Summary of publication
The Independent Review of the ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Program Phase II (AADCP II, AUD57 million, 2009-21) aimed to provide DFAT with information to enable and inform strategic decision-making regarding the direction of the current program and possible future programming. The review also considered the partnership approach, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and program logic for AADCP II.
The review’s overall finding is that “AADCP II has succeeded in delivering substantive and relevant results directly linked to both ASEAN and Australian priorities in a cost-effective manner. Strong ownership of activities and progress in building [ASEAN Secretariat] capacity should ensure that core AADCP II results are sustainable.” DFAT welcomes the findings of the review, which was on balance positive and endorsing current approaches. We welcome in particular the review’s finding that current areas of AADCP II focus, including strategic support to connectivity, energy and narrowing the development gap through support of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI), are highly relevant to both ASEAN and Australian interests. The report found AADCP II’s monitoring and evaluation systems and processes were pragmatic and it recommended keeping them unchanged. The report found room for improvement in incorporating gender and social inclusion (GESI) made specific recommendations to that end. Most of the remaining recommendations were intended to inform the design of a successor program to AADCP II, to be undertaken later this year, rather than impact on current programming and approaches.