Sector Assistance Program Evaluation on Education in Uzbekistan

Overall Assessment on 
ADB's Performance 
On the whole, ADB’s performance has been satisfactory except for 
some shortcomings regarding sector road map, financial sustainability, 
and education–employment links, as discussed below (paras. 64–66). 
Thus, the overall performance rating is modest. 
ADB = Asian Development Bank, COM = Cabinet of Ministers, MDGs = Millennium Development Goals, MOHSSE = 
Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education, MOPE = Ministry of Public Education, SAPE = sector 
assistance program evaluation.
Source: Independent Evaluation Department. 
64. 
ADB’s perspective on education in Uzbekistan
. A sound and thorough assessment of 
the achievements in the education sector has to be rooted in ADB’s perspective on education in 
Uzbekistan. Expected outcomes must be specified, indicating how they would change over time. 
However, there was no explicit road map for the education sector in Uzbekistan. To be fair, 
each project and its report and recommendation of the President (RRP) undertook due 
diligence, reviewed the sector, and designed the proposed interventions, but the documents do 
not easily yield a big picture of how the various projects relate to each other and to the sector as 
a whole. Fortunately, ADB operations were helped to some extent by the government’s 1997 
NPPT. The 2006 CAPE also noted that while ADB responded well to the government’s 
preferences and its own CSP, there should have been an explicit ADB strategy for Uzbekistan’s 
education sector. In the absence of such a road map, the policy dialogue seems ad hoc or 
opportunistic. It also opens up the possibility that other development partners’ investment 
projects might not harmonize with ADB’s thrust. This could leave some constituencies of the 
stakeholders uninvolved and weaken the mobilization of opinion in favor of educational reforms.
65.