On January 28, 2025, the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on the PAC/GTM Impact Evaluation Project. Concurrently, an inception meeting was held at the ILRI Campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, attended by partners from MoA HQ, the Amhara and Oromia regions, IFAD, and IFPRI.
The meeting began with a welcoming note and opening remarks from Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse, Senior Research Fellow and Program Leader at IFPRI-Ethiopia, and David Spielman, Director of the Innovation Policy and Scaling Unit at IFPRI-Washington DC.
Nuredin Asaro, National Program Manager for PACT at MoA, provided an update on the project’s design and implementation. He discussed the landscape identification and prioritization process involving local universities and research centers. According to Nuredin, 53 landscapes were identified in Oromia, and small-scale irrigation projects are under review. Solomon from the Amhara region added that 33 landscapes were selected i Amharabased on climate considerations, with 70,000 beneficiaries registered. This was followed by detailed discussions among partners.
Beatrice Gerli, GTM Coordinator and Senior Technical Specialist on Gender at IFAD-Rome, shared IFAD’s perspective on the project and emphasized the importance of evaluating the gender-transformative pathway of change and effective coordination with the project management unit.
Kalyani Raghunathan, Research Fellow at IFPRI-India, and Carlo Azzarri, Senior Research Fellow at IFPRI-Italy, outlined IFPRI’s role and strategies for conducting the impact evaluation. Following their presentations, partners engaged in further discussions.
Kalyani elaborated on the PACT initiative, a seven-year project aimed at enhancing local food production, incomes, and food and nutrition security in Ethiopia. Integrating IFAD's Gender Transformative Mechanism for Climate Adaptation (GTM) from the outset, the project spans nine regional states, targeting 165,000 households across 90 woredas. She explained potential evaluation strategy emphasizing non-experimental approaches, focusing on outcomes like food security, nutrition, financial access, and women's empowerment. Data collection is scheduled for 2025, with a process evaluation in 2026 and findings disseminated in 2028. Cost-effectiveness analysis will also be included.
The team discussed timelines and next steps for successful project implementation. David Spielman highlighted IFPRI’s support for the PACT PMU in conducting the baseline survey. Beatrice, who joined later, reiterated her support for the project and stressed the importance of field security and feasibility. IFPRI presented a data-sharing agreement, which had already been signed by the team.