Search

Displaying 1 - 15 of 23

Lesson
Greater invovement from resident missions (RMs), e.g., by designating RM staff to regional TA teams, is important to ensure that potential solutions identified through analytical work are translated into tangible projects. Conversely, team members of regional TAs may also be involved in country programming.

Project Number: 53198-001
Project Name: Developing a Disaster Risk Transfer Facility in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Region
Report Date:
Lesson
Virtual workshops are not as effective, particularly where new and complex concepts have to be discussed. This was demonstrated by the TA experience under COVID-19 that restricted in-person meetings and workshops for over 2 years.

Project Number: 53198-001
Project Name: Developing a Disaster Risk Transfer Facility in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Region
Report Date:
Lesson
It will be essential to find a balance in future TA projects between continuing support for the whole region and having activities and outputs focus on a subset of countries to allow for more granularity in analyses and deeper engagements. This was the first TA for the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) in the field of disaster risk financing (DRF), and as such, was designed to cover all 11 CAREC countries.

Project Number: 53198-001
Project Name: Developing a Disaster Risk Transfer Facility in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Region
Report Date:
Lesson
Cofinancing expands possible project activities and outputs. Cofinancing from the Financial Sector Development Partnership Special Fund (FSDPSF) for this project allowed a more comprehensive set of deliverables and activities under outputs 1, 3, and 4. It provided flexibility in the use of resources, as FSDPSF beneficiaries are not differentiated according to country categories.

Project Number: 53198-001
Project Name: Developing a Disaster Risk Transfer Facility in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Region
Report Date:
Lesson
English and Russian language TA publications increased the visibility of project activities and this may be replicated in future similar projects. Video tutorials on a CAREC Disaster Risk Modelling Interface (DRMI), an interactive online platform, was particularly helpful in allowing country stakeholders to visualize their risk profiles, perform high-level cost-benefit analyses of implementing disaster risk reduction measures, and quantify risk transfer costs for earthquake and flood parametric insurance structures.

Project Number: 53198-001
Project Name: Developing a Disaster Risk Transfer Facility in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Region
Report Date:
Lesson
All the output and activity requirements to achieve planned outcomes need to be identified and mapped out in a clear implementation plan with well-defined targets and a definite timeframe. The original project design overlooked securing donor funding as a key output for establishing the Facility. The proposed timeline for stakeholder consultations was overly optimistic.

Project Number: 54344-001
Project Name: Supporting the Establishment of a CAREC Regional Infrastructure Projects Enabling Facility
Report Date:
Lesson
The plan to establish an enabling facility for regional infrastructure projects will benefit from an assessment of existing trust funds within ADB that support project preparation funding, such as the Project Preparation and Implementation Support Trust Fund. Analyzing the processes of their establishment and the challenges faced would have helped.

Project Number: 54344-001
Project Name: Supporting the Establishment of a CAREC Regional Infrastructure Projects Enabling Facility
Report Date:
Lesson
A separate budget for a fund-raising roadshow is essential to ensure the successful establishment of a funding facility. This should not have been neglected in the establishment of the CAREC Climate and Sustainability Project Preparatory Fund aimed for under this TA. Engaging with potential donors is a critical step in securing the necessary funding for the fund's operation.

Project Number: 54344-001
Project Name: Supporting the Establishment of a CAREC Regional Infrastructure Projects Enabling Facility
Report Date:
Lesson
A knowledge-sharing workshop in targeted beneficiary countries of a regional TA project could help strengthen the concept development of future such TA. This interactive approach offers several advantages, including: (i) Enhanced stakeholder engagement. A workshop focusing on the initial research findings would allow representatives from benefiting countries to participate actively from the outset. This would foster a sense of ownership and enhance buy-in for the initiative by ensuring stakeholders feel invested in its success. (ii) Improved needs identification.

Project Number: 54344-001
Project Name: Supporting the Establishment of a CAREC Regional Infrastructure Projects Enabling Facility
Report Date:
Lesson
Early consultation with relevant ADB units is essential to ensure a well-rounded TA design and a robust monitoring framework. These units' expertise can significantly enhance TA effectiveness and impact. By collaborating with experts from these units during the design phase, the possibility of overlooking critical components that are vital for a successful TA could be avoided.

Project Number: 54344-001
Project Name: Supporting the Establishment of a CAREC Regional Infrastructure Projects Enabling Facility
Report Date:
Lesson
Construction timelines in climate-affected areas need to be reliably assessed to minimize completion delays. The construction timelines for Karamyk BCP, located at altitude of 2,300 meters above sea level, were tight. The contractor faced various issues due to the harsh weather, electricity supply interruptions, and delays with the supply of materials and equipment. Combined with the contractor’s relatively low financial capacity, this resulted in a 4-year construction period versus the originally planned 15-month implementation timeline.

Project Number: 46124-001
Project Name: Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Regional Improvement of Border Services Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Border crossing points (BCPs) will risk becoming stranded assets in the face of border disputes and other related issues. BCPs completed under the project have remained closed for traffic since April 2021 following a border dispute between the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan. By May 2024, around 10% of the border line with total estimated length of 970 kilometers remained to be delimitated. The countries are determined to complete the process and sign a border agreement within 2024. Until the delimitation is completed, the potential traffic volumes across the borders will remain unknown.

Project Number: 46124-001
Project Name: Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Regional Improvement of Border Services Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Trade facilitation reforms and national single window (NSW) development are complex undertakings requiring much time to be completed. This project's timelines were very ambitious with regard to the NSW component given that it required institutional and regulatory reforms; business process reengineering across multiple government agencies; as well as design, development, and integration of the SWIS.

Project Number: 46124-001
Project Name: Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Regional Improvement of Border Services Project
Report Date:
Lesson
A longer implementation is required for complex TA projects. The TA was designed to support the development of a new economic corridor development (ECD) framework and operational guidelines that apply to the Central and West Asian countries and beyond. Taking lessons from other long-term ECD-related TAs, the TA could have been designed for a longer time frame from the start, with a more realistic timeline for completion, given the complexity of the ECD and the COVID-19- related constraints. A regular TA, instead of a small-scale TA, could have been a better option.

Project Number: 54423-001
Project Name: A New Operational Economic Corridor Development Framework for Central Asia and Beyond
Report Date:
Lesson
Deep diagnostic work, extensive technical assistance (TA), and evidence-based policy dialogue benefit the design and implementation of public sector management reform program. ADB has ensured continuity in policy reform efforts through programmatic policy-based lending (PBL) modality. Through this and other PBL programs, it has been very effective in engaging in high-level dialogue for upstream and mid-term support. PBLs are even more important now at other partners (such as the World Bank) are no longer providing general budget support.

Project Number: 52225-001, 52225-002, 52225-003, 52225-004
Project Name: Promoting Economic Diversification Program (Subprograms 1, 2 and 3)
Report Date: