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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
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
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
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
During the finalization of this validation, SARC provided another lesson: Flagship knowledge products on a sector involving multiple countries can contribute to more effective planning and programming of regional interventions.

Project Number: 45396-001
Project Name: South Asia Economic Integration Partnership
Report Date:
Lesson
Despite issues associated with the RETA’s design and relevance, ADB was able to maintain operations in two countries. The lesson here observed that the focus on tangible benefits was able to maintain some momentum.

Project Number: 45396-001
Project Name: South Asia Economic Integration Partnership
Report Date:
Lesson
This is a description of outputs and does not constitute a lesson. During the finalization of this validation, SARC provided another lesson: Partnership and working on related initiatives with donors and other ADB TAs promote leveraging of available financing to maximize results and enhance cross-learning.

Project Number: 45396-001
Project Name: South Asia Economic Integration Partnership
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: