The Asian Development Bank (ADB) fielded a mission (the Mission)1 to participate in the conference on primary health care organized by the Management Development and Planning Unit of the Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine (15–16 October 2018) and conduct both project inception mission and technical assistance (TA) review mission (17–19 October 2018) to expedite readiness of the Health System Enhancement Project (HSEP).
The Mission follows on several ADB missions (19–22 July 2016, 20–28 April 2017, 27–30 November 2017, 1–9 February 2018, and 23 April–4 May 2018) that conceived and finalized the project design. Since October 2017, through ADB’s project preparatory technical assistance (PPTA), a total of five individual consultants and a consultancy firm, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), have supported to conduct assessments and due diligence to come out with the detailed project design. Based on the findings, key project documents were prepared with full participation and active support of the PPTA consultants and the officers of the executing agency (EA)—Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine (MOHNIM) and implementing agencies (IAs) of the four provincial councils (Central, North Central, Sabaragamuwa, and Uva) covered by the project. The Mission discussed with the EA and IAs preparatory works undertaken for project mobilization and start-up, including steps for effectiveness, implementation arrangements, project administration manual, and reporting requirements. The Mission also reviewed progress of the TA. The observations of the Mission and agreements reached with the government, which are subject to approval of higher authorities of ADB and the government, are recorded in this Aide Memoire and discussed during the wrap-up meeting, chaired by Director General, External Resources Department (ERD), Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs on 19 October 2018.