COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program

Using third parties to monitor implementation, especially in situations where mobility and ADB missions are constrained, helps ensure the attainment of intended results. The government partnered with the Red Crescent, private sector, and civil society organizations to vaccinate all residents of Maldives, including foreign workers with no official work permits. This also provided a third-party mechanism for monitoring the implementation of CARES, which was developed very quickly in an extremely tense and constrained context and in a situation where ADB staff were not allowed to conduct in-person missions. Systematic feedback gathering from the independent third parties would have enabled better assesssment of implementation progress and results.