The Evaluation Committee travelled to India and participated in the India Country Programme Evaluation (CPE) national roundtable workshop as part of its annual country visit from 7 to 11 December 2009. The learning workshop was organized by Office of Evaluation, in close collaboration with the Government of India and IFAD's Asia and the Pacific Division (PI), in New Delhi on 7-8 December. IFAD was represented by the Assistant President of PMD, Director of the Office of Evaluation, Director PI, lead evaluator of the CPE, the CPM for India, and other staff and consultants.

The aim of the learning workshop was to discuss the main lessons and issues emerging from the evaluation in order to provide inputs towards the preparation of the evaluation's Agreement at Completion Point. The workshop entailed the participation of policy and decision makers in the Government  including members of parliament, directors of IFAD-supported projects, bilateral and multilateral organizations, research and academic institutions, foundations and NGOs, and resource persons.

On 9 December, Evaluation Committee members and IFAD staff travelled to Pune, in the state of Maharashtra, to undertake a field visit in the Baramati and Bhor districts of the IFAD-supported Tejaswini Rural Women's Empowerment Programme. This offerred  the Committee an opportunity to hold direct discussions with beneficiaries and their groups, project staff, state and district-level government authorities and others, as well as to see project activities on the ground.

The delegation also held discussions with the National Bank for Agricultural Development (NABARD) and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust in Maharashtra, which are implementing partners and co-financiers of IFAD-financed projects in India.  

The Chairperson of the Evaluation Committee prepared a written report and provided an oral feedback on the country visit in the December 2009 Executive Board session.

Additional information about the workshop including the statements of Ms Loretta M Vas (Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India), Mr Luciano Lavizzari (Director - Office of Evaluation), and Dr Abdel Aziz Mohamed Hosni (Chairperson of the Evaluation Committee), the final agenda, CPE presentation by Mr Ashwani Muthoo (Lead Evaluator) and and presentation on the way forward by Mr Mattia Prayer Galletti (CPM), and the working group presentations may be found in the Related documents on this page.