Multilateral performance assessment

The performance of East Asia regional program multilateral partners has been mixed.

The International Labour Organization is implementing the TRIANGLE project. Its social dialogue model and the experience it brings to the sector as the bearer of the global mandate on social justice has led to considerable buy-in from government and other stakeholders. Already, TRIANGLE has demonstrated the value-add of the organisation’s technical advisory services in addressing challenges related to the recruitment and protection of migrant workers. The willingness of national constituents to work with the organisation is also a reflection of the relevance of the TRIANGLE project to national needs, as well as the needs of migrant workers.

The International Labour Organization has sought to ensure value for money by cooperating on some activities on a cost-sharing basis with governments and other international organisations with a shared interest in the project. To reduce administrative overheads, human resourcing has been combined with other International Labour Organization projects in some country offices.

The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime and Interpol implement the Protection Pillar of Project Childhood. An external review of the project implementation plan in 2011 revealed that the office was struggling to deliver the project to AusAID quality standards, particularly in the areas of gender and monitoring and evaluation. This indicates that there are not sufficient resources to deliver some key areas of development work.

AusAID has delivered the message that program quality will need to improve and that gender and monitoring and evaluation expertise must be engaged to ensure the program is equipped with the right systems and tools to make an impact and measure results.

The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime is also the multilateral partner that implements work under the HIV/AIDS Asia Regional Program within Burma and Lao PDR. Delays in work plan delivery and implementation on the part of United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, combined with delays due to internal government consultation and restrictions, have resulted in significant bottlenecks in implementation, underspends, and a lower than expected fund disbursement rate in Burma and Laos.

The contract for work in Laos ends in July 2012 and will be extended for six months until December 2012 as we go through the transition to country support units. This will ensure that there is no disruption to harm reduction service delivery and to the peer educatory network. The contract will not be renewed beyond this period given the establishment of new Laos implementation arrangements for the program by January 2013.

The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime contract for work in Burma ends in December 2012 and a transition plan for HIV/AIDS Asia Regional Program services will be submitted to AusAID by end of June 2012. An independent review of the program in Burma will be completed in 2012 to assess previous implementation and inform AusAID of existing gaps to be addressed from 2013 to 2015.

Management consequences – previous year

The following progress has been made to address the previous year’s program management issues.

1.An appropriate engagement forum between the ASEAN Committee of Permanent Representatives and senior AusAID officials has been established. The ASEAN–Australia Joint Cooperation Committee met for the first time in October 2011 with a focus broadly on development cooperation between AusAID and ASEAN. This will enable the ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Program Phase II Joint Program Review Committee to focus on program matters.

2.Senior AusAID officers continued to develop and foster relationships with senior officials in ASEAN and APEC through attendance at key regional senior official and ministerial meetings.

3.Support was provided to whole-of-government partners for development activities that address East Asia Summit priority areas relevant to their portfolio, including by broadening the ASEAN Public Sector Linkages Program to encompass East Asia Summit priorities:

work was undertaken with whole-of-government partners and Indonesia to develop a new East Asia Summit initiative to coordinate responses to natural disasters across the region more effectively. East Asia Summit leaders endorsed this new joint initiative in November 2011.

4.Various actions to assess and improve the capacity of the ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Program Phase II to fully expend the $57 million allocation were undertaken:

progress was made towards improving the scale of activities through collaborating with international financial institutions to develop and implement joint project proposals

initial steps were made towards closer cooperation between Jakarta Post and the ASEAN Secretariat. The program is due to be fully devolved to the Post by July 2012. The program director will report to the regional counsellor – an upgraded position

the second annual review report was delivered in January 2012. The independent progress report is planned for April to June 2012.

5.The full complement of staff are now employed in the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement Support Unit within the ASEAN Secretariat, and as familiarity and experience have increased confidence, AusAID staff have been able to gradually disengage from day-to-day management of the Economic Cooperation Support Program. Canberra retains strategic and financial management and continues to provide guidance where required. In addition, the decision-making and governance arrangements relating to operational matters under the mandate of the ad hoc budget review committee have been clarified.

6.A foundation has been laid for improvements in the effectiveness and efficiency of the APEC program:

a review of the Asia Public Sector Linkages Program was undertaken, which included both the APEC and ASEAN/East Asia Summit Public Sector Linkages Program. It recommended merging the Pacific and Asia programs into a single secretariat and re-designing the program with an increased emphasis on monitoring and evaluation and activity design. Implementation of this work is being undertaken in 2012

multi-year projects have been approved within the APEC Public Sector Linkages Program and the APEC Support Fund that have the potential to improve project effectiveness and the sustainability of benefits

a large-scale evaluation of APEC project effectiveness was approved in 2011, which will be undertaken by the APEC Secretariat in the second half of 2012

support was provided to the APEC Secretariat to progress these issues and to embed project management reforms, including project prioritisation, in APEC processes.

7.The successor program to the Asia Regional Trafficking in Persons Project is expected to commence in early 2013 and will aim to build on and extend the project’s achievements.

8.Consultations between Bangkok and the five bilateral participating Posts were held to scope options for preparing the HIV/AIDS Asia Regional Program for its final program phase. A delivery option has been endorsed by the regional minister counsellor, which involves the transition of program resources from the former Regional Technical Support Unit in Bangkok to country support units in all program countries, with complementary regional advice and policy advocacy support provided by AusAID Bangkok.

9.In June 2012, an AusAID-USAID partnership was confirmed for a community-based emerging infectious disease risk reduction initiative in the Mekong. AusAID contributed funds to USAID’s existing PREVENT project in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and potentially in Burma. This initiative has been conducting research on local practices that exposes people to higher risk of being infected with novel diseases that could potentially escalate into a pandemic. PREVENT will use evidence from research to implement behavioural change communication activities to reduce these risks among vulnerable groups.

10.Work has not yet begun on a program performance assessment framework. Discussion on priorities for a pipeline of activities was undertaken as input to the Comprehensive Aid Policy Framework and to guide forward budget planning decisions. In November 2011, AusAID Posts in the Mekong discussed the current status and possible scope of future regional health programs. These discussions will inform the process of developing a regional health delivery strategy in 2012.

11.A decision was made not to undertake a review or analysis to improve gender equality on the ground across programs with an economic focus. This was due to the ASEAN Secretariat’s lack of engagement on gender issues and the need to take a more pragmatic approach. As part of this approach programs undertook practical steps towards gender considerations through activity designs and viewing gender as an evolving long-term agenda to progress.

Management consequences from period of review

The key management consequence from the period of review is the need for a greater focus on results by:

improving the effectiveness and impact of the program

developing a better narrative and evidence base for reporting results.

The focus on results will be strengthened through closer coordination with donors and partners, especially in key regional decision-making forums.

With this focus in mind, the key milestones or deliverables for 2012 are:

1. 
   Complete the regional situation analysis and revised strategy.
   
2. 
   Complete economic and health delivery strategies. A social protection delivery strategy and a performance assessment framework for the program are being targeted for completion by June 2013.
   
3. 
   Devolve ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Program Phase II management to the regional counsellor in Jakarta.
   
4. 
   Undertake analysis to inform future programming under the ASEAN socio-cultural and political-security pillars.
   

12.Implement recommendations jointly agreed by AusAID and the ASEAN Secretariat from the independent progress report of June 2012. This will include finalising the monitoring and evaluation framework and continuing the momentum for building longer term programming.

13.Assist ASEAN to deliver over 30 projects contributing to ASEAN’s economic integration goals (10 should be completed by December 2012 with the rest by June 2013).

ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement

14.Operationalise the monitoring and evaluation framework and build the capacity of the support unit in the ASEAN Secretariat to manage it.

15.Participate in free trade agreement joint committee meetings (May 2012) and engage with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the support unit to advocate for and support:

the upward trend in numbers and quality/maturity of project proposals

the maintenance of support unit resources at optimum levels

continuing ASEAN Secretariat support for the program.

16.Prepare for an independent progress report in 2013 to gather and report information on outcomes and lessons learned to high-level stakeholders.

East Asia Summit

17.Assist Australian whole-of-government partners to pursue development objectives in the region through the East Asia Summit/ASEAN Public Sector Linkages Program (March, September 2012), and the establishment of a new South East Asia Regional Fund for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (first half of 2012).

18.Support Australian government officials and ministers to participle in the East Asia Summit and related meetings (July and November 2012), including through strategy and briefing input and introducing further development initiatives into the summit (including on drug resistant malaria).

APEC

19.Support the APEC Secretariat to conduct the first large-scale evaluation of APEC project effectiveness by the end of 2012 (through participation in the APEC Budget and Management Committee small working group).

20.Assist the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to hold the planned structural reform workshop in July 2012 to help developing economies prepare well-designed projects that can be funded under the APEC Support Fund APEC New Strategy for Structural Reform sub fund (contributed by Australia).

21.Coordinate a limited review of the APEC program in light of the new East Asia Regional Situation Analysis and Strategy, possibly covering the focus, balance and outcomes to date, with recommendations for a delivery strategy over the next three to five years.

22.Work with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and other areas of AusAID to deliver the ASEAN Regional Forum Inter-Sessional Meeting on Disaster Management, April 2012, and related initiative design.

23.Develop an AusAID strategic policy on human security to guide the agency’s approach to investment in and development of programs to assist human security issues.

24.Complete the design of a new program to build on the successes of the Asia Regional Trafficking in Persons Project, and facilitate commencement of the program in 2013.

25.Continue to support ASEAN partners in the important work of building consensus on practical needs, coordination priorities, and policy development for a stronger, more cohesive regional response to combatting trafficking in persons.

26.Continue through AusAID Bangkok to foster closer coordination with our development partners in the region, particularly with USAID through our partnership on MTV EXIT.

TRIANGLE

27.AusAID Bangkok to conduct at least two monitoring visits to migrant worker support service centres during 2012 and have input into the International Labour Organization’s TRIANGLE mid-term evaluation terms of reference and mission, scheduled to commence in November 2012.

28.AusAID Bangkok to closely coordinate with the Canadian International Development Agency on TRIANGLE—Canada is supporting an ASEAN-focused arm of TRIANGLE (2011–2015).

29.AusAID to attend at least one project advisory committee meeting during the first half of 2012 in one of the TRIANGLE project countries to monitor national ownership of the project and ensure that it is progressing across its activities as planned.

30.Engage a program facilitator for Project Childhood by May 2012 whose priority will be to work alongside the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, INTERPOL and World Vision to facilitate planning for the first Project Childhood Coordination Committee meeting (second half 2012).

31.Decide whether an escalation of AusAID’s management response to partners is required should Project Childhood not be on track to achieve the first coordination committee meeting by the end of May 2012.

32.Ensure the Protection Pillar partner engages a gender advisor to refine and strengthen its gender strategy, and engages an external consultant to rework the monitoring and evaluation framework before the next tranche payment is released to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

33.Develop a delivery strategy to guide AusAID’s regional programming of health initiatives in East Asia.

34.Re-allocate HIV/AIDS Asia Regional Program resources to the national level and establish country support units across bilateral Posts for more effective and sustainable management, in-country advocacy, improved monitoring and evaluation, and mainstreaming of HIV harm reduction activities.

35.Work with the World Organisation for Animal Health in improving program monitoring and evaluation, outcome reporting and gender mainstreaming.

36.Assist three countries in confirming nation animal disease strategic plans, pilot rabies vaccination and prevention activities in high prevalence areas in Indonesia and the Philippines, and train 300 community animal health workers in foot and mouth disease outbreak response through the Stop Transboundary Animal Disease and Zoonoses Initiative.

Risks

The most significant or emerging risks for the East Asia regional program and the focus of mitigating actions are as follows:

1. 
   The complex operating environment of the ASEAN and APEC Secretariat – including changes in senior staff, rapid staff turnover, a lack of adequate resources, inadequate systems and processes, and political sensitivities – and uneven levels of support for progress within regional forums, decreases efficiency and effectiveness and leads to limited demonstrable results. Specifically for the ASEAN Secretariat, a key risk of impact on the effectiveness and sustainability of the partnership is the reliance on a small number of secretariat staff to drive success of the programs, the lack of succession planning for these key people, and its limited resources to deal with an expanding agenda.
   

the key role of the AusAID secondee in managing risk on the ground through building partnerships and networks, understanding and navigating secretariat systems, promoting and embedding system and process efficiencies and reform, and helping to manage AusAID resources invested in and through the secretariats

support for reform champions (within the secretariats, Australian whole-of-government partners and other donors) and the importance of showing how reform can support each secretariat to efficiently and effectively progress their mandates and ASEAN and APEC priority issues more broadly

support for sufficient secretariat resources through participation in budget and management committee processes (APEC and ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement) and through assisting with donor coordination and engaging a wider range of donors such as multilaterals (ASEAN)

continued senior AusAID staff engagement with appropriate ASEAN, East Asia Summit and APEC officials and secretariat staff to develop and strengthen relationships and to clarify and manage expectations.

37.The lack of an evidence base for measuring program effectiveness because of the attitude to monitoring and evaluation, under-developed skills and systems, and no regular analysis of what is reported, leads to limited evidence of program performance.

Actions focus on:

the key role of the AusAID secondee in managing risk on the ground by managing project systems and overseeing project quality, promoting a positive attitude to monitoring and evaluation and supervising project specialist staff

investing in monitoring and evaluation from Canberra through program and partnership reviews (ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Program Phase II), specialist assistance (ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Program Phase II and the AANZFTA Economic Cooperation Support Program), dedicated funds available for project quality, and monitoring and evaluation (APEC Secretariat)

scope for more analysis of data that is gathered and follow-up surveys for clusters of activities.

38.Reputational risk is created by media scrutiny of programs in sensitive areas, including HIV/AIDS harm reduction and child protection, through multilateral partners that have weak capacity (particularly the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), and with country partners with governance and transparency issues.

Actions focus on:

monitoring and timely responses should criticism of multilateral or country partners occur

developing an exit strategy and managing reputational repercussions with the Laos government and the United Nations family regarding the end of the the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime contract in Laos in December 2012 (under the HIV/AIDS Asia Regional Program)

engaging a program facilitator for Project Childhood who will work alongside the Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, INTERPOL and World Vision to facilitate planning of the first Project Childhood Coordination Committee meeting (second half 2012), and be responsible for cross-pillar work on communication.

39.A lack of staff with sectoral expertise in the Jakarta and Bangkok Posts limits engagement with regional donors and multilateral partners on in-depth technical and strategic health policy, resulting in missed opportunities for AusAID to influence the regional health agenda.

Action focuses on:

recruiting an anticipated Mekong health adviser position that will increase the regional Post’s technical policy and strategic engagement capacity in management and advocacy of regional health programs.

Strategic priorities and direction

The preparation of the regional situation analysis and revised strategy for East Asia regional organisations and programs (2011–2015) in 2012 will articulate strategic priorities for the program in the short and medium term.

The two sets of analysis planned for 2012—on the program’s approach to supporting economic integration, and on the delivery of health programs—should inform future direction on these aspects. This is likely to see, for example, consolidation within the regional transboundary program in line with aid effectiveness principles laid out in An effective aid program for Australia: making a real difference – delivering real results.

In particular, the current regional focus will increasingly be on an overarching human security approach to programming. Three pillars of focus are central to this approach: emerging infectious diseases, trafficking in persons and the governance of the labour migrant sector in the region. These changes will involve scoping new work on promoting decent work for labour migrants. The focus on infectious diseases will include a response to the emerging public health threat from drug-resistant malaria in the Greater Mekong Sub-region and strengthening the regional health architecture on important diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS.