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Lesson
The project found very few agroenterprises in the target districts. Toward the end of the project, the focus switched to providing agribusiness skills to the higher-performing farmer households that had already been trained in the new technologies. A number of examples emerged where these farmer households moved along the production chain and got involved in the production and/or sale of farm inputs to other farmers—e.g., chicks for chicken farming, fingerlings for fish farming, chicken feed, vaccines.

Project Number: 34380-013
Project Name: Agriculture Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The project targeted a large number of districts (18) in four different provinces. The geographical spread meant that a decentralized training model was essential. Project staff deployed in the provinces and districts needed to be skilled to a level commensurate with the requirements of the project - i.e., agricultural commercialization and diversification. MAFF provided this training and skills development centrally but enabled provincial and district extension staff to provide training and back-up support to the farmer households.

Project Number: 34380-013
Project Name: Agriculture Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
New activities such as vegetable growing, mushroom growing, pig fattening, chicken raising, and fish farming are more profitable than traditional paddy production and have had high adoption rates. However, for most of the targeted farmer households these new activities will be supplementary to paddy cultivation rather than a substitute for it. This is because most smallholders' paddy production is for own consumption rather than for sale.

Project Number: 34380-013
Project Name: Agriculture Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Budgetary constraints mean that once the project ends, follow-up provision of provincial and district extension services from Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) staff is limited. This highlights the importance of developing the informal farmer-to-farmer and input-supplier-to-farmer extension services. In particular, the village extension worker (VEW) program introduced late in the project's life has trained a number of farmers who will continue to disseminate their knowledge to neighboring farmers.

Project Number: 34380-013
Project Name: Agriculture Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The uptake of some project activities was constrained by the lack of funds (or credit) for necessary capital expenditure items (e.g., costs of establishing greenhouses, chicken-raising facilities). This was accentuated by the project's deliberate policy of seeking to involve a substantial proportion of the rural poor, who lacked cash or access to credit. Future projects should include adequate funds for such purposes or seek involvement of a nongovernment organization with funding available for such items.

Project Number: 34380-013
Project Name: Agriculture Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
At appraisal, the social and cost implications of the resettlement plans required in connection with the divestment of the state-owned rubber estates (SOREs) were not fully anticipated. This was a key reason for the 2-year delay in the release of the second tranche of the program loan. The scope and cost of resettlement plans needs to be clearly recognized at the time of project design, since they are time-consuming to prepare and costly to implement.

Project Number: 34380-013
Project Name: Agriculture Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Although there clearly was a commitment to change in relation to most tranche conditions, there was back-tracking on the initial commitment to divest state-owned enterprises. However, after considerable reflection and reconsideration of options over the program period, all state-owned enterprises were successfully divested, and the benefits of this - significantly better operations and financial performance of the ongoing enterprises, and cost savings for those wound up - are increasingly appreciated.

Project Number: 34380-013
Project Name: Agriculture Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
It was not until the establishment of working groups for each of the tranche conditions in late 2005, under the initiative of the program support unit (PSU), that ownership of the process became more localized. There were delays in the development of work plans and budgets, and the consequent disbursement of funds to the working groups caused a delay in meeting tranche conditions. However, resolving difficulties and obstacles was made easier by empowering the working groups to come up with their own ideas and solutions through internal processes.

Project Number: 34380-013
Project Name: Agriculture Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The implied assumption of the TA work plan (with its heavy emphasis on early TA inputs) was that the policy and institutional reforms would be achieved quite early on and that the remainder of the time would involve just monitoring and evaluation of implementation. Policy reforms take time, and continued monitoring and effort are required from the TA, the counterparts, the government, and ADB throughout the program in order to effect policy and institutional change.

Project Number: 34380-013
Project Name: Agriculture Sector Development Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Technical expertise. To expedite project implementation and avoid project delays, the gap between technical and management expertise should be bridged by frequent consultations and diverse team compositions. For example, ADB missions should include information technology (IT) and procurement experts, who may provide adequate and timely guidance on technical matters and ADB procurement. The government's supervision and oversee consultants should facilitate mutual understanding and trust between the contractors and government, and provide adequate problem solving.

Project Number: 34276-013
Project Name: Information Technology Development Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Project management. Adapting to a formal project management framework approach and a central repository for tasks, processes, guidelines, and templates can help a great deal with the efficient implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of a project. This can have positive impacts on the overall efficiency of the organization, as well as reporting.

Project Number: 34276-013
Project Name: Information Technology Development Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Sustainability. Projects with adequate counterpart funds (capital and operational) can encourage government ownership and improve sustainability. The project plan should incorporate a strong operational and sustainable model. Some of the factors leading to unsatisfactory sustainability in ICT projects include an inadequate financial and business plan, and a lack of trained personnel, ownership, and support from public leaders.

Project Number: 34276-013
Project Name: Information Technology Development Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Local information and communication technology environment. Project design should adequately consider the local situation, including sector development status, regulatory framework, and local capacity for implementing the project and absorbing the new technology. The implementation should be conducted jointly by external consultants and local experts to avoid transitional issues.

Project Number: 34276-013
Project Name: Information Technology Development Project
Report Date:
Lesson
Project design. The project was the first of its kind for ADB in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector and in the Maldives. ICT projects are very different from transport projects, in design, implementation, and operation. ICT projects need to have a physical infrastructure for connectivity, software applications for the connectivity to be functional, and a regulatory regime to support the connectivity and applications.

Project Number: 34276-013
Project Name: Information Technology Development Project
Report Date:
Lesson
The provision of technical assistance (TA) should match the scope of targeted policy reforms and the capacity of implementing agencies. In addition, it appears from the evaluation of the program that ADB's great reliance on TA consultants to develop much of its policy and advisory input affects its ability to develop sustainable internal capacity on policy issues. It has thereby reduced ADB's ability to quickly respond to government requests for policy advice and to engage in long-term dialogue.

Project Number: 34135-013
Project Name: Financial Regulation and Governance Program
Report Date: