Search

Displaying 61 - 75 of 463

Lesson
Demand-led implementation and strong ownership and consistent government support are critical to the success of financial market reform programs. All stakeholders demonstrated strong commitment to the reform agenda, which led to timely and complete implementation. Sufficient assessment at program appraisal ensured that the strategic objectives of stakeholders were aligned with development objectives.

Project Number: 51252-003, 51252-004, 51252-005
Project Name: Financial Market Development Program
(Subprograms 1; 2; and 3)
Report Date:
Lesson
A structured, holistic, and sequential approach, backed by a comprehensive, medium- to long-term program and sufficient technical assistance (TA,) is critical to the success of financial market reforms. A wide range of reforms covering key pillars of the financial system was incorporated in this program nto enhance legislation, improve regulatory frameworks, introduce new initiatives, and support sustainable capacity building using a structured and sequential approach over the medium term.

Project Number: 51252-003, 51252-004, 51252-005
Project Name: Financial Market Development Program
(Subprograms 1; 2; and 3)
Report Date:
Lesson
Design and monitoring frameworks (DMFs) need to have all the necessary Indicators as well as flexible timelines to effectively be used as planning, monitoring, and evaluation tools. Given the breadth of the program, the DMF should have included at least one indicator for each reform area to better monitor the outcome and long-term impact of key policy actions. Although three new outcome Indicators were included in subprogram 3, these mainly covered financial inclusion and nonperforming loans.

Project Number: 51252-003, 51252-004, 51252-005
Project Name: Financial Market Development Program
(Subprograms 1; 2; and 3)
Report Date:
Lesson
The Shah Deniz Gas Field Expansion Project is transformational. It has expanded the development of one of the largest gas fields in the world, which will help (i) more than double gas production from the field; and (ii) increase the country’s gas production by 67% during the same period. This will help strengthen the Azerbaijani economy and create more fiscal space for economic diversification.

Project Number: 49451-002
Project Name: Shah Deniz Gas Field Expansion Project
Report Date:
Lesson
The partial credit guarantee (PCG) modality was a good choice for this transaction. It enabled ADB sovereign operations to come as close as possible to enabling the IA to obtain commercial financing for a commercially viable project in a country with a below-investment-grade rating. With a One ADB approach, it showed the way to achieve close and collaborative work between ADB’s sovereign and nonsovereign departments. Its 95% cover was important because it facilitated the raising of commercial finance.

Project Number: 49451-002
Project Name: Shah Deniz Gas Field Expansion Project
Report Date:
Lesson
ADB played an important role in country risk mitigation. ADB’s partial credit guarantee (PCG) to the Southern Gas Corridor Closed Joint-Stock Company (SGC) made possible SGC’s access to necessary private sector refinancing to meet its financial commitments to Shah Deniz Stage II (SD2) and the midstream pipelines. This reduced government dependence on the country’s dwindling oil and gas revenues held by the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) to meet expenditure obligations.

Project Number: 49451-002
Project Name: Shah Deniz Gas Field Expansion Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Dependence on consulting services hired under a separate ongoing ADB-funded project can cause coordination problems and unnecessary delays. For instance, the submission of this project’s 2018 semiannual environment monitoring reports was delayed because of lack of dedicated attention. Better management of the consultants by the project management unit would have helped achieve the intended efficiency.

Project Number: 44240-014
Project Name: Thimphu Road Improvement Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Institutional continuity, through the retention of project staff throughout implementation, is crucial to project success. Most of the EA and IA staff were retained throughout the project implementation period. The resulting institutional continuity tremendously helped the successful completion of the project.

Project Number: 44240-014
Project Name: Thimphu Road Improvement Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Diligent project financial monitoring enables savings to be identified at an early stage, making it possible for additional components to be undertaken thereby improving project results and benefits. The project's executing and implementing agencies identified some savings after the award of two original works packages. This enabled an additional works package to be prepared, procured, and executed within the extended implementation period.

Project Number: 44240-014
Project Name: Thimphu Road Improvement Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Government resource mobilization efforts to raise supplementary funds to meet the cost of additional components outside the project scope demonstrate its ownership of and commitment to the project and increase the resulting benefits. Footpaths for the road widening works were not included in the original road design but were constructed by the Thimphu thromde using parallel financing. The footpaths enhanced the road design and improved road safety.

Project Number: 44240-014
Project Name: Thimphu Road Improvement Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Regular scrutiny of the financial statements by ADB, coupled with periodic training of finance and project accounts staff, will help expedite financial closure. The financial management arrangements of the recipient and executing agency were robust. Even then, financial closure of the grant account took 1.15 years from the grant closing date because of delays in the liquidation of advances and additional time needed to resolve the statement of expenditures review findings. Financial closing was further exacerbated by COVID-19 in-country lockdown measures.

Project Number: 44240-014
Project Name: Thimphu Road Improvement Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Adequate technical assessment during appraisal is important to ensure output targets are completely identified and properly designed. Because of inadequate technical assessment of the road surface conditions and the lack of a comprehensive road safety audit, this project's output targets were limited.

Project Number: 44240-014
Project Name: Thimphu Road Improvement Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Continuous consultations with communities throughout the project cycle are important for meaningful adaptations in project design and avoidance of conflicts during implementation. The Thimphu thromde used its own resources to conduct consultation and participation activities, which included national television announcements, public information campaigns including to building owners prior to construction, and community monitoring meetings. Consultations with road users post-implementation helped confirm the perceived projects benefits.

Project Number: 44240-014
Project Name: Thimphu Road Improvement Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Social relief and economic stimulus packages are key to alleviating the impacts of wide-scale disasters and/or pandemics. The government designed and implemented a comprehensive social relief and economic stimulus program on top of the public health measures, which were the main drivers behind Bhutan’s success against COVID-19. Every effort was made to minimize the financial hardship for needy households and small businesses as a result of the pandemic.

Project Number: 54183-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
A robust targeting and monitoring system is essential to prioritizing the poor and vulnerable in emergency assistance and disaster risk reduction. While the government’s National Resilience Fund monitoring system ensured that social relief reached the poor and the vulnerable and other affected groups as envisaged, the preparation of reports took almost 1 month on average. The COVID-19 experience indicates that pandemics affect women and women differently because of gender inequalities caused by socioeconomic conditions and societal gender norms, which put women and girls at a disadvantage.

Project Number: 54183-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date: