The Independent Office of Evaluation (IOE), in collaboration with the Government of the Dominican Republic and IFAD’s Latin America and the Caribbean Division (LAC), organized a virtual national workshop for the Dominican Republic Country Strategy and Programme Evaluation (CSPE), as a final step in the evaluation process.

The virtual event took place on 16 December 2024, from 9.30 to 11.05 AST, Santo Domingo time (14.30 to 16.05 CET, Rome time). It entailed the participation of representatives of the Government, development partners, civil society organizations, private sector partners, research institutions and IFAD senior management and staff.

The objectives of the workshop were to:

• present the main conclusions and recommendations emerging from the CSPE; and

• examine the strategic priorities for IFAD’s future programmes in the country, in view of the upcoming country strategic opportunities programme to be prepared by the Government and IFAD.

The workshop opened with the introduction and welcome message by Sra D. Sandra Lara, Director General of Multilateral Cooperation, Vice Ministry of international Cooperation, Ministry of Planning and Development. Dr Indran A. Naidoo, IOE Director, gave opening remarks. Ms Rossana Polastri, LAC Regional Director, delivered a statement on behalf of Dr Donal Brown, Associate Vice President, Department for Country Operations, IFAD.

Next, Fabrizio Felloni, previously IOE Deputy Director, and Claudia Ranaboldo, IOE Senior Evaluation Consultant, delivered a presentation on the evaluation’s main findings and recommendations. This was followed by a fruitful Q&A session.

Thereafter, a discussion panel took place, moderated by Ms Polastri. The panellists were Sra D. Lara, Sra Miriam Estela Guzmán de Tejada, Vice Minister for Rural Development, Ministry of Agriculture; Sra Yira Vermentón, Director of Provincial Tourism Initiatives, Ministry of Tourism; Sra Fátima Franco, Programme Director, German Society for International Cooperation; Sr Juan Andres Peña, Cooperativa de Ahorros, Crédito y Servicios Múltiples de Bonao.

Reflections by IFAD Senior Management and a presentation of the main aspects of the new IFAD country strategy were provided by Ms Polastri, in her capacity as LAC Regional Director, and René Castro, Country Director for the Dominican Republic, LAC.

Concluding the event, Mr Felloni and Dr Naidoo delivered closing remarks.

The event was attended by over 50 people.

The workshop material will be made available on this webpage in due course.