Independent Evaluation

Share |

Printer-friendly Version

Give Feedback

Evaluation of the Japan Special Fund
Completed: 2007

The JSF was established in March 1988 to provide financial support for ADB's technical assistance program in the form of an untied grant, with ADB as fund administrator. ADB's regular policies for TA projects were to generally apply to JSF-financed TAs.

The Fund was to be utilized for supporting the efforts of developing member countries towards industrialization, natural resource development, human resource development, and transfer of technology.

This study was prepared within the framework of a special evaluation study conducted by ADB's Operations Evaluation Department on the three Japanese grant funds administered by ADB through its Office of Cofinancing Operations. It evaluated Fund performance, analyzed issues and constraints, and made recommendations and suggestions to assist in future implementation.

Applying the criteria used to evaluate public sector operations, JSF was judged relevant, effective, partly efficient, and likely to be sustainable.

Summary of Findings

• The JSF's overall performance was deemed successful, with 65% of advisory and 67% of project preparatory TAs rated successful.



• The relevance rating suggests the need for a more strategic approach to JSF resource allocation. Sustainability is more complex but could be addressed by longer term TA engagement and larger TA projects and/or cluster TA projects. Although a significant minority of advisory TAs is rated partly successful, this does not mean they have failed. Reasons for partial success vary. Sometimes objectives are overambitious in relation to the resources provided and the implementation period set.



• There is considerable diversity in sector ratings and across countries. In general, TAs to Viet Nam and India have been particularly successful, but they have performed less well in Indonesia.



• Advisory TAs have been most successful in the education, health, and finance sectors, but least successful in energy, water supply and sanitation, and waste management sectors. In contrast, project preparatory TAs for these least successful sectors were among the most successful.



• The study identified factors associated with success: (i) clarity of objectives; (ii) need and ownership (country ownership, priority, agency and beneficiary input into design, selection of consultants, identification of client, provision of counterparts, and appropriate process); (iii) adequacy of time and resources; (iv) quality of consultants; (v) continuous alignment of objectives and client priorities; and (vi) customer satisfaction and client relationship management.



• The study found that the impact of the Fund has been significant in the following respects: (i) advisory TAs for policy development have had profound beneficial impacts on the legislative environments governing several sectors; (ii) improved performance of sector and subnational agencies in the delivery of services, particularly to the poor, which is attributed to JSF advisory TAs supporting capacity development; and (iii) JSF supports about 75% of ADB's project preparatory TAs.



• The study concluded that JSF's management might be improved in several respects; (i) the value added of requiring each TA to be approved by Japan is not clear; (ii) only 40% of TA projects seems to be adequately resourced; (iii) all advisory TA projects are treated as though they are likely to face similar risk levels; (iv) the one-off nature of many interventions is not conducive to enhancing awareness of Japan's role; and (v) client satisfaction is disappointingly low for TAs in general including JSF and this may be attributed to advisory TAs failing to deliver what was promised, lack of exit strategies, insufficient client involvement in the design phase, and inadequate attention given to problem resolution during implementation.

Recommendations

• ADB should develop strategies for utilizing the JSF and provide clear guidelines to staff.



• Realistic assessment of time and resource requirements for any TA should be undertaken, particularly in areas in areas such as capacity development, where a longer term commitment is needed through larger, longer duration TAs, and cluster TA operations.



• The Government of Japan should be actively involved at the concept and design stages, with concomitant greater predictability of approval and a more efficient final approval step.



• Majority of funding should continue to support project preparatory TAs and the accompanying advisory TAs (including capacity building), but with no specified target percentage.