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.
Previous
independent evaluations of IFAD's operations found that IFAD’s country presence
has allowed the organization to be closer to projects and programmes, has given
it more visibility and has enabled it to draw on local expertise and talent.
Investing in country offices has paid off in terms of both efficiency and
effectiveness. For instance, benefits have been realized in country programme
development and implementation support, partnership-building, policy dialogue,
knowledge management, and innovation.
“On
the basis of the emerging findings of the evaluation, IFAD will be able to
strengthen its development effectiveness on the ground and play a more
effective role in the countries where it works, strengthening results and
impact for project beneficiaries, and building local capacities for conducting
its operations,” said Oscar A. Garcia, Director of IOE.
The
evaluation will aim to answer key questions such as: What is the
relevance of decentralization to national ownership and direction of
development assistance? To what extent has decentralization contributed to
achieving development results? What contribution did the decentralization of
administrative and financial business processes make to efficiency?
“The
importance of this corporate-level evaluation cannot be overstated,” said Périn
Saint Ange, IFAD’s Associate Vice-President. “By understanding what has and has
not worked in our decentralization process, we will be able to improve
our individual country operations and, ultimately, be more effective in
improving the lives of the rural people with whom we work.”
IFAD
has financed 188 agriculture projects and development programmes in East and
Southern Africa since the Fund was established in 1979, for a total investment
of US$3.4 billion. In West and Central Africa, IFAD has supported 221
projects in the region with some $3.1 billion in financing.
No comments:
Post a Comment