The Government of Morocco and the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD (IOE), in collaboration with IFAD’s Near East, North Africa and Europe Division, co-organized a virtual event for the Morocco Country Strategy and Programme Evaluation (CSPE), as a final step in the evaluation process.

The virtual event was held on 3 February 2021 and entailed the participation of several representatives from the Government of Morocco, public sector institutions, IFAD Management and staff (including IOE) and other stakeholders. Over 100 people attended the virtual workshop.

The objectives of this event were to:

• discuss the main issues emerging from the Morocco CSPE; and
• discuss the opportunities and challenges of the IFAD-Government partnership in the future.

Welcome remarks were given by Mr Fabrizio Felloni, Interim Officer-in-Charge, IOE. His Excellency Mr Mohamed Sadiki, Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development, Water and Forests, then delivered opening remarks. Mr Maximin Kodjo, Lead Evaluation Officer, IOE, presented the conclusions emerging from the evaluation and recommendations for future IFAD’s operations in the Kingdom. Mr Donal Brown, Associate Vice-President, IFAD, gave a statement.

After a session for comments and discussion, statements were given by Mr Nicolas Martin, Head of United Nations Resident Coordinator Office in Morocco, and Ms Dina Saleh, Regional Director, and Mr Naoufel Telahigue, Head Hub/Country Director, of IFAD’s Near East, North Africa and Europe Division. The event’s closing remarks were delivered on behalf of HE Mr Sadiki by Mr Said Laith, Director of Rural Area and Mountain Zone Development, within the Ministry in charge of Agriculture.

The virtual workshop was moderated by Mr Thiendou Niang.

The event took place in French with simultaneous interpretation to English.