Partnership Brief Cofinancing with New Zealand 2 3 Contents 3 Defining the Partnership 4 Project Portfolio 6 Highlights 9 Case Study Tables 10 Direct Value-Added Cofinancing New Zealand’s Funding for ADB 11 Technical Assistance Projects @2011 Asian Development Bank All rights reserved. Published 2011. Printed in the Philippines. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) or its Board of Governors or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. By making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area, or by using the term “country” in this document, ADB does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area. 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Note: In this publication, “$” refers to US dollars unless otherwise indicated. 2 3 Defining the Partnership ew Zealand and the Asian while projects are also upcoming Aside from its cofinancing Development Bank (ADB) to improve cargo and passenger support for ADB projects and Nin recent years have shipping in Vanuatu and energy technical assistance, it also established a growing cofinancing access in rural Papua New Guinea coordinates with ADB through partnership in the Pacific that is (see Project Portfolio section). regional groupings, including the laying the groundwork for further The New Zealand Aid Pacific Islands Forum, under which cooperation, particularly in the Programme,1 managed by the they worked closely in 2009–2010 difficult areas of infrastructure Ministry of Foreign Affairs to develop a 10-year Pacific and education in the far-flung and Trade (MFAT), directs the statistics strategy and action plan. islands of the region. country’s development assistance. Other cooperative activities have As a founding member, The Pacific is its core geographic included the implementation New Zealand has a long-standing focus—receiving more than half of the Pacific Regional Audit role in ADB’s efforts at reducing of the total aid budget—while it Initiative and support to the poverty in Asia and the Pacific. also works in Asia in Southeast Pacific Association of Supreme That partnership is now moving Asia (see map for focus countries, Audit Institutions. forward through their mutual page 6). It sees its work with New Zealand also provides commitments to aid effectiveness ADB and other multilateral important support for ADB and harmonization, as outlined development institutions as a projects, indirectly, through the in the Paris Declaration on proven and effective means to significant contributions of New Aid Effectiveness and the reduce poverty and conflict, affect Zealand-based consultants (see Accra Agenda for Action. governance issues, and help in contractors/suppliers, page 10). This is evident in recent humanitarian crises worldwide. Additionally, ADB and long-term education projects in In its development efforts, New Zealand have been Samoa, several projects to repair New Zealand puts top priority on exploring ways to intensify their and improve roads in the Solomon economic growth, infrastructure, financing partnership operations Islands, and participation in the education, law and justice, through more systematic, Pacific Region Infrastructure and health. early consultations at the Facility (PRIF). Attesting to field level in priority countries the success of such efforts, a 1In 2009, the former New Zealand Agency and more frequent contact further project is now under way for International Development (NZAID) was and coordination with ADB to broaden improvements to reintegrated into MFAT and the activities of NZAID renamed the New Zealand headquarters and regional offices. transport in the Solomon Islands, Aid Programme. Early identification of financing 4 Partnership Brief 5 partnership opportunities at the country strategy and programming levels in key countries and in those sectors of common interest is among the ways they are enhancing cofinancing arrangements. New Zealand has always emphasized increased harmonization of jointly implemented and cofinanced operations, including giving a more integrated role to the participating governments, their agencies, and other financing partners. This approach was reflected in the Education Sector Project II in Samoa, discussed later, under which cofinancing was agreed and contracted among all the responsible participants (New Zealand Aid Programme, Australian Agency for Project International Development, ADB, and the Government of Samoa) under an umbrella cofinancing agreement. Portfolio ADB and New Zealand are also committed to the streamlining ew Zealand aims to harmonization of development of cofinancing processes through allocate some $525 million efforts in addressing difficult the adoption of standardized, Nfor international aid in problems. project-specific cofinancing fiscal year 2011/12, more than agreement templates. Early half of that slated for the Pacific Reforming Education discussions have also been region. In particular, its largest in Samoa initiated to replace the outdated development engagements—and In Samoa, for example, a and fully utilized, single-country most significant cooperation with long-term effort to improve New Zealand Cooperation Fund ADB—go to Papua New Guinea, education is beginning to bear for Technical Assistance with Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. fruit. Cooperation with ADB more efficient regional and/or This is where the majority of in this sector has been moving thematic cofinancing umbrella Pacific people live and where forward in recent years under arrangements that are better development needs are greatest. the Education Sector Project II suited to today’s operational However, its aid program also (ESP II). In addition to its main modalities and requirements. ■ addresses the wide range of educational goals, the project has challenges facing countries across helped tackle the difficult work of the region. donor coordination. ADB is playing a unique role Begun in 2005 and building in bridging divergent interests on Education Sector Project I, the in this complex region, working $30 million ESP II is designed to with New Zealand and other address some of the most pressing development partners to improve issues Samoa’s education sector 4 Partnership Brief 5 ESP II supports the models through more assertive establishment of a more equitable use of the new curriculum and and effective education system to work out difficulties before through a better school scaling up the program. curriculum, learning materials, and teaching practices, ensuring Bridging Gaps in the teachers are well-trained, as well Solomon Islands as providing better educational Roads in the Solomon Islands facilities, furniture, and equipment. were in a poor state at the Under the project, in 2011, beginning of the last decade, the new Samoa Ministry of damaged by several years of Education, Sports and Culture conflict and long-term neglect, Headquarters Building was limiting the prospects for opened. The state-of-the-art economic development. facility houses ministry staff The island nation’s economy who had previously worked in is also disadvantaged by a disparate locations, making it population spread over about easier to coordinate, establish, 60 inhabited islands, with about and standardize education 80% living in rural areas and policy. Its information and isolated villages. Weak and communication technology poorly maintained infrastructure distance-learning studio, by 2013, constrains economic growth and will be connected to all secondary its benefits. schools, helping to bridge the With significant cofinancing gap in education provision for and coordination with children from disadvantaged rural New Zealand, ADB and its or remote areas by providing partners have begun to turn the teaching and educational situation around. Cooperation faces. It includes funding of materials they otherwise would began under the Post-Conflict more than $8 million each from not have. Emergency Rehabilitation Project New Zealand, Australia, and ADB. The project has also created a providing emergency assistance Samoa has made progress new curriculum, with important to help the country repair the in education in recent years, help from a New Zealand-based damage of the 1999–2003 civil including under the 2005 project. consultant, to replace the 1970s- conflict. It continued with a Yet significant problems remain: era curriculum. It is too early to second effort, the Solomon Islands the primary curriculum is more assess the impact on students, Road Improvement Project (SIRIP) than 15 years old; many teachers but teacher training in more launched in 2006 (See case study, are unfamiliar with effective than 50 secondary schools and page 9). teaching practices; there is a 200 primary schools has begun The success of the two lack of comprehensive teachers’ and early evidence suggests that projects helped pave the way for manuals, textbooks, and learning the new material is being applied. the Transport Sector Development materials; and standards have Between 2004 and 2009, the Project. This new effort will