Sector Assistance Program Evaluation on Education in Uzbekistan

Overall Assessment on 
Contribution to Development 
Results 
The contribution of ADB’s education sector assistance to 
development results in Uzbekistan has been substantial. 
ADB = Asian Development Bank, ICT = information and communication technology.
Source: Independent Evaluation Department. 
 
3. 
ADB's Institutional Performance 
63. 
The assessment of ADB's institutional performance looked at: (i) quality support, (ii) 
sensitivity and responsiveness to clients, (iii) client ownership, (iv) harmony with development 
partners, (v) compliance with capacity building, (vi) consistency with ADB’s corporate strategy, 
and (vii) feedback of borrowers/executing agency. Results are in Table 7. 
Table 7: ADB's Institutional Performance 
 
Key Area 
Assessment 
1. Quality support 
ADB provided focused and quality support to the education sector in the 
country, especially as articulated in the Education Sector Development 
Program, textbook program, and textbook rental scheme.
2. Sensitivity and
responsiveness to clients 
Despite the fact that education sector policymaking was centralized and 
controlled, ADB responded to the government’s initiative with 
understanding and in a positive and sensitive manner, i.e., by relieving 
the problem of non-availability of textbooks, and supporting senior 
secondary education. 
3. Client ownership 
The government led the operations, which preserved the client 
ownership of the education reforms, while ADB came up with new ideas 
based on its international experience. 

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Key Area 
Assessment 
4. Harmonization and 
alignment with development 
partners 
There are not many major development partners in the sector with 
which ADB needed to harmonize rigorously. Except for the World Bank, 
other donors were extending only technical assistance to the sector. 
Nonetheless, as a lead development agency, ADB coordinated its 
activities with all the donors quite well, especially the United Nations 
Children’s Fund and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and 
Cultural Organization. 
5. Capacity building 
A number of initiatives were undertaken to strengthen policies and 
implementation capacity in the sector by providing hands-on training 
and study visits abroad. These were supported by the limited available 
technical assistance as well as loans. Uzbekistan still requires a lot 
more progress in this area. 
6. ADB’s corporate 
strategy 
Education is one of the priority areas in ADB's current and past 
corporate strategies. ADB’s Uzbekistan operations were a significant 
support for the sector. They also helped achieve other objectives such 
as MDGs, gender and development, and human development, which 
have high priority for ADB. 
7. Feedback of borrowers/ 
executing agency 
The SAPE mission had many meetings with the borrower’s ministries 
and agencies both in the capital as well as in the field. In-depth 
discussions were held with COM, MOHSSE, MOPE, Ministry of 
Finance, and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
They were all 
appreciative of ADB’s role and contributions in the educational 
development of Uzbekistan; specifically COM, MOPE, and MOHSSE 
conveyed their wish to continue the relationship. However, ADB funded 
project implementers in the field said that ADB needed to be more 
involved in project implementation, i.e., by providing sufficient review 
missions.