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Lesson
Basing the reporting requirements on the monitoring systems of the government’s own response plan and providing dedicated assistance for monitoring and evaluation will help reduce the burden of the government in meeting the reporting requirements of massive budget support, pandemic response programs such as the CPRO. Budget support mechanisms are relatively new for the borrower, as most development assistance is delivered as project funding or through technical assistance.

Project Number: 54179-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Fiscal Response Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The program design benefited from interaction with ADB staff preparing similar Comprehensive Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic (CPRO) programs in other Pacific countries. ADB’s CPRO policy and guidelines were still being refined while the program was under Preparation. Managing the changing internal guidelines and expectations while also coordinating virtually (due to COVID-19 restrictions) with Vanuatu, ADB’s Pacific Liaison and Coordination Office, and ADB headquarters added significant pressure.

Project Number: 54179-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Fiscal Response Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The development partner assistance was ambitious. Its timeliness and the volume of ADB's Comprehensive Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic (CPRO) financial assistance were well-received by the government. However, this led to a rushed design and inadequate attention to monitoring of implementation, particularly regarding existing capacities to collect gender-disaggregated data in the absence of any existing digital social security systems.

Project Number: 54243-001
Project Name: Health Expenditure and Livelihoods Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
A comprehensive social welfare framework can greatly strengthen the impact of emergency response measures and programs that were intended to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the most vulnerable households. As intended, the program helped to successfully mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on citizens and businesses. It was aligned with ADB's Strategy 2030 and the Pacific Approach.

Project Number: 54243-001
Project Name: Health Expenditure and Livelihoods Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The COVID-19 pandemic response option (CPRO) is an effective model for channeling significant support to government to mitigate the impacts of a crisis.This program demonstrated how the CPRO provided a timely and effective means for channeling support to government in helping mitigate negative social, health, and economic impacts of a crisis.

Project Number: 54193-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Changing internal guidance and expectations added significant pressure in designing ADB’s COVID-19 response programs and this has to be managed more effectively in future similar circumstances. ADB was still refining its COVID-19 pandemic response option (CPRO) policy and guidelines when this program was prepared. Managing the changing internal guidelines and expectations added significant pressure.

Project Number: 54358-001
Project Name: Health Expenditure and Livelihoods Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Widespread assistance from development partners (DPs) in times of crisis could lead to fiscal expansion and unsustainable expenditures that require subsequent downward adjustments. The inflow of DP assistance to support the Republic of Marshall Islands’ (RMI) COVID-19 response plan has masked its structural fiscal deficit and led to expenditures that were unsustainable and needed to be adjusted afterwards. With the pandemic winding down, it has become most important for the country to heed the EconMAP’s recommendation for it take steps to address this fiscal deficit.

Project Number: 54358-001
Project Name: Health Expenditure and Livelihoods Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Targeted assistance will help ensure that crisis response programs reach those who need them most. Targeted assistance to women and girls, including in safeguarding their health and safety and prioritizing their coverage in socioeconomic assistance, helped support the well-being of these vulnerable groups. Harmonizing efforts to distribute WASH and dignity kits with those undertaken by a civil society group eliminated the risk of duplication and inefficiencies thus maximizing available assistance from various sources.

Project Number: 54358-001
Project Name: Health Expenditure and Livelihoods Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Better coordination or shared reporting and reliance on government’s own systems would ease the burden of monitoring and reporting the implementation of crisis response programs. Developing an effective reporting and monitoring system during a pandemic is difficult because of competing demands on staff time. This is accentuated when other development partners providing complementary support similarly impose reporting requirements.

Project Number: 54358-001
Project Name: Health Expenditure and Livelihoods Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Programs such as this should take a holistic approach to measuring and abating air pollution. Although substantial progress has been made, longer-term policy measures to address the ongoing air quality issue in Mongolia are still needed The increased concentrations of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide show shortcomings in the program’s overall achievements, along with the concentrations of small particulate matter which remain above World Health Organization’s guidelines, necessitating more policy actions.

Project Number: 53028-001
Project Name: Ulaanbaatar Air Quality Improvement
Program and Ulaanbaatar Air Quality Improvement
Program – Phase 2
Report Date:
Lesson
Publication of air quality should be institutionalized to provide a feedback loop to policy makers and to empower the public to assess overall progress. ADB’s participation in the longer-term framework for air pollution abatement will reinforce the feedback and will be an instrument to provide additional assistance that will ensure the continued air pollution reduction in Ulaanbaatar and other urban areas in Mongolia.

Project Number: 53028-001
Project Name: Ulaanbaatar Air Quality Improvement
Program and Ulaanbaatar Air Quality Improvement
Program – Phase 2
Report Date:
Lesson
Changing internal guidance and expectations created additional pressure in designing ADB’s COVID-19 response programs and this has to be managed more effectively in future similar situations. At the time this program was prepared, ADB policy and guidelines on the COVID-19 pandemic response option (CPRO) were still being developed, and managing changing internal guidance and expectations added a significant amount of pressure.

Project Number: 54245-001
Project Name: Health Expenditure and Livelihoods Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Development partners are a great source of assistance in designing and implementing crisis response programs. The program design and implementation benefited greatly from the presence in Palau of the EconMAP team in situ in the Ministry of Finance (MOF), analyzing economic trends and providing regular advice, and the program team’s coordination with the International Monetary Fund and the Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Centre team in Fiji. Given thin capacity in MOF, such support has been invaluable.

Project Number: 54245-001
Project Name: Health Expenditure and Livelihoods Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Flexibility during implementation enhances program responsiveness. The government made timely adjustments to ensure complementarities between two major assistance programs at the time—the United States’ Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act 2020 that provided unemployment benefits to citizens of Palau and the country’s own Coronavirus Relief One-Stop Shop (CROSS) Act of 2020 that provide relief to the private sector. Funding from the CROSS components with lower uptake were reallocated to those with higher demand.

Project Number: 54245-001
Project Name: Health Expenditure and Livelihoods Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Coordinating or shared reporting and the use of government’s own systems would ease the burden of monitoring and reporting the implementation of crisis response programs. Developing a monitoring system that can be effectively implemented during a pandemic when there are competing demands on the time of staff, who are already stretched, is problematic. This is accentuated when other partners impose similar reporting requirements. Coordinated or shared reporting and reliance on government’s own internal systems would lessen this burden.

Project Number: 54245-001
Project Name: Health Expenditure and Livelihoods Support Program
Report Date: