and assistance of poor farmers in the world has never ended and is still being carried forward today by the Organization whose hospitality FFOA gratefully acknowledges and has enjoyed ever since its creation.

Now, why is it important to commemorate the foundation of the “IIA” today, at this 38th session of the FFOA General Assembly? Because we, the members of FFOA, represent the links with the past. Because we, the members of FFOA, represent the continuity of the development that was set in motion 100 years ago by David Lubin. And because today there are still some members of FFOA who were staff members of the “IIA” and who transferred to FAO when it opened its doors in Rome in 1951. The “Newsbrief 68” records the passing away of two members of FFOA who were staff members of FAO when it was still located in its temporary Headquarters in Washington and who transferred to Rome on the ships “Saturnia” and “Vulcania” when FAO found its permanent Headquarters in Italy.

It is believed that a community that is not interested in or does not honour its past is condemned to repeat the mistakes it has made before and to live through its misfortunes again. I thought, therefore, that it was appropriate to recall the past of FAO today, in the company of some of those who are still the living witnesses of that past.

So now you can say: “I was there when FFOA commemorated the first centenary of the “International Institute of Agriculture”. And you can be proud of it. You can also be proud of having contributed, during the period of your active service, to the implementation of the ideas and work of David Lubin. During part of those 100 years, since the foundation of the “International Institute of Agriculture”, you have been instrumental in the creation of better opportunities for poor farmers everywhere in the world. Personally, I am proud to be one of you.

May I now ask you to stand up and observe a few moments of silence to honour the founders, the staff and the pensioners of the “International Institute of Agriculture” and, at the same time, commemorate the staff, pensioners, consultants and all those who served a United Nations Organization and who have passed away since our previous General Assembly.

May their souls rest in eternal peace.

2. A. Establishment of a quorum and announcement of the number of proxies

Mr. Doeve announced that a quorum was present in accordance with the Association's Statutes and that, consequently, any decisions taken by the session would be binding on all members, wherever they might be. Some 120 members were present. 14 proxies were held by 3 members.

Mr. Giorgio Eberle, Mr. Maurice Purnell and Mr. Bronek Szynalski were nominated rapporteurs. Ms. Marta Bochicchio and Ms. Rosa Maria Buri provided simultaneous English-Italian interpretation.

2. B. Election of the President of the Thirty-eighth Session of the General Assembly

Mr. Doeve proposed that a well-known member, Mr. Jean-Jaques Graisse, with 44 years experience in the UN, should chair this General Assembly and he was elected by acclamation. Mr. Graisse then took the Chair.

3. Adoption of the Provisional Agenda (FFOA/GA/2008/02)

No proposals for additions to the Provisional Agenda had been received so it was adopted.

4. Draft Report of the 37th Session of the General Assembly held on 30th May 2007 (FFOA/GA/2008/04)

The Draft Report had been circulated in July 2007 with Newsbrief 66. It was adopted without comment by the General Assembly under resolution FFOA/GA/2008/06A.

5. Address by the Representative of the Director General of FAO

Mr. Tony Alonzi, Director of AFH, spoke on behalf of the Director-General of FAO.

Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure and honour for me to welcome you this morning on the occasion of the 38th Annual FFOA Assembly. I would also like to extend my welcome to the Representatives from IFAD and WFP.

Also with us today are the representatives from FAO’s Human Resources Division who will be briefing you on pension and social security issues.

I want to thank Mr. Doeve and the FFOA Executive Committee for having postponed the FFOA Assembly until after the High Level Conference on World Food Security which took place in FAO from 3-5 June 2008. FAO experienced a historic event last week, 181 countries participated in the Conference; 43 countries were represented by their Head of State or Government and 100 by high level Ministers; the Secretary General of the United Nations, the Executive Heads of IFAD and WFP, the World Bank and other International Agencies as well as 60 non-governmental and civil society organizations were present. Overall, some 5000 people attended and more than 1200 journalists were covering the event. After more than 20 years the Conference brought back on the international agenda the need for increased food production.

The Conference on soaring food prices concluded with the adoption by acclamation of a Declaration calling on the international community to increase assistance for developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and those that are negatively affected by high food prices. One of the key passages reads “There is an urgent need to help developing countries and countries in transition to expand agriculture and food production, and to increase investment in agriculture, agribusiness and rural development, from both public and private sources. Donors and international financial institutions are urged to provide balance of payments support and/or budget support to food-importing, low-income countries. Other measures should be considered as necessary to improve the financial situation of the countries in need, including reviewing debt servicing as necessary.” The Declaration also called on governments to assure UN Agencies the resources to expand and enhance their food assistance and support safety net programmes to address hunger and malnutrition, when appropriate, through the use of local or regional purchases. The Declaration also calls for development partners to participate in and contribute to international and regional initiatives on soaring food prices and to help farmers, particularly small scale producers, to increase production and integrate with local, regional and international markets.

The High Level Conference has decided to act by calling for immediate humanitarian assistance to those hardest hit by the current food price crisis. Although this was not a pledging Conference a number of countries and international financial institutions announced their increased commitment to the fight against hunger and for agricultural development by pledging 6.5 billion dollars. The money will benefit countries hard hit by the current world food crisis, allowing them to grow enough food for themselves in the coming planting seasons and helping them to achieve continuing food security through investment in agriculture and research.

On climate change the Declaration said that it is essential to address the question of how to increase the resilience of present food production systems to challenges posed by climate change and indicates that governments support the establishment of agricultural systems and sustainable management practices that positively contribute to the mitigation of climate change and ecological balance.

On the contentious issue of biofuels, the Declaration indicates that in depth studies are necessary to ensure that production and use of biofuels is sustainable and take into account the need to achieve and maintain global food security. The Declaration called upon inter-governmental organizations including FAO to foster a coherent effective and results-oriented international dialogue on biofuels in the context of food security and sustainable development needs.

At the High Level Conference, FAO, IFAD, WFP and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) chaired by the former Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, signed a new collaboration agreement that aims to significantly boost food production in areas with relatively good rainfall, soils, infrastructure and markets, the so called breadbasket areas. Each agency will deliver unique expertise towards achieving an environmentally and economically sustainable green revolution that will end the continent’s perennial food crisis.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to those former staff who volunteered to assist the Organization during the Conference, and to thank them for the quality and effectiveness of their work which contributed to the success of the meeting.

Independent External Evaluation of FAO (IEE)

At your last meeting in May 2007 we informed you that an Independent External Evaluation of FAO was being carried out. The report of the IEE was considered by the FAO Conference in November 2007 together with the Management response “In Principle”. The Conference welcomed the report of the IEE and passed a resolution on IEE follow-up. This included the establishment of a time bound Committee of the Conference (CoC-IEE), open to all FAO member states, and tasked with preparing proposals for an immediate plan of action to be considered by a special session of the Conference which will be held in November 2008. The Conference Committee decided that there should be three working groups examining IEE follow-up and concentrating in three areas: Working Group I – FAO vision and programme priorities; Working Group II – governance reform; Working Group III – reform of systems, culture change and organizational restructuring.

The Conference Committee and the working groups have been meeting regularly since January 2008 and are developing the proposals for the immediate plan of action. The documents related to the IEE review as well as the outcome of the meetings of the Conference Committee and the working groups are available on the FAO website under FAO Reform.

Pension and Medical Insurance

Let me now briefly touch upon some of the pension and medical coverage issues that might be of interest to you.

On 1 April 2008 there was a 4.1 percent adjustment of the US$ entitlements, based on the movement of the United States Consumer Price Index over the one-year period December 2006 to December 2007. Similarly, pensions paid in Euro track in Italy have seen an increase of 4.5 percent.

Prior to the Pension Fund meeting which will be hosted by IFAD this year, we are pleased to accommodate the Federation of Associations of Former International Civil Servants (FAFICS) in FAO for their annual Council meeting.

The medical insurance scheme continues to grow in membership covering active staff and retirees from FAO, IFAD, WFP and other UN Organizations in Rome. We all have been enjoying the security of the plan which, as you all know, provides us, staff and retirees with safety and security when it comes to our health and welfare.

Chairperson, Ladies and Gentlemen, FFOA unites former civil servants from FAO, IFAD, WFP and a number of other UN Organizations represented in Rome. The occasion of the FFOA Annual General Assembly provides the opportunity for former UN staff in Rome to meet and discuss issues of common interest. For the active staff, it provides a chance to see many of our former colleagues and to keep you informed of the new initiatives undertaken by our Organization. Over the years, the collaboration between FFOA and the Organization has increased and we would like to assure the Association that FAO will continue to cooperate with and support FFOA for the benefit of the retiree community.

I wish you all a successful and productive meeting. Thank you for your attention.

6. Reply by the President of the General Assembly

Mr. Graisse thanked Mr. Alonzi for his report. While following the Meeting on Food Security in the media he had been saddened by the aggressive criticisms directed at FAO, and would like to remind their authors of the meeting in Mexico in 2002 when FAO had clearly warned of what was going to happen as a consequence of climatic change.

7. Address by the Representative of the Executive Director of the World Food Programme

Ms. Rebecca Hansen, Director of Human Resources, WFP, made the following statement, on behalf of

Ms. Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of WFP:

Challenges we face

This morning I should first like to share with you some challenges faced by WFP. For some time WFP’s Executive Director, Josette Sheeran, has been talking about a “perfect storm”for the world’s most vulnerable people – a combination of factors which have made food increasingly inaccessible to them). Such factors include: rising fuel prices and the growth of biofuels which has inextricably linked energy and food prices, a lagging investment in agriculture, and increasing demand for a richer and more varied diet in countries with rapidly growing economies such as India and China. Today, we are in the eye of that storm. After decades of achievements in reducing the proportion of hungry in the world, hunger is back on the march. Global food and fuel prices started the most aggressive pattern of global increases perhaps ever recorded. Most commodities rose a startling 10 percent on average a month between June last year and this January, eroding about 40 percent of WFP’s — and the world’s — food purchasing power.

On 3 March, rice was selling at US$430 a metric tonne, five weeks later at US$780 a metric tonne and two weeks after that at US$1,000 a metric tonne. Imagine a family living on one dollar a day, already spending 70 per cent of their income on food, trying to keep up. As the Secretary-General said, many are now buying by the cup, rather than the bag. Many are missing a meal a day, or whole days without meals. Stocks and cash reserves are being drawn down to all time lows. And just when the world has needed WFP most we were able to reach fewer people than ever.

As many of you know, WFP is entirely voluntarily funded, and has no core budget — our headquarters budget grows and shrinks under a 7 per cent cap, depending on the size of our operations. These past few years, WFP has also been unfavourably hit by exchange rates, triggering an unprecedented exercise of internal restructuring and realignment, reducing the value of that 7 per cent and our overhead budget by 21 per cent. We have had to cut to the bone to stay within a limit on overhead costs. Our operational budget needs have increased by 35 percent for the biennium, driven mainly by exchange rates and record high prices in food and fuel. Our management plan originally approved last October was for US$ 3.45 billion. Already, because of decreased purchasing power and increased needs, our programme of work for 2008 has been revised to US$ 4.78 billion to meet the urgent hunger needs of close to 90 million people worldwide, including 3 million in Darfur alone.

What the Global Situation means for WFP

The global food security crisis is presenting WFP with perhaps its biggest test in our 45-year history. We are working to help nations activate solutions and resources that can prevent large-scale increases in hunger and humanitarian suffering, increase food production and break the cycle of poverty for smallholder farmers. Many have more advanced food security strategies and safety nets. Many know what they need to do to produce more food but do not have the resources. We must stand together to help all nations turn this challenge into an opportunity for the world’s poorest farmers because no single country can resolve the issue. The new face of hunger requires market information and interventions that are as supportive as possible to local conditions. Our Strategic Plan, which was just approved by our Executive Board this week, marks an historic shift to food assistance. It outlines five strategic objectives: -

1. Save lives and protect livelihoods in emergencies

2. Invest in the prevention and mitigation of disasters

3. Restore and rebuild lives and livelihoods in post-conflict or post-disaster or transition situations

4. Reduce chronic hunger and under-nutrition in developing countries

5. Strengthen countries’ capacity to reduce hunger through handover strategies and local purchase

It was finalized after consultations with Board members - seven sessions in all – plus with UN agencies and NGO partners. Whenever and wherever possible WFP’s Strategic Plan is supportive of local markets and productive local investment in breaking the cycle of hunger. We call this our 80-80-80 solution: 80 percent of our cash for food is spent in the developing world, 80 percent of our ground transportation is procured in the developing world and 80 percent of our staff is hired locally in the developing world. This not only infuses more than US$2 billion a year into developing nations battling hunger, but also builds local capacity and local solutions.

Humanitarian needs keep rising. For example, recent cyclones in Bangladesh and Myanmar, earthquakes in China, and some farmers have planted one third of what they did last year, due to the soaring cost of agricultural inputs such as fertilizer and diesel. We have received a request for emergency assistance from the DPRK, where there is a food gap of more than 1.2 million metric tonnes. There is a major humanitarian crisis looming in the Horn of Africa due to another disastrous drought. Between 9 and 12 million people across the six countries of the region will need emergency food assistance to survive, and we are now preparing to scale up significantly our programmes to prevent large-scale losses of lives there.

How we are responding

Last week the world came together here in Rome, at the High-Level Conference on World Food Security at FAO, in a demonstration of unity of purpose. Under the leadership of the Secretary-General, the President of the World Bank, the Rome-based agencies, the UN system and the Bretton Woods institutions, we put forward a comprehensive framework for action that points the way to hunger solutions in the short, medium and long term. Heads of State and Governments adopted a Declaration that embraces food security as a top priority and renews the commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and the World Food Summit objectives.

From WFP’s perspective, we will focus in particular on six steps.

First, avoiding breaks in the humanitarian pipelines. Halfway through the year, we are almost halfway towards meeting our total funding needs for 2008. During the past 10 weeks, we have gone through an unprecedented resource mobilization effort. Our ED wrote to heads of state and government and travelled the globe urging action, testifying before parliaments and raising awareness. Last week, we received an historic US$500 million donation from Saudi Arabia, and have so far raised more than US$1 billion to cover the gap caused by soaring food and fuel prices- These pledges are now being used to meet the needs in more than 60 of the most vulnerable countries.

Second, we are working with governments and partners like the World Bank and FAO to assess increasing needs and vulnerability at the local and household level.

Third, based on this targeting we are working with governments to help design and, if need be deploy and scale up, specific tools, to reach and assist the most vulnerable populations: refugees, internal displaced persons, children under two years of age, HIV/AIDS patients, and pregnant and lactating mothers.

Fourth, we are developing and strengthening the use of our local purchasing power High food prices and increasing demand present a significant opportunity for developing-world farmers. By 2050, with growth demand, the world needs to produce twice as much food. This simply cannot be done without investment in the world’s poorest farmers by governments, the private sector and the international community. This year WFP will launch our Purchase for Progress programme, which will look at how we do that contracting and if we can do it better to help smallholder farmers.

Fifth, as a UN system we are addressing the medium to long-term responses by investing in agriculture, including the countries themselves. FAO estimates that US$1.7 billion is needed for seeds and fertilizer. IFAD has already made US$200 million available to countries needing the fertilizer.

Sixth, we are working to ensure access to the purchases of food for humanitarian purposes. This is proving an increasing challenge for WFP, as governments implement restrictive trade and policy measures in response to tight and volatile market conditions.

We call on all governments to exempt humanitarian food purchases from export restrictions, and to permit unhindered and safe movement of humanitarian food within and across borders, and to explore ways and means to ensure adequate global humanitarian food reserves.

We also call on all governments to ensure the security and safety of humanitarian workers. We mourn the tragic loss of colleagues and co-workers in Algiers, Sudan and elsewhere. Last week nine WFP contracted trucks were hijacked in Sudan, bringing the total number of trucks hijacked in 2008 to 76. Fifty-one trucks and 37 drivers are still missing in action. Two contracted drivers were killed in Darfur, four in Southern Sudan, and one in Somalia just this year.

Staffing Situation

The new Management Plan, approved by the October 2007 Executive Board ,- presented an overall 18% reduction in posts. This equated to 292 posts which had to be cut. The distribution of the posts to be abolished was 78% International Professional worldwide and General Service HQ and local, and 22% national staff. The situation, while certainly creating a lot of anxiety for staff and managers alike, was not as bad as the figures suggest in that a significant number (53%) of the Professional and GS HQ posts were either vacant or already frozen. It was still a significant cut requiring a number of measures, including:

• initiating a hiring freeze

• offering separation packages which were agreed with 131 staff (54 Professionals; 9 Headquarters GS; and 68 field national staff)

• instituting a GS redeployment taskforce (where we relied heavily on the experience of our FAO colleagues)

• promoting inter-agency opportunities

• launching a career assistance programme for staff

• instituting a transition fund to help cover employment “gaps”.

As a result of the 2008 budget cuts, 92 staff with longer term contracts were affected. Of these 92: 9 have separated, 3 are on LWOP and 80 are actively employed.

Today our challenge is just the reverse and we are urgently scaling up the number of staff to meet the new demands caused by natural disasters in Myanmar and the Horn of Africa, and the growing global humanitarian crisis caused by rising food and fuel prices.

Staff Associations

I know that some of you are interested to know how it is that WFP came to have a separate professional staff association, or PSA. The main reason why WFP staff members decided to create their own staff association was the perception that WFP had changed considerably over recent years and that many of its staff concerns were different from those of FAO staff. For example WFP is a more field based organisation and WFP staff are more mobile than FAO staff. It was believed that an independent WFP professional staff association would be closer to the issues that are of concern to WFP staff and could better dialogue with management on them. We believe that this has proven to be the case, particularly during the recent period of budget and staff cut challenges.

The new Association was formally constituted in September 2005 with a Recognition Agreement with WFP management being signed a year ago in April 2007. Even though we now have our own association, good working relations are maintained with the FAO professional staff associations, the APS and FSA. Membership of the PSA now stands at 520 members, which is about 42% of WFP international professional staff. The target is to reach 50% of WFP international professional staff as members by this time next year and, eventually, two-thirds. The Association is now represented on all three of the main “career’ related bodies of importance to staff, namely the fixed term/IA conversion panel, the professional promotions panel and, since early this year, the regular reassignment committee.

Our new ED, Josette Sheeran, who took up her duties just over a year ago, has continued to

support the retired staff through FFOA and through support to the WFP Friends Committee which is run by volunteer retired staff and many supporters throughout Italy. The National Lottery of Agnano has this year accepted the Committee and WFP has been named as one of the three beneficiaries of the lottery. You can support the cause by buying lottery tickets and so perhaps winning 500,000 euro while supporting the Programme’s work.

In conclusion, I would like to confirm WFP’s continued support for the retired staff association. We will continue to print its newsletter and the GA documents. We were also delighted to see that the organisation’s past EDs have been honoured with Honorary Presidencies.

8. Reply by the President of the General Assembly

Mr. Graisse thanked Ms. Hansen for her interesting account bringing us up to date on some of WFP’s activities. He also expressed thanks for the support provided to FFOA, particularly for printing. Reading the US newspapers he noted the sympathy expressed there for the people who must pay 10 per cent more for petrol at the pump. In the rest of the world many people pay 90 per cent of their income for food. He was surprised at the sympathy expressed for one but not for the other. WFP is playing its part in making the world aware of the distress and the needs of many countries. For that also many thanks.

9. Address by the Representative of the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Ms. Jessie Rose Mabutas, Assistant President, Finance and Administration Department, spoke for IFAD.

Dear Colleagues,

It is a great honour and pleasure for me to be here once again as IFAD’s representative at the General Assembly of the FFOA. And I am personally grateful because this gives me the opportunity to see many previous colleagues who I have worked with in WFP and in IFAD.

We at IFAD are very grateful for everything the FFOA does in assisting our retirees. We are conscious of the growing number of IFAD retirees many of whom, we are glad to see, have chosen to remain in the Rome area upon retirement. Let me congratulate Mr. Graisse with his election as President of the thirty-eighth Session of the General Assembly and once again congratulate Mr. Doeve and the membership committee for their commitment and the time they give to the important work of the FFOA.

This year we are celebrating IFAD’s 30th Anniversary, an important milestone and an occasion for appreciating how far we have come since the founding of IFAD in 1978. The development of both our organizations and the way we work during that period is something that will be especially well understood and appreciated by those of you who joined IFAD at start-up. This year we also witnessed another milestone: the move into IFAD’s New headquarters in Via Paolo di Dono, adjacent to the old headquarters in Via del Serafico. Those of you who are former staff of IFAD will be well aware of the many years which have passed since the agreement was reached to move the Fund’s operations and staff into one building. This has now become a reality.

I am pleased to invite all Rome-based retirees to enjoy and make use of the new facilities and services available, such as the new cafeteria, the library, the travel agency and the bank. The building has been refurbished to ensure that it is energy efficient and environmentally sustainable. The Fund has recently awarded the contract for its banking services to the Banca Popolare di Sondrio and for its travel agency services, Carlson Wagonlit. IFAD will welcome retirees living in the area of our new Headquarters to make use of the banking and travel agency facilities.

IFAD is proud to be hosting two important up-coming events: the FICSA Council meeting in early July and immediately thereafter, for the first time, the Board Session of the UN Joint Staff Pension Fund. We look forward to these events and are delighted that our new Headquarters finally allows us to host these important meetings which are of great interest to all of you.

Finally, please allow me at this point to say how deeply sad we were to get the news, at the end of April, of the passing of Gordon Munson who was known to many of us and who worked for many years at the headquarters project as Chief of Administrative Services. He would have been proud of the final result.

Last year, I referred to IFAD’s Action Plan which was established to ensure increased effectiveness of IFAD’s efforts at reducing rural poverty. One of the outcomes of the Action Plan is our direct involvement in the supervision of the projects we finance, previously supervised by cooperating institutions (e.g. the World Bank, UNOPS etc). With direct supervision, we have much more hands-on involvement at the country level and will be part of one UN providing new and exciting professional challenges for our staff and strengthening links with our sister Rome-based agencies, FAO and WFP. Another outcome is the outposting of IFAD staff in some of the countries where we work. IFAD’s country presence has been possible in large part due to the cooperation and logistical support including hosting arrangements from UNDP, FAO and WFP. We will be working together with many of our member states in aligning our programmes and enhancing policy dialogue with governments to strengthen our impact on rural poverty against a backdrop of increasing food prices and climate change issues.

The year ahead will be one of challenges as we will settle into our new building; move forward on another replenishment exercise, conscious of our need to obtain a very significant growth in funding; and work with other UN organizations and governments in addressing the food price crisis and the challenges of climate change.

I would like to close my statement by reconfirming IFAD’s commitment to continue its collaboration with the FFOA, and please feel free to let us know how best we can support you. As some of you may know, we are only an email away. Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to address you here today. I wish you a successful thirty-eighth session.

10. Reply by the President of the General Assembly

Mr. Graisse expressed the thanks of the Assembly for the friendly address and for the summary account of

IFAD’s activities. He was grateful for the invitation to use the new IFAD facilities but noted that no Post Office was included; for that the pensioners could go to WFP. He hoped that the present Council meeting would result in good replenishment funds. In addition he expressed the Association’s gratitude for the printing work and all the other various support provided during the year.

11 and 12. The speaker who would have given a keynote address on 28th May could not come due to the postponed meeting so this item was cancelled. Mr. Graisse then introduced the following speaker.

13. Statement by the Representative of the Staff Bodies.

Ms. Margaret Eldon, Chairperson of the UGSS, spoke on behalf of the Staff Representative Bodies.

. It is always an honour and pleasure for me to represent the staff and in particular to speak to you all, many of you old friends. So I want to start by saying a very warm hello to all of you who dedicated your working life to efforts to eradicate world hunger and whose interest and dedication continues even after your retirement.

First I will touch on issues of common interest such as pensions and medical health insurance.

The next session of the Pension Board will be held in Rome from 10 to 18 July. Its extensive agenda includes several issues that are of particular interest to retirees, since some of its recommendations will affect more directly the benefit system. A new actuarial valuation will be presented: although the relevant document has not yet been produced, it seems that it will point to another consecutive surplus, which is good news for the health of the Fund. High on the agenda is the study on the impact of currency fluctuations on UNJSPB benefits, particularly for those who retire in non-US$ areas. As the retirees living in Italy on a dollar track pension know very well, the steep devaluation of the US$ versus the Euro has had a substantial impact on benefits. Equally, colleagues in the professional category who are planning to retire outside the US are looking with anxiety at the decreasing trend in the 36-month average exchange rate used for the calculation of their benefit. Some proposals to alleviate this problem will be discussed, but the outcome is obviously uncertain; this is not the first time the Board has looked at this issue and a more permanent solution will most probably require a re-definition of the desired income/replacement ratio (including the associated actuarial costs). Other proposals, mainly submitted by FAFICS, will be discussed e.g. the streamlining of the survivor's benefit, as well as divorced spouse and child benefit. As usual, we expect close collaboration between FAFICS' and participants' representatives to ensure that retirees’ opinions and proposals receive maximum attention by the Board.

With regard to medical health insurance, as Mr.. Eberle has already informed you, we are working together in the JAC/MC to try to achieve consensus on a new way of establishing premiums that takes into consideration both the rising costs and the social perspective of safeguarding those with low income. UGSS favours a percentage-of-income approach, but not all are in agreement. Management commented that if the JAC/MC couldn’t reach a consensus, a decision would be taken and imposed. However history has shown that costly impositions on staff can lead to rather drastic reactions, so we trust that we hear no more of such an approach but that we all, indeed, work together to achieve a solution that will not aggravate the situation of low income earners.

I want now to speak to you about something different, hoping that I do not sound too polemical. If I sound polemical, please understand that this is not my intention. I just want to speak about something very close to my heart, to the heart of many of my staff representative colleagues, to the staff at large and I can imagine also very close to your own hearts. It is the question of what is happening in the UN bodies we serve and that you served, and the possible dangers for us, for civil society and most of all, for those dying of hunger. In fact, I would like to ask you to join me in a few moments of silence for the thousands of those who die from hunger every day – the innocent, faceless, voiceless ones who are born, who suffer and who die because national interest, internal turf-fighting, and world cynicism fail them. [Thank you]

I want to draw attention to the recent high-level conference hosted by FAO. The conference began as a smaller one on climate change, but due to food price rises and the political unrest that this generated, it very quickly grew into a larger political event with more than 40 Heads of State. FAO staff responded and acted as volunteers and staff serving the conference itself, to ensure that such a high-level event organised in such a limited time went as smoothly as possible. As the Secretary-General of the UN said in his opening speech, a message echoed by President Berlusconi, the occasion provided an opportunity for genuine political cohesion for the world community to do something about the crisis and about world hunger as a whole, and that this opportunity should not be lost. However, it was lost. National interest prevailed. For example, rich countries are reluctant to give up the subsidies to their own farmers and the sale of the surplus production either - as food aid or as an import - for the hungry in countries whose own agriculture cannot compete because of the policy of subsidization. While a large amount of money – quoted as 6.5 billion dollars – has been pledged, it is unclear how much will be realised and how much of that will come to FAO. How much will actually reach the starving?

As local journalists reported on the event, it seems FAO, once again, is held to blame – as if FAO can interfere with the sovereignty of nation states. I listened to the RAI DUE 8.30 news on Friday night and heard that the outcome of the conference had been “deludente” and that this was a “boomerang for the elephantine organization of FAO”. As a serving volunteer who had put a lot of effort, along with others, to ensure that the participants – Heads of State, Ministers of Agriculture etc. – could dedicate their efforts to achieving consensus and now hearing that these efforts were described to the Italian public by a reputable journalist as nothing more than “a boomerang for the elephantine organization FAO” both hurt and angered me. FAO is not an elephantine organization. This was said even by the IEE. According to official statistics, in 2007 core staff worldwide were around 3,500; of course consultants and project staff are not included and the actual number of employees is higher. However, FAO serves the whole world, not just developing countries. If one divides the total number of employees by the number of countries we serve, one is likely to end up with a small number of employees per country – much less than the number of employees in national ministries of agriculture. So if FAO is an elephant, then national ministries of agriculture are dinosaurs – anzi, gruppi di dinasauri!

But who is saying the truth about FAO – who is correcting this public misinformation. No-one!!!!! And if we do – as when the staff representatives responded to Paolo Mieli last year when he offended the staff – the letter is ignored and misinformation continues to be printed. Many of you will have read about the journalist who was refused entry to FAO. I am not going to go into the events but I would like to say that the press articles were quick to point out that “va rispettato il dovere di cronaca”. What is this concept of “dovere di cronaca?” Does it give the right to say and print incorrect information, perhaps to deliberately misinform? Who is challenging this kind of journalism, at least on behalf of FAO? No-one!

There are other imbalances about the public information concerning FAO:

a) salaries – these are the same for all UN bodies in Rome, but they seem to be too high only for FAO staff. Why?

b) commissary – WFP also has a commissary with the same products and prices as that in FAO, but only FAO is criticised for having one. Why?

c) FAO’s budget is too high – but even the IEE was quick to show that it is too small for the mandate the Organization has and that what is needed is reform WITH GROWTH. Which journalist put the WITH GROWTH on the end of their article about FAO reform?

At the same time as this public misinformation about FAO to civil society is going on unchecked, member countries and donors are behaving in a similar way. The message that comes across is “Don’t give your money to FAO because it is too big, too costly and doesn’t work” when for years, FAO has been the leader in helping countries to help themselves through technical advice and assistance. We all know the Chinese proverb that states: “If you give a child a fish, you feed him/her for one day. But if you teach a child to fish, s/he can feel him/herself for life.” FAO’s work is that of transmitting the knowledge and skills to enable people to feed themselves for life. We have the technical knowledge and capacity, but are being denied the resources to continue to do it – and it is the hungry poor that are bearing the brunt. This must stop.

The effect of this onslaught against FAO by journalists, politicians and donors is devastating. Staff is demoralised. Lack of resources obviously means we cannot maintain the excellence we have always provided. FAO’s regular budget is reducing; its extra-budgetary funding is growing. So an increasingly large part of FAO’s work is also based on donor funds e.g. the emergency operations and rehabilitation work. Uncertainty dampens enthusiasm for all – managers and staff alike. And recently, an equally iniquitous element appears to be surfacing – internal competition among the UN bodies concerned with eradicating world hunger. While on the surface politically-correct statements about cooperation are said and printed, it would appear that elsewhere there are attempts to take over FAO’s mandate. I want to be very clear here – I have not come to point fingers at anyone, but to raise deep-seated concerns that have an ethical basis and need to be addressed rather than brushed under the carpet. FAO itself is not blameless – and I will come to that shortly – but what I would like to emphasise here is that if it turns out to be true that while FAO is in a weaker situation, stronger UN bodies will make a bid for its mandate, then what we are witnessing WITHIN THE UN ITSELF is behaviour that reflects an attitude that it is legitimate for the stronger to take advantage of the weaker. It is opportunism – and this is not what any one of us who has served the UN for years truly feels is what the UN is about or what it should become. We are not individual private entities competing for profit margins and buying each other out! We should set an example – an example of genuine respect for each other’s role, genuine cooperation in a spirit of trust for the benefit of humanity.

I said earlier that FAO is not blameless – and we are not blameless by any means. FAO must reform, we must challenge ourselves from within. Under reform, we talk of increased subsidiarity – which means delegating authority. Well I remember that in my first 7/8 years with the Organization, as a G4, I had the trust of my supervisors and within my own sphere of influence, I could get on the phone to FAORs and provide information they needed. We had subsidiarity!!! Where did it go? And why? Today we have new managers – several of them from the academic world who seem more interested in having their name on a publication – because this is important in academia – than in genuinely assisting the poor. I am not the first to say “The poor cannot eat books” and that FAO’s developmental work, its field programme, needs to be preserved. Our communications department has produced wonderful stories and websites – but has failed so far to have any impact on the external image of FAO. I repeat, FAO has to challenge itself from within and change. Even we as staff representatives – should we be focusing more on the larger picture? Are we truly operating “out of the box”? Could we have done anything when we saw the government representatives at the HLC stalling? If this is not our business, what do we mean when we say that “there is no reform without staff”? But we also have to speak out against the unfair bad external image generated and maintained by incorrect journalism, and also speak out against attempts to take advantage of our current situation. We have to take our challenge outside of FAO as well. And it is here that I believe that you, the retirees, may be able to help. What I am going to suggest may be only a drop in a whole ocean of changes that have to take place – but we like to take our lead from the following motto: “A thousand mile journey begins with only one step"

We want you to help us take that step by setting up a Friends of FAO group that will take a correct image of FAO, its work, its achievements, its aims and its needs, to the outside world – in schools, in institutions, into public events – and help us balance the incorrect information that is given to the public, challenge journalists to say the truth, have the quality of the Organization’s technical assistance recognised by politicians and donors as we genuinely work together in partnership with others to achieve what is in our mandate – what is on our walls in each language as we walk into the building every morning – FREEDOM FROM HUNGER.

Mr. Graisse said that it was good to meet old friends from WFP. He thanked Ms. Eldon for her speech and he would be glad to welcome the suggestions it contained. Mr, Doeve then also welcomed the suggested Friends of FAO for the future and promised that FFOA would collaborate with the initiators as far as possible.

14. Report of the Executive Committee (FFOA/GA/2007/05)

The Statement of Work for 2007 covering the period from June 2007 to 1st March 2008 was brought up to date by Mr. Doeve. The few pages of the report cannot record all the work done, and other items came up later. First there is the decision by FAO that FFOA must pay for mailing of documents and an estimated cost is in the next budget. In this electronic age it is desirable, and less costly, to send the Newsbrief by email. Not all members have access to email but those who can provide an email address should do so. Mailing of paper documents will continue for those who need or prefer that.

In July The FAFICS Council will be hosted in Rome, by FFOA at the FAO Headquarters, and the Pension Board will meet at the new IFAD building. The purchasing power of pensions is declining with the devaluation of the dollar and this is of concern to all.

Medical Insurance contracts are being discussed and we have recently seen the list of new premiums. However the member states have said that they do not agree to ever-increasing medical insurance costs to the Organization, and that implies that staff and pensioners must pay more in future. He then asked Mr. Giorgio Eberle to summarize the present negotiations.

Mr Giorgio Eberle recalled that under the BMIP plan the contributions from participants are limited by a “social cap” which is 5% of gross salary for active staff and 4% of the full pension for retirees. Because medical costs have increased more than salaries and pensions (usually adjusted by average inflation) more participants get protected by the cap every year with the difference being absorbed by employing organizations. This has raised the overall share of organizations which is very likely to continue to grow in the future. For this reason the organizations are looking for measures to stop their share from growing further. The matter has been studied by consulting actuaries and is on the agenda of the JAC/MC for consideration. Solutions are not easy to take because they mean more costs for either participants or the organizations. The matter is further complicated by the need to distribute the participants’ share among the various groups of participants (Professional and higher categories, General Service and Retirees and Survivors) in a more equitable manner.

Members may rest assured that their representatives at the JAC/MC will do their best to protect retirees interests and allow common sense to prevail.

The report of the Executive Committee was then adopted under resolution FFOA/GA/2008/06/B

15. Report of the Association’s Finances (FFOA/GA/2007/06)

Mr. Gianni Monciotti, Treasurer of the Association, presented the Financial Report for 2008, noting the encouraging increase in new and renewed members, that bring the financial balance up to €30,302 against €22,380in 2005. This shows an increased interest in our Association and in the work carried out by its members and is a source of satisfaction and pride for the members of the Executive Committee.

A lower input from voluntary contributions was recorded but in contrast there is a marked increase in the amount received for the services provided by the Association especially for the assistance given to numerous non-Italian colleagues who require a permesso di soggiorno in Italy.

Another positive note is the decrease in expenses beginning with those connected to the secretariat, followed by those for the production, and printing of documents; in fact the two sister agencies, WFP and IFAD, have taken care of these expenses and the Treasurer, being very sensitive to such savings, has expressed our gratitude to them. Taking note of the observations made during the General Assembly of 2005 concerning the possibility of saving on the travel account, only one representative was sent thus cutting the cost by half. The result is a positive balance of €14,767. However, this number includes the sums subscribed in advance by life members of €18,700 – of which we must take account. Therefore, even if only an accounting figure, our balance at the end of 2006 is less by €30,933. The treasurer finally informed the Assembly that the accounts had been approved by the auditors, Messrs. MacFarlane and Marchetti. The budget for 2008 is similar to that for 2007 with the one difference of the reintroduction of an item for legal expenses.

The Treasurer asked the Assembly’s approval of the financial report for 2006, the financial status on 31 December 2007, the proposed budget for 2008, and the reappointment of the Auditors for 2008, Mr. David MacFarlane and Mr. Ugo Marchetti. As there were no statements or questions for clarification, the financial documents were adopted by acclamation under resolutions “C”, “D” and “E” of document FFOA/GA/2008/06.

16. Question-and-answer session on subjects concerning pensions and medical insurance.

Mr. Nabil Gangi, Chief AFHS, gave a well illustrated talk on the present situation of the pension fund, including its investments. (Later data of the Pension Fund totals are included in Newsbrief 69.) The next meeting of the Pension Board would be in Rome, hosted by IFAD, and it was hoped among other things that the deductions from the pensions (now one half percentage point) would be reconsidered provided that there was a surplus in December 2007. He also described how the Social Security services had carried out its many tasks, in a commendable way particularly in view of the increased workload this year. Mr. Gangi also pointed out that cost containment had made progress, for example with the in-house pharmacy, control of clinics, etc.

Mr. Doeve referred to the proposed Medical Self-Insurance measures.. A Task Force had been set up to consider the issue, including cost-benefit analysis, and informal information suggests that it will not be supported, so he would like to know when the JAC/MC would be informed of the recommendations.

Mr. Gangi replied that Self-Insurance is not considered to be a cost-containment issue for FAO but is a contractual matter. The Task Force has reported to the DG, and it is foreseen that the final conclusions will be reported to the JAC/MC in July, but he could not comment further now.

Mr. Eberle Said that there is a difference between salaries and pensions, which are subject to a monthly erosion in value, and this should be taken into consideration when negotiating Vanbreda premiums.

Mr. Gangi replied that even if not capped, no one was paying more than 50 per cent of the costs. The social aspect of the payments are taken into consideration. If anyone considers that they personally are paying too large a percentage of their income, Social Security can respond by checking the amounts, but the rules will remain. To a further questioner on the subject he reminded that the 4 per cap referred to the full pension without lump sum or other deductions. If the figure seems incorrect then by all means ask for details.

Mr. Maurizio De Gregori enquired about the use of different rates of exchange used by the UN system for example those used by UNJSPF for paying pensions, and those used by Vanbreda for BMIP reimbursements. There seemed to be a need for uniformity.

Mr. Gangi clarified that the UNJSPF was using a quarterly rate whereas Vanbreda, in line with BMIP procedures, a monthly rate.

Ms Velia Elena Belardinelli asked if full pension meant the pension inclusive of any commutation of the lump sum. She had noted a discrepancy in the calculation of the cap used on contributions to BMIP. Mr. Eberle confirmed that the term he had used (in Italian pensione globale) included the portion eventually commuted into a lump sum. The 4% cap on the full pension would indeed be higher than a 4% on the actual pension if reduced by a lump sum..

Mr. John McGee said he was a newcomer to the FFOA Assembly but had been a representative on the Pension Board since the 1970’s. He considered that pensioners had been well served by the FAO and WFP Pension Committee. He had also served as participants’ representative on the newer Audit Board. He wished to pay tribute to someone who had given outstanding service to those institutions, Mr. Aurelio Marcucci, who had announced that he could no longer travel to the meetings but it was hoped to see him at the Pension Board meeting in IFAD in July. (This was greeted with applause). Mr. Nabil Gangi said that he would like to add the thanks of the Social Security Group to the tribute to Mr. Marcucci.

Mr. Aurelio Marcucci thanked the Assembly and replied that it had always been an honour and pleasure to contribute to the Pensions system.

17. Other Business

Mr. Doeve asked everyone to give generously to the traditional collection for the Old People’s Home

neighbouring FAO, which would be made by Ms. Eileen Nolan outside the Green Room.

He announced that the annual social buffet lunch, after the Assembly, would be in the Indonesia Room and everyone could come without making reservations.

He recalled that in future FFOA would have to pay for mailing its documents and therefore as far as possible they would be sent by email. He urged everyone to provide a correct email address to avoid the lists of emails from the postmaster that cannot be delivered to the address we have.

Mr. Doeve pointed out that next year there will be an election for the Executive Committee in November 2009, and that members are encouraged to stand for election. He assured everyone that meanwhile the present Executive Committee would do all they can to assist pensioners.

He thanked FAO for the use of the room, and the interpreters and the volunteer photographer Mr. Van Arkadie (son of FFOA member Mr. Alex Van Arkadie). Finally, Mr. Doeve thanked Mr. Graisse for chairing the General Assembly so well, and everyone for coming and for contributing to the meeting.

18. Closure of the Thirty-eighth Session of the General Assembly

The President of FFOA closed the Assembly at 12:30 hours.

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