Strengthening Governance and Accountability in the Pacific Island Countries (Phase 1)

 The project aimed to help operationalize the objectives of the ADB Second Governance and Anticorruption Action Plan (GACAP II), in particular the development of governance risk assessments, and support the region’s efforts to strengthen the governance and accountability, particularly public auditing. It had two components – the governance component focusing on the development of governance and corruption risk assessment and mitigation plans in the ADB country strategy and projects, and the other component is the design and implementation of the Pacific Region Audit Initiative which is a long-term regional approach to raising public audit capacity, standards, and impacts.
The evaluation rated the project as successful overall. The project met its immediate objectives of improving governance and corruption orientation of country partnership strategies and projects, and designing a regional program for cooperation and capacity building for supreme audit institutions. However, it fell short of raising the timeliness and impact of public audit within the intended time frame.