Top international post for former teacher
A FORMER Ladysmith schoolteacher who spent a decade at the UN in New York has moved to Rome to evaluate hunger-alleviation projects globally.
Dr Indran Naidoo, 58, was appointed as the director of the Independent Office of Evaluation of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (Ifad).
The office has a 177-country membership.
Naidoo began his career as a schoolteacher at Ladysmith Secondary School. His late father, AC Naidoo, was a teacher in Ladysmith for more than 30 years.
His mother, Kamala Naidoo, is a retired professional social worker. She now lives in Pretoria.
Naidoo has a PhD (evaluation) from University of the Witwatersrand. He has published internationally and has presented papers on evaluation globally.
Naidoo served as the deputy director-general of monitoring and evaluation at the Public Service Commission in Pretoria from 2000 to 2011.
And he was the first director of monitoring and evaluation at the Department of Land Affairs, from 1995 to 2000.
He worked with the Mandela administration to assess land reform progress.
Naidoo was posted to New York where he led the Independent Evaluation Office of the United Nations Development Programme, working across 180 countries.
The office strove to improve the performance and quality of international development programmes.
While there, Naidoo worked with most governments and programmes globally, including conflict-ridden countries.
“Living in New York was facedpaced. At first, it wasn’t easy adapting to life there, but once settled, I found it energising. The city never sleeps and it’s diverse with great theatre, music and interesting people.”
He said his challenges included getting used to driving on the right-hand side of the road and working with a new currency.
With 25 years of experience in evaluation, Naidoo now serves as the head of evaluation at Ifad. He will lead an international team to review programmes such as agricultural support, irrigation and capacity building.
Ifad is an international financial institution and a specialised agency of the UN that works to address poverty and hunger in the rural areas of developing countries.
It provides more than R15 billion in loans and technical support to countries annually.
He said three-quarters of the poorest people in the world lived in the rural areas of developing countries and that most of them depended on agriculture for their livelihoods.
“Climate change, a growing global population and volatile food and energy prices have the potential to push millions more of vulnerable people into extreme poverty and hunger by 2030. Ifad invests in rural people, empowering them to increase their food security, improve the nutrition of their families and increase their incomes. We help them build resilience, expand their businesses and take charge of their own development.”
Naidoo said 40 million people would benefit from Ifad-funded interventions by 2030 − double the number of those reached in 2020.
His work has taken him to more than 60 countries.
He is married to Renuka, a school teacher, and they have two children, Upendra and Prajna.
Upendra is a computer engineer and Prajna is a senior at George Washington University. They are based in the US.
When Naidoo is not working, he unwinds by practising photography, going for a bike ride or going to the movies.
He said he missed the great weather and vibe in South Africa.
“What I miss about Ladysmith, specifically, is the good and caring people who were strongly supportive. It was good to grow up and also to teach high school for five years (English) at Ladysmith Secondary.”
Naidoo was in the country for three months earlier this year, before departing for Rome.
He referred to Rome as being the eternal city. Naidoo said he intended using the opportunity of living there to learn about the country’s history and Roman influence.