The 2023 Annual Report on the Independent Evaluation of IFAD (ARIE) is the twenty-first version of the report to be published. It analyses performance ratings from 288 project-level evaluations and 45 country strategy and programme evaluations, as well as findings from corporate-level, thematic, and project cluster evaluations.

The 2023 ARIE confirms many observations made in previous years. For example, performance varies across the evaluation criteria, with the strongest being registered in energy and natural resource management and climate change adaptation, and the worst in efficiency. The report found that performance in terms of effectiveness and rural poverty impact have declined considerably since 2018, especially in projects under conditions of fragility.

The 2023 ARIE analyses evaluative evidence according to the thematic areas of rural enterprise development, rural extension and advisory services, and institutional efficiency of IFAD. Based on these analyses, the report notes that IFAD has under-invested in country programme delivery at a time when project sizes and complexity were increasing. Though IFAD has taken steps to reverse this decline, the report highlights the need for IFAD to track the longer-term impact of underinvestment practices in country programme delivery.