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Lesson
Well-conceived and structured TA associated with the program addressed the obstacles presented by system inefficiencies and limited capacity. Survey data and other forms of monitoring can be subject to local manipulation by incumbents and unintended beneficiaries. A related problem is rent-seeking in local agencies and the government can similarly distort monitored data, and misdirect public transfer payments and other benefits.

Project Number: 40003-013
Project Name: Poverty Reduction and Millennium Development Goals Acceleration Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The complication arose from the government’s decision, during SP2, to inject the other half of the anticipated policy output units into the subprogram, by extending it by another 5 months. This put considerable work and budget pressure on the project team. And that may have been a factor in the inability to fully achieve several output actions in time for this report.

Project Number: 40003-013
Project Name: Poverty Reduction and Millennium Development Goals Acceleration Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The interim restructuring of the program, at the request of the government, lowered the total program cost to the government. It also put greater emphasis on the program’s design features than on embedding the program deeper within public institutions. This may have been fiscally expedient but will have long-term costs that are hard to measure now. The government may have employed the program’s national consultants after it decided to fund SP2 and SP3, but ADB is unlikely to receive information on the results.

Project Number: 40003-013
Project Name: Poverty Reduction and Millennium Development Goals Acceleration Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Better coordination with Australian Aid was an explicit part of the PRMAP from the beginning. Adjustments to ADB’s country strategy and the design of follow-on programs may be better informed if there is sharing of information during and after each intervention.

Project Number: 40003-013
Project Name: Poverty Reduction and Millennium Development Goals Acceleration Program
Report Date:
Lesson
ADB’s policy on risk assessment and risk management should be reviewed to allow for a consistent approach within projects, programs, or even across subprograms. Risk assessment is often carried out by considering a matrix of likelihood and consequential severity to define the level of risk (individually and overall) before and after the controls or mitigation strategies are in place. The PCR template should also allow for discussion on risk to explicitly consider whether the risk mitigation strategies had been successful.

Project Number: 47318-001
Project Name: Strengthened Fiscal Sustainability Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The government’s strong capacity and diligent response enabled the quick and smooth processing of the program. The stakeholders met by the evaluation mission indicated that before the 2008 conflict Georgia’s economy was relatively well-managed by the government. The government had a good track record with development partners and this was instrumental in securing substantial support after the twin crises.

Project Number: 42529-013, 42529-023
Project Name: Growth Recovery Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The quick response of the development partners and their good collaboration were vital to engaging the government. The 2008 conflict caused the development partners to engage collectively with the government in designing the crisis response and policy discussions. The NBG said this collective engagement encouraged the government to discuss the crisis response measures and policy actions seriously. As this was an emergency situation, the discussions, negotiations, approvals, and transfers happened quickly.

Project Number: 42529-013, 42529-023
Project Name: Growth Recovery Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Under the program implementation arrangements, a regional TA was envisaged to help the government (and other countries in the region such as Armenia and Tajikistan) implement its crisis budget effectively by improving public expenditure monitoring and developing and maintaining sound audit trails. However, the regional TA was not implemented and the envisaged fiduciary arrangements were no longer monitored under the GRSP. Nevertheless, other development partners have taken related initiatives.

Project Number: 42529-013, 42529-023
Project Name: Growth Recovery Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Continued engagement and reforms are necessary. For the envisaged impact to be fully achieved, the government should be encouraged to engage with ADB and other development partners. The IDP housing that the evaluation team visited was intact and in good condition, based on a cursory inspection. Schools, banks, and stores, among other support facilities, have since been established and appear to be functioning well. A more in-depth assessment of the resettlement sites would help to determine the overall success of the resettlement program.

Project Number: 42529-013, 42529-023
Project Name: Growth Recovery Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Addressing the question, “where is it available?” the ADB policy should encourage the use of country information such as audit reports (both internal audit and external audit) to provide a wider perspective on the success of the program.

Project Number: 47318-001
Project Name: Strengthened Fiscal Sustainability Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The complexity of the program, as measured by the number and nature of outputs (and sub-outputs) and policy actions as an important factor in the degree of difficulty in implementation (footnote 7). There may have been too many conditions, i.e., policy actions, to be complied with for the releases of tranches 2 and 3 within the context of the anticipated timeframe for the program and in view of the limited capacity within the government.

Project Number: 41607-013
Project Name: Mizoram Public Resource Management Program
Report Date:
Lesson
A need to define more realistic indicators that consider government commitment and capacity to undertake reforms and a timetable to achieve intended results and causal linkages between intended outcome and impact, with expected results having appropriate linkages with policy actions. Most of MPRMP’s policy actions were complied with but many of the outcome and output indicators and targets were not realized. The indicators/targets for development impact were achieved although the outcome and outputs were not met.

Project Number: 41607-013
Project Name: Mizoram Public Resource Management Program
Report Date:
Lesson
A more proper design of the TA component and a firm-based consultancy recommended at appraisal along with a more realistic budget. DOF and SGD should have strengthened their procurement capacity prior to the TA loan and this could have been a condition for the release of the tranche 1 funds given that it was their first large ADB-fund project. Although this was recognized, it was thought that such a risk could have been mitigated through the capacity building provided under the TA loan.

Project Number: 41607-013
Project Name: Mizoram Public Resource Management Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The reform’s overall impact should be assessed by how much investment in road and urban water increase—which the PCR did not discuss in detail. This program might have been better designed as a sector development loan, which combine program and investment loans.

Project Number: 46220-001
Project Name: Infrastructure Sustainability Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
In small island economies, fiscal consolidation measures should take into account the size of the public sector. The role and magnitude of the public sector in a small, island economy and sporadic wage increases for civil servants put pressure on recurrent expenditure. These make it difficult to manage fiscal expenditure over time. A small economic base limits areas for alternative employment opportunities. This could imply that the share of the public sector in the economy would remain large in the longer term.

Project Number: 46385-001
Project Name: Strengthening Public Financial Management Program
Report Date: