This year, the Country Strategic Opportunities Programme (COSOP) for Ethiopia, covering the period from 2017 to 2021, reached its mid-term. IFAD conducted a review of implementation progress and the results achieved so far, providing an opportunity to update the strategic document to align with the current political, economic, and social context of the country and IFAD's agenda. Hence, a COSOP Results Review (CRR) was prepared and further validated by key stakeholders in a workshop held on 20 December 2019 in Addis Ababa.
The main objectives of the CRR are to assess whether: (a) there have been major changes to the country; (b) any risks have materialized and/or new risks emerged; (iii) the country development goals, supported by the COSOP, are still relevant; (iv) the COSOP objectives are still relevant and likely to contribute to the country development goals; (v) the combination of lending and non-lending activities, presented at the COSOP approval up-to-date likely to deliver the expected outcomes; (vi) the identified strategic partnerships delivering results and outcomes that support the delivery of the country programme; (vii) implementation is on-track; (ix) there are changes to be made to the results framework; and (x) whether the COSOP needs to be extended or a new COSOP developed.
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The workshop was opened with remarks by high level government official HE Dr Kaba Urgessa, State Minister of Ministry of Agriculture, followed by a presentation on the CRR and the formation of a Country Programme Management Team (CPMT). A CPMT team was formed from government Ministries, partner organisations, CG centers, Private Sector, Civil Service Organisations, Associations, and Micro Finance Institutions. This CPMT will be used by IFAD to enhance country programme planning, implementation and impact, as well as ownership of programmes and projects by borrower.
The CRR presentation was mainly focused on the country context, risks, relevance of COSOP strategic objectives, policy engagement, private sector linkage, knowledge and research, coordination and alignment, implementation, results, and lessons learnt. Furthermore, a discussion was led by HE Dr Kaba, State Minister of Ministry of Agriculture, Kaydaki Gezahegn, Advisor to the Minister of Peace and Mr. Ulaç Demirag, IFAD's Head of African Union, South-South and Triangular Cooperation, and Knowledge Center Hub on the draft CRR document and a round strategic questions, comments and suggestions were received leading to a vibrant discussion and enriching the review document.
Participants raised different questions during the discussion session, including: (i) how we capture lessons learned and facilitate key learning across all IFAD projects; (ii) what led to high success for IFAD’s projects performance measured against the COSOP under review; (iii) how does IFAD intend to intervene in emerging regions of Ethiopia; (iv) how the projects are supporting capacity building activities at community level (Development Agents); (v) if the COSOP is aligned with SDGs; (vi); does IFAD have a strategy in supporting the government with its mandate to enhance the education sector.
There were also comments provided by the participants on the CRR like: the need to give more attention to nutrition as this area was given less focus considering the exigencies on food security, IFAD to give more attention for climate risk financing; IFAD to work closely with the World Bank’s Gender Innovation Lab; and it could be good to consider nominating dedicating an IFAD focal person for REDFS technical committees and task forces.
IFAD's Head of AU, SSTC, and Knowledge Center Hub, State Minister of Ministry of Agriculture, and IFAD’s Country Programme Officer responded to some of the issues and took some of the comments as an input to enrich the CRR.
Finally, HE Dr Kaba, State Minister of Ministry of Agriculture, made closing remarks acknowledging IFAD’s financial and technical support to improve the livelihood of rural communities. He commend the performances of the programmes supported by IFAD and appreciated the proactive engagement of IFAD Country Office to support the programmes deliver their plans. He also reaffirmed his government’s commitment to strengthen its partnership with IFAD to serve the rural community better.
The main objectives of the CRR are to assess whether: (a) there have been major changes to the country; (b) any risks have materialized and/or new risks emerged; (iii) the country development goals, supported by the COSOP, are still relevant; (iv) the COSOP objectives are still relevant and likely to contribute to the country development goals; (v) the combination of lending and non-lending activities, presented at the COSOP approval up-to-date likely to deliver the expected outcomes; (vi) the identified strategic partnerships delivering results and outcomes that support the delivery of the country programme; (vii) implementation is on-track; (ix) there are changes to be made to the results framework; and (x) whether the COSOP needs to be extended or a new COSOP developed.
The workshop was opened with remarks by high level government official HE Dr Kaba Urgessa, State Minister of Ministry of Agriculture, followed by a presentation on the CRR and the formation of a Country Programme Management Team (CPMT). A CPMT team was formed from government Ministries, partner organisations, CG centers, Private Sector, Civil Service Organisations, Associations, and Micro Finance Institutions. This CPMT will be used by IFAD to enhance country programme planning, implementation and impact, as well as ownership of programmes and projects by borrower.The CRR presentation was mainly focused on the country context, risks, relevance of COSOP strategic objectives, policy engagement, private sector linkage, knowledge and research, coordination and alignment, implementation, results, and lessons learnt. Furthermore, a discussion was led by HE Dr Kaba, State Minister of Ministry of Agriculture, Kaydaki Gezahegn, Advisor to the Minister of Peace and Mr. Ulaç Demirag, IFAD's Head of African Union, South-South and Triangular Cooperation, and Knowledge Center Hub on the draft CRR document and a round strategic questions, comments and suggestions were received leading to a vibrant discussion and enriching the review document.
Participants raised different questions during the discussion session, including: (i) how we capture lessons learned and facilitate key learning across all IFAD projects; (ii) what led to high success for IFAD’s projects performance measured against the COSOP under review; (iii) how does IFAD intend to intervene in emerging regions of Ethiopia; (iv) how the projects are supporting capacity building activities at community level (Development Agents); (v) if the COSOP is aligned with SDGs; (vi); does IFAD have a strategy in supporting the government with its mandate to enhance the education sector.
There were also comments provided by the participants on the CRR like: the need to give more attention to nutrition as this area was given less focus considering the exigencies on food security, IFAD to give more attention for climate risk financing; IFAD to work closely with the World Bank’s Gender Innovation Lab; and it could be good to consider nominating dedicating an IFAD focal person for REDFS technical committees and task forces.
IFAD's Head of AU, SSTC, and Knowledge Center Hub, State Minister of Ministry of Agriculture, and IFAD’s Country Programme Officer responded to some of the issues and took some of the comments as an input to enrich the CRR.
Finally, HE Dr Kaba, State Minister of Ministry of Agriculture, made closing remarks acknowledging IFAD’s financial and technical support to improve the livelihood of rural communities. He commend the performances of the programmes supported by IFAD and appreciated the proactive engagement of IFAD Country Office to support the programmes deliver their plans. He also reaffirmed his government’s commitment to strengthen its partnership with IFAD to serve the rural community better.