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Terms of Reference

 From: Terms of Reference for the operational bodies of the European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR) - [click here for complete document] (71 KB)

Working Groups

The Working Groups (WGs) focus their activity on specific crops, crop groups or thematic areas. They are initiated following the approval of the Steering Committee.

ECPGR provides funding for the organization of WG meetings, the publication of the resulting reports and/or other actions, as proposed by the NCGs and approved by the SC, according to the available budget.

Working Group Members represent the country’s interest in the genetic resources activities that the WG focuses on. Each WG is coordinated by a Chair and a Vice-Chair elected by the WG.

Each country is assigned a quota of funded participants to attend WG meetings organized by ECPGR in the entire Phase. When the country has exhausted its quota, it will still be possible for it to send self-funded participants to meetings of interest.

In addition to the quota assigned to each country, a quota is assigned to the Working Group Chairs to allow each prioritized WG to maximally benefit from the available expertise on that crop in the European region. The WG Chair quota allows the Chair of each individual WG to invite one additional expert from one of the ECPGR member countries to each WG meeting.

WG members and other scientists from participating countries carry out an agreed workplan with their own resources as inputs in kind to the Programme.

The Groups’ activities are based on crop-specific European databases, managed by one of the participating institutes. These databases have the dual role of providing users with information on the germplasm maintained in Europe, and providing the Groups with a tool allowing them to take informed decisions and make recommendations regarding the management of national collections (priority setting, rationalization, safety-duplication, etc.).

Current activities of the Working Groups should aim at completion of these databases and should focus on the following priority areas as endorsed by the SC as future ECPGR priorities for Phase VIII: 

  1. Task sharing and capacity building;
  2. Characterization and evaluation (including use of modern technologies);
  3. In situ<//font><//font><//font><//font><//font> and On-farm conservation and management;
  4. Documentation and Information.

A high level of activity is ensured by the establishment of detailed workplans during the meetings and intensive interaction between the Secretariat, the Working Group’s Chair and Vice-Chair and its members between meetings.

It is expected that approximately 10 WGs within the Crop Networks remain prioritized during a 5-year Phase and that they meet once or twice during a 5-year Phase.

Working Group’s Chair and Vice-Chair

The role of the Chair is the following:

  1. Formulate the meeting’s agenda in consultation with the Secretariat and the WG members; 
  2. Chair the Working Group meetings, with the objective of establishing a workplan with clearly defined responsibilities;
  3. Oversee the implementation of the WG’ s workplan, in liaison with the Secretariat, whenever appropriate;
  4. Provide information to the WG members on ECPGR events and mode of operation;
  5. Encourage involvement of all the WG members in the WG initiatives;
  6. Be proactive in proposing activities for the WG, following the priority areas for action, as indicated by the Steering Committee;
  7. Contribute to the coordination of the Network, as a member of the NCG, i.e. helping to identify priorities and to propose the budgets;
  8. Three months in advance of the SC meetings, provide the respective Network Coordinator with reports on progress made, including an assessment of what has and has not been achieved, identifying the constraints in reaching the planned objectives. These reports will be used to prepare Network reports for the SC.

Each Working Group selects a Chair amongst its members. The Chair is selected at the end of each regular meeting and s/he exercises her/his role until the next election. The selection of the Chair is made by consensus. In case of lack of consensus, a majority vote by secret ballot is organized by the Secretariat, or by the incumbent Chair, if the Secretariat is not present. Only regular Working Group members attending the meeting have the right to vote. In case of resignation of the Chair at any time during the course of her/his term, the Secretariat provides for the selection of an “interim” Chair, following a WG’s consultation via email correspondence. The selected “interim” Chair leads the WG until the next regular election.

The Chair selects the Vice-Chair amongst the WG members and seeks the consensus of the WG members on her/his choice. The Vice-Chair has a supporting function in the implementation of the Chair’s tasks. 

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