Evaluating the Rain-fed Agriculture Project 

The SFD has signed a cooperation agreement with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) to develop a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) strategy for its Rain-fed Agriculture Project. For this propose, an IFPRI scoping mission carried out a visit to the SFD on 10-13 December 2007. The mission team included experts in evaluation and agricultural marketing, developing safety net strategies to improve food security as well as specialists in policies and programs of poverty reduction. The visit program included discussion sessions with SFD relevant staff on the project's goals, objectives and process as well as a field visit to three rain-fed agriculture projects in Bani Matar, Al-Hujailah and Al-Mahweet. The team delivered two presentations, with the first on the IFPRI approach in evaluation (for a national group interested in M&E) and the second on the approach suggested by the mission to evaluate this component. The team also met with H.E. Mr. Abdulkarim I. Al-Arhabi, the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Planning & Int'l Coop/ the SFD Managing Director.