The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) undertook the annual supervision mission for the Rural Enterprises and Remittances Project (RERP) from 17 to 27 September 2019. This is the eighth international support mission to the project in the past 22 months IFAD mission.
The IFAD mission was composed of Mr. Nigel Smith (Mission Leader and Project Management Specialist), Mr. Nara Hari Dhakal (Rural Finance Specialist), Mr. Krishna Thapa (Monitoring & Evaluation and KM Specialist), Ms Lorina Sthapit (Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist), Ms. Bibiana Vasquez (Migration and Remittances Specialist), Mr Pradeep Shrestha (Financial Management Specialist), Mr Hari Dhakal (Procurement Specialist) and Mr Bashu Aryal (IFAD Country Programme Officer and Project Management Specialist).
Joint Secretary Mr Gyanendra Parajuli and Project Manager Mr Saroj Guragain from the Government of Nepal, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS) represented for the mission. Together the implementing Partners —HELVETAS Nepal, AEC including project staffs joined the mission team at Project Management Office in Itahari and made field visits together with mission members at project working areas.
The key objectives of the mission were: (i) to review the performance of the Project after the MTR in December 2018 and subsequent Implementation Support Missions 2019; (ii) to assess overall progress till date and examine the likelihoods of achieving development objectives in the remaining project period; (iii) to analyse the disbursement and resource utilization rate, restructure the activities and budget allocations and recommend partial cancellation of loan proceeds as appropriate; and (iii) to support the Project team to identify and resolve any bottlenecks or emerging issues.
Given the continued low performance of the project in achieving its development objectives in its various elements mission made recommendations for restructuring the project and associated adjustments to project financing and operational aspects. The final day of mission was concluded by the wrap-up meeting held on 27th September, chaired by Madame Yam Kumari Kathiwada, Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS) and attended by Dr Tarek Kotb,Country Director, IFAD.
