Every year, since 2003, the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD produces the Annual Report on Results and Impact of IFAD Operations (ARRI). This 15th edition of the ARRI highlights results, trends and issues based on independent evaluations conducted in 2016.

The ARRI finds that, overall, performance of IFAD operations shows improvement from 2009. Currently, 80 per cent or more projects assessed against the criteria of gender equality and women’s empowerment, innovation and scaling up, relevance and rural poverty impact were rated moderately satisfactory or better. Longstanding challenges are found in efficiency and sustainability of benefits.

Every year, the ARRI is focused around a learning theme so that evaluation can deepen the analysis on specific topics of interest and importance to IFAD operations. This year's learning theme focuses on financial management and fiduciary responsibilities in IFAD-supported operations. The report contains a chapter dedicated to this learning theme.

The 2017 ARRI recommends that IFAD rise above the current plateau in performance and achieve greater impact on the ground. IFAD needs to build on its strengths by raising its performance to satisfactory or better and address longstanding bottlenecks to maximize sustainable results. This requires a change in IFAD’s modus operandi that includes a new approach to programme design, which will enable IFAD operations to efficiently deliver more relevant and sustainable results.