In the Synergy Case, What Reasons Contributed to Continuing Operations in Some of the Countries as Opposed to Discontinuing Systems in the Others?

In the Synergy case, what reasons contributed to continuing operations in some of the countries as opposed to discontinuing systems in the others?

Sona Margaryan

Considering the seriousness of the initiative, after the implementation of the DADs systems Synergy team made decision to continue operations in some countries as opposed to discontinuing systems in the others. In this assignment I am going to talk about the reasons that contributed to such decisions.

Firstly, I would like to mention that the Government of Thailand decided to discontinue the usage of the DAD after the initial year of operation. Main reason for such kind of decision was its lesser dependency on foreign aid compared to the other countries, such as Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia. That is Thailand in most of the cases is a country that provides donor assistance itself, hence the lack of interest in a system monitoring the incoming aid. One more thing that I have noticed is that budget level for the Thailand was low. Also in the scope of functionalities it is mentioned only the reconstruction, which is too narrow for such countries like Thailand. If the Synergy team decided to broaden the scope of functionalities that is include government and private sector donations to the tsunami, maybe it would continue operations in Thailand.

In addition to the above mentioned, it is fear to mention that many people had found the DAD very difficult to use. Complex design, layout, and system programming are the main reasons, hence in order to improve the situation Synergy team made various trainings. Even several years ago after the implementation, the DADs were difficult to use and contained data that appeared to be quite unreliable. The information that was available was not complete, not up- to- date and not reliable enough to be used for planning, monitoring and auditing disaster-related aid. Hence, some countries like Maldives and Indonesia firstly continued operations but after a few years they discontinue the usage of the DAD.

Maldives continued operations until 2007 and use the system for planning and monitoring the Public Sector Investment Projects. Moreover, it is important to mention, that budget level for Maldives was medium. As it was not low it worked a little bit longer than in Thailand, but eventually met the same destiny. In contrast, the budget level for Indonesia goes from medium to high over years and they use the system until 2009.

Finally, the best example of the successful cooperation is between the Synergy and Sri Lanka as it continues until today. DAD Sri Lanka has become a whole-of-a-government electronic platform. It was broaden to include ministry-wise and the sector-wise monitoring and evaluation of the projects, national development activities. I think as a Web-based system, the DAD Sri Lanka has an advantage in providing accountability and transparency to the public. DAD Sri Lanka automatically monitors the reconstruction process and insuring that this process is in compliance with government policies and regulations. Also I have noticed that budget level for Sri Lanka was high over years. Therefore, they continue the usage until today.