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The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) is a specialized agency of the Inter-American System, and its purposes are to encourage and support the efforts of its Member States to achieve agricultural development and well-being for rural populations.

 With more than six decades of institutional life, the Institute is responding to new mandates issued by the Heads of State and Government of the Americas, the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the ministers of agriculture of the Americas, to reposition itself so that it can meet both the new challenges facing agriculture and the requests for support it receives from its member countries.

 As it pursues its vision and carries out its mission, the Institute has competitive advantages it can draw on to carry out its new role. It has accumulated a wealth of knowledge regarding agriculture, rural territories, the diversity of peoples and cultures, and the agro-ecological diversity of the hemisphere, all of which are important for crafting creative solutions to a wide variety of problems and challenges.

Its presence in all of the Member States gives the Institute the flexibility it needs to move resources between countries and regions in order to promote and adapt cooperation initiatives intended to address national and regional priorities, facilitate the flow of information and improve the dissemination of best practices.

The Institute has its Headquarters in Costa Rica, and Offices in 34 countries of the Americas, an Office in Miami, which is responsible for the Inter-American Program for the Promotion of Agricultural Trade, Agribusiness and Food Safety, as well as an Office for Europe, located in Madrid, Spain. The Directorate for Strategic Partnerships works out of the IICA Office in Washington, D.C.

 Vision

To be the leading agricultural institution in the Americas and the partner of choice by virtue of the quality of the technical cooperation it provides in response to the needs of Member States, and its contributions to sustainable agricultural development, food security and rural prosperity. 

Mission

IICA is the specialized agency for agriculture and the rural milieu of the Inter-American System, whose purpose is to provide innovative technical cooperation to the Member States, with a view to achieving their sustainable development in aid of the peoples of the Americas.

Institutional Values

In order to achieve its vision and provide quality services to its Member States, IICA will continue to guide its future actions in the hemisphere on the basis of its fundamental principles and values, which will be reflected in its internal policies and relations with the Member States and strategic partners. These are:

Responsabilidad social y ambiental. Promover una mayor responsabilidad social y ambiental, así como el desarrollo de una agenda que reconozca que el Instituto no puede desentenderse de los problemas del desempleo, los marginados, la pobreza, el poco acceso a la educación y a los servicios de salud, etc.

• Social and environmental responsibility. Promoting greater social and environmental responsibility and the development of an agenda that recognizes that the Institute cannot dissociate itself from the problems of unemployment, marginalization, poverty and limited access to education and health services, etc.
• Respect for diversity. Respecting cultural diversity and promoting tolerance of multi-ethnicity.
• Partnerships to enhance impact. Promoting the concept of partnership and “working together” in cooperative relations with strategic partners at the national, regional and hemispheric levels, with a focus on networking.
• Leadership through excellence. Promoting the concept of effective leadership and technical excellence in each of the strategic priorities, to ensure that IICA will be recognized by its clients and partners for the quality and timeliness of its contributions.
• Adherence to rules and regulations. Fostering ethical conduct among staff members based on the highest values: impartiality, integrity, professionalism, flexibility, discretion, loyalty, prudence and responsibility, and on respect for the rules and regulations of the Institute In Annex II, each value set forth in IICA´s Code of Ethics is defined..
• Efficiency, transparency, financial prudence. Promoting operational efficiency, transparency, accountability and prudent financial management at the national, regional and hemispheric levels.
• Interdisciplinary approaches. Promoting the Institute as an interdisciplinary team focused on resolving some of the most critical problems of agriculture and rural development in the Americas.
• Teamwork. Facilitating teamwork, decentralizing operations, promoting a results-based institution that links local demands to opportunities in the hemisphere.
• Excellence in performance. Promoting excellence in performance and continuing to implement an incentive system that rewards superior performance, creativity and innovation.
• Education as a basis for technical cooperation. Adopting participatory processes and procedures that respect local realities and ensure that institutional partners can acquire information and knowledge.

How is the Institute governed?

The Institute has two governing bodies:

The Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA), comprising its 34 member countries, which meets every two years.

The Executive Committee, comprising 12 Member States chosen on the basis of a system of partial rotation and equitable geographic distribution, which meets on a yearly basis.

Executive Organ

The General Directorate is the Institute’s executive organ.  It comprises the technical and administrative units through which IICA’s activities are coordinated and executed.

The Special Advisory Commission on Management Issues was created on the initiative of the General Directorate, by means of an IABA resolution. The purpose of this high-level advisory body, comprising representatives of nine Member States elected on the basis of a system of partial rotation and equitable geographic distribution, is to facilitate dialogue with the Member States

 Of strategic importance

The Heads of State and Government of the Americas have recognized that agriculture and rural life have a key role to play in reducing poverty and fostering integral development in the countries.

Taking into account this strategic role of agriculture, and current trends in the world economy, the Institute has been assigned a leadership role in the institutional architecture taking shape in the Americas to contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, especially that of reducing poverty and hunger by 2015, and to support the Summit of the Americas process.

The OAS, at its Thirtieth General Assembly (Canada, June 2000) gave the IABA a new dimension and recognized it as the primary ministerial forum for analyzing and building consensus on policies and strategic priorities for the improvement of agriculture and rural life in the hemisphere.

At the Third Summit of the Americas (Quebec, April 2001), IICA’s role was expanded beyond the provision of technical cooperation services, to fostering dialogue and consensus building on critical aspects of agricultural development, the environment and the rural milieu, within the framework of integration and the search for hemispheric prosperity.

Priorities for Strategic Action

In pursuit of its vision and mission, IICA focuses its actions in six strategic areas:

• Contributing to the repositioning of agriculture and rural life and to a new institutional framework
• Promoting trade and the competitiveness of agribusinesses
• Promoting the development of rural communities based on a territorial approach
• Promoting agricultural health and food safety
• Promoting the sustainable management of natural resources and the environment
• Promoting the introduction of technology and innovation for the modernization of agriculture and rural development

Technical Cooperation Agendas

The Institute’s new style of technical cooperation calls for the broad participation of national authorities in the conceptualization, implementation and evaluation of IICA’s actions.  It also involves working with the Member States and its strategic partners in preparing technical cooperation agendas at three levels: national, regional and hemispheric.

The national agendas are prepared jointly with the public and private sectors of the countries, and are the basis for IICA’s cooperation activities.

The regional agendas address problems common to a group of countries, and include the Institute’s commitment to support integration processes through existing mechanisms that operate at the regional and subregional levels.

The hemispheric agenda is developed through dialogue with the major stakeholders of the community of agriculture and rural life.   The focus is on issues and mandates derived from the Summit of the Americas process, the IABA and other hemispheric forums.