Task Force on Institutional and Organisational Development
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Background
The FIG Task Force on Institutional and Organisational Development was set up
in late 2006 to focus FIG’s efforts in the vital area of building sustainable
institutions, and its
Terms of Reference
were approved by the 2007 General Assembly.
Terms of reference
(Endorsed by the General Assembly 13 May 2007)
Terms of Reference as a .pdf-file
1. Background
Land administration systems are concerned with the social,
legal, economic and technical framework within which land managers and
administrators must operate 1). These
systems support efficient land markets and are, at the same time, concerned with
the administration of land as a natural resource to ensure its sustainable
development. However, in many developing and transition countries, there is a
lack of institutional and organisational capacity to undertake land
administration action activities in an adequate and sustainable way. Some of
this may flow from institutional and organisational structures and remits; other
parts may flow from inappropriate systems that the organisations are required to
administer. These latter elements also need consideration in determining
appropriate frameworks for sustainability.
1)
Land here is used in a broad sense, including the necessary activities to survey
waterways and oceans, recognising the key role that such features play in
sustainable development.
A key component of capacity building is therefore to ensure that
a country’s organisations are sufficiently robust to develop, enable and ensure
the effective operation of surveying and land administration activities. The
relevant organisations include the professional surveying associations (the FIG
member associations) and private surveying companies, as well as government
agencies such as the mapping organisations, hydrographic survey organisations
and the organisations with land registration and land administration
responsibilities. Given the pivotal role of secure ownership of and access to
land in underpinning nation building and economic development, it is vital that
appropriate, sustainable structures are in place. Capacity building and
development are required to ensure this in many countries.
2. What the Task Force can contribute
Different countries have different levels of development of land
registration, administration and management systems. The surveying and mapping
profession therefore needs to develop appropriate, contextualised and practical
approaches. Within this general approach, the key questions that the Task Force
will need to address, for each type of organisation (professional survey
associations, private sector firms, public sector bodies) include:
-
Where are the key barriers to effectively functioning
institutions and organisations? (These blockages could be systemic,
financial, skills-based, structural,…)
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Who are the key influencers who can help to remove the
barriers?
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What key materials are needed to remove the barriers?
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Which types of organisation are most affected and therefore
most in need of the Task Force’s early attention?
From analysis of the answers to these questions, the Task Force will be able
to develop and refine its work programme, including the most appropriate types
of outputs. These outputs will be developed to meet the needs identified by the
Task Force, and to dovetail with other related work. Without prejudging the
development of the work programme, possible activities and outputs include:
- Running workshops to assist managers to determine the key challenges in
the development of their organisations to meet national needs, and to give
them the tools and confidence to respond to those challenges;
- Creating best practice guides on, for instance: implementing
organisational development; managing technical change; sourcing funding for
investment; and effectively creating networks across and between relevant
organisations;
- Making links between those who are willing and able to travel to
developing countries to support their organisations in their development
activity, the developing country’s organisations, and possible sources of
funding.
FIG is well-placed to play a key role, given that it brings
together leading professionals from every continent and has already completed a
range of work impacting organisational and institutional development. This
includes publications on constituting professional associations (Number 16), as
well as work on land administration, including the Bathurst Declaration (Number
13). The Task Force will bring together a number of key individuals, supported
by links within and beyond FIG, to give a focus to the key task of institutional
and organisational development to allow the effective management and
administration of land. The Task Force will therefore deliver, by 2010, key
components in the 2007-2010 FIG theme of "Building the Capacity".
3. Work of the Task Force
The Task Force’s activity is likely to encompass a number of
phases. These are set out in brief below, but this plan will be further
developed as the Task Force begins and continues its work.
(1) Assess needs
This phase is likely to involve the members of the Task Force
using their own experience to draft a ‘requirements catalogue’ which will then,
during events such as the FIG Working Week 2007 and the Cambridge Conference (to
be held in July 2007), be tested on relevant experts and organisations and
subsequently adjusted.
(2) Determine how best to meet the needs
In the period from mid-2007 to the FIG Working Week in 2008, the
Task Force is likely to focus on creating a prioritised response to the agreed
needs in the different types of organisation. This may include:
The Task Force will also determine the practicality of
delivering the responses, and how time and funding might be made available. All
of this work will be collated into a mid-term report to the 2008 FIG Working
Week, by which stage it should have been exposed to comment by experts
identified during Phase 1.
(3) Deliver the required outputs
The period 2008-2010 will focus on delivering the agreed,
required outputs from the Task Force, using the members of the Task Force and
other experts identified during Phases 1 and 2.
(4) Produce a final report
The Task Force will prepare a final report for the FIG Congress
2010. This will include a formal report to the General Assembly, as well as a
consolidated version of all relevant material created in Phases 1, 2 and 3.
4. Key linkages
FIG has a wide range of links on which the Task Force could
usefully draw. Additional linkages will be provided through members of the Task
Force. Links are likely to include:
-
World Bank – coordinating with FIG’s efforts to build closer
links with the World Bank, and recognising that a key requirement of many of
the Bank’s projects is for there to be stable and sustainable institutions;
-
UN Agencies – FIG has strong links with many UN Agencies,
and their work will also be supported by the presence of strong institutions
in developing countries. They may therefore be able and willing to provide a
range of support to the Task Force;
-
GSDI Association – the Association has discussed the issue
of organisational and institutional development in recent meetings
(including at its Chile meeting in November 2006), and is currently
exploring the possibility of developing a portal which will include a
knowledge database, a commitment database and an equipment database. The
best links between the GSDI and FIG work will need to be discussed and
agreed;
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EuroGeographics – this is the association of European
National Mapping and Cadastral Agencies. They will be willing to offer
support, for example in expertise, to facilitate the building of strong peer
organisations, particularly in Eastern Europe and some parts of Asia;
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Cambridge Conference – this quadrennial event began in 1928
as the Empire Survey Officers’ Conference. It has over the decades evolved
into a conference of heads of national mapping agencies, brought together at
St John’s College, Cambridge. It therefore provides a very appropriate
gathering at which to highlight the work of the Task Force, and to test its
developing work;
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International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO) – the
Organisation has a worldwide remit and therefore contributes significantly
in the development of national hydrographic organisations. FIG and IHO have
a joint International Advisory Board, along with ICA.
Appropriate links will also be developed with regional bodies.
Internally, the Task Force can gain by working with FIG’s
Commissions, particularly:
-
Commission 1 (management and ethics are part of its
portfolio)
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Commission 2 (provision of the necessary professional
training and support)
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Commission 3 (national mapping agencies form one of the
cores of the commission)
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Commission 4 (hydrographic agencies are relevant to the work
of the Task Force)
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Commission 7 (cadastral agencies are a vital underpinning to
much of the commission’s work) – including the proposed Working Group 7.2 to
consider the creation of an FIG humanitarian arm, Surveyors without
Frontiers
Commissions 8, 9 and 10 are also pertinent to the Task Force,
and appropriate links will be maintained with them.
4. Task Force membership
The Task Force will operate with a core membership, which will
be complemented by a wider group, which will provide support as it is able, and
review the developing work of the Task Force. The wider support group will be
assembled during the early Phases of the Task Force, and is likely to include
people drawn from the relevant bodies highlighted in section 3 above.
The core membership of the Task Force will be as follows:
Iain
Greenway – Chair
United Kingdom |
Chief Executive of a National Mapping
Agency |
Santiago Borrero
Mutis
Colombia |
Secretary General, Instituto Panamericano
de Geografia e Historia (IPGH), with significant experience as a senior
manager in surveying organisations in developing countries; a former
chair and current Board member of the GSDI Association |
Adam
Greenland
New Zealand |
Senior hydrographic manager in a national
mapping/cadastral/ hydrographic Agency; ex-Chair of Commission 4 |
Teo Chee
Hai
Malaysia |
Past President, the Institution of
Surveyors Malaysia; Past Secretary General, ASEAN Federation of Land
Surveying and Geomatics. Chartered & Licensed Surveyors |
John Parker
Australia |
Former Surveyor General; ex-Chair of
Commission 1 |
Richard
Wonnacott
South Africa |
Senior Manager of a Mapping Agency |
Francisco Delfini
France |
|
Spike
Boydell
UK/Australia |
Professor of Built Enviroment, School of
Built Environment, University of Technology Sydney; ex-Vice Chair of
Commission 8 |
Additional members will be appointed as necessary.
5. Task Force working arrangements
The Task Force will meet whenever a critical mass of members is
present at the same event. This will include FIG Working Weeks, and some of the
other events highlighted in Section 3. The Task Force’s workplan will be
developed (during the first half of 2007) in such a way that the bulk of the
work can proceed via email or teleconferences, probably with sub-groups of the
members working on different elements. It is recognised that all members of the
Task Force are volunteers, doing the work in addition to their other paid and
unpaid duties. The volume, pace and sharing of the Task Force’s work will
reflect the other priorities that members have.
Iain Greenway
Chair
28 February 2007
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