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Lesson
The COVID-19 pandemic response option (CPRO) is an effective model for channeling significant support to government to mitigate the impacts of a crisis.This program demonstrated how the CPRO provided a timely and effective means for channeling support to government in helping mitigate negative social, health, and economic impacts of a crisis.

Project Number: 54193-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Changing internal guidance and expectations added significant pressure in designing ADB’s COVID-19 response programs and this has to be managed more effectively in future similar circumstances. ADB was still refining its COVID-19 pandemic response option (CPRO) policy and guidelines when this program was prepared. Managing the changing internal guidelines and expectations added significant pressure.

Project Number: 54358-001
Project Name: Health Expenditure and Livelihoods Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Widespread assistance from development partners (DPs) in times of crisis could lead to fiscal expansion and unsustainable expenditures that require subsequent downward adjustments. The inflow of DP assistance to support the Republic of Marshall Islands’ (RMI) COVID-19 response plan has masked its structural fiscal deficit and led to expenditures that were unsustainable and needed to be adjusted afterwards. With the pandemic winding down, it has become most important for the country to heed the EconMAP’s recommendation for it take steps to address this fiscal deficit.

Project Number: 54358-001
Project Name: Health Expenditure and Livelihoods Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Targeted assistance will help ensure that crisis response programs reach those who need them most. Targeted assistance to women and girls, including in safeguarding their health and safety and prioritizing their coverage in socioeconomic assistance, helped support the well-being of these vulnerable groups. Harmonizing efforts to distribute WASH and dignity kits with those undertaken by a civil society group eliminated the risk of duplication and inefficiencies thus maximizing available assistance from various sources.

Project Number: 54358-001
Project Name: Health Expenditure and Livelihoods Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
A robust targeting and monitoring system is essential to prioritizing the poor and vulnerable in emergency assistance and disaster risk reduction. While the government’s National Resilience Fund monitoring system ensured that social relief reached the poor and the vulnerable and other affected groups as envisaged, the preparation of reports took almost 1 month on average. The COVID-19 experience indicates that pandemics affect women and women differently because of gender inequalities caused by socioeconomic conditions and societal gender norms, which put women and girls at a disadvantage.

Project Number: 54183-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Nonpartisan, broadly upheld leadership is crucial to the success of pandemic/crisis response programs. Leading the national efforts in the fight against the pandemic, His Majesty the King traveled extensively across the country to achieve the highest level of preparedness and to instill public confidence by alleviating the difficulties faced by the people and ensuring uninterrupted supply of food and essential commodities. His Majesty’s compassionate leadership resulted in building mutual trust and confidence among the people and their leaders.

Project Number: 54183-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Combating pandemics of COVID-19’s scale requires a whole-of-society-and-government approach. While replicating the Bhutanese experience may be difficult given the country's uniqueness in many ways, Bhutan's strong leadership and the government's relentless endeavor to implement public safety measures while vaccinating nearly the entire adult population is notable. Bhutan’s COVID-19 response with a whole-of-society-and-government approach under the leadership of the King is exemplary and provides a model for combating pandemics of such a scale.

Project Number: 54183-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Preparedness should be front and center of a disaster and/or pandemic response. The government set up a health emergency operations center and a WHO emergency operations center in 2018, and invested in medical camp kit tents, initially meant to be deployed for disaster relief. During the pandemic, the tents were repurposed to screen and treat patients with respiratory symptoms. In 2019, the country upgraded its Royal Centre for Disease Control laboratory, with equipment to not only handle new and deadly influenza viruses but also SARS-CoV-2.

Project Number: 54183-001
Project Name: COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Changing internal guidance and expectations created additional pressure in designing ADB’s COVID-19 response programs and this has to be managed more effectively in future similar situations. At the time this program was prepared, ADB policy and guidelines on the COVID-19 pandemic response option (CPRO) were still being developed, and managing changing internal guidance and expectations added a significant amount of pressure.

Project Number: 54245-001
Project Name: Health Expenditure and Livelihoods Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Development partners are a great source of assistance in designing and implementing crisis response programs. The program design and implementation benefited greatly from the presence in Palau of the EconMAP team in situ in the Ministry of Finance (MOF), analyzing economic trends and providing regular advice, and the program team’s coordination with the International Monetary Fund and the Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Centre team in Fiji. Given thin capacity in MOF, such support has been invaluable.

Project Number: 54245-001
Project Name: Health Expenditure and Livelihoods Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Coordinating or shared reporting and the use of government’s own systems would ease the burden of monitoring and reporting the implementation of crisis response programs. Developing a monitoring system that can be effectively implemented during a pandemic when there are competing demands on the time of staff, who are already stretched, is problematic. This is accentuated when other partners impose similar reporting requirements. Coordinated or shared reporting and reliance on government’s own internal systems would lessen this burden.

Project Number: 54245-001
Project Name: Health Expenditure and Livelihoods Support Program
Report Date:
Lesson
Appropriate contract packaging, adequate consideration of all the factors that could hinder works execution, and the incorporation in project design and implementation of risk mitigation measures are crucial to ensuring the timely completion of projects.

Project Number: 40423-053
Project Name: Rural Connectivity Investment Program - Tranche 3 and MFF
Report Date:
Lesson
Leadership development, which requires continuous coaching and can sustain benefits beyond program completion, needs to be adequately addressed in the design and implementation of education sector interventions.

Project Number: 40368-022
Project Name: Secondary Education Sector Development Program
Report Date: