Los Baños, 27 June 2024 – The range of products that the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD (IOE) produces is tailored to the different needs and potential uses that support both accountability and learning within IFAD. Dr Kouessi Maximin Kodjo, Lead Evaluation Officer at IOE, highlighted this important point during a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) capacity building workshop, on 27 June 2024.

Jointly organized by Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the workshop took place in hybrid modality and was hosted at the IRRI headquarters at Los Baños, in the Philippines. The focus of attention of the event was the intricate relationship between poverty alleviation, agricultural development, and evidence-based interventions.

The workshop formed part of a four-day M&E capacity building training program. During the training, presenters worked towards enhancing the monitoring, evaluation and learning capabilities of relevant stakeholders in the agricultural development sector. These included project development officers, project evaluation officers, and planning officers from government institutions. The training featuerd a mixed modality of synchronous and asynchronous discussions involving theoretical concepts, practical and hands-on exercises.

Dr Kodjo was among the presenters. In his session, he explained that IOE’s evaluation products are interlinked, and that the production of one resource contributes to the realization of others. Naturally, the scope of each evaluation type varies, as do the timeframe covered and the time allocated for its conduct. These differences notwithstanding, each evaluation involves four distinct albeit interrelated stages, namely design, conduct, reporting, and completion.

IOE’s Lead Evaluation Office also noted that IFAD’s evaluation architecture consists of independent and self-evaluation systems, which provide important tools for accountability, learning and knowledge management, with useful practical applications at both the strategic and operational levels. In particular, independent evaluations are conducted by IOE, which is structurally, functionally and behaviourally independent from Management. IOE reports directly to the IFAD board members, and its evaluations help to reveal what has been achieved, what does or does not work and why, and to course correct IFAD interventions at corporate and country levels.

Other issues discussed and explored during the workshop included the importance of M&E in evidence-based policymaking and programming; the relationship between agricultural development, poverty alleviation and evidence-based interventions; how to equip participants with practical skills and tools for effective M&E of agricultural projects; and how to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration among organizations working towards sustainable agricultural development.

IPA is an international non-profit organization founded in 2002 that discovers and promotes effective solutions to global poverty problems. IRRI is an international agricultural research and training organization dedicated to abolishing poverty and hunger among people and populations that depend on rice-based agri-food systems.

For further information, please contact Dr Alexander Voccia [here]

• To access Dr Kodjo’s presentation, please click here.
• For more information about the training workshop, please click here.

• To access the brochure ‘More than a journey | 20 years of independence, please click here.
• To access Fabrizio Felloni’s interview on the evolution of independence of IOE, please click here.
• To access the latest edition of Independent Magazine, please click here.
• To learn why independent evaluation makes IFAD a more credible institution, please click here.

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