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Lesson
Monitoring and evaluation is an important part of any project and the ASDP was fortunate to have monitoring and evaluation officers in the PCU and in theprovinces and districts. The adoption, diffusion, and cost/production surveys were an important part of the monitoring and evaluation system and helped provide information on the value of the project. This aspect of the project was particularly well implemented.

Project Number: 34380-013
Project Name: Agriculture Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The project found very few agroenterprises in the target districts. Toward the end of the project, the focus switched to providing agribusiness skills to the higher-performing farmer households that had already been trained in the new technologies. A number of examples emerged where these farmer households moved along the production chain and got involved in the production and/or sale of farm inputs to other farmers—e.g., chicks for chicken farming, fingerlings for fish farming, chicken feed, vaccines.

Project Number: 34380-013
Project Name: Agriculture Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The project targeted a large number of districts (18) in four different provinces. The geographical spread meant that a decentralized training model was essential. Project staff deployed in the provinces and districts needed to be skilled to a level commensurate with the requirements of the project - i.e., agricultural commercialization and diversification. MAFF provided this training and skills development centrally but enabled provincial and district extension staff to provide training and back-up support to the farmer households.

Project Number: 34380-013
Project Name: Agriculture Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
New activities such as vegetable growing, mushroom growing, pig fattening, chicken raising, and fish farming are more profitable than traditional paddy production and have had high adoption rates. However, for most of the targeted farmer households these new activities will be supplementary to paddy cultivation rather than a substitute for it. This is because most smallholders' paddy production is for own consumption rather than for sale.

Project Number: 34380-013
Project Name: Agriculture Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Budgetary constraints mean that once the project ends, follow-up provision of provincial and district extension services from Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) staff is limited. This highlights the importance of developing the informal farmer-to-farmer and input-supplier-to-farmer extension services. In particular, the village extension worker (VEW) program introduced late in the project's life has trained a number of farmers who will continue to disseminate their knowledge to neighboring farmers.

Project Number: 34380-013
Project Name: Agriculture Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The uptake of some project activities was constrained by the lack of funds (or credit) for necessary capital expenditure items (e.g., costs of establishing greenhouses, chicken-raising facilities). This was accentuated by the project's deliberate policy of seeking to involve a substantial proportion of the rural poor, who lacked cash or access to credit. Future projects should include adequate funds for such purposes or seek involvement of a nongovernment organization with funding available for such items.

Project Number: 34380-013
Project Name: Agriculture Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
At appraisal, the social and cost implications of the resettlement plans required in connection with the divestment of the state-owned rubber estates (SOREs) were not fully anticipated. This was a key reason for the 2-year delay in the release of the second tranche of the program loan. The scope and cost of resettlement plans needs to be clearly recognized at the time of project design, since they are time-consuming to prepare and costly to implement.

Project Number: 34380-013
Project Name: Agriculture Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
ADB should also provide executing agencies (EAs) with adequate training in consulting service contract management to ensure cost effective and quality consulting services.

Project Number: 33437-013
Project Name: Songhua River Flood Management Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Domestic approval procedures and timelines for subprojects should be carefully reviewed and adequately factored into project schedules so that the schedules can be adhered to; and

Project Number: 33437-013
Project Name: Songhua River Flood Management Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Complicated implementation arrangements for future projects should be avoided to reduce challenges and increase efficiency in project implementation; (

Project Number: 33437-013
Project Name: Songhua River Flood Management Sector Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Given the weak capacity of the executing and implementing agencies, consultants should have been recruited before loan effectiveness. Had the consulting services been available, the project would most likely have achieved at least some of its objectives.

Project Number: 36654-013
Project Name: Restructuring of the Technical Education and Vocational Training System Project (Balochistan)
Report Date:
Lesson
Frequent changes in project administration at ADB caused confusion and had a negative effect on project implementation. During the project, administration moved from the South Asia Department to the Central and West Asia Department, and from the Social Sector Division, via the Governance and Finance Division, to the Pakistan Resident Mission.

Project Number: 36654-013
Project Name: Restructuring of the Technical Education and Vocational Training System Project (Balochistan)
Report Date:
Lesson
Weak capacity of project staff results in procedural lapses, possible violations of the loan agreement, and slow implementation. Moreover, stringent internal audit controls and close monitoring of expenditures bring more transparency in financial transactions.

Project Number: 36654-013
Project Name: Restructuring of the Technical Education and Vocational Training System Project (Balochistan)
Report Date:
Lesson
A well-thought-out conceptual design is a key to the success of any project. In this case, the project design had commendable objectives, but it overestimated the commitment and capacity of the executing and implementing agencies, and relied too heavily on consultants.

Project Number: 36654-013
Project Name: Restructuring of the Technical Education and Vocational Training System Project (Balochistan)
Report Date: