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Lesson
Institutional and technical capacities to effectively implement PFM reforms remain weak, and absorptive capacities remain low. This can often be further compounded by frequent changes in leadership and staffing, which can cause further delays. ADB's continued engagement with the Ministry of Finance must be at all levels of the administration (management and operational levels) to strengthen the institutional and organizational capacity and reduce the impact of staff turnover on reform impact.

Project Number: 52146-001
Project Name: Strengthening Public Finance Management Program (Subprogram 1)
Report Date:
Lesson
Successful PFM reforms necessitate active engagement with key stakeholders including the legislature, line ministries, civil society, and the public to ensure buy-in of policy changes and smooth reform efforts.

Project Number: 52146-001
Project Name: Strengthening Public Finance Management Program (Subprogram 1)
Report Date:
Lesson
Close coordination with other development partners working in PFM reforms is necessary to create synergies with ADB's support and interventions. Subprogram 1 was designed and developed in close consultation with the IMF and the World Bank to ensure a coordinated approach to PFM reforms. These lessons have confirmed that the reforms require a long-term perspective to achieve the intended objectives and that reforms need to be underpinned by significant efforts in sustained capacity building to ensure capacity constraints do not impact the overall quality of reforms.

Project Number: 52146-001
Project Name: Strengthening Public Finance Management Program (Subprogram 1)
Report Date:
Lesson
Public finance management (PFM) reforms are complex and require a long-term high level political commitment and flexibility to maximize the development impact. The progress made under PFM reforms can also be non-linear in nature, which requires greater effort to revisit reforms and to embed and institutionalize complex reforms as part of the “norm” in core government processes such as policy planning and budgeting.

Project Number: 52146-001
Project Name: Strengthening Public Finance Management Program (Subprogram 1)
Report Date:
Lesson
Given capacity constraints and experiences in legal drafting, legal and regulatory developments require a longer timeframe to be considered in ADB's future programs. The program could have further included a targeted capacity-building needs analysis and an associated TA project to directly address capacity constraints and deepen the capacity needed for full implementation.

Project Number: 52146-001
Project Name: Strengthening Public Finance Management Program (Subprogram 1)
Report Date:
Lesson
Overly ambitious performance indicators can undermine some of the program’s achievements, particularly when reforms are undertaken during a crisis. In this program, The higher-level objective of a more inclusive, sustainable, and dynamic knowledge-based economy did not relate closely to the policy actions in the program—apart from the introduction of technical and vocational education and training.

Project Number: 52030-001
Project Name: Strengthening Macroeconomic Resilience Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Failing to describe and include the history of prior experience of a particular reform in the program weakens the case for their relevance. In Tonga, civil service reform had an extended history. Pointing out the lessons learned from earlier efforts and how they were incorporated into the current program would have strengthened the justification for these reforms.

Project Number: 52030-001
Project Name: Strengthening Macroeconomic Resilience Program
Report Date:
Lesson
At the methodology level, actions that demonstrate the achievement of program policy matrix milestones should indicate what was achieved, rather than the process of their accomplishment. Cabinet approval is an inadequate indicator to demonstrate the successful implementation of policy reform in Tonga.

Project Number: 52030-001
Project Name: Strengthening Macroeconomic Resilience Program
Report Date:
Lesson
In small island developing countries with limited policy reform capacity, ADB should avoid targeting multiple reform areas in one policy-based grant, particularly during a crisis.

Project Number: 52030-001
Project Name: Strengthening Macroeconomic Resilience Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Policy reform programs with complex and multiple interventions require rigorous identification and assessment of the political economy and capacity risks to ensure overall effectiveness.

Project Number: 48361-001, 48361-002, 48361-003
Project Name: Building Macroeconomic Resilience Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Actions that demonstrate the achievement of program policy matrix milestones should indicate what has been achieved, rather than the process of their accomplishment. For example, Cabinet approval is an inadequate indicator to demonstrate a successful policy reform in Tonga.

Project Number: 48361-001, 48361-002, 48361-003
Project Name: Building Macroeconomic Resilience Program
Report Date:
Lesson
In small island developing countries with limited policy reform capacity, ADB should avoid targeting multiple reform areas in one policy-based operation—i.e., debt management, civil service reform, management of the wage bill, public procurement, and private sector development—and keep prior actions to a minimum.

Project Number: 48361-001, 48361-002, 48361-003
Project Name: Building Macroeconomic Resilience Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Impact indicators in the results framework need to have casual connection to the program’s outputs and outcomes. The civil service and budgetary reforms supported by the program will contribute to more efficient public administration and budget expenditures over time. However, they can only contribute at the margin to poverty and maternal mortality reduction, which were the impact indicators for the program. These indicators were not aligned with the impact statement, which aimed for improved service delivery.

Project Number: 46059-001, 46059-002
Project Name: Governance and Capacity Development in Public Sector Management Program - Subprogram 2
Report Date:
Lesson
Program design and implementation in least developed (and fragile) countries need to take account of the limited administrative capacity of the government. While ADB designed a program which supported the government in undertaking reforms and sufficient consulting services resources to help bridge capacity gaps, the timeframe for the program was too ambitious and ADB did not provide adequate continuity in the staff providing project supervision. These deficiencies contributed to the underperformance in program outcomes.

Project Number: 46059-001, 46059-002
Project Name: Governance and Capacity Development in Public Sector Management Program - Subprogram 2
Report Date:
Lesson
In addition to continuing technical assistance (TA), it is important that professional advisors work closely with the government of Kiribati to try and ensure reform momentum.

Project Number: 47322-001, 47322-002
Project Name: Strengthening Economic Management Reform Program: Subprograms 1 and 2 Completion Report
Report Date: