Community involvement was substantial during project implementation and proved to be crucial in integrative flood and river erosion management. Advocacy and capacity development of community stakeholders enabled them to understand the complex flood risk management Cultural norms regarding women's roles in society were carefully navigated.
Community management of irrigation systems has enhanced project sustainability and reduced the burden on the government to use tax money for system maintenance. The project design did not consider alternative ways of managing irrigation systems. There were some attempts to form water user associations in Tamil Nadu, but there was no attempt to promote this concept.
Overlooking coordination could lead to project delays. Interagency coordination. The project had a good coordination mechanism within the water resources sector. Interagency coordination is needed when implementing social and environmental safeguards; in removing electricity poles (electricity utilities); in cutting trees (forest departments); and in land allotment, resettlement housing sites, and cash compensation payments (district administrations).
Community and farmers' involvement in project implementation is crucial to integrative flood and land management. This was highlighted by this project's experience. Also, advocacy and capacity development among stakeholders at the village level enable them to understand the complex soil salinity and flood risk management processes.
Strong leadership by high-level authorities is required to carry out in-depth and timely policy discussions across a range of government and other development agencies and stakeholders involved in social protection. To meet the country's significant financial needs in a timely manner, the program needed to be prepared under time pressure. Therefore, strong leadership by high-level government authorities in the government was imperative.
Coordination across several government agencies require strong leadership and persistence; given the regular transfer of government officials to other positions and ministries, it is important to set up a scheme for maintaining institutional memory within the executing and implementing agencies throughout program implementation.
Private sector participation in skills development is still limited at each stage of the skills development value chain. The limited enterprise support in such trainings may be caused by the lack of recognition and understanding of mutual benefits that could be derived by training institutes and enterprises.
Successful PFM reforms necessitate active engagement with key stakeholders including the legislature, line ministries, civil society, and the public to ensure buy-in of policy changes and smooth reform efforts.
Close coordination with other development partners working in PFM reforms is necessary to create synergies with ADB's support and interventions. Subprogram 1 was designed and developed in close consultation with the IMF and the World Bank to ensure a coordinated approach to PFM reforms. These lessons have confirmed that the reforms require a long-term perspective to achieve the intended objectives and that reforms need to be underpinned by significant efforts in sustained capacity building to ensure capacity constraints do not impact the overall quality of reforms.
Long-term engagement and dialogue by ADB with the government, executing agency, implementing agencies, private sector agencies, and relevant development partners is essential to ensure support for small and medium enterprises reform.