Tajikistan Resident Mission 13 March 2009

Memorandum

Tajikistan Resident Mission

1. 
   INTRODUCTION
   

1. 
   The writer accompanied the TAJ Government officials in the study tour mission to Malaysia on results based management during the period from 22 to 27 February 2009. The study tour mission was organized under the TA 4860-TAJ: Strengthening Results Management in Support of Poverty Reduction in Tajikistan and was intended to familiarize the participants with the Malaysian experience on results management in support of poverty reduction at national, state and district level, and to increase the capacity and commitment of the Government officials to implementing a results-based management system for the monitoring of poverty reduction.
   
2. 
   The study tour mission was organized in cooperation with UNICEF, European Commission, and Centre for Development & Research in Evaluation International (CeDRE), where UNICEF was mainly responsible for logistic and administrative arrangements for the study tour, CeDRE was responsible for in-country logistic and administrative arrangements, and the European Commission financed participation of two additional representatives from Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education.
   

2. 
   MISSION FINDINGS
   

3. 
   The TAJ Government delegation composed of high and mid level representatives of the TA’s key stakeholders (President’s Office, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Ministry of Finance, State Committee on Statistics, and State Committee on Investments and State Property), as well as Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health. The total number of the study tour participants was 15, including representatives from ADB and UNICEF, and 2 interpreters. A list of the study tour participants is in Appendix 1. Mr. Najmiddinov Anvar, Deputy Head of Economic Reforms and Investments Division, President’s Office was designated by the Government as a head of the TAJ delegation.
   
4. 
   During the study tour, meetings with the Malaysian Economic Planning Unit, Economic Council, Implementation Coordination Unit, Ministry of Finance, Malaysian Administrative Modernization Planning Unit, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Rural & Regional Development, and Department of Statistics were held. Besides, a site visit was organized to Melaka state / district, where participants met representatives of the state government and the Melaka municipal authority. A program of the study mission is attached in Appendix 2. The meetings included the interactive presentations on the following areas: national medium-term development planning; the Malaysian economic recovery plan; strategies to address economic and financial downturns, strategies and mechanisms for coordinating and managing national development priorities and plans; program & project implementation at central, state, district, and local levels; macroeconomic and fiscal policy management; implementation of modified budgeting system (MBS) in Malaysian public sector; public sector modernization - enhancing performance through rating system; monitoring and budgeting of development projects; e-government in Malaysia; Melaka economic outlook; as well as role and functions of the state government vis a vis federal government, and city/municipal authority; macro policies and strategies for rural & regional development under national development planning.
   
5. 
   All meetings in the government agencies included (i) brief presentation made by the Malaysian government agency, and (ii) Q&A sessions. Tajikistan government delegation has also prepared a number of presentations on Tajikistan national development priorities under the NDS 2015, PRS for 2007-2009, practices and experience in the area of aid coordination, project monitoring, and roles and functions of the selected ministries / agencies. However, taking into account the limited time available it was agreed to concentrate on Malaysian experience. Presentations from Tajikistan participants have been sent to the relevant agencies in advance and during the Q&A session the matters described in the presentation were briefly covered.
   
6. 
   CeDRE representatives, including Dr. Arunaselam Rasappan, CeDRE's Senior Advisor, accompanied Tajikistan delegation to all meetings. Before meetings with the Malaysian Government agencies, the CeDRE conducted a pre-mission briefing with participants to familiarize them with the basic information on Malaysia, its political / government structure, as well as roles and functions of the Government ministries / agencies (background information on Malaysia & selected Malaysian government ministries/agencies is attached in Appendix 3). Moreover, daily post-meeting discussions were organized on the way or upon return to the hotel to change the ideas on the results of the meetings, the knowledge received, and the lessons learnt, as well as to get answers for outstanding questions with support of the CeDRE representative.
   
7. 
   During the mission, separate courtesy meetings were organized for two senior TAJ Government officials (Mr.Najmiddinov and Mr.Rakhmonov) with (i) Director General of Malaysian Administrative Modernization Planning Unit (MAMPU) and (ii) Chief Statistician, Malaysia to discuss various operational issues.
   

8. 
   The study tour was evaluated by the participants as very useful in terms of getting knowledge and understanding of the practical realities of the results based management implementation, as well as increased knowledge and understanding of the theory and practice of the results based management. As a result of the study tour, the Government is expected to prepare a report and propose how the Malaysian Government experience in the area of results based management can be potentially applied in Tajikistan. The Government presented the preliminary results of the study tour mission during the final TA workshop, held on 13 March 2009. The Government also envisages holding a special discussion of the lessons-learnt and brief assessment of its applicability in Tajikistan submitted under separate roundtable discussion.
   
9. 
   The participants highly appreciated the agenda of the study tour and its modality, as well as organizational and logistical aspects of the study tour (in-country logistic, administrative arrangements, quality of translation, etc.). However, below are some points, which could be considered while organizing similar study tours in future: (i) It could be advisable to get the counterparts' presentations in advance before the meetings so that they could be translated into the Russian / Tajik for better understanding by the participants during the sessions, as well as contribution to more fruitful post-meeting discussions by the participants. Taking into account the great interest of the participants in getting the translated presentations, all presentations are currently being translated by UNICEF for further circulation among the participants (early next week). (ii) The route to and from Kuala Lumpur took 40 and 32 hours, respectively. Moreover, the return flight from Kuala Lumpur was scheduled for Friday night, i.e. almost immediately after the last meeting, which caused exhaustion of participants by the end of the study tour. Thus, it is recommended to use the most direct routes, wherever possible, and / or to provide half or one free day before return trip so that participants could have a rest before the travel.
   

1. 
   List of study tour participants
   
2. 
   Program of the study tour mission
   
3. 
   Background Information on Malaysia & Select Malaysian Government Ministries/Agencies
   
4. 
   Presentations of the Malaysian Government (available upon request)