International Fund for Agricultural Development, Independent Office of Evaluation

Independent Office of Evaluation, International Fund for Agricultural Development

IOE evaluates IFAD-funded policies, strategies and operations to promote accountability and learning. The main purpose is to contribute to improving IFAD's and its partners' performance in reducing rural poverty in recipient countries. In identifying key insights and recommendations drawn from evaluation findings, IOE also communicates and shares IFAD's knowledge and experience in agriculture and rural development with a wider audience.

IOE's evaluation is based on a coherent set of evaluation methods and processes, documented in the Evaluation Manual, which aims to ensure consistency, rigour and transparency across independent evaluations with the view to enhance IOE's effectiveness and the quality of its work. First issued in 2009, the Manual was revised and republished in December 2015.

The Office's annual work programme and budget is presented directly to the Executive Board for approval during the latter's annual December session. It summarizes IOE's objectives and priority areas for a given year and contains a detailed list of the evaluation activities to be undertaken. It also defines the human and financial resources required to implement the annual work programme.

In December 2015, IOE published The Evolution of the Independent Evaluation Function at IFAD, which traces the history of IFAD's evaluation function since 1978, summarizing some of its major contributions to improving accountability and learning for better performance.

IOE also manages IFAD's independent evaluation ratings database and an interactive map to provide an easy and quicker access to nearly 200 evaluation reports released from 2003.

Also visit and subscribe to IOE's YouTube channel.

Last updated: November 2016