Regional : Sector and Thematic Analyses in Policy Development
The TA project will support the efforts of the governments of 12 of the 14 Pacific DMCs to improve policy formulation and decision making through rigorous sector and thematic analyses. Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste are not included because they can get country level assistance.
Project Details
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Project Officer
Wyatt, Pamela
Pacific Department
Request for information -
Country/Economy
Regional -
Modality
-
Sector
- Public sector management
Project Name | Sector and Thematic Analyses in Policy Development | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Project Number | 48345-001 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country / Economy | Regional |
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Project Status | Closed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Project Type / Modality of Assistance | Technical Assistance |
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Source of Funding / Amount |
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Strategic Agendas | Inclusive economic growth Regional integration |
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Drivers of Change | Governance and capacity development Knowledge solutions Partnerships Private sector development |
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Sector / Subsector |
Education / Education sector development Energy / Energy sector development and institutional reform Information and communication technology / ICT strategy and policy, and capacity development Public sector management / Economic affairs management Transport / Transport policies and institutional development Water and other urban infrastructure and services / Urban policy, institutional and capacity development |
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Gender | No gender elements | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Description | The TA project will support the efforts of the governments of 12 of the 14 Pacific DMCs to improve policy formulation and decision making through rigorous sector and thematic analyses. Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste are not included because they can get country level assistance. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy | The Pacific Approach, 20102014 of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), identifies the need to promote more effective development processes in its 14 Pacific developing member countries (DMCs) and to foster connectivity, consensus, and a greater sense of Pacific community. The Pacific Approach sets out an agenda to help achieve this through ADB support for (i) inclusive and environmentally sustainable growth, (ii) good governance, and (iii) regional cooperation and integration. ADB's Pacific Approach recognizes that most Pacific DMCs exhibit conditions of fragility. This fragility contributes to their complex development environments and, among other things, is characterized by weak state performance in the core functions of policy formulation and resource accumulation and low public sector management capacity. The Pacific Approach established that making policies without adequate analysis of sector or thematic issues was a common governance shortcoming in these DMCs, and that this often led to poor decisions that were not in the public interest and undermined achievement of national development goals. Pacific DMC governments are requesting that ADB provide technical assistance (TA) for sector and thematic analysis to inform and strengthen their decision making and improve their policies. During 20092012, for example, ADB approved TA projects that provided analytical support to improve policy formulation in the Pacific DMCs in such diverse areas as the environment, water issues, transport, health, national planning, and state-owned enterprise reform. The TA for Sector and Thematic Analyses in Policy Development will help Pacific DMCs make better policies, improve policy dialogue with development partners, and enhance aid effectiveness by providing dedicated analysis of development issues important to individual countries and to other DMCs across the region. It will also build capacity in the development and use of this analysis. This approach is consistent with the findings of ADB's 2014 Midterm Review of Strategy 2020 and the review's emphasis on promoting SouthSouth knowledge sharing. Lessons from previous assistance, as well as discussions with the governments of the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Solomon Islands, and Tonga, has resulted in an understanding regarding the impact, outcome, and outputs of the TA, as well as its costs, implementation arrangements, and the terms of reference for consulting services. Deciding on policies without undertaking the proper sector or thematic analysis has significant opportunity costs. This cost is particularly high in the Pacific DMCs because their organizational and technical capacity and financial resources are limited. These DMCs, their universities, and the regional technical organizations lack the ability to produce the necessary analysis and fill the region's significant knowledge gaps. The problem is made more acute by the lack of appropriate government staff needed to meet the broad range of policy challenges the DMCs face. Pacific DMCs recognize that thorough, bottom-up analysis of their sector challenges and cross-cutting development themes is vital and will (i) help them identify and define their strategic priorities more clearly, (ii) help them design better policy, (iii) improve coordination and mobilization of development assistance, and (iv) allow effective prioritization and sequencing in policy implementation. Development partner efforts to develop national and regional capacity in analysis and policy development in the Pacific DMCs have often been ad hoc, fragmented, and unsustainable. Productivity gains in recent years have been driven by the need for rigorous sector and thematic analyses to underpin substantial policy-based operations and coordinated capacity development TA to support implementation of economic management reforms. During 20092013, ADB approved 14 projects totaling about $107 million to support policy reforms in the Cook Islands, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu. This amounted to 9.0% of ADB's total assistance in the Pacific. Other development partners provided about $150 million in similar support over the same period. In 2014 and 2015, the ADB Board is scheduled to consider a further six policy-based programs amounting to $23 million. Although demand for sector and thematic analysis has increased, and the Pacific countries and their development partners have more incentive to collaborate and coordinate to address knowledge gaps, DMCs need to take ownership of the analysis that results from ADB assistance and actually apply it in their policy formulation for the process to succeed . It is therefore important that ADB remains open and responsive to the expressed country needs, within the boundaries of its own strategy on engagement in each DMC. This will ensure that ADB's TA resources will be used in areas where ADB can bring a comparative advantage to analyses whose findings governments will remain committed to and follow up on in a sustainable way. In addition, when meeting sector and thematic analytical needs, ADB will give priority to work that cannot be supported through existing country or regional TA, such as its Private Sector Development Initiative and Pacific economic management TA projects (footnote 3). This will help to avoid duplication and ensure that ADB and other development partners are extending limited TA resources across country and knowledge needs. ADB must also ensure that analyses and knowledge (i) suit the preferences of specific audiences, and (ii) reinforce consistent messaging to facilitate follow-through and ongoing implementation. This TA will help governments prepare policy briefs, technical notes, brochures, and good practice studies on cross-cutting sector and thematic issues. It will also share the findings through seminars, workshops, and the media. Many small Pacific DMCs face similar development challenges, and so cross-learning and multicountry assessments are an effective way to develop solutions that are appropriate across the region and deepen the understanding of development constraints and the effective policy responses. |
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Impact | Improved policy formulation and decision making through rigorous sector assessments and thematic analysis. |
Project Outcome | |
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Description of Outcome | Uptake of improved sector and thematic assessments |
Progress Toward Outcome | The TA has supported activities which cover a wide range of countries, sectors and themes and that have a strong operational focus including: (i) updating the infrastructure roadmap for Pohnpei Port Authority in the Federated States of Micronesia, (ii) fostering and facilitating cooperation and collaboration among Pacific DMC water utilities through the Pacific Water and Waste Association, (iii) capacity building in the Vanuatu Public Works Department, (iv) a higher education project for the Solomon Islands that supports the implementation of the education sector plan, (v) post-disaster rehabilitation support for Fiji that established a framework for the disaster response and improved the quality of damage assessments in affected sectors, (vi) support for national development planning and building implementation and monitoring capacity in Nauru, (vii) support for human resource management and renewable energy project in Tonga, and (viii) an e-Government study tour to Australia for Samoan Government officials to explore opportunities to leverage Samoa's position as the future submarine broadband cable hub of the Pacific by creating an enabling environment for ICT businesses. There has been strong national and subregional demand for the type of analysis the TA can support, Pacific DMC governments have used the analysis results to guide their policies and planning and the TA has reinforced ADB's engagement across specific sectors and themes in the Pacific. |
Implementation Progress | |
Description of Project Outputs | 1. Improvement in sector and thematic assessments 2. Promotion of SouthSouth knowledge cooperation 3. The capacity to implement sector plans is strengthened. |
Status of Implementation Progress (Outputs, Activities, and Issues) | Ongoing Ongoing Ongoing |
Geographical Location | Regional |
Summary of Environmental and Social Aspects | |
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Environmental Aspects | |
Involuntary Resettlement | |
Indigenous Peoples | |
Stakeholder Communication, Participation, and Consultation | |
During Project Design | ADB and other development partners have received numerous ad hoc requests from Pacific DMC governments for strategic and analytical support via preparation of policy briefs, technical papers, and assessments to improve the quality of national development plans. Some of these requests can be met through changes in scope to existing country and regional TAs; however, this is not always possible. The proposed TA, therefore, will allow ADB the flexibility to rapidly and effectively respond to these requests. No objection letters will be obtained from any Pacific DMC governments prior to commencement of proposed TA activities involving their country. In addition, ADB will solicit country requests for support through country team leaders twice a year. |
During Project Implementation | Expressions of interest are invited from PARD Country Team Leaders and Country Economists on a quarterly basis but, in practice, requests for support under the TA are received more frequently. Requests are evaluated against the eligibility criteria ie whether (i) the issue aligns with current priority areas for ADB assistance in the country or identified future priority assistance areas; (ii) a lead agency in-country is identified to follow through on promoting the policy issue and implementation; (iii) the issue has broad relevance to other Pacific countries; (iv) no other ADB TA could meet the need for assistance; and (v) no other development partner is able to undertake the requested assistance. |
Business Opportunities | |
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Consulting Services | The TA will finance an estimated 18 person-months of international and 7 person-months of national consulting services. Depending on what is appropriate to each task, the consultants will be engaged through a firm or individually. This will be done in accordance with ADB's Guidelines on the Use of Consultants (2013, as amended from time to time). The outline terms of reference for the consulting positions are in Appendix 3 of the TA Report. The proceeds of the TA will be disbursed in accordance with ADB's Technical Assistance Disbursement Handbook (2010, as amended from time to time). |
Procurement | None |
Responsible ADB Officer | Wyatt, Pamela |
Responsible ADB Department | Pacific Department |
Responsible ADB Division | Social Sectors and Public Sector Management Division |
Executing Agencies |
Asian Development Bank |
Timetable | |
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Concept Clearance | 17 Nov 2014 |
Fact Finding | - |
MRM | - |
Approval | 16 Dec 2014 |
Last Review Mission | - |
Last PDS Update | 18 May 2018 |
TA 8819-REG
Milestones | |||||
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Approval | Signing Date | Effectivity Date | Closing | ||
Original | Revised | Actual | |||
16 Dec 2014 | - | 16 Dec 2014 | 16 Dec 2018 | 15 Dec 2019 | 13 Feb 2020 |
Financing Plan/TA Utilization | Cumulative Disbursements | |||||||
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ADB | Cofinancing | Counterpart | Total | Date | Amount | |||
Gov | Beneficiaries | Project Sponsor | Others | |||||
2,125,000.00 | 790,000.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 2,915,000.00 | 17 Jun 2022 | 2,618,313.83 |
Project Data Sheets (PDS) contain summary information on the project or program. Because the PDS is a work in progress, some information may not be included in its initial version but will be added as it becomes available. Information about proposed projects is tentative and indicative.
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Title | Document Type | Document Date |
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Sector and Thematic Analyses in Policy Development: Technical Assistance Completion Report | TA Completion Reports | Dec 2021 |
Sector and Thematic Analyses in Policy Development: Technical Assistance Report | Technical Assistance Reports | Dec 2014 |
Safeguard Documents See also: Safeguards
Safeguard documents provided at the time of project/facility approval may also be found in the list of linked documents provided with the Report and Recommendation of the President.
None currently available.
Evaluation Documents See also: Independent Evaluation
Title | Document Type | Document Date |
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Sector and Thematic Analyses in Policy Development | Validation of Technical Assistance Completion Reports | Dec 2022 |
Related Publications
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