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Lesson
Government’s effective and responsive implementation of the program and use of funds highlighted the importance of being able to adjust allocations as demanded by the crisis. The government successfully utilized its ADB countercyclical loan to support its relief and stimulus program under its two pandemic emergency decrees and funds (FY2020 and FY2021). In particular; the Cabinet responded rapidly to the successive waves of COVID-19; allocating and reallocating budgets to work plans and projects where they were most needed at any one time.

Project Number: 54177-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
A government-led program with coordinated support from development partners, is effective in enabling a rapid, timely, and highly relevant emergency response to pandemics. ADB’s COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support (CARES) program proved efficacious in channeling support for the Cambodian government to address the adverse social, health, and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Project Number: 54195-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Difficulties with data accentuated problems that included health targets, such as the vaccine rollout. Although testing rates had reached World Health Organization targets by August 2021, it was not clear that the national average testing rate applied uniformly at the provincial level.

Project Number: 54139-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The program has helped strengthen ADB’s role as a trusted partner and created a positive experience for the government to strengthen its relations with development partners. The loan provided international funds that have helped address the government’s objective to reduce borrowing in the domestic market and have helped ensure liquidity in Thailand’s private sector. The program’s accompanying technical assistance provided the government with value-added policy dialogue and technical assistance to help address the government’s knowledge needs as they evolved through the crisis.

Project Number: 54177-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The lack of available data across government departments can be challenging especially during times of crisis. The government encountered difficulties in collecting sex-disaggregated data in some instances; making it difficult to understand how women and girls were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Disaggregation by employment and disability status was challenging as well. The sex-segregated data on testing capacity and incentive for health workers included in the completion report were proxies based on total beneficiaries and the male and female ratio among the healthcare work force.

Project Number: 54177-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The crisis amplified the adverse, preexisting, and self-reinforcing relationship between public health and economic outcomes. This relationship should remain at the forefront of ADB’s engagement with Indonesia. COVID-19 takes a higher toll on individuals who suffer from stunting—a disease that is prevalent in Indonesia and closely associated with poverty.

Project Number: 54139-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
The country engagement framework (CEF) worked effectively for the CARES program and may be used for continued engagement and dialogue with the government on post-CARES follow-on work. Dialogue with key stakeholders from the private sector and civil society played an invaluable role in: (i) providing government with firsthand accounts of the challenges faced by the sectors from the evolving conditions under the pandemic; and (ii) establishing a direct feedback loop to the government on how policies were translating on the ground. The dialogue was consistent with ADB’s CEF in Cambodia.

Project Number: 54195-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
It is important to maintain some degree of flexibility to effectively respond to crisis situations. Perhaps the most important quality of Thailand’s CARES program was its ability to rapidly mobilize demand-driven support in a crisis; highlighting the importance in future crisis responses of maintaining some degree of flexibility in both program design and implementation. ADB was able to process and approve the program within 3 months of the government’s initial request for support. Events in Thailand necessitated loan signing to take place about 4 months after ADB approval.

Project Number: 54177-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Indicators and targets relying on surveys that may not be available at the time of measurement could benefit from the identification of alternative measures during program design. One of the outcome Indicators in the CARES design and monitoring framework is measured by the WHO only every 5 years and information about its most recent assessment is due for release in mid to late 2022; after the end of the CARES program. Uncertainties and disruptions created by emergencies need to be considered when designing Indicators to ensure that targets are achievable and realistic.

Project Number: 54177-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Indonesia needs better interoperability among the tiers of its government. In relation to public health, the effectiveness of the government’s initial response to the pandemic was limited by conflicting approaches. The lack of coordination within government; as evidenced particularly by conflicting public messages around social distancing especially in the early stages of the pandemic. These coordination issues were more apparent in the vertical relations between tiers of government than at inter-ministerial levels.

Project Number: 54139-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Stronger coordination between the national and subnational levels is necessary to ensure a coordinated approach to implementation, reporting, and monitoring. More could be done to strengthen vertical and horizontal coordination between the relevant government agencies for improved outcomes.

Project Number: 54195-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
It is important to target monitoring at end-state outcomes. Due to the lockdowns and mobility restrictions; early difficulty in the speed of PEN disbursements was unavoidable. Although the government recognized the need for urgent rollout; poor infrastructure raised the risk of leakage through corruption and led to a slower and more cautious approach than would otherwise have been optimal. A lesson to be drawn from the experience involves the need to target monitoring activities at end-state outcomes.

Project Number: 54139-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Lessons from impact assessments undertaken by the government need to be explored for possible replication or application in future crisis response operations. In addition to monitoring of program expenditures; the government conducted its own assessment of program results; such as the social impact of cash transfer programs on affected people.

Project Number: 54177-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
It is important to digitalize government services in times of crisis. This effort is best pursued through collaboration with the private sector in Indonesia. The collaboration can strengthen the country's defense against future outbreaks and improve the targeting of social assistance. Digitalization including ithe financial sector should remain a focal point of ADB’s policy dialogue with Indonesia.

Project Number: 54139-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Data collection, which took longer than anticipated under the CARES program, need to be expedited in future emergency responses. Data collection challenges experienced under CARES included (i) competing priorities, (ii) need to cover many different agencies, and (iii) need to collect data remotely. In some cases, the same dataset was collected from multiple sources and agencies, necessitating cross checking and verification and requiring considerable time and resources.

Project Number: 54195-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date: