More than 150 people participated in the national workshop organized by the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD (IOE) and held in Lima

"Evaluation seeds future". With these words, Oscar A. Garcia, IOE Director, closed the national workshop on the evaluation of IFAD's programme in Peru, encouraging participants to keep working for future common projects, based on IOE evaluation's results. The workshop, held on 6 February, brought together more than 150 people representing the government, the private sector, think tanks and civil society organizations. Evaluation results and recommendations were discussed in order to pave the way for the next steps in the joint work among IFAD, the government and other actors in their efforts to reduce rural poverty in the country.

The General Director of Multilateral and Global Affairs of the Foreign Affair Ministry, Antonio García Revilla, pointed out the relevance of the workshop to guarantee that priorities are oriented towards the 2030 Agenda. As IFAD's Associate Vice-President, Paul Winters, explained, "The data presented in IOE's report are very important for IFAD and the government to understand what has been achieved and what we have to work harder on." The Director of the Latin America and Caribbean Division of IFAD, Joaquin Lozano, added, "We fully agree with the report, both in the assessment of the results and its recommendations."

The evaluation in the press                            

The content of the report was widely picked up by media. In addition, El Peruano published an op-ed signed by Oscar Garcia. Canal 2 and TV Peru held in-depth interviews with Mr Garcia. Five journalists from La República, Radio Programas del Perú and EFE Agency accompanied IFAD and Peruvian government's representatives  to its visit to the field. Several reports were published in which first-hand accounts were given by the projects’ main actors: the rural women and men whose lives have improved over the last years.

Information on the independent evaluation

The report evaluates six IFAD-supported projects implemented between 2002 and 2016 in remote and poor areas from the north and south of Peru. The projects reached more than 233,700 rural people, 44,500 more than initially planned The evaluation shows that the reduction in rural poverty has been especially significant in Sierra Norte, where it was reduced by 22 per cent, and in Sierra Sur, where it was reduced by 12 per cent. Among the recommendations are to work more closely with the poorest people and to reach the most marginalized areas.

More information on the evaluation.