The Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD (IOE), in collaboration with the Government of Rwanda and IFAD’s East and Southern Africa Division, organized a national workshop for the Rwanda Country Strategy and Programme Evaluation (CSPE).

The event took place on 5 March 2024, from 13.00 to 15.30 CET and brought together representatives of the Government, development partners, civil society organizations, private sector partners and IFAD senior management and staff.

The objectives of the workshop were to:

•             discuss the main findings, recommendations and issues emerging from the CSPE;

•             reflect on opportunities and challenges in the IFAD-Government partnership and strategic priorities for IFAD’s next country strategic opportunities programme; and

•             provide inputs for the finalization and signing of the evaluation’s Agreement at Completion Point.

The workshop was opened with welcome remarks by Sarah Nyiramutangwa, Head of the Single Project Implementation Unit at the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, who acted as Master of Ceremony for the event. An opening statement was delivered by Honourable Dr Ildephonse Musafiri, Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources. This was followed by an introductory statement was pronounced by Fabrizio Felloni, IOE Deputy Director, on behalf of Indran A. Naidoo, IOE Director, and a statement by Donal Brown, Associate Vice-President, Programme Management Department, IFAD.

Steven Jonckheere, IOE Senior Evaluation Officer, gave a presentation on the main findings, conclusions and recommendations of the CSPE. A lively Q&A session followed, during which insight and contributions were provided by James Kagaba, Managing Director of the milk powder plant of Inyange Industries; Patrick Birasa, Cordaid Country Manager for Rwanda; Oliver Muvandimwe, Project Manager of the Rwanda Youth Agri-Business Forum; Asa Giertz, Senior Agriculture Economist at the World Bank’s Food and Agriculture Global Practice in the Rwanda Country Office; and Tito Hakizamungu, tea producer working with the Rubaya-Nyabihu Tea Company.

Dagmawi Habte-Selassie, IFAD Country Director for Rwanda, provided reflections on the future directions for the Rwanda country strategy, while Sara Mbago-Bhunu, Regional Director, East and Southern Africa Division, IFAD, shared opportunities in terms of regional integration.

The event was closed with closing remarks by Mr Felloni, on behalf of Dr Naidoo, and Honourable Minister Dr Musafiri.

The workshop was attended by 69 participants.