Other

Suggested lesson: Approval of the proposed establishment of a center (the project outcome) was given first immediately before the project closure. Limited support from the government constrained the approval of the proposal to establish the KKC-IWRM. Hence, the staff faced increasing pressure to have it approved before the project closed. Nonetheless, the approval came on 17 September 2019, just before the project closure.

Lack of information related to sensitivity of data led to change in research locations for pilot projects. Thus, it is important for a TA design to determine if data collection might be subject to any sensitivity (confidentiality restriction).

The final approval of the concept on the establishment of KKC-IWRM was made on 17 September 2019 before the TA’s completion at considerable effort from the staff and with limited support from the government.

The TCR lesson is not clearly articulated as a lesson. Some reflections on the causes that lead to a typical TA project to be TRTA would have been interesting lesson to reflect. In finalizing this validation report, the NRM rephrased the lesson and provided additional information: ADB’s flexibility to reclassify TAs was an important measure to adjust project design to changed circumstances without sacrificing the resources allocated for the TA.

While the TA was categorized as a knowledge and support TA originally, the flexibility adopted by ADB with the minor change in scope actually turned the TA into a transaction TA, combining studies to be used for future project preparation, with detailed design for the program approved in 2019.

Risks need to be identified in the design stage and effectively mitigated against.

The TCR should have provided a brief historical context of ADB’s engagement in the South Super Highway—the previous project had an extensive safeguards problem, and an issue with parallel bilateral agency funds. Despite that, ADB continued to engage in the same sector in the same region. However, differing political priorities of subsequent national leadership changed the course of the TA. The TCR could have elaborated how ADB should assess the political risks in starting or conceptualizing a similar loan in a sector that experienced prior difficulties.

The TCRV lessons are practical and useful for designing other TAs to support survey development and implementation. The first lesson could be improved by drawing on analysis of concrete examples under this TA (e.g., give examples of issues resolved via pilot testing the survey instrument prior to implementation).

Our TA had specific criteria for selection of the three DMCs, as per paragraph 14 of the TA report (https://www.adb.org/projects/docu ments/implementing-ict- tools-data_x005F_x0002_collection-and-management_x005F_x0002_national-surveys-sdg-tar). The selection process was therefore open to all DMCs, and the process was more demand driven.

Online training courses or MOOC that allow students free access and unrestricted participation are an efficient way to disseminate information on the platforms and methodologies used in the project. MOOC also is an effective way to reach out to more students than in_x005F_x0002_person workshops and can reduce per- capita costs.