Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

The FAO is one of the Agency’s closest partners. Since 1964, the two organizations govern together the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture. The cooperation is marked by complementary mandates, common targets, joint programming, co-funding and coordinated management.

The Joint Centre and its associated laboratories are operated through formal arrangements signed by the Directors General of the FAO and the IAEA. The programme and budget are approved by the FAO’s and IAEA’s governing bodies, and planning is carried out in close consultation and cooperation with Member States and with other branches of both organizations. The Joint Centre ensures that the technical capacities of the two organizations are fully exploited in the joint operations with Member States.

The work of the Joint Centre is based on the FAO’s and IAEA’s biennial programmes, oriented by demand-driven and result-based approaches, and adopted by their governing bodies. The joint programme is organized in line with the programmatic structure and implementation modalities of both organizations.

The Joint Centre and its programme costs are borne by both organizations in a manner as agreed upon by the two Directors General. The work is financed from the assessed budgets of the FAO and IAEA Member States and extra-budgetary funding.

Overall guidance for the Joint Centre is provided by a Steering Committee, consisting of representatives of senior management from both organizations, where programming, budgeting, organizational structure and staffing matters, as well as appropriate recommendations to the Directors General of both organizations are discussed.

The Joint Centre operates with a team of about 100 scientists, technical experts and support personnel divided among offices, sections and laboratories. Both FAO and IAEA staff are stationed at the IAEA’s Headquarters and laboratories and work for both organizations. The Joint Centre also hosts consultants, cost-free experts, fellows, interns and students from Member States, offering the opportunity to work in Vienna or at the FAO/IAEA Laboratories at Seibersdorf, conducting research or learning new techniques that they can then take back to their countries to validate, adapt and apply.

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