Monday, June 13, 2016

UN agency examines approach to decentralized operations in Africa



Nairobi, 13 June 2016 – Government representatives and agricultural development specialists will gather in Nairobi 13-14 June to discuss the International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD) approach to decentralizing its operations in Africa.

The workshop will focus on IFAD-funded operations in eastern, southern, western and central Africa and will inform an independent evaluation of IFAD's decentralization approach that is scheduled to be released in December 2016. The Nairobi event is one of the four regional workshops being organized by IFAD’s Independent Office of Evaluation (IOE) to capture feedback and insights from stakeholders of IFAD-funded.

With headquarters in Rome, Italy, IFAD began its decentralization process in 2003 and now has 40 country offices worldwide. The process echoes a trend in several multilateral development institutions, such as the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which have strengthened their presence in countries where they run operations. IFAD currently has 20 country offices in Africa, including a special regional service centre for Eastern and South Africa including the Indian Ocean island states, based in Kenya.