Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 23 October 2023 – The Independent Evaluation Department of the IsDB launched an independent evaluation of presented the approach paper for the evaluation of the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD) on October 23, 2023. This corporate evaluation aims to assess its achievements, challenges, and lessons learned since its creation in 2007. The evaluation exercise will focus on four main areas: financial management, poverty alleviation, operational effectiveness, and governance and organizational structure. The evaluation will also benchmark ISFD with other MDBs and institutions working on poverty reduction and concessional financing. The event took off with a brief description of the evaluation plan in the opening remarks delivered by Ahmed Ag Aboubacrine, Acting Director of the Independent Evaluation Department, followed by the presentation of the detailed evaluation approach by Ehtisham UL Hassan, a member of the evaluation team. The ISFD Director General, Dr. Hiba Ahmed, welcomed the evaluation and expressed her support and cooperation. She also suggested including the portfolio of the Economic Empowerment Department that was recently transferred to ISFD. Other stakeholders from ISFD, IsDB, and other departments shared their comments and valuable suggestions on the evaluation scope, methodology, and questions, such as the relationship between ISFD and ISDB, the alignment of ISFD with its regulations and mandate, the resource mobilization and capital challenges, the implementation of the transformation strategy, and the concessional financing gap. The evaluation welcomed the suggestions and comments and requested stronger support from the relevant departments. They also shared some historical and institutional insights on the inception and evolution of ISFD.

https://isdb.sharepoint.com/:w:/s/ThematicEvaluationPublic-PrivatePartnership/EZrb9X8aumZHt6ha2PKuhvoB6QON0SAup_QBqJxiGvzj1w