|
ABBREVIATIONS 2 FOREWORD 5 INTRODUCTION 7 IMPACTS 8 Access and Equity: Leveling the Field for Training and Job Opportunities 8 Poverty Reduction: Trainees Land Jobs and Help Increase Family Incomes 9 The Gender Issue: Women Rise in Economic and Social Status 10 Educational Development: Upgrading the Quality of Teaching Staff and Facilities 11 The Environment: Enhanced Awareness 12 LESSONS LEARNED 13 Need for Long-term Investments to be Supported by Ownership and Good Governance 13 A Mismatch in Demand and Supply of Skills: The Importance of Linkages to Industry 15 Lack of Monitoring and Coordination in Implementation Causes Delays and Weakens Impact 16 ADB STRENGTHENS LENDING TO EDUCATION 17 At the Policy Level 17 At the Design and Implementation Level: Quality Improvement 18 Breaking the Cycle of Poverty through Education 3 Foreword This digest of evaluation studies ment in light of the equally rapid changes in the education sector is the in subject content and methodology. first in the Operations Evalua- Finally, years of assistance have revealed There is a strong tion Office’s (OEO) Assessing a critical lesson: in order to succeed, edu- reciprocal Impact on Development cation projects need long-term investments relationship Series. It provides a summary of issues, and commitment by both ADB and the between poverty lessons, major findings, and conclusions developing member countries in a closely and education. of OEO’s recent studies and reports in the coordinated partnership. Education sector in reader-friendly format and lan- While using education as a vehicle to contributes to guage. The studies examine the issues con- reduce poverty, ADB has unfortunately not improved incomes tributing to the successes and failures of increased its investment in education as a and thereby to specific projects. This digest affords an- percentage of overall lending in the last 30 reduction in poverty. other avenue for the understanding of years. The education sector’s cumulative OEO’s role in promoting economic and so- share of ADB’s total lending operations in cial development within the Asian Devel- the last three decades is just 5 percent. The opment Bank’s (ADB) developing member track record of the governments is not any countries through its feedback to ADB op- better. The population growth rate in the erational departments and to executing region and the backlog of youth still out of and implementing agencies. Readers who school offer no respite to governments in wish to have more in-depth knowledge of their quest to provide education for all. the subsectors discussed here, viz., sec- The overarching goal of poverty reduction ondary education, technical education in the region will be best served by increas- and vocational training, and tertiary edu- ing investment in education. cation, are invited to access the original Education is one of the most effective studies and reports. ways of addressing poverty. There is a In line with ADB’s emphasis on the re- strong reciprocal relationship between pov- duction of poverty, its overarching goal, erty and education. Education contributes initiatives have been taken to provide more to improved incomes and thereby to reduc- lending to the social sectors in general, and tion in poverty. Education and income are to education in particular, with strong em- the twin antidotes to the twin problems of phasis on flexibility rather than prescrip- illiteracy and poverty. Breaking the cycle tive policies and blueprint project designs. of poverty through education needs a con- And while of late the priority has been ac- centration of commitment from both gov- corded to basic education, higher educa- ernments and aid agencies. tion and skills development are also important if a country’s labor force is to increase productivity and acquire new skills, especially in a more competitive and J.A.M. QUILA rapidly globalizing environment. The train- Chief ing of teachers is also a crucial require- Operations Evaluation Office Breaking the Cycle of Poverty through Education 5 Introduction ince its founding, the Asian During its early years until the late 1980s, Development Bank (ADB) has ADB concentrated its assistance on sec- supported education as a key ondary, technical/vocational, and tertiary Education projects Scomponent in underpinning its education. It was only in 1989 that ADB need long-term mandate to reduce poverty in the started to give assistance to primary and investments and region. As of December 2000, ADB had ap- nonformal education. commitment by proved a total of 104 projects (115 loans) Emphasis on basic education is more both ADB and the in the education sector amounting to in keeping with ADB’s overarching goal of developing $4,547.2 million, of which $2,602.5 million poverty reduction, as this will address lit- member countries was from ordinary capital resources and eracy, which is fundamental to socioeco- in a closely $1,944.7 million from the Asian Develop- nomic upliftment. The 2000-2002 pipeline coordinated ment Fund. Total loans to the education includes at least 11 basic education partnership in sector account for about 5 percent of total projects in 9 DMCs. Whereas the benefits order to succeed. ADB lending since 1968. The investments of basic education reach a broad spectrum have made a difference for Asia. The im- and have a multiplier effect, investments pacts on developing member countries’ in vocational and tertiary schools benefit (DMCs) socioeconomic profiles have been a narrower group of people. Besides, ADB substantial as a result. Education has now believes that the private sector should helped raise the literacy rate among mil- be tapped to support vocational and ter- lions of people, especially among disadvan- tiary education. Project preparation and taged groups like rural women and c hildren; design have improved substantially, shift- it has enhanced training skills; and it has ing from the blueprint approach of old to prepared students for the job market. Em- that which adopts a flexible process ap- ployment has helped reduce poverty. There proach, with increasing emphasis on sec- is a strong reciprocal relationship between tor work, policy dialogue, participatory poverty and education. Education contrib- approach, and beneficiary consultation. utes to improved incomes and thereby to re- Greater use of more diverse lending mo- duction in poverty. Education and income dalities, such as the sector development are the twin antidotes to the twin problems program loan, and advisory technical as- of illiteracy and poverty. sistance have gained strategic importance However, years of assistance have re- in the improvement of institutions and vealed a critical lesson: education projects policy frameworks. A long-term investment need long-term investments and commit- strategy, participation of the private sec- ment by both ADB and the DMCs in a tor, and greater collaboration with nongov- closely coordinated partnership in order ernment organizations and local commun- to succeed. Another equally important re- ities have now been recognized as neces- alization is the need to balance the focus, sary to ensure the sustainability of gains particularly to emphasize basic education. achieved under a project. Breaking the Cycle of Poverty through Education 7 The Operations Evaluation Office (OEO) came from the low-income segment. Mil- has undertaken five studies1 on a number lions of students benefited from these pro- of education subsectors assisted by ADB grams over 15 years. until the end of the 1980s. These studies— ADB’s assistance in support of techni- on tertiary, tertiary-level fellowships, voca- cal education and vocational training tional and technical training, secondary, (TEVT) was aimed at producing highly and secondary science education trained technicians, skilled workers, and projects—examined the issues contribut- craftsmen to support four DMCs —Ma- ing to the successes and failures of spe- laysia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, cific education projects. In line with ADB’s and Sri Lanka—in their drive toward in- emphasis on the poor in the mid-1990s, dustrialization. moves have been made to provide more The Philippines’ Secondary Education lending to the basic education sector, with Development Sector Project2 illustrates particular emphasis on improved project how widespread the socioeconomic impact design and implementation. was intended. From the fact that the ben- eficiaries were mainly public secondary schools—75 percent of which were Opportunities for education had led to better income Impacts barangay or village high schools—the project automatically benefited lower in- come families. The profile of students levels, and in showed that 46 percent of their parents particular, boosted were farmers, fishers, or factory/construc- gender equality. ocioeconomic improvements tion workers. as a result of ADB assistance to The five studies undertaken by OEO education are discernible. Op- validate the individual findings of the Sportunities for education have projects covered by the studies that the led to better income levels, and projects contributed to enhancing distri- in particular, have boosted gender equal- bution and social equity objectives. They ity. Discussed below are impacts and les- had met the demand for education. But sons learned from these studies. while ADB had achieved its objectives in opening up opportunities, the quality of Access and Equity: Leveling the the outcomes was less than expected. The Field for Training and Job facilities deteriorated the moment the Opportunities projects were completed. The underuti- lization, especially of TEVT facilities, is A fundamental approach to these improve- due to lack of operation and maintenance ments was to equalize access. ADB wanted budgetary support resulting in inadequate to give the opportunity for training to the poorest of the poor. Hence, project institu- tions were selected in key geographical 1 PE-530: Secondary Education Development Sector in the Philippines; IE-61: Technical and Vocational Educa- areas. This helped redress regional imbal- tion Projects in Malaysia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea ances in educational opportunities by pro- and Sri Lanka; IE-56: Secondary Science Education Projects in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan; SS-29: Ef- viding more equitable access to a wide fectiveness and Impact of Training in Education Projects range of economic and demographic back- in Indonesia; and IE-22: Bank Operations in the Educa- tion Sector in Indonesia. grounds, especially to low-income families. More than 70 percent of students in tech- 2 Loan 898-PHI(SF): Secondary Education Development Sector Project, for $70 million, approved on 11 August nical and vocational courses, for example, 1988. The loan was closed on 15 November 1995. 8 Assessing Impact on Development instructional staff and consumables. While Lanka, only 60 and 50 percent, respec- the projects often exceeded the physical tively, found jobs within the same period. targets, there remains scope for further Access to high-quality and relevant edu- In Malaysia and reducing wastage and improving efficiency. cation and training by the youth was fur- Papua New Guinea, ther enhanced by the provision of about 80 percent Poverty Reduction: Trainees Land dormitories and hostels that enabled the found jobs within Jobs and Help Increase Family families, especially those from remote ar- six months of Incomes eas, to save on costs of food and transpor- completing their tation. Thus the ADB’s intervention had courses. While the opportunities opened to the poor considerable impact on poverty reduction could be quantified, poverty reduction in addition to meeting the skills require- could not be accurately quantified for the ments of industry. projects evaluated, as the project design Impact evaluation studies relating to the in the 1970s and 1980s did not incorpo- different education subsectors in countries rate the necessary measurement tools. Nev- like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, ertheless, it was evident that there were Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, and substantial socioeconomic impacts. Sri Lanka have shown a positive correla- The assistance to the technical and vo- tion between vocational training and em- cational schools successfully prepared the ployment/career, as well as between the trainees for employment. In Malaysia and training and socioeconomic improvement Papua New Guinea, about 80 percent found of graduates of ADB-assisted schools. jobs within six months of completing their Almost 70 percent of Indonesian ADB-as- courses, while in Pakistan and in Sri sisted technical school graduates found Breaking the Cycle of Poverty through Education 9 jobs, although 52 percent of those em- The Gender Issue: Women Rise ployed found their jobs not quite suited to in Economic and Social Status While female their field of training. The employment enrollment was prospects were found to be less favorable Women were the specific target of the edu- formerly in the case of vocational school graduates, cation projects, particularly disadvan- concentrated in the as about 37 percent of commerce gradu- taged women in rural areas who had no “soft” sector— ates in 1992 had not found jobs while 17 access to education and training. This was business, commerce, percent had not been employed even af- premised on the belief that it is through clerical, and ter five years. employment prospects that the impact of secretarial courses— Due to the weakness in project design, enhancing women’s economic and social science and wherein no monitoring mechanism was status would be felt. technology are provided, it can only be assumed that, by The projects in general had significant equally important the nature of their objectives and purposes, impact on raising the level of education of today. the projects have led to an improvement women. Enrollment of female students in- in the standard of living of the families of creased substantially in the five categories graduates. Women’s participation in tech- of education evaluated, except in senior nical trades has shown an increasing technical schools in Indonesia, where trend, particularly in Papua New Guinea courses are male-oriented. and Sri Lanka. Logically, it can be as- As a result of the projects, women made sumed that the improvement in female lit- up 71 percent of Indonesian vocational eracy rate would have contributed to more schools’ enrollment, and the ratio of female women in the labor force and therefore im- staff to male staff also improved. Vocational proved family income. schools were found to have helped women 10 Assessing Impact on Development improve their family-owned enterprises. ment, textbooks, and school buildings However, female enrollment was concen- were sufficiently provided. trated in the “soft” sector, like in business, Physical improvements normally led to Not only did the commerce, clerical, and secretarial an upward trend in enrollment. In Indo- science projects courses. Female participation in technol- nesia, an initial problem with dropout make a significant ogy courses was not substantial. rates was corrected in the early stages of impact in Female student and teacher involve- the projects. The dropout rate at the enhancing ment in TEVT increased significantly over Surabaya Institute of Technology plum- institutional time in the project countries except in meted from 10 percent to 2 percent, while capacities for Papua New Guinea. The highest level of it fell to 1 percent at the University of science education, participation was noted in Sri Lanka, Hasanuddin. Nevertheless, dropout and but they also resulted where female students made up 40 per- retention rates were still substantial in all in a network of cent of total enrollment. The proportion Indonesian institutions, suggesting that science education was 30 percent in Malaysia and over 20 there was scope for further reducing wast- centers that served as percent in Pakistan and Papua New age and improving efficiency. The student- major resource Guinea. It was only in Malaysia where fe- teacher ratio, however, improved across the centers. male teachers increased in number. But board in vocational and technical institutes in Sri Lanka, teaching in vocational and and universities. technical schools remained a male-domi- The quality of teaching staff in degree nated profession. programs took a quantum leap during and Female enrollment in secondary science after the projects’ implementation. The schools in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Paki- Surabaya Institute of Technology, for ex- stan increased by an average of 8.6 per- ample, recorded a jump in percentage of cent per year in project schools between teachers with postgraduate qualifications 1993 and 1997. The number of female teach- from 4.6 percent at appraisal to 31 percent ers also registered a higher growth rate in 1993. Similarly, at the University of by 2.7 percent compared with male teach- Hasanuddin, the staff with postgraduate ers during 1986-1996. qualifications shot up from 6.1 percent at In many ways, by educating women, appraisal to 35 percent in 1991/1992. the projects helped enhance their partici- pation in the labor force, as well as the image and status of rural women. Improve- ment in women’s education, postponement of marriage, and implementation of fam- ily planning have contributed to an in- crease in the number of women entering the industry and service sectors. This has resulted in greater gender equality. Educational Development: Upgrading the Quality of Teaching Staff and Facilities The ADB assistance to DMCs generated improvements in facilities and the quality of teaching staff. The projects often ex- ceeded the physical targets, in that equip- Breaking the Cycle of Poverty through Education 11 The Philippine secondary school jobs to augment their low salaries The re- project assisted 673 schools throughout the sult was that there was no significant dif- Given the long country, accounting for 20 percent of all ference in science learning between the development cycle public high schools. It added 216,000 seats graduates of project and nonproject needed for education, in the schools and helped accommodate schools. a series of improving 24 percent of the increased enrollment in The inefficient classroom situation in overlapping projects public high schools. Millions of textbooks secondary level technical and vocational with consistent core were produced and distributed, dramati- institutions was similar. Industry-linked objectives to stretch over cally increasing the textbook/student ra- training and upgrading of staff were insuf- at least a decade is tio from one book for every seven students ficient. Graduates and employees inter- needed to make any in 1986 to two books for every three stu- viewed for the impact studies felt the sustainable impact. dents in 1992. Over 130,000 teachers and practical courses needed to be expanded principals were trained. at the tertiary and secondary levels as the The secondary science education teachers had limited exposure to indus- projects brought about an awareness of try-based training and changes in modern science in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Paki- technology. A large number still had no in- stan. In Bangladesh, there was no science dustrial experience or pedagogical train- education in rural schools before the ADB ing and lacked technical knowledge and project began. Not only did the science practical training in the operation of ma- projects make a significant impact in en- jor equipment procured under the projects. hancing institutional capacities for science education, but they also resulted in a net- The Environment: work of science education centers that Enhanced Awareness served as major resource centers. While quantity exceeded expectations Assistance to the education sector had no in most education projects, quality was adverse impact on the environment. Envi- wanting. Enrollment grew fast, but the ronmental impact was not factored in dur- projects, in an apparent oversight, were ing project preparation. Nevertheless, the not designed to improve classroom effi- secondary science education projects had ciency. The secondary science education the most impact on environment issues in projects were not able to address the large the curricula. The impact was indirect, but average class size, overly heavy teaching positive. load, and the high-stakes external exami- The curricula at various levels gave nations that engendered rote learning emphasis to environmental education, in- among students to the detriment of prac- cluding topics on the ecosystem, conser- tical experience. It was also observed that vation of natural resources, and personal in-service teacher training at the second- and community hygiene. The ADB-assisted ary level was hurried and uneven, with- projects had built-in mechanisms to incul- out proper incentives or a merit system cate in the youth and other community for potential teacher candidates. Advance- members environmental consciousness ment in education, particularly in Paki- and its effect on health and economic ac- stan, was seniority based and depended tivity. Consistent with this thrust, the largely on the ability of the teachers to teachers’ and administrators’ training pro- teach higher classes and assume supervi- grams gave equal importance to environ- sory and administrative posts. Further- mental education to enable the more, it was noted that teachers in science participants to handle these topics in the schools were forced to moonlight in other curriculum. 12 Assessing Impact on Development Lessons for improving education, a series of over- lapping projects with consistent core ob- Learned jectives to stretch over at least a decade Aware that there is is needed to make any sustainable impact. no sufficient local M Future projects need to focus on the long- capacity to sustain term nature of changes initiated, as well the projects on a long- any useful lessons have been as to have a realistic assessment of the term basis, foreign gleaned from the less than executing agency’s commitment to reforms funding agencies expected results of ADB as- and its financial capacity to sustain them. should consider a sistance to the education Work on a long-term strategic framework sequence of projects sector. A few of the more sig- for overall ADB operations, which ensures in order to support nificant are discussed below. that activities are integrated and directed the improvements towards the overarching goal of reducing over an extended Need for Long-term Investments poverty, has started. timeframe. to be Supported by Ownership and Aware that there is no sufficient local Good Governance capacity to sustain the projects on a long- term basis, foreign funding agencies should It became very clear from experience that consider a sequence of projects in order all education projects need long-term in- to support the improvements over an ex- vestments: a one-off project does not work. tended timeframe. Unless the beneficiary Given the long development cycle needed countries demonstrate strong governance Breaking the Cycle of Poverty through Education 13 Maintaining good quality and relevance in technical education requires continuous adjustment measures to keep abreast of progress in industry, technology, and training practices. and their interest as stakeholders, ADB The state of secondary education has de- projects are going to degenerate soon af- teriorated since the project was completed ter completion, as indeed many have. This in 1992. Gains in quality improvement, ef- emphasizes the need for policy dialogue ficiency, and access were not sustained due and capacity building. to government budgetary constraints. On one hand, Malaysia shines as the Similar deterioration in the other edu- sole success story and has demonstrated cation projects such as those for secondary its commitment to sustain project out- science and vocational and technical comes, the result of its quality governance, schools added up to suggest a lack of com- and a sense of ownership. This was be- mitment in the DMCs. As a result, momen- cause the Government had an agenda to tum was lost, and some physical assets and harness education to propel the country human resources assigned to the projects to newly industrializing economy status. remained grossly underutilized. Any follow- The Government had the political will to up project after a lapse of 2-4 years required use the assistance, and it set aside re- a costly restart of activities. Hence govern- sources to sustain the benefits after project ments need to continue investing to sustain completion. Hence ADB-assisted assets projects after the ADB has completed its remain in good condition in Malaysia. task. On the other hand, in other countries Beyond funding problems, governance most of the projects degenerated after and a sense of ownership of the projects completion from lack of attention and sus- were largely missing, thus lowering the tained investments. The Philippines sec- chances of success. Some project institu- ondary school project was one example. tions performed better than others, and 14 Assessing Impact on Development this could be traced to leadership, which Rather, development needs demand that spelled the difference. Most of the institu- labor market analyses and market-ori- tions in DMCs operate in a highly central- ented measures of skills demand and sup- ized and bureaucratic environment, and ply be adopted. are vulnerable to political pressures. The mindset that education is to meet While all project schools suffered the the demands of “social safety nets,” i.e., same constraints such as inadequate bud- providing education to the poor regardless gets, poor physical facilities, and political of quality and industry demand, needs to pressures, quality leadership of the insti- be reoriented. It would be imprudent to tutions was critical to success. Political consideration played a role in selecting some of the school heads as well as the school sites. This did not ensure quality. Depoliticizing the selection of project di- rector or school head and other managers would increase the chance of success of projects. The beneficiaries, on the other hand, need to be brought into the consultation process. Only when they are convinced that they have a stake in the projects and will look after them, will the success be fur- ther ensured, as Malaysia has shown. A Mismatch in Demand and Supply of Skills: The Importance of Linkages to Industry Leadership also requires that school ad- ministrators be attuned to the job market. Maintaining good quality and relevance in technical education requires continuous adjustment measures to keep abreast of progress in industry, technology, and train- ing practices. This includes curriculum revision; establishment of mechanisms to evaluate teaching standards, student achievement, and the relevance of pro- grams to the needs of industry; and in- creased involvement of industry in the technical education institutions. Experi- ence proved that the lack of job opportu- nities for vocational school graduates was due to a mismatch in the demand and sup- ply of skills. The sole use of manpower fore- casts proved to be an unreliable tool for project identification and appraisal. Breaking the Cycle of Poverty through Education 15 ignore market signals in examining invest- Lack of Monitoring and ment options. It is important that the con- Coordination in Implementation In the last 10 years, tent of vocational programs as well as the Causes Delays and Weakens basic education selection of courses be carefully reviewed Impact was allocated the to adjust policies in line with emerging de- largest share at 41 velopment needs. In assessing the many lessons learned, it percent; secondary Experience also clearly showed that is evident that monitoring is a key issue. education, 23 assistance to schools without industry link- Many projects suffered from poor manage- percent; TEVT down age is untenable. The polytechnics of Pa- ment during implementation. As a result to 14 percent; and kistan and technical colleges of Papua New of delays, the activities could not flow in a higher education, 13 Guinea and Sri Lanka operated in isola- systematic order. For example, teacher percent. tion. So did the five project institutions in training came ahead of the new curricu- Indonesia. This deprived them of valuable lum, and equipment (which could have inputs such as industry exposure to stu- been used in the training) was delivered dents and teachers alike, and a built-in long after the teacher training stage. The feedback mechanism on the type, level, and Philippine project experienced poor qual- quality of personnel needed. Future ity procurement and civil works. In all in- projects should engage industries as ma- stances costs shot up and the project jor stakeholders in the development of tech- impact was reduced. nical, vocational, and tertiary training. To help minimize delays in future A good start was made in Indonesia in projects, the following lessons were noted: this area. In order to draw the schools (i) the need for the prompt selection of a closer to industry, the Indonesian Govern- project director and other key positions ment was encouraged to motivate the pri- with long-term tenure; (ii) well-defined vate sector, through tax relief, to help guidelines, granting a certain degree of improve the facilities in private schools, to operational autonomy to regional and pro- help in industry-oriented training, and to vincial units, which is a particularly im- absorb them into private industries. portant consideration in a federal set-up such as Pakistan; and (iii) training project staff to be familiar with ADB financial sys- tems and procedures to facilitate project processing. Monitoring was also weak in curricula upgrading. Project monitoring units were found to be detached from what was go- ing on in the classroom in the secondary science education projects. There was no periodic data gathering to indicate if the intended curriculum was being imple- mented. The absence of such real-time feedback deprived project management of the opportunity to correct the mistakes in midstream. It was a serious shortcom- ing. There is a need for greater coordina- tion (among agencies) and decentraliza- tion (to the provincial level) of human 16 Assessing Impact on Development resource planning to ensure the relevance of training provided in technical schools to industry and local community needs. Human resource planning strategies need to adopt labor market analyses, including market-based assessment of skill demand and supply. ADB Strengthens Lending to Education Many shortcomings became obvious in subsequent evaluation of the projects. Since the mid-1990s, ADB has made efforts to correct the weaknesses found at the policy level, design and implementation stage, and postcompletion stage. Paramount to Basic education includes primary educa- the strengthening of its lending policy is tion, with girls’ and women’s education the installation of a monitoring system. receiving more attention. The first Primary Education for Girls Project in Pakistan in At the Policy Level 1989 was the watershed. Long-term perspective: Investment in Basic education gets priority: The edu- the sector is now suggested to be through cation portfolio has shifted to a more bal- a series of three or four projects support- anced lending program, with emphasis on ing a set of core objectives in DMCs. Four basic education. Between 1970 and 1990, recent loans to Pakistan and Bangladesh about half of ADB loans to the education embody the new outlook. Work on a long- sector were allocated to TEVT, about 30 term strategic framework for overall ADB percent to higher education, 10 percent operations, which will ensure that activi- to secondary education, and only 10 per- ties are integrated and directed towards cent to basic education. In the last 10 the overarching goal of reducing poverty, years, basic education was allocated the has started. An Education Sector Policy largest share at 41 percent; secondary Paper, being prepared in parallel, high- education, 23 percent; TEVT down to 14 lights the need for a long-term investment percent; and higher education, 13 percent. strategy in each subsector. Breaking the Cycle of Poverty through Education 17 own country operational strategy, the coun- The sector development loan: Aside from the conventional project and sector try assistance plan, and the beneficiary loans, the sector development program country’s national development goals. Policy dialogue is an important ingredient. (SDP) modality has recently been added and has been used in Indonesia, Kyrgyz There is emphasis on strengthening in- Republic, and Mongolia. The SDP is a blend stitutional capacity and project ownership by executing agencies. This is done of policy and project lending that involves policy reforms in exchange for a quick-dis- through using the participatory approach bursing program loan, while a parallel in planning and consultation with benefi- ciaries, policy advice and technical sup- project loan provides the funding for a par- ticular project related to the policy port, and a shift in project content bias change. from hardware (physical infrastructure, equipment) to software (teacher training, curriculum development, planning and At the Design and management, and institutional capacity Implementation Level: Quality building). Improvement Loan administration and monitoring: Coordination and project preparation: More balanced emphasis is now given be- There is now increased focus on ensuring tween project processing and loan admin- that ADB assistance is consistent with its istration. More resources for budget, staff, 18 Assessing Impact on Development and management supervision are now pro- vided for loan administration. There is now ADB ASSISTANCE TO THE EDUCATION SECTOR BY COUNTRY mandatory use of the midterm review in As of 31 December 2000 addition to regular annual reviews. Since A. Loans 1995, a project performance management system (PPMS) has been developed for an Country No. of Loans Amount ($ million) Percent improved approach to monitor all stages Bangladesh 12 498.250 11.0 of project design and implementation, as Bhutan 1 7.130 0.2 well as development results. Cambodia 2 40.000 0.9 The mandatory use of a framework for Cook Islands 1 2.700 0.1 Indonesia 29 1,992.350 43.8 measurable performance indicators and Kazakhstan 3 65.000 1.4 the project performance report, as well as Korea, Republic of 2 56.700 1.2 the active participation of the DMCs’ ex- Kyrgyz Republic 3 57.700 1.3 ecuting agencies in providing the monitor- Lao PDR 3 53.300 1.2 Malaysia 5 258.800 5.7 ing information, are key aspects of the Maldives 1 6.300 0.1 PPMS. An online database now provides Marshall Islands 2 14.825 0.3 real-time feedback for close monitoring. Mongolia 2 15.500 0.3 ADB recognizes that to strengthen edu- Nepal 5 56.100 1.2 Pakistan 10 499.100 11.0 cation and ensure the sustainability of Papua New Guinea 4 55.900 1.2 gains achieved under its investments re- Philippines 8 251.931 5.5 quires greater collaboration with its part- Samoa 1 7.000 0.2 Singapore 2 22.000 0.5 ners in development and the beneficiaries. Sri Lanka 8 199.900 4.4 The private sector, nongovernment orga- Thailand 5 160.720 3.5 nizations, and local communities, who are Uzbekistan 3 97.000 2.1 ultimately the beneficiaries, are now ac- Viet Nam 3 129.000 2.8 tive participants in ADB education Total 115 4,547.206 100.0 projects. continued on page 20 Breaking the Cycle of Poverty through Education 19 continued from page 19 Operations B. Technical Assistance Evaluation Country No. of TA Projects Amount ($ million) Percent Office Afghanistan 1 0.097 0.1 Bangladesh 24 13.808 14.4 Bhutan 5 1.645 1.7 Cambodia 11 6.326 6.6 China, People’s Rep. of 5 2.500 2.6 Cook Islands 2 0.647 0.7 The Operations Evaluation Office is respon- sible for administering ADB’s independent operations evaluation functions, which aim India 1 0.000 0.0 to (i) improve the design and execution of ADB’s Indonesia 37 13.158 13.7 future activities in light of the lessons learned from Kazakhstan 3 1.595 1.7 its operations, and (ii) enable ADB to account to Kiribati 1 0.150 0.2 its shareholders for the effectiveness of its devel- Korea, Republic of 2 0.175 0.2 opment assistance to its DMCs. A major activity Kyrgyz Republic 4 3.030 3.1 of the Office is the preparation of project and Lao PDR 16 7.568 7.9 program performance audit reports (PPARs) of Malaysia 3 1.068 1.1 completed projects/programs for which project/ Maldives 5 2.195 2.3 program completion reports have been prepared Marshall Islands 2 0.326 0.3 by the operational departments responsible for Micronesia, Fed. States 2 0.595 0.6 Mongolia 6 2.655 2.8 project/program processing and implementation. Myanmar 1 0.190 0.2 PPARs involve the comprehensive evaluation of Nepal 12 5.245 5.5 project/program effectiveness in achieving ob- Pakistan 17 4.087 4.2 jectives and provide analytical commentary fo- Papua New Guinea 5 1.699 1.8 cusing on lessons of operational significance. Philippines 17 7.989 8.3 OEO also undertakes various intensive studies of Samoa 2 0.970 1.0 broader relevance to ADB’s operations, such as Singapore 1 0.543 0.6 technical assistance performance audit reports, Solomon Islands 1 0.250 0.3 impact assessment and special evaluation stud- Sri Lanka 15 5.278 5.5 ies, reevaluation studies, and country assistance Thailand 8 3.481 3.6 program evaluation.To ensure the usefulness of Uzbekistan 8 3.300 3.4 Vanuatu 2 0.325 0.3 operations evaluation, the Office provides effec- Viet Nam 9 5.299 5.5 tive feedback of lessons learned into the opera- tional system of ADB through several channels, Total 228 96.194 100.0 including the computerized operations evalua- tion information system, the annual review of C. Regional Technical Assistance (RETA) evaluation operations, country/sector syntheses of operations evaluation findings, and feedback Type of RETA No. of RETAs Amount ($ million) Percent sessions with operational departments. OEO also prepares, in cooperation with operational depart- Training 12 3.877 39.9 ments and offices concerned, a review of the Conference 9 1.779 18.3 annual performance evaluation program, which Study 7 3.310 34.1 brings together all activities related to project Research 2 0.750 7.7 performance and, therefore, improves feedback Total 30 9.716 100.0 inputs into project preparation and implementa- tion. Through technical assistance, the Office also assists DMCs in developing and strengthen- ing their independent evaluation capabilities. 20 Assessing Impact on Development Document Outline
© 2006, USP Library. Copyright & Disclaimer
Contact Us
|