Sector Assistance Program Evaluation on Education in Uzbekistan

Operational strategy and the choice of sector. 
The challenges in starting a long-term 
relationship and working with a new DMC are always tough. On the part of ADB, getting to know 
the client requires a lot of upfront effort, staff time, and learning. This is especially so in the case 
of the transition economies, which often go through deep structural changes before embarking 
on a new growth path. Their decision makers and the bureaucracy might be apprehensive about 
the changes, sensitive about the criticism, and generally lacking in know-how about the new 
ways of doing business with development partners. Hence, it is creditable that ADB succeeded 
in establishing a good rapport with Uzbekistan, and chose to work in a sector to which the 
government was fully committed. ADB has demonstrated its long-term commitments by 
continuing to assist the sector and generally keeping pace with the reforms in the country.
49. 
In this regard, the 2006 CAPE noted that ADB's program of assistance could have been 
enhanced and the policy dialogue facilitated if there had been an agreement about the intended 
outcomes to which ADB would contribute. This, presumably, refers to the lack of an explicit 
sector development plan by ADB for education in Uzbekistan. Given the number of studies and 
TA reports that have been undertaken in Uzbekistan, the segments of a sector plan could well 
be available in ADB;
37
but nothing has been explicitly recognized or identified as a sector road 
map.
38,
39
and Administration TA (2879-KGZ), (v) Monitoring Implementation of Education Reform TA (2947-UZB), and (vi) 
Capacity Building in Education Finance TA (2948-UZB).
37
The SAPE team was not able to access any of the TA consultant reports, whether in ADB headquarters or
Uzbekistan Resident Mission. 
38
The 2006 CSP mentions that in preparation of the CSP, a sector assessment of education was prepared in 
February 2005 (CSP 2006, Appendix 2, para. 4).

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50. Government