By Gabriel Ewepu, ABUJA

AS food security and improved livelihood among Africans take centre stage to boost food production, 130 stakeholders weekend, committed to strengthening the financial management of International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, projects in West and Central Africa.

This was contained in a Communiqué on the official closing ceremony of ‘Regional Training Workshop on Financial Management for IFAD-Funded Projects Anglophone West and Central Africa held in Abuja.

IFAD in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Federal Ministry of Finance organized a Regional Training Workshop for IFAD-funded projects to support the effective implementation of major financial management and fiduciary reforms for the projects.

These reforms aim to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of projects for greater impact on the livelihood of small-scale farmers, women, young people and other vulnerable groups living in rural areas.

The primary aim of the training workshop was to strengthen the capacity of stakeholders of with a view to improving the quality of financial management of IFAD-financed projects and programmes.

The workshop built the capacity of 130 participants including Coordinators, Finance Managers, Accountants, Internal and external Auditors from Supreme Audit Institutions, as well as Ministries experts from Anglophone West and Central Africa (Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone).

The Regional Director of IFAD West and Central Africa (WCA), Mr Bernard Hien represented by Mr Ahmed Tarek thanked the Federal Government of Nigeria for hosting this important international workshop.

He congratulated Ministries experts, Government Auditors, Projects Coordinators and staff for their successful completion of the training and called on them to use the knowledge acquired for increased development impact and results in support of the food system transformation agenda.

Mr Radu Damianov, IFAD WCA Senior Regional Financial Management Department Officer, stressed his appreciation for the active participation of all stakeholders which was critical for achieving the objectives of the 3-day workshop.

Mr Daminanov indicated that the Financial Management Department in partnership with the Regional and Country offices will provide continuous technical advice to participants to accelerate the implementation of the financial reforms.

Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Ernest Umakhihe, represented by Mr Bukar Musa, Director Projects Coordinating Unit, in a closing remarks, commended IFAD for the successful organization of this regional workshop.

Umakhihe also expressed confidence that the workshop will contribute to scale up the impact of projects jointly funded by IFAD and Government on agriculture and food system transformation.

The Permanent Secretary called on participants to continue collaboration and networking within and across West and Central Africa countries for continued exchange of knowledge and best practices and solicited the support of IFAD to pursue this south -south cooperation in financial management.

After the receipt of the training certificates, participants committed to implementing the financial management best practices and tools shared during this regional workshop to enhance project efficiency, reporting and value for money.

They commended IFAaD for the in-depth training and quality of the workshop that had brought about meaningful relationship among stakeholders from various countries, and they stressed the importance of pursing the knowledge exchange and networking after the regional workshop.