East Asia Regional Organisations and Programs Annual Program Performance Report 2011
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East Asia Regional Organisations and Programs Annual Program Performance Report 2011 
August 2012 Contents1.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. 25 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. 25 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: 25 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: 25 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. 26 6.A foundation has been laid for improvements in the effectiveness and efficiency of the APEC program: 26 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. 26 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. 26 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. 27 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. 27 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. 27 1.Complete the regional situation analysis and revised strategy. 27 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. 27 3.Devolve ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Program Phase II management to the regional counsellor in Jakarta. 27 4.Undertake analysis to inform future programming under the ASEAN socio-cultural and political-security pillars. 27 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. 28 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). 28 14.Operationalise the monitoring and evaluation framework and build the capacity of the support unit in the ASEAN Secretariat to manage it. 28 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: 28 16.Prepare for an independent progress report in 2013 to gather and report information on outcomes and lessons learned to high-level stakeholders. 28 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). 28 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). 28 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). 28 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). 28 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. 28 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. 29 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. 29 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. 29 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. 29 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. 29 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. 29 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 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. 29 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). 29 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. 29 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. 29 33.Develop a delivery strategy to guide AusAID’s regional programming of health initiatives in East Asia. 31 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. 31 35.Work with the World Organisation for Animal Health in improving program monitoring and evaluation, outcome reporting and gender mainstreaming. 31 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. 31 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. 31 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. 32 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. 32 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. 32 Summary This report summarises progress in 2011 towards the objectives of the East Asia regional programs. Australia’s aid strategy for East Asia regional programs 2011–2015 is to assist key regional organisations and address agreed transboundary development priorities. Our regional programs are an opportunity to address regional development needs by providing aid that complements our bilateral programs. Context The East Asia region is diverse. Development has been uneven, with income, education and service access inequality, and gaps in infrastructure and connectivity. The global financial crisis and natural disasters of 2011 lowered incomes and living standards and highlighted the vulnerability of the poor in East Asia.1 Developing countries in the region are increasingly viewing economic integration, including through regional trading agreements, as a useful way to drive domestic reforms and increase market access. Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional integration and participation in the global multilateral trading system has progressed. More than half of total ASEAN exports are now in manufacturing components integral to regional supply chains. To achieve sustained economic growth however, the region will need to focus on improving productivity growth, including from increased competitiveness, innovation and new ideas. This will be dependent on further reforms which the East Asia regional economic programs seek to encourage and facilitate. There is continuing demand for capacity building assistance in this area. While increased regional economic integration has delivered growth and new income-generating opportunities for many, it also raises some new and often complex development issues that stretch across borders, such as pandemic risk and increased trafficking in persons. Greater attention is being paid to the impact of natural disasters in the region, and this is seen as an important area for further cooperation. Many of the development challenges in East Asia are regional in character. For example, the increased opportunity to migrate for work has bought new opportunities for people previously excluded from the gains of development. However the growing number of trafficked persons and high instance of exploitative labour conditions highlight the need for specific regional responses to these and other potentially negative consequences of greater integration and increased economic activity. Trafficking in persons is a global phenomenon that contravenes fundamental human rights, and denies basic and broadly accepted individual freedoms to women, men and children. It has wide economic, social and political impacts, and is a development issue of real consequence for East Asia. Diverse but carefully integrated responses are necessary to combat the problem. In addition, factors such as demography, cross-border livestock trade, remote small-value farming, and new patterns of migration, contribute to East Asia remaining a high-risk region for the outbreak of pandemics and infectious disease. Improving animal health systems in the region will help to control infectious diseases such as avian influenza and rabies, and livestock diseases such as foot and mouth disease. Improving animal health systems also reduces the risk of the emergence of new pandemic diseases that pose a direct threat to human life. The key to halting the increasing spread of HIV in the region is preventing new infections. HIV incidence associated with injecting drug use continues to be a significant driver of HIV epidemics in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. HIV remains endemic among sex workers, clients of sex workers and their sexual partners. In addition, incidence among men who have sex with men is becoming the largest single driver of the epidemic in the region. A small number of key organisations and forums bring together national leaders to shape regional cooperation including the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), ASEAN and the East Asia Summit. Working with and through these organisations and forums contributes to sustainable economic development, effective governance and humanitarian preparedness and response in the region. Regional architecture in East Asia is evolving. The East Asia Summit is becoming an increasingly important forum with wider membership and there is an expectation that it will become a key security and political forum over time. Australia supports ASEAN’s central role within regional architecture, including the East Asia Summit. Institutional capacity to support the regional architecture is relatively under-developed and funding from member countries is restricted. The East Asia Summit has limited administrative foundations to support its increasing role, and relies on the ASEAN Secretariat for support. Lack of capacity is exacerbated by the evolving role of regional institutions: from limited coordination to an increased role in implementation and policy development. There is scope to deepen partnerships with regional institutions such as the ASEAN Secretariat and like-minded donors to enhance aid effectiveness and broader Australian interests. Program objectives and strategy East Asia regional programs aim to work with and through key regional organisations to improve regional development outcomes. They seek to address three objectives: Objective 1: improved capacity of regional organisations to address agreed priority development challenges. Objective 2: promoting and managing economic integration. Objective 3: addressing priority transboundary issues. Australia is tracking well in the regional donor landscape. For example: Over the past eight years, Australia has carved out a leadership role on combatting trafficking in persons in East Asia and is now the largest donor in the sector. Our leadership is built on our recognised holistic approach to combating trafficking that seeks to both raise awareness of and strengthen the criminal justice response to the crime in the region. Australia leads on coordination with other donors to ensure our efforts to combat trafficking in persons are contributing to greater sector coherence, supporting critical gaps in analysis and improving aid effectiveness. Australia has worked with the International Labour Organization to pioneer a tripartite dialogue model in East Asia, which brings together government, key industry and employee groups. This work has strengthened migrant worker protection and is building policy frameworks to better support a sustainable migrant labour sector in East Asia. Australia supports the MTV End Exploitation and Trafficking campaign in partnership with the United States, which aims to raise awareness and educate young people and other vulnerable populations in Cambodia, Burma, the Philippines and Vietnam about the dangers of trafficking in persons. Australia is the biggest donor supporting foot and mouth disease eradication in South East Asia since 1997. Through the Stop Transboundary Animal Disease and Zoonoses initiative, we have assisted governments in developing national plans that are consistent with international standards, and in mobilising domestic funds to implement these. AusAID’s work with the World Organisation for Animal Health also pioneered assistance to South East Asian developing countries in the staged and systematic process of improving their national veterinary services based on international animal health standards. Australia is one of a very few donors working on HIV harm reduction for people who inject drugs in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. Through eight years of program investments and disseminating program lessons, we have established a unique working relationship with Greater Mekong Sub-region governments, United Nations agencies, local and international non-government organisations, research bodies, and community groups. This has allowed us to contribute to development of critical policy and legislation that promotes a public health model approach and is supportive of HIV harm reduction for people who inject drugs. Australia has pioneered a partnering approach with the ASEAN Secretariat and ranks second as a donor to ASEAN behind Japan and in front of the United States.2 Australia’s support for economic integration is a major focus of ASEAN-Australia development cooperation, through programs such as the ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Program Phase II and the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement Economic Cooperation Support Program. Australia has been one of the most influential APEC members promoting assistance to developing economies within APEC and is the leading contributor to those members through the APEC Secretariat-managed APEC Support Fund. Australia ranks third in overall direct contributions to APEC, behind the United States and Japan.3 Australia is leading support for disaster management through the East Asia Summit. Australia is assisting the ASEAN Secretariat to implement disaster management initiatives under the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response, and to establish the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Response. Australia’s key partners in the region for delivering the aid program are the ASEAN and APEC Secretariats. In addition, for transboundary issues, multilateral organisations such as the International Labour Organization and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and non-government organisations such as World Vision Australia, play a role, as do national governments and inter-governmental organisations such as the World Organisation for Animal Health. Expenditure Estimated expenditure on East Asia regional programs for 2011–12 will be directed to promoting and managing economic integration (39 per cent) and addressing priority transboundary issues (56 per cent) such as combatting trafficking in persons, labour exploitation, and supporting regional health initiatives. With the inclusion of support for the capacity of the East Asia Summit in early 2012, the proportion expected to be spent on improving the capacity of regional organisations will have doubled from the 2009–10 figure of $1 million.4 Table 1: Estimated expenditure in 2011–12
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