Annual reports, annual headaches

The annual report is vital to any organizations corporate communication strategy. It provides an opportunity to reach out to all those interested in an organization's work: its partners, customers, users, suppliers, backers, investors, funders and colleagues. By providing its contacts with an holistic picture of the policy and programmes in which they have been stakeholders, the organization can better account for its work overall. A joint project between CTA and ISNAR (International Service for National Agricultural Research) on producing annual reports. in East African NAR systems neared its end, with a second, final workshop which was held from 4 to 9 November 1996 at the Institute for Agricultural Research in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The project has involved more than twenty editors from organizations and universities in Ethiopia, Seychelles, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. A first workshop held in Arusha, Tanzania, in early 1995, had introduced the steps involved in producing an annual report. At the second workshop, participants returned with their completed reports or final drafts, and discussed how they had dealt with such practical problems as collecting relevant information, getting management support and persuading contributors to adhere to deadlines. They were re-assured by the representatives of two CGIAR centres (ISNAR and ILRI, the Addis-based livestock centre) that 'even advanced, well-organized and well-equipped institutions experienced similar problems.' Participants stressed how the project had helped them to plan, organize, write and edit their reports - but they expressed concern about sustainability, given the limited financial and human resources available for their annual report exercise. They agreed to share their experiences more widely by drafting a manual which should prove useful to anyone producing an annual report in less than ideal conditions. This manual, which will be a joint CTA/ISNAR publication, will appear early in 1997, thus enabling this regional exercise to pass on its practical lessons to others within and beyond the region.joint project between CTA and ISNAR (International Service for National Agricultural Research) on producing annual report