Project design

It is important to build awareness on the SFK in the rural areas to increase their uptake and benefits from the initiative.

Aligning TA deliverables to the knowledge needs articulated and defined by governments enhances the value proposition and value addition of ADB technical assistance to developing member countries. In this case, the significant knowledge delivered by the TA on the impact of COVID-19 on the labor market and foresights into the emerging skills and professions in the post-pandemic environment provided critical inputs to the development of the Solidarity Fund for Kazakhstan (AFK) and related policies.

TA implementation could be more challenging due to the involvement of different stakeholders. For future similar TA projects, it is recommended that ADB consider direct financing and independent administration. This will put implementation and consultants’ recruitment under project team control.

Strong project design, including carefully thought-out subproject selection criteria and adequate financial assessments can help reduce the need for scope changes and mitigate the risk of implementation delays. At approval, this project included seven subprojects in five provinces. Four of the seven subprojects were dropped in 2016 and 2017 because of changes in the companies’ investment priorities, changes in management due to the equitization process, and/or insufficient financial capacity.

Additional emphasis on climate mitigation and adaptation and stronger gender elements will strengthen the holistic approach to transport sector development, including road operations and maintenanc and road safety.

Regular involvement of country teams from resident missions and with external partner experts in the field are crucial in ensuring the continued relevance and significance of TA support. For this TA, the design and planning were also informed by discussion with relevant department leading country programming work.

The relevance of a TA could attract interest from other resident missions and lead to changes in scope and implementation arrangements to accommodate requests for support. Initially, this TA was designed to provide quick response to developing member countries' (DMCs) need to improve development planning.

Cofinancing expands possible project activities and outputs. Cofinancing from the Financial Sector Development Partnership Special Fund (FSDPSF) for this project allowed a more comprehensive set of deliverables and activities under outputs 1, 3, and 4. It provided flexibility in the use of resources, as FSDPSF beneficiaries are not differentiated according to country categories.

English and Russian language TA publications increased the visibility of project activities and this may be replicated in future similar projects. Video tutorials on a CAREC Disaster Risk Modelling Interface (DRMI), an interactive online platform, was particularly helpful in allowing country stakeholders to visualize their risk profiles, perform high-level cost-benefit analyses of implementing disaster risk reduction measures, and quantify risk transfer costs for earthquake and flood parametric insurance structures.

Greater invovement from resident missions (RMs), e.g., by designating RM staff to regional TA teams, is important to ensure that potential solutions identified through analytical work are translated into tangible projects. Conversely, team members of regional TAs may also be involved in country programming.