F.2: Interdisciplinarity
Enhancing interdisciplinarity Other Information:
The issue: Interdisciplinary approaches are prerequisites to successful and sustainable rural development. In FAO's work,
interdisciplinary approaches and cross-sectoral programmes build on the Organization's disciplinary excellence by making it
possible to produce outputs that cannot be generated by one division or department working in isolation. Moreover, they are
essential to ensure the requisite attention in all programmes and activities to cross-cutting priorities such as gender mainstreaming
and promotion of participatory processes in development work. The fundamental challenge for the Organization is to complement
the new programme planning process with flexible arrangements that: promote a more interdisciplinary approach, while preserving
the advantages of the disciplinary organizational structure essential to ensure continued excellence in the Organization's
main spheres of competence; reinforce and, where appropriate, formalize collaborative working relationships across the organizational
structure - including between headquarters units and decentralized units - for programme planning and implementation. This
strategy addresses measures to strengthen FAO's internal interdisciplinary capacity. At the same time, the issue of interdisciplinarity
must also be understood in the wider context of partnerships and alliances, particularly in the UN system context in which
FAO, as a sectoral agency, needs to ensure that its work contributes to the system's broad intersectoral efforts. This question
is covered in the strategy for broadening partnerships and alliances. The strategy: The strategy is to: a) strengthen capacity
for interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral problem identification, goal formulation, priority setting, planning, monitoring
and evaluation, both for the corporate strategies and for priority themes (e.g. gender mainstreaming, participatory processes);
b) fully develop and implement the new programme model based on cross-sectoral planning and, where appropriate, by formulating
interdisciplinary programmes in the Medium-Term Plan; c) enhance inter- and intradepartmental mechanisms in order to facilitate
cooperation and partnership within and between divisions and departments for cross-sectoral aspects of programme implementation;
d) review and improve resource allocation, monitoring and evaluation procedures in order to increase incentives to work in
an interdisciplinary manner; e) in introducing indicators of success, recognize benefits to be obtained from interdisciplinary
approaches.
Indicator(s):
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