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Lesson
The program reinforced the need for flexible targeting in pandemic situations. The Indonesian government was quick to recognize the tension between sustaining economic activity and minimizing the spread of disease through physical distancing and quarantine. At times; the National Recovery Program (PEN) was modified to strike a better balance. For example; the government increased its support for ultra-microenterprises midway through the program; pivoting its assistance program to more than 1 million street vendors who were economically displaced by restrictions on mobility.

Project Number: 54139-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
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 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
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
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
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
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 fragile states such as Tuvalu, all phases of the project cycle are likely to require technical assistance (TA) support. The TA was a key support during both the formulation and implementation of the Improved Fiscal and Infrastructure Management Program. Tuvalu faces difficulties due to its size, its fragility, and its vulnerability to climate change and other natural disasters. The country will continue to require consistent TA support to overcome its capacity constraints if it is to achieveits vision for a more resilient economy.

Project Number: 50377-001
Project Name: Improved Fiscal and Infrastructure
Management Program
Report Date: