An article authored by IOE's Fabrizio Felloni, Lead Evaluation Officer and Simona Somma, Evaluation Specialist on IFAD's experience in conducting impact evaluations was recently published in the June 2015 issue of "eVALUation Matters", a quarterly knowledge publication from the Independent Development Evaluation (IDEV) of the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The focus of the issue is "Impact evaluation: insights from practitioners"; it highlights some of the experiences of evaluators and development experts on the key role of independent impact evaluations, providing an overview of frontline research in the field, with a set of interviews with prominent experts and discussions on context and methodology, institutionalization of impact evaluations in three key development areas: rural development, education and corruption.

In the case of IOE, the article explains how the aim of impact evaluations is to measure rural poverty reduction in a more quantitative and rigorous manner and to promote accountability and learning from the experience of specific projects towards enhancing development effectiveness on the ground. The two authors depict some of the main results of the two impact evaluations undertaken thus far: the 2013 evaluation of the Sri-Lanka Dry Zone Livelihood Support and Partnership Programme conducted in in 2013 and the India-Jharkhand Chhattisgarh Tribal Development Programme conducted in 2014.