The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development of the Republic of Cameroon, the Office of Evaluation of FAO (OED), the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD (IOE) and the Office of Evaluation of WFP (OEV) held a national workshop for the three Cameroon Country Strategy and Programme Evaluations (CSPEs) conducted by the agencies in the course of 2017, as a final step in the evaluation processes.

The event took place on 1 and 2 February 2018 in Yaoundé, was the first ever national evaluation workshop jointly organised by the three Rome-based agencies (RBAs). The objectives of the main workshop on February 1 were to:

• share the key findings and recommendations of FAO's, IFAD's, WFP's Country Strategy and Programme Evaluations;
• reflect on key issues for the preparation of future country strategies, and collaboration with the RBAs in Cameroon.

The objectives of the half day follow-up event on February 2 were to:

• present and discuss the comparative advantages and complementarities between the three agencies;
• present and discuss examples of RBAs collaboration in Cameroon and in other countries, with their key ingredients for success;
• discuss future opportunities for collaboration between the RBAs in Cameroon.

The workshop was attended by 120 people on February 1 and 75 people on February 2, and entailed the participation of representatives from the Republic of Cameroon, notably the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development H.E. Mr. Henri Eyebe Ayissi, the Minister of Women Empowerment and the Family, H.E. Ms. Marie Therese Abena Ondoa, the Minister Delegate of Agriculture and Rural Development and IFAD Governor H.E. Mrs. Clémentine Ananga Messina as well as FAO, IFAD and WFP management and staff, and representatives of multilateral and bilateral development organizations, academics and research institutions, non-governmental organizations, and selected resource persons.

In the margins of the workshop on February 1, the Government of Cameroon and IFAD signed the CSPE’s Agreement at Completion Point. This important document summarizes the main recommendations of the evaluation and the follow-up actions jointly agreed by the Government and IFAD. The Agreement at Completion Point was signed by H.E. Henri Eyebe Ayissi, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, and H.E. Louis Paul Motaze, Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development on behalf of the Government, and by Mr Ides de Willebois, Director of the West and Central Africa Division of IFAD on behalf of IFAD's Programme Management Department.

Both days included a mix of statements and remarks, presentations by the FAO, IFAD and WFP evaluation teams, and discussions in working groups and plenary. Key topics discussed on the first day were coordination between development partners, targeting of the poorest and most vulnerable, gender equity, rural youth, combatting malnutrition and the humanitarian aid – development nexus. The discussions on the second day focussed on opportunities for collaboration between the three Rome-based agencies in Cameroon, stressing the importance of Government leadership in bringing agencies together.

Read the press release: IFAD-supported programme for the rural poor in Cameroon shows promising results with room for improvement