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

The virtual event took place on 21 March 2023 from 16.00 to 18.00 CET (Rome time) and entailed the participation of representatives of government agencies, key project implementing partners, development partners, beneficiary associations and others, as well as IFAD senior management and staff.

The objectives of the workshop were to

• discuss the main findings, and recommendations of the CSPE; and
• reflect on strategic priorities for IFAD’s next country strategic opportunities programme and related opportunities and challenges.

The workshop opened with an introduction by Mr Juan Pablo León Aristizabal, , Third Secretary, Division of International Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who also acted as moderator. Mr Jorge Ricardo Torres Rueda, Director of International Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, delivered an opening statement. This was followed by the statements by (i) Dr Indran Naidoo, Director, IOE and (ii) Mr Donal Brown, Associate Vice President, Programme Management Department, IFAD.

Mr Fabrizio Felloni, Deputy Director, IOE, and Ms Claudia Ranaboldo, Senior IOE Consultant, presented the CSPE’s main findings and recommendations.

Next, a round table discussion took place during which stakeholders provided remarks. The main interventions were provided by Adriana Senior, President, Colombia Cooperación Internacional; Daniela Pérez, representative of the Presidential Agency of International Cooperation of Colombia; Mr Juan Camilo Bernal Valbuena, National Coordinator for the El CAMPO EMPRENDE project; Mr David Soto, Director, Fundación ACUA; Mr Fernando Bonilla, Spanish International Cooperation Agency (AECID); Mr Juan Castro, Representative, Asociación Azufral los Andariegos; Mr Jesús Pacichaná, Asociación de Productores Agropecuarios del Paraíso; and Ms Natalia Varon, Advisor, National Planning Department.

Ms Rossana Polastri, Regional Director, LAC, and Ms Maija Peltola, Country Director for Colombia, LAC, reflected on the future directions for the IFAD country programme.

In the closing session of the event, Mr Felloni provided concluding remarks and Mr Torres delivered the closing statement.

The recording of the event is available here.