Independent Magazine - issue 12

Welcome to IOE, Mona

On 24 March 2025, Mona Fetouh officially joined the Independent Office of IFAD as the new Deputy Director. With over 25 years of experience in development and humanitarian assistance, 17 of which in evaluation, the road that has led Mona to IOE has been long and winding. Vast field experience, including in war zones, coupled with headquarter-based expertise, have provided Mona with an invaluable understanding of the development challenges that confront us, as well as of the opportunities that may lie ahead.

To mark Mona’s arrival to IOE, Independent Magazine had the pleasure to sit down with the new Deputy Director, for a one-on-one chat that touched upon select highlights of what has been a truly remarkable professional journey thus far.

Good afternoon, Mona Good afternoon, Alexander

What has been the career path that has brought you to IOE?

It’s been a long and varied path. I started my career at the World Bank, right after graduate school. I was a Statistical Analyst working on country-level data. After that, I decided to dive into a country context and get some field experience. And so, in 2003, I went to Iraq to work on a USAID-funded project on governance. This was my first M&E role, which was followed by ten years of leading M&E functions in different countries, in both humanitarian and development contexts. After Iraq, I moved to an economic reform project in Egypt, and thereafter went to UNDP Somalia, where I worked out of Kenya. The last of the ten-year M&E stint was in Bangkok, with the International Rescue Committee, where I worked on a big project on health, education and protection focusing on displaced people from Myanmar, which also USAID-funded. These roles involved setting up M&E systems with results frameworks, indicators, data collection plans, establishing databases and ensuring that programming was adjusted in response. They also cemented my dedication to evidence belief in results-based management and ensuring that programming is data and evidence driven – and highlighted the risks of when these systems are not in place.

From there, I moved to the evaluation world in 2013, when I joined the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS). Like in IOE, OIOS staff lead and conduct the evaluations rather than outsource them, so it was a great experience to get my hands dirty so to speak, on all aspects of evaluations including scoping and design, field missions, data collection and analysis, report drafting and follow-up. It also allowed for a birds-eye view of the work of the UN secretariat, from peacekeeping to humanitarian operations. From there I moved to UNICEF, first in their evaluation office where I managed evaluations on WASH and climate, and then to the Ukraine country office as their Chief of Evaluation.

Which professional accomplishment do you feel most proud of to date?

I would have to say my most recent role in Ukraine. It was the first time that UNICEF established a senior-level evaluation post in the country office. This had been brought about by the high-level nature of the response with unprecedented funding levels. It was altogether a different level of accountability. At this time all the eyes of the world were on Ukraine. UNICEF rapidly scaled up from a small office focused on upstream work to one of the organization’s largest humanitarian responses, which means that I had to setup the evaluation function from scratch. This included recruiting a great team, putting the systems in place and developing an evidence plan, among other things. It was a large multi-sectoral response, which encompassed health, education, WASH, protection, social policy, and both humanitarian and recovery work. It was a very complex and extremely challenging context, and a high-pressure environment, so prioritizing staff wellbeing always had to be at the forefront.

Donor and government partner expectations were very high, and the workload was very intense. Despite all this – and the regular missile and drone attacks, air raid sirens and power outages - we really built a strong evaluation function. We conducted several evaluations including on humanitarian cash transfer programming, on child-friendly spaces, and on UNICEF’s corporate-level humanitarian response. These were coupled with many other studies, such as rapid assessments and operational reviews, which were useful in terms of having real-time information for course-correction. This mix of evaluative evidence also helped develop the buy-in of the office in terms of understanding the value of evidence and evaluation. I was very proud of all this. I could see the evaluation and evidence culture of the office as a whole grow, as the value of this work became clear. The experience shows that evaluation cannot be sacrificed in crisis contexts as it sometimes is, particularly during early stages. Instead, the need for accountability and learning is stronger than ever, especially for the people we serve.

A second accomplishment that I also recall with pride dates back to my OIOS days, when I led an evaluation of the Executive Office of the Secretary General (SG). This was in the last year of Ban-ki Moon’s term, and the evaluation was strategically important to provide the transition team of the incoming SG with recommendations on how to best structure and prioritize the work of the office. It was only me and one bright junior analyst working on it, so the work was intense. We included some innovative business-review type approaches, including time audits and analysing correspondence logs as well as a very illuminating week embedded within the office for direct observation. The findings highlighted the limited time spent on strategic direction and inefficient use of senior management meetings for decision making, among other issues. SG Guterres and his transition team greatly appreciated the results and drew heavily on them to restructure the work of the office. This showed commitment to evaluation at the highest levels of the UN.

What are you most excited about in joining IOE?

The reputation of IOE among the evaluation community is very strong. Prior to my arrival, whenever I mentioned to evaluation colleagues that I was going to be joining the office, I heard nothing but praise for the high calibre work of the office. I’m excited to join a team of experienced professionals known for quality work, under the leadership of a director known for his unwavering commitment to independence. Having been in several other evaluation functions, I’m impressed by how seriously evaluation is taken in IFAD, and this is in no doubt due to the efforts of IOE staff over the years, and the clear value that evaluation has shown within the fund. I’ve come from roles where evaluation acceptance and culture were variable and where the structures and processes were not always in place to properly safeguard the function. So, to come to an office and organization where this is well established is an exciting change. I’m looking forward to working with the team to support and strengthen this work.

What are the most significant lessons that you have learned or skill that you have acquired that you think will help you to make a difference at IOE?

I think that the first one is my varied geographic experience. I hope to contribute in terms of my experience across different regions, with long term assignments in the Middle East, East Africa, South-East Asia and Eastern Europe. Context is key. Having a solid understanding of the history and socio-political dynamics and being able to adapt our evaluation work, while of course maintaining standards and rigor, results in much higher utility, relevance and influence.

In Ukraine, for example, many in the international community found themselves for the first time in a humanitarian response in a middle-income country, and one with a functioning government. The usual practices that worked in lower income fragile states didn’t apply, and not all were quick to make this adjustment. The same applied to our evaluation work there, which impacted everything from government engagement to hiring of local researchers, as well as understanding which evaluation questions really got to the root causes of the challenges faced in the country. External consultants often needed a lot of time to be socialized to the context, which was critical to be considered credible by stakeholders. These experiences also helped me to better understand opportunities and constraints on the ground, including for example having a front row view of the complexities of policy reforms, which in turn has helped me sharpen my evaluation practice. With IOE, working across so many varied contexts, I hope this experience can support our teams.

A second aspect is stakeholder engagement. As evaluators we need to have a unique combination of skills. From a technical perspective, these include qualitative and quantitative methods, report drafting, etc. However, equally important are the competencies and soft skills required for active listening, effective communication and work to build an evidence culture. To me, this enhances independence rather than compromises it. In my career, I’ve had to engage with a range of stakeholders, from UN senior management to minister-level officials, member state delegates to governing bodies, NGO partners and community members. Each have varying relationships, interests, views and roles in evaluative evidence. At times, these communications can be fraught or met with defensiveness or even fear (usually unfounded) of losing funding and support. Over the years, I’ve learned how to best engage and build buy-in for evaluation, especially by communicating that we are all working towards the same goal – better outcomes for the people and communities we serve. We know that donors and member states appreciate honest self-reflection, learning and accountability. Learning how to engage in an adaptive way with different groups and building skills in influencing is something I value from my experience. In essence, I always try to impart the message that we are all working towards the same goal.

Which do you feel will be the biggest challenges that IOE, as well as the international evaluation community, will have to face in the foreseeable future?

The world as we know it has fundamentally changed in recent years. COVID-19, rising political polarization, climate crises, wars and the current funding crisis in oversees development assistance are forcing us to think differently about how we work. There are some with a tendency to think that evaluation could be de-prioritized, and that resources could be allocated towards more life-saving efforts or other priorities. On the contrary, I think that evaluation is more relevant than ever. This is the time when people really need credible information on the results that we have been achieving. The development sector needs to make sure that investments are going in the right places, and that funds are being used effectively and efficiently, while also striving to build resilience and achieve the best possible results to support the poorest and most marginalized. As evaluators, we need to reiterate our critical role and support in achieving these. While other evaluation functions are having to advocate for space under current resource constraints, we are fortunate that IFAD has also continued its commitment to a strong evaluation function.

Looking at the current international landscape, which do you see as being the biggest opportunities for IOE to grow as a recognized centre of excellence in evaluation and, in doing so, add value to global development efforts?

This is a very strong office, which has excellent practices that can benefit the global evaluation community. I know that in IOE there is a strong emphasis on sharing work and best practices through participation in conferences and events, as well as through publications and on-line resources. This should definitely continue, and at a time when evaluation is under fire in some functions, the lessons of a strong, well-resourced and independent function are powerful. Overall, I believe that the staff are the main asset of the office. Therefore, it is important to continue to look at ways to help their career development, build their skills, and allow them to seize opportunities.

For example, there are also a lot of opportunities in our practice with generative AI which can save time and increase efficiencies, especially with desk review and qualitative analysis. However, there are also risks which are still being explored. It is exciting to see that IOE has invested into learning more about how this area can strengthen our work.