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Lesson
Preparedness should be front and center of a disaster and/or pandemic response. The government set up a health emergency operations center and a WHO emergency operations center in 2018, and invested in medical camp kit tents, initially meant to be deployed for disaster relief. During the pandemic, the tents were repurposed to screen and treat patients with respiratory symptoms. In 2019, the country upgraded its Royal Centre for Disease Control laboratory, with equipment to not only handle new and deadly influenza viruses but also SARS-CoV-2.

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
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:
Lesson
Nonpartisan, broadly upheld leadership is crucial to the success of pandemic/crisis response programs. Leading the national efforts in the fight against the pandemic, His Majesty the King traveled extensively across the country to achieve the highest level of preparedness and to instill public confidence by alleviating the difficulties faced by the people and ensuring uninterrupted supply of food and essential commodities. His Majesty’s compassionate leadership resulted in building mutual trust and confidence among the people and their leaders.

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
Combating pandemics of COVID-19’s scale requires a whole-of-society-and-government approach. While replicating the Bhutanese experience may be difficult given the country's uniqueness in many ways, Bhutan's strong leadership and the government's relentless endeavor to implement public safety measures while vaccinating nearly the entire adult population is notable. Bhutan’s COVID-19 response with a whole-of-society-and-government approach under the leadership of the King is exemplary and provides a model for combating pandemics of such a scale.

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
Strong government ownership and effective program coordination are essential.

Project Number: 46371-002
Project Name: Strengthening Economic Management Program II
Report Date:
Lesson
Consolidate gains before introducing further reforms.

Project Number: 46371-002
Project Name: Strengthening Economic Management Program II
Report Date:
Lesson
Legislative and political risks should be examined carefully.

Project Number: 46371-002
Project Name: Strengthening Economic Management Program II
Report Date:
Lesson
Actions related to information technology (IT) require attention during both planning and implementation.

Project Number: 46371-002
Project Name: Strengthening Economic Management Program II
Report Date:
Lesson
Utilize technical assistance (TA) resources effectively for capacity building.

Project Number: 46371-002
Project Name: Strengthening Economic Management Program II
Report Date:
Lesson
Communication and consultation are important at every stage of a program.

Project Number: 46371-002
Project Name: Strengthening Economic Management Program II
Report Date:
Lesson
Policy-based loans can be successfully designed to provide an integrated approach to policy reforms by (a) leveraging constructive policy dialogue, (b) incorporating tailored policy interventions, and (c) ensuring implementation support and capacity development through TA

Project Number: 46371-001
Project Name: Strengthening Economic Management Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Execution of pilot projects is valuable for (a) assessing ease of implementation, adaptability and potential for full-scale implementation; and (b) for identifying new potential bottlenecks and areas requiring further reforms. The successful pilot testing of a new property valuation method (PVM) demonstrated the potential for substantially increasing local revenues from property taxes as anticipated, but also contributed to potential revisions of the outdated tax laws.

Project Number: 46371-001
Project Name: Strengthening Economic Management Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Carefully aligning objectives and outputs of ADB program loans with related TA can help increase effectiveness and sustainability, and ensure efficient implementation of both ADB interventions and ADB TA recommendations. By incorporating related TA deliverables into the program design, the program helped ensure high-level government commitment to policy reforms and accelerate implementation of highly relevant TA recommendations, which may otherwise not have received the same level of attention and commitment.

Project Number: 46371-001
Project Name: Strengthening Economic Management Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Active stakeholder consultations during both program inception and implementation are imperative for creating a strong sense of government ownership, and ensuring commitment by all stakeholders to achieving the required policy actions under ADB program loans. Policy actions must be thoroughly assessed, clearly defined, relevant, and achievable within the required time frame, in particular when quick release of funds is critical for urgent budget support in crisis situations.

Project Number: 46371-001
Project Name: Strengthening Economic Management Program
Report Date: