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Lesson
Replacing higher-level skills courses with in-demand entry-level courses can raise the job placement performance of projects. Industry associations initially expected a strong demand for mid- or higher-level technical skills; however, job placements from these courses were more challenging than those from more entry-level courses. Therefore, the outcome indicator related to increased shares of higher-level skills was not increased, and was instead pegged at just about 18%l, which proved more realistic.

Project Number: 42466-015
Project Name: Skills for Employment Investment Program - Tranche 1
Report Date:
Lesson
Setting output indicators in the design and monitoring framework (DMF) that are the same or identical to policy actions confuses inputs with intended changes generated by policy actions. IED notes that this has been a standard practice for policy-based loans (PBLs) approved under previous ADB guidelines for preparing DMFs. However, going forward, specifying indicators that clearly measure the intended changes of policy actions would facilitate a better assessment of results.

Project Number: 45253-002
Project Name: Third Capital Market Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Ensuring that Indicators are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) is essential to tracking and measuring project results. One project target output was not realistic. The indicator used involves a complex bureaucratic process and requires allocation of revenue budget from the government, which was beyond the project’s scope and administrative boundary.

Project Number: 42248-013, 42248-023
Project Name: Second Chittagong Hill Tracts Rural Development Project
Report Date:
Lesson
The design and monitoring framework (DMF) should be reviewed and updated as necessary during implementation to ensure continued alignment with other aspects of the program. The outcome and output indicators in the program DMF had been developed at appraisal for achievement over a relatively short period of 24 months. However, when program implementation was extended by 23 months to November 2019, an opportunity was missed to update the targeted dates for the indicators, which were measured about 1 year after the extended program completion date.

Project Number: 45253-002
Project Name: Third Capital Market Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
This is an appropriate point, but this lesson could have been better phrased as follows: An active partnership with the government is necessary to reduce delays in project commencement and to ensure full commitment and timely allocation of counterpart resources.

Project Number: 48139-001
Project Name: Enhancing the Institutional Capacity of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division
Report Date:
Lesson
This lesson suggests that the TA project may not have focused enough on the actual needs of the staff, and they could have done a better job at identifying gaps in skills and meeting these through partnerships.

Project Number: 45376-001
Project Name: Capacity Building for Portfolio Management
Report Date:
Lesson
The TCR did not have a lesson for this criterion. However, during the finalization of this validation, the South Asia Regional Cooperation and Operations Coordination Division (SARC) provided this lesson: Implementing regional TAs is more complex and entails continued commitment and engagement of participating countries. A comprehensive risk analysis and appropriate mitigating measures should be in place and regularly updated throughout implementation to efficiently address issues that may come up.

Project Number: 45396-001
Project Name: South Asia Economic Integration Partnership
Report Date:
Lesson
Another lesson relating to the TA is the selection of appropriate design and monitoring framework indicators that pertain to the effective utilization of knowledge products. Since the main outputs of regional capacity development TAs are knowledge products, monitoring the extent of utilization or uptake of the knowledge products produced within and/or outside ADB would benefit from user surveys or interviews. These surveys and interviews can help provide insights into how the knowledge products have benefited their users.

Project Number: 47146-001
Project Name: Macroeconomic Modelling for Improved Economic Assessment
Report Date:
Lesson
Sequencing of activities can help to progress implementation. For example, early capacity development and analytical work can help to speed up disbursement, while use of knowledge and evidence comes at a later stage in implementation.

Project Number: 48206-001
Project Name: Promoting Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (Phase 2)
Report Date:
Lesson
The political economy is a key consideration and can result in significant delays especially if counterpart capacity is low.

Project Number: 48206-001
Project Name: Promoting Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (Phase 2)
Report Date:
Lesson
To avoid risk of failure, an umbrella TA should balance out the risk in the portfolio between highly innovative yet risky activities and those with firm disbursement schedules.

Project Number: 48206-001
Project Name: Promoting Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (Phase 2)
Report Date:
Lesson
Flexible umbrella TA projects allow for the projects to be opportunistic and take on new initiatives, but there could be implementation challenges and time delays. This also means that not all results may be known at TA project completion. For instance, the subproject on future cities was included through additional TASF resources, but this also required extension and the procurement of additional consultancy services. Although work progressed in the three pilot cities, it is not clear whether this was taken up by the respective governments by the end of the TA project.

Project Number: 48206-001
Project Name: Promoting Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (Phase 2)
Report Date:
Lesson
Agreed. It is the validation’s view that the delay in government approval due to government processes should have been duly considered with a proper assessment of current capacity. Such an assessment is important in reviewing project risks and incorporating risk mitigating strategies. In this case, the timeframe for the project appears to have been underestimated. Political unrest was not identified as a risk upfront but accounted for significant interruptions to the project implementation.

Project Number: 45078-001
Project Name: Strategic Masterplan for Chittagong Port
Report Date:
Lesson
Additionally, this validation notes that feasible technical solutions that support national needs are critical to getting buy-in and ownership. For instance, some of the final reports for Bangladesh and Bhutan were produced in collaboration with national partners. It is missing from the TCR a description of the issues that led to including the DMF’s third outcome indicator in the DMF, or to managing lessons arising from a substantial increase in budget mid-way through implementation.

Project Number: 46470-001
Project Name: Action on Climate Change in South Asia
Report Date:
Lesson
In finalizing this validation report, SAOD revised the lesson in the TCR and highlighted that considering country context in designing activities is important. Identifying in-country activities requires close collaboration with concerned national government agencies, and building upon similar past and current initiatives or mechanisms.

Project Number: 46470-001
Project Name: Action on Climate Change in South Asia
Report Date: