On 26 March 2021, from 10.00 to 12.00 CET (Rome time), the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD (IOE) held a learning event on IFAD’s support to infrastructure, which presented and discussed the 2020 evaluation synthesis report entitled ‘Infrastructure at IFAD (2001-2019)’.

The learning event, which was open to the public, offered an important opportunity to share lessons and experiences on infrastructure based on the evidence collected from 35 IFAD-funded projects. 

The event was opened by Mr Indran A. Naidoo, Director, Independent Office of Evaluation (IOE). Ms Johanna Pennarz, Lead Evaluator, IOE, then presented the main findings, lessons and conclusions of the evaluation synthesis. A panel with Ms Paxina Chileshe, Mr Ivan Cossio, Mr Tarek Kotb, Mr Roshan Cooke and Mr Shankar Achuthan discussed the topic of “Managing infrastructure investments: perspectives from country programmes”, sharing their wealth of experience with IFAD projects in this respect. 

Ms Meike Van Ginneken, Associate Vice President, Strategy and Knowledge Department, delivered an address representing IFAD Management 

A second panel then delved into the subject of “Recovery, Rebuilding, Resilience: Infrastructure in IFAD 12”, presenting options for green and pro-poor infrastructure investments in IFAD’s future work. The discussants were Ms Ndaya Beltchika, Mr Mawira Chitima, Mr Rudolph Clevering, Ms Kisa Mfalila and Mr Karan Sehgal.

Mr Fabrizio Felloni, Deputy Director, IOE, provided closing remarks. 

Event recordings:

• Opening Statement by Indran Naidoo, Director, IOE
• Main findings by Johanna Pennarz, Lead Evaluator, IOE
• Panel 1: “Managing infrastructure investments: perspectives from country programmes”
• Address by Meike Van Ginneken, Associate Vice President, Strategy and Knowledge Department, IFAD
• Panel 2: “Recovery, Rebuilding, Resilience: Infrastructure in IFAD 12”
• Closing statement by Fabrizio Felloni, Deputy Director, IOE