Skip to main content
Johanna Pennarz

Italy

Johanna Pennarz Member since 13/05/2020

IFAD

Lead Evaluation Officer
Website
I am Lead Evaluation Officer at the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD. I have been leading evaluations of IFAD country strategies and programmes in Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Georgia and Kenya. Ialso led the preparation of synthesis evaluations on gender, partnerships, inclusive rural finance, community-driven development and infrastructure for IFAD. Prior to joining IFAD, I was the GIZ Principal Advisor on evaluation capacity development at the Office of the Prime Minister in Uganda. Overall, I have more than 20 years on strategic and institutional evaluations, amongst others for the African Development Bank, United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Human Rights-Office of the High Commissioner, Department for International Development (DFID) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). I trained as social anthropologist, with a Ph.D. from Munich University in Germany.

My contributions

  • Blog

    Making voices count - Gathering community feedback in times of remote evaluation

    In 2020, IFAD’s Independent Office of Evaluation undertook a project evaluation of the National Programme Community Empowerment in Indonesia. [1] This was a Community Driven Development project in Papua and West Papua provinces in the eastern-most part of Indonesia. These provinces are characterized by geographic remoteness, lack of infrastructure, scant presence of government structures, civil unrest in some parts and large indigenous populations. Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, which took place at the start of the evaluation process, international travel was not possible. The mobility of local...
    Read more
  • Blog

    Struggling to prove the obvious – How can evaluations show that community-driven development works?

    Although CDD is recognized as an efficient way of delivering public goods, in particular in marginalized or fragile situations, evaluations often struggle to find strong evidence to demonstrate the empowering impact of this approach. This challenge may be tied, in part, to the wide range of contexts involved and to expectations of what these programmes should deliver. The debate Expectations of what community-driven development can deliver, in terms of social and political impact, have been high and sometimes overly optimistic. The first evaluation of the World Bank’s support to CDD (2005)...
    Read more