Member Details -Indran Naidoo

Indran A. Naidoo is the Director of the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD (IOE) since 2021. IOE works to increase the impact of IFAD's operations for sustainable and inclusive rural transformation through excellence in evaluation, and is responsible for the independent evaluation function of IFAD, which includes global, thematic and country level evaluations. Under Indran’s leadership, IOE has contributed to forging IFAD’s corporate culture as a transparent, learning oriented and accountable organization, improved evaluation coverage and promoted transformative evaluations that reflect the scale and scope of IFAD operations, engaged with Member States and external partners to support evaluation capacity and use within and outside IFAD, and retained and deepen IOE’s position as an internationally recognized leader in the evaluation of rural development programmes, policies and strategies.

Prior to joining IFAD, Indran was UNEG Vice Chair for System-wide Initiatives, and the Director of the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), between 2012 and 2020. During this time, the IEO delivered 43 evaluation reports to UNDP’s decision-making bodies. Indran led a phase of significant expansion in scope, coverage, and strategic salience with regards to the evaluation function at UNDP. 

Indran also held oversight positions in South Africa from 1995 when he developed the country`s first monitoring and evaluation unit at the Department of Land Affairs, pivotal to democratic transformation. He continued in oversight roles and held positions as Chief Director and Deputy Directors General for both Leadership and Management Practices and Monitoring and Evaluation at the independent constitutional body of the country, the Public Service Commission (PSC).  He advanced the profession by holding elected board positions on the South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association (SAMEA) and the International Development Evaluation Association (IDEAS).

Over the past 20 years, Indran has advanced the evaluation function internationally by providing thought leadership through management, networking, teaching, and developing evaluation approaches and systems. He has dedicated his career to using his positions to advance development. Indran views evaluation as critical for advancing public sector reform by improving transparency and accountability, and his work has focused on entrenching independence of systems for more effective credibility and utility. These mechanisms linked citizens to policy makers, in particular anti-corruption and integrity, citizen feedback, and measurement of performance of government and its leadership.

Indran holds a graduate (English, Geography & Education) and post-graduate (Geography) qualifications from the University of KwaZulu Natal, as well as post-graduate degrees in Education from the University of South Africa and a Masters in Geography from West Virginia University, USA. He was awarded a PhD in Evaluation from the University of Witwatersrand.  In addition he holds Executive Management qualifications from the Harvard and Wits Business School, and Oxford University. He has presented and written internationally and received several academic and leadership awards, and is a visiting faculty for the International Programme for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET).