Clemencia Cosentino is the Director of FAO's Office of Evaluation (OED). Prior to joining FAO, she was Chief Evaluation Officer and Evaluation and Assessment Capability Section Head of the US National Science Foundation (NSF). Previously, Clemencia was a Senior Fellow and Director of STEM Research at Mathematica and the Director of the Program for Evaluation and Equity Research of the Urban Institute. Over the past decade, Clemencia has been focusing on designing and developing complex data systems that leverage existing data and serve multiple functions (monitoring, research, and evaluation). She received her master’s and doctoral degrees in sociology from Princeton University, with a focus on education and international development.

Serdar Bayryyev is a senior evaluation officer with OED. He is an evaluation expert with more than 20 years of experience in development evaluation, results based management, crisis prevention and recovery, governance and public sector management. Before joining FAO, he worked for UNDP, UNFPA and the World Bank Group. As an Evaluation Specialist at UNDP, he supported formulation of the revised UNDP Evaluation Policy, design of the evaluation quality assurance system and implementation of corporate strategy for strengthening country-level evaluation capacities. He holds a masters’ degree in international economics from the Ukrainian Institute of International Relations and International Law.

Olivier Cossée is a senior evaluation officer with OED with with 30 years of experience in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of emergency and development assistance. He has worked in various management capacities in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Mauritania. After working for OED in the early 2000s, when he specialized in the evaluation of emergency responses, he joined the UNDP Independent Evaluation Office until 2015, when he returned to OED. He holds a master’s degree in tropical agronomy from the Centre National d’Études Agronomiques des Régions Chaudes in Montpellier, France.

Carlos Tarazona is an evaluation manager in OED where he is responsible for coordinating selected thematic and country evaluations. He is an evaluation specialist with more than 17 years of experience in the evaluation of agricultural and rural development programmes. Before joining OED, Carlos served as an evaluation officer at the International Atomic Energy Agency and managed the Independent External Evaluation of FAO. Carlos holds a master’s degree in international agriculture from Reading University in the United Kingdom and Larenstein University in the Netherlands.

Jenin Assaf is an evaluation officer with OED responsible for the management and coordination of emergency and resilience evaluations across FAO. She has over 20 years’ experience in evaluation, programme development, and management, and communications in the fields of international development, agricultural research, conflict management, and gender equity. Before joining OED, she was the senior evaluation manager at CGIAR where she developed an integrated evaluation approach for a complex research organization covering aspects of programme appraisal, evaluation, and impact assessment, and oversaw the performance management assessment of complex international research programs. In addition to evaluation, she has experience in developing and financially establishing international development programmes and projects in various countries.

Luisa Belli is an evaluation officer with OED where she coordinates planning, monitoring and implementation of project evaluations. She has a background in tropical and subtropical agriculture and rural sociology. She has more than 15 years of experience in the management, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes, of which 10 were spent in evaluations. Before joining OED, she worked as rural sociologist in several FAO and NGO-led participatory development projects.

Arwa Khalid is an evaluation officer in OED. She has more than 20 years of experience in animal health, management of agricultural knowledge systems, livelihood and food security/food aid, evaluation and coordination. Before joining FAO, Arwa served as extension officer for GTZ, where she contributed to the liaison between the programme management and the field, especially local government staff and farmers groups. She holds a master’s degree from Wageningen University, the Netherlands.

Roger Miranda is an evaluation officer with OED, where he is responsible for coordinating selected project and country programme evaluations. He is a programme evaluator with more than 20 years of experience in the international development sector. Before joining OED, Roger worked at the Nicaraguan Municipal Development Institute (INIFOM), the Comptroller General’s Office (CGR) and as an independent evaluator. He was previously a staff member in various UN agencies (UNODC and OIOS) and played an active role in UNEG. He is the author of Eva the Evaluator and has a master’s degree from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

Amélie Solal-Céligny is an evaluation officer in OED where she carries out country programme evaluations and coordinated project evaluations. Amélie has more than 15 years of work experience in food security analysis, nutrition assessment, M&E and evaluation, mostly with UN organizations (FAO, WFP, IFAD). Before joining OED, Amélie served as M&E Officer in FAO Regional Office for Africa, where she developed the regional M&E network, led M&E capacity building activities in the region, and participated in the development of M&E systems for country programming frameworks and their alignment with FAO strategic objectives and regional initiatives. She holds a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics and social sciences from Paris Dauphine University and a master’s degree in sustainable rural development from Paris Orsay University and has professional training in Monitoring and Evaluation for development (Wageningen University) and Impact Assessment (JPAL MIT).

Omar Awabdeh is an is an evaluation officer in OED, where he is responsible for designing and managing project/programme evaluations. He has over 10 years of experience in development evaluations, capacity development and policy support. He is a member of the Evaluation Management Group of the Independent System-wide Evaluation of the contribution of the United Nations development system to strengthening national capacities for data collection and statistical analyses to support the achievement of the MDGs. Before joining OED, Omar served as Monitoring and Evaluation Analyst for UNDP. He holds a master’s degree in management from New York Institute of Technology.

Maame Duah is an evaluation officer in OED where she conducts country programme evaluations and manages programme evaluations. She has more than ten years of experience in monitoring and evaluation, policy analysis and land-use planning. Prior to joining OED, she worked with the FAO Office of Strategy and Planning, where she conducted analysis for the preparation of the FAO Reviewed 2016-2017 Programme of Work and Budget. She also previously worked with Regeneris Consulting Limited, based in London and with the Ghana National Development Planning Commission. She holds a Master’s degree in Urban Economic Development from the University College of London (UCL) and a Bachelor’s degree in Human Settlement Planning from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.

Nanae Yabuki is an evaluation officer in OED, where she leads and manages complex evaluations. She has more than 20 years of experience in economic analysis, strategy formulation and policy advice at FAO and and nine years of field experience with the World Bank. She studied economics at Yale Graduate School. She also holds a Master of Science in Financial Management from the University of London (SOAS) and a Master of Laws in International Law from the University of London (UCL).

Javier Araneda is an evaluation analyst. He contributes to projects evaluations in the Latin America and the Caribbean (RLC) office. He has experience in participative, qualitative, and vulnerable population evaluations. Before joining FAO, he worked as consultant for NGOs and was the national representative of Evalyouth Chile. He also has done specialization courses such as Impact evaluation in social projects at the MIT and a diploma in Evaluation of Programs and Public Policies at the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of the Mexican Government. He holds a degree in Sociology.

Rami Assaf is an evaluation analyst in OED, where contributes to projects, thematic and country programme evaluations in the emergency and resilience team. He previously worked as an M&E focal point for VNG International and as an evaluation consultant for numerous NGOs and companies in Lebanon and the MENA region. He holds a master’s degree in Rural Community Development from the American University of Beirut and is an active member of the Lebanese Evaluation Association and the Middle East and North African Evaluation Network.

Emilia Bretan is an evaluation manager with OED. Before joining OED in 2005, Emilia provided services as a project manager, researcher and evaluator to international organizations, such as the World Bank, Plan International Brazil, IUCN, WWF, IDB, UNHCR, Care, and to CSOs in Brazil. Her areas of expertise include social development, criminology, child and human rights, policy influence, environment and gender. Emilia loves evaluation and capacity development. In that role, taking advantage of her experience of over 8 years as a Professor of Law, she has trained dozens of professionals from over 30 countries in Outcome Harvesting (OH). She holds a bachelor, master's and doctorate degrees in Law and Criminology obtained at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Emiel Buffel is an evaluation analyst for OED and is currently working on project and country programme evaluations. Before joining FAO, he worked for the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD and for the Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies of the United Nations University (UNU-CRIS). He holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and Diplomacy, and Governance and Development with a specialization in local institutions and poverty reduction.

Anne-Clemence Owen is an evaluation specialist in OED, where she manages project evaluations, particularly relating to the Global Environment Facility. Prior to joining OED in 2019, she worked at the Multilateral Investment Fund’s Access to Basic Services Unit (MIF, part of the InterAmerican Development bank Group) and at the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG, part of the World Bank Group) in Washington DC. At the World Bank, she contributed to thematic evaluations (water supply and sanitation, public finance for development) and to country programs evaluations (Mexico). She holds a dual master’s degree in international affairs and international economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Aimé Dongmo Ngoutsop is an evaluation specialist at OED where he manages evaluations in the Africa region. Before joining FAO, he was an independent consultant for 10 years, evaluated and supported projects and programmes for FAO, the World Bank, UNDP, AfDB, AUDA-NEPAD and USAID. Aimé was a researcher in evaluation, experimentation and modeling of farming systems in Africa for 11 years (IRAD, PRASAC-CEMAC) and France (INRA). Aimé is an Agricultural Engineer from the University of Dschang and holds a Master's degree from AgroParisTech in Environment and Social Sciences and a Doctorate (PhD) in integrated farming systems obtained with the highest distinction from AgroParisTech.

Fatimetou El Bah is an evaluation analyst in OED, where she supports thematic evaluations. She has experience in economic analysis and policy evaluation. Before joining OED, she was working as a Research Assistant for the evaluation department of the French Ministry of Education (DEPP) where she contributed to impact evaluations of education policies and programmes. She holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering, a master’s degree in economics from Sciences Po Paris, and a master’s degree in public policy and development from Paris School of Economics.

Sima El Najjar is an evaluation specialist in OED for project, thematic and country programme evaluations in the Near East and North Africa region. Previously, Sima worked in the Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation field with UNICEF in Lebanon, Jordan, and Iran. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in project management.

Sara Holst is an Evaluation Officer in OED, currently based in FAO Regional Office for Africa (RAF) from where she oversees and coordinates all evaluations happening in the African Region. Sara is an economist with more than 10 years of experience in designing, managing and leading evaluations of large regional and global programmes for OED, including Country Programme Evaluations (CPEs) and resilience evaluations. Before joining FAO, she worked as project manager and technical advisor in the rural development sector for several NGOs countries in Africa both at the headquarter and field level. Sara is a Magna cum Laude from La Sapienza University, where she got her master’s degree in global economy and governance.

Adriana Jaramillo is an evaluation manager in OED, where she is responsible for Country Programme Evaluations in Latin America and the Caribbean region and supports decentralized evaluations. She has almost ten years of experience in evaluating and monitoring development projects and public social spending. Before joining OED, she worked for the Mexican federal government. As Performance Evaluation Director at the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (CONEVAL), she led the evaluation strategy of decentralized social spending, managed simultaneous project evaluations, developed evaluation methodologies, and coordinated technical assistance for local and federal government actors. She holds a Master’s degree in Governance, Development, and Public Policy from the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University in the United Kingdom.

Seda Kojoyan is an evaluation specialist in OED, where she manages environmental project evaluations, particularly relating to the Global Environment Facility and the Green Climate Fund. Prior to this, she was a Program Officer in the independent evaluation unit of the Global Fund in Geneva, Switzerland. She managed thematic and strategic evaluations, on crosscutting topics such as technical support partnerships, challenging operating environments, regional programs, and gender, and regularly reported to the Board and governance committee. Kojoyan holds a master’s degree in international affairs from the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, and has graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Economics from the University of Maryland.

Claudia Martinez Mansell is as an evaluation manager focusing on resilience evaluations. Prior to joining OED, she was part of the evaluation teams looking into FAO’s West Bank and Gaza Strip programme and WFP’s Algeria programme. Her previous work has focused on project/programme formulation and operational management of emergency and rehabilitation programmes. She has also worked for the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Food Security and Nutrition, managing and supporting the food security and agriculture work stream of the 2014 Climate Summit. She holds a Master’s Degree in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and an Evidence-based Humanitarian Assistance Graduate Certificate from Tufts University.

Adriana Melgar is an evaluation specialist in OED, where she undertakes the intake process of Country Programme Evaluations. She has experience in qualitative and ethnographic fieldwork in rural areas and conducting humanitarian assistance evaluations. Her background includes consulting work for research centers, public institutions, and international organizations such as Save the Children, HIAS and CGIAR. Adriana holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies.

Lavinia Monforte is an evaluation specialist in OED where she coordinates the GEF project evaluations portfolio. She is an economist with more than eleven years of work experience in evaluation and research in the environmental and social sectors. Before joining OED in 2014, she worked as researcher at CURSA, an Italian consortium of universities for socioeconomic and e environment research and as analyst in the Forestry Department of FAO, where she supported the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) and the Mountain and Watershed Management teams. Lavinia holds a master’s degree in international affairs and has graduated magna cum laude with a degree in economics for international development.

Liza Ottlakán is a part-time evaluation specialist consultant with FAO's Office of Evaluation. She is currently undertaking the intake process for the evaluation of FAO's One Health programme. She also works with the Adaptation Fund's Technical Evaluation Reference Group and has previously worked with the Green Climate Fund's Independent Evaluation Unit. Liza holds a Master of Science degree in Climate Change, Development, and Policy from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex.

Lis Pinero is an evaluation analyst supporting strategic evaluations. Lis has a technical background focusing on environmental and biological sciences, which she combines with evaluation skills to support the assessment of the environmental pillar of sustainable development. She previously worked in academia and the private sector and volunteers for NGOs in her free time. Lis holds a master’s degree in biological sciences from the University of Western Australia and a bachelor's degree from the University of Buenos Aires.

Giulia Pollastri is an evaluation analyst in OED, where she contributes to thematic and country programme evaluations. Before joining OED she has worked as evaluation consultant for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and in the Audit and Quality assurance department of the Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission. Previously, she gained field experience in Ecuador collaborating with the NGO Fondo Ecuatoriano Populorum Progressio (FEPP) where she worked with local associations of smallholder farmers as an agricultural value chain analyst. Giulia holds an MSc in Business Administration from the University of Rome Tor Vergata.

Daniela Rojas Chaves is an evaluation specialist in OED. She has over 20 years of experience conducting research and evaluation of international development projects, programmes and policies and managing evaluation teams. Before joining FAO, she worked for international NGOS and the UN in Uganda, Australia, and USA, where she managed their evaluations functions to support their agendas. More recently she was the Founder, Principal Research and Evaluation Consultant of Evaluativa, where she provided services globally as a Lead Evaluator. Daniela holds a Master of Interdisciplinary Studies in Social Science, focused on International Education, a Graduate Diploma of Social, Human and Environmental Development, and a Bachelor with Honours in Social Anthropology.

Ivan Scott is an evaluation officer in FAO’s Regional Office for Asia Pacific (RAP), managing a range of evaluations in the region. Ivan has 30 years of experience, with a range of roles drawn from field work in West Africa and Asia, management of specialist advisory functions, learning and evaluation policy setting, and managing evaluations. During this time his main sectoral experience has been in humanitarian response, disaster risk reduction, social inclusion, WASH, social protection and migration. He previously worked with UNICEF’s East Asia Pacific regional evaluation unit, with UNOPS in Myanmar, and as an M&E consultant in Nepal. Ivan worked for UK INGOs in field and headquarters positions including as Head of Programme Performance and Accountability for Oxfam GB, leading on M&E strategy, systems and methods. Ivan has a Master’s degree in Rural Social Development from the University of Reading, UK and a Bachelors degree in English and Education from the University of Ulster.

Carolina Turano is an evaluation specialist in OED where she manages project and programme evaluations mainly in Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to this, Carolina worked for the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD as a Research Analyst, and for NGOs in the UK and Bolivia where she focused on gender related projects, rural development, and migration. Carolina holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Roma Tre University, Rome; and a Master’s Degree in Development Studies from SOAS, School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London.

Renata Mirulla facilitates the EvalForward Community of Practice. She supports knowledge sharing and information exchange among members, summarizing topics discussed and highlighting good practices in evaluation, ensuring updates on events, resources, guidelines that are relevant to evaluation in agriculture, food security and rural development. Renata is the OED focal point for National Evaluation Capacity Development. She holds a master's degree in political sciences from Università La Sapienza, Rome.

Valentina Di Marco joined OED in 2021. She works on evaluation synthesis, both as individual products and in support of large thematic evaluations. In addition, she works as coordinator of a Knowledge Management team to support the increasing need to maximize the use of knowledge generated by evaluations. Valentina has a 20+ work experience in the private industry working for large multinationals as a market researcher and business consultant. She transitioned to nonprofit organizations. Before joining OED, she worked at IFAD's Independent Office of Evaluation as an evaluation consultant, contributing with meta-analysis and research to large corporate level evaluations and evaluation synthesis. She was the evaluation coordinator of the Joint evaluation of the Rome-based agencies collaboration conducted between 2020 and 2021. Valentina is a Magna Cum Laude from Universita’ degli Studi Palermo in International Political Sciences and holds a master’s degree in Marketing and Business Administration.

Gianluca Bailey joined OED in January 2021 as a publishing and repository specialist, coordinating the final steps of the publishing process for OED evaluations. This includes coordinating editing and translating, as well as taking care of quality checking all documents and ensuring they are included in the FAO publications repository, along with the metadata. Prior to joining OED, he worked for six years as a Publications Officer at the European Commission, Joint Research Centre, where he was in charge of quality checking publications. Gianluca holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science and a master's degree in Public Administration from Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia, United States of America.

Shannon Clay joined OED in 2017 as an English copy-editor. Prior to joining FAO, she worked with IFAD. She holds a bachelor's degree in linguistics and a master’s degree in Translation and Interpretation in English, Italian and Spanish. She has been working as a freelancer with NGOs, national and international organizations since 2015.

Stanislava Sukhanova is an administrative assistant in OED, where she is responsible for the hiring process of consultants and support with travel arrangements for evaluations. Before joining OED in 2022, Stanislava worked in FAO’s human resources division. She has more than seven years of experience in the private sector. Stanislava holds a Master’s degree in international relations from the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI in Moscow, Russia.

Arianna Vignoni is a Budget Associate with OED. She is responsible for financial management, monitoring and coordination of financial actions related to projects and the Regular Programme budget. Previously, Arianna worked with FAO as an Operations Clerk in the Emergency Operations and Rehabilitation Division on the Eastern and Western Africa portfolios. She has been supporting FAO as a Programme Assistant with financial management, project operations and coordination, with the Locust and Transboundary Plant Pests and Diseases team, and FAO Fisheries.