The Government of the Republic of Nicaragua and the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD have co-organized a national workshop - in collaboration with IFAD’s Latin America and the Caribbean Division -  to discuss the main issues emerging from the evaluation of IFAD-funded country programme in Nicaragua, as a final step in the evaluation process.

The event was held on 20 January 2017 in Managua. Around 75 participants attended the workshop, including  the honourable ministers of the Minister for Finance, the Ministry of Family, Community, Cooperative and Associative Economy, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and the Ministry for Agriculture and Livestock; the President of the Central Bank of Nicaragua; project management staff of IFAD-funded projects and programmes covered by the evaluation; representatives of multilateral and bilateral development organizations, academics and research institutions, private sector and foundations and non-governmental organizations, and selected resource persons. 

The objectives of the workshop were to:

• discuss the main issues emerging from the Nicaragua Country Strategy and Programme Evaluation;
• provide inputs for the preparation of the evaluation’s Agreement at Completion Point (ACP).  The ACP will include a summary of the main evaluation findings and recommendations, and will capture the Government's and IFAD's commitment to adopt and implement the evaluation recommendations within specific timeframes; and
• discuss the opportunities and challenges of the IFAD-Government of Nicaragua partnership in the future, while considering the evolving development needs and priorities of the country.

Prior to the workshop, the IFAD delegation from Rome undertook a field visit on 17 and 18 January 2017 to observe activities of one IFAD-supported projects: Inclusion of Small-Scale Producers in Value Chains and Market Access Project (PROCAVAL). The visit offered the IFAD delegation an opportunity to directly hold discussions with beneficiaries and their groups, project staff, state government officials and others, as well as to see project activities on the ground.