The Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation (MIIC) of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD (IOE) co-organized a national workshop to discuss the main issues emerging from theEgypt  Country Strategy and Programme Evaluation (CSPE). The workshop was chaired by Honourable Dr. Sahar Nasr, Minister of Investment and International Cooperation.

The workshop discussed opportunities and challenges of the IFAD-Government of Egypt partnership in the future, while considering the evolving development needs and priorities of the country.

The workshop, held on 26^th of November 2017 in Cairo, was well attended and brought together more than 30 participants from ministries, IFAD-supported projects, government agencies, development partners, financial organizations  and non-governmental organizations.

In her opening speech the Minister of MIIC emphasized the need for better cooperation between MIIC and other relevant ministries during the implementation of new projects in the future. The address of the Director IOE was then delivered by Mr Kouessi Maximin Kodjo, Lead Evaluation Officer, IOE, on his behalf. After this, the representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation highlighted the need to identify alternatives for improved cooperation between ministries in one hand, and between ministries and partners in the other hand.

The final CSPE findings and recommendations were presented by Ms Johanna Pennarz, Lead Evaluation Officer, IOE. Thereafter the Evaluation Unit of MIIC presented the findings and recommendations of the thematic evaluation of IFAD country strategy and programme. This was a remarkable initiative reflecting MIIC’s desire to enhance national evaluation capacity. It was noted that the findings and recommendations emerging from this evaluation were complementary to those of IOE.

Afterwards, participants formed three groups to discuss the recommended follow-up to these evaluations. The first group focused on the country programme coordination and oversight; the second group discussed options for expanding the available rural finance products and services to better serve the needs of smallholder farmers; the third group explored how the capacities of community organizations could be strengthened in a more effective and sustainable manner given the existing legal framework.

The Director of IFAD's Near East, North Africa and Europe Division–mentioned that the recommendations of the CSPE will be considered during the preparation of the forthcoming IFAD-Egypt country strategy.