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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increasing local revenues from property taxes as anticipated, but also contributed to potential revisions of the outdated tax laws.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:
Lesson
Financial crises may pressure a government to initiate policy reforms, and provide opportunities for development partners to introduce international best practices through policy-based loans. A key challenge in this context is to ensure that reforms introduced in response to emergency conditions are sustained in the post-crisis period. For the program, implementation of policy actions progressed as planned, and tranche 2 policy actions were achieved ahead of schedule, illustrating the broad political and institutional commitment to continued and sustainable reforms.

Project Number: 46371-001
Project Name: Strengthening Economic Management Program
Report Date:
Lesson
There should have been adequate assessment at appraisal of the suitability of a new facility such as the cost-sharing facility, especially in the context of Bhutan where the number of business development services (BDS) providers is small and where government heavily subsidizes training for BDS.

Project Number: 39221-022
Project Name: Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprise Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The tranche release criteria were clearly defined. They provided an impetus to achieve tangible objectives that motivated the involved agencies.

Project Number: 39221-022
Project Name: Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprise Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Instead of three tranches of $2 million, a better design might have been two tranches of $3 million. Regardless of the size, securing a tranche release has certain fixed administrative costs. If the tranches are small, these costs are proportionally higher and diminish the incentives to implement the preconditions for tranche release.

Project Number: 39221-022
Project Name: Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprise Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Under the Financial Sector Development Program, the development and approval of key financial sector legislation was an important contribution to sector development. While the delays were inevitable, closer, longterm, in-country dialogue with the government would have been beneficial. This dialogue and close program monitoring will be enhanced by the establishment of a resident mission in Bhutan. ADB has been a long-standing partner of Bhutan's financial sector development since the beginning.

Project Number: 37164-023
Project Name: Financial Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Although delayed, the Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprise policy paper made effective use of consultations. Several white papers preceded it, and they solicited broad feedback that produced a strong final product. In addition, the paper included a tangible strategy and action plan that gives the Department of Cottage and Small Industry a clear work program.

Project Number: 39221-022
Project Name: Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprise Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
ADB could have participated in the project steering committee. Without ADB's participation, the committee's decision making was constrained because its decisions were still subject to ADB's concurrence.

Project Number: 39221-022
Project Name: Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprise Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The program included innovations that were new to Bhutan, so qualified local consultants were not available. Yet it was difficult to find foreign consultants who understood the Bhutanese context. The design and monitoring framework did identify �lack of qualified staff� as a risk. For future programs, however, ADB should further refine this risk to capture the tension between external expertise and local knowledge.

Project Number: 39221-022
Project Name: Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprise Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
There was strong continuity between ADB's earlier support to establish a credit information bureau and this project's support for a central registry. There are natural synergies between the two initiatives that increase the effectiveness and sustainability of each.

Project Number: 39221-022
Project Name: Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprise Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The implementing agency should have been more involved in program design. The Ministry of Economic Affairs' Planning and Policy Division developed the program, but the Department of Cottage and Small Industry (DCSI) was responsible for implementation. The DCSI thought that some components could have been designed differently to improve their impact (e.g., the cost-sharing facility).

Project Number: 39221-022
Project Name: Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprise Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The project had a much broader reach than merely providing credit to Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs). It invested in their capacities and enabling environment (e.g., the cost-sharing facility, a coordinated government MSME policy, the collateral registry) so that banks could provide and MSMEs could employ credit more efficiently. This broader reach is especially important in frontier markets where these supporting elements are generally less developed.

Project Number: 39221-022
Project Name: Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprise Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The local competitive bidding adopted in the project provided an opportunity for domestic firms to learn international best practice under the supervision of an international consulting firm. Domestic contractors had weak capacity in management, technical staff, fund availability, and equipment, thus causing delays in project implementation.

Project Number: 32373-013
Project Name: Road Network Project
Report Date: