A national round-table workshop for the Ethiopia Country Programme Evaluation (CPE) took place in Addis Ababa on 5 November, as a final step in the evaluation process.

The workshop was co-organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the Government of Ethiopia and the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD (IOE). Some 60 participants attended, including representatives from the Government, IFAD Management and staff (including IOE), multilateral and bilateral development organizations, project management staff of IFAD-funded projects and programmes covered by the CPE, academics and research institutions, private sector and foundations, non-governmental organizations, and selected resource persons.

The objectives of Ethiopia CPE national round-table workshop were to:

• discuss the main issues emerging from the CPE;
• provide inputs for the preparation of the evaluation’s Agreement at Completion Point (ACP); and
• discuss the opportunities and challenges of the IFAD-Government of Ethiopia partnership in the future, taking into account Ethiopia’s country context evolution, as well as IFAD’s policies and priorities in the country.

Prior to the workshop, the IFAD delegation from Rome undertook a field visit on 2-3 November to Kombolcha and Chifra in the Amhara and Afar regions to observe activities supported by the IFAD-funded Participatory Small-scale Irrigation Development Programme (PASIDP) and the Pastoral Community Development Project (PCDP). The visit offered the IFAD delegation an opportunity to directly hold discussions with beneficiaries and their groups, project staff, state government officials and others, as well as to see project activities on the ground.