On 27 February 2023, the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD (IOE) organized a virtual learning event titled “Learning from the subregional evaluation of IFAD’s engagement in five Sahel countries and Northern Nigeria”.

The webinar discussed the findings, recommendations and actions’ implications of IOE’s subregional evaluation (SRE) on IFAD’s engagement in countries with fragility situations in IFAD’s West and Central Africa Division (WCA), conducted in 2021-2022. As such, the event promoted the usage of the SRE’s findings and recommendations by relevant stakeholders.

The event opened with an introduction delivered by Dr Indran A. Naidoo, Director, IOE. Mr Kouessi Maximin Kodjo, Lead Evaluation Officer, IOE, then presented the key findings and recommendations of the SRE.

A panel of distinguished experts opened the way for a discussion on how IFAD can enhance its performance in such contexts through the projects it supports. The panel comprised Mr Bernard Hien, Regional Director, West and Central Africa Division, IFAD; Mr Diamoitou Guessibo Boukari, Secretary General, Ministry of Livestock of Niger; Mr Kouldjim Guidio, Head of the Resilience and Human Development Department, Executive Secretariat of G5 Sahel; Mr Blama Jallo, Regional Technical Coordinator, Réseau Billital Maroobé; and Ms Dina Saleh, Regional Director, Near East, North Africa and Europe Division, IFAD. The lively discussion, followed by a Q&A session with the event participants, probed themes raised by the evaluation, such as the challenges posed by weak public institutions, transboundary issues and the poverty–conflict nexus.

In the closing session of the learning event, Nigel Brett, Director, Operational Policy and Results Division, IFAD, spoke about policy and operational perspectives relating to the SRE. Ms Saleh then delivered concluding remarks and Dr Naidoo provided a wrap-up statement.

The event was attended by over 75 participants.

The SRE on IFAD’s engagement with countries with fragile situations in WCA is the first conducted by IOE, and covers the period 2010 to 2021. IOE introduced SREs in 2021 to assess intra-regional issues or common development challenges within a defined geographical zone, in order to identify common strategic and programmatic lessons.

The recording of the event is available here.