Description

This study assesses the effectiveness and impact of ADB’s program of capacity building to Western Samoa, one of the countries where ADB has a substantial institutional strengthening program. At end-1994, nine executing agencies in Western Samoa had received 37 advisory and operational technical assistance (AOTA) operations from ADB totaling $8.3 million.

The report concludes that the support has not measured up to expectations. It found that in terms of institutional strengthening in only one of the nine executing agencies—the Central Bank of Samoa—was the technical assistance rated generally successful.
 
The study says that ADB’s operational strategy for Western Samoa needs to identify (i) what it regards as the core areas of business critical to the efficient functioning of government; (ii) how those business areas can be most effectively organized; and (iii) how to concentrate resources in a way that ADB assists one agency for one core area of business (for example, Development Bank of Western Samoa for development finance). The outline would then serve as a framework for directing technical assistance.
 
The study says rigorous criteria should be used to screen institutional strengthening proposals, and that project designs should include tests of sustainability and measures of the effectiveness and efficiency of executing agencies. Consultants should be required to produce user-friendly reports, monitoring mechanisms and a management reporting framework. 

Contents

• Summary
• Introduction
• Study Objectives and Methodology
• TA Results and Impact
• Assessment of TA Design: Problems and Solutions
• Implementation Performance
• Key Issues
• Recommendations