The recommendations of the first UNDP project under the cover of the report entitled "Strengthening the Structure and Mechanism of ASEAN with Special Reference to the ASEAN Secretariat", contributed to the Fourth Summit decision to restructure the ASEAN Secretariat. the process of which has been implemented since 1 January 1993. All the new and openly-recruited staff have now been recruited following a newly-restructured ASEAN Secretariat. The PPMS has completed a project proposal for the consideration by ASEAN on the establishment of the ASEAN Cooperation Unit (ACU), Programme/Project Appraisal Guidelines and a Programme Planning Framework. The Projects Appraisal Committee (PAC) of the ASEAN Secretariat shall be responsible in implementing the Project Appraisal Guidelines in assessing and priofitizing all projects for Third Country funding.
UNDP funded a study team to review the ASEAN- UNDP programme which came out with a report entitled "Partnership in Progress: ASEAN-UNDP Cooperation". The report concluded that UNDP assistance to ASEAN under the recently completed Fourth Cycle of the Inter-Country Programme (ICP), 1987-1991, contributed to the promotion of sub-regional cooperation on the whole. The ASEAN Sub-regional Programme (ASP-4) combined with future directions of ASEAN cooperation provided the basis for improvements in the formulation of ASP-5.
The ASEAN Sub-regional Programme for the Fifth Cycle, 1992-1996, represents the first attempt at providing a thematic and programmatic framework of UNDP technical cooperation to ASEAN. Following the new directions laid out by the 37th UNDP Governing Council and the Fifth Cycle Inter-Country Programme Advisory Note, ASP- 5 has adopted new approaches to programme formulation and execution. These approaches are designed to render UNDP assistance more responsive and able to generate greater impact. Two main themes have been adopted to unify diverse priorities and to focus programme thrusts and activities: (a) human development of the sub-region's human resource potential and (b) sustainable economic reform through the expansion and intensification of ASEAN economic cooperation. The environment and natural resources were also underlined as an area of high priority in the sub-region. Similarly, programme execution by ASEAN is designed to promote self-reliance through decentralized mechanisms and use of indigenous sub- regional expertise as appropriate.
The total funds of US$ 12 million available for the ASP-5 falls short of the requirements to meet all the ASEAN project proposals for UNDP funding. Therefore, the Programme would comprise only those proposals that meet ASEAN's high priority need of promoting sustainable regional cooperation. The projects will be determined by the criteria adopted at the UNDP-ASEAN Conference on Technical Cooperation Programme held in Lake Toba on 23-24 November 1990. Furthermore, emphasis will be given to large-scale interlocking activities, rather than small, disjointed projects in order to maximise the benefits of such assistance.
In keeping with the ICP-5, ASP-5 adopted the programme approach and incorporates a number of innovative features which include the following :
b) Forward-looking thrust to provide further impetus to ASEAN sub-regional cooperation, in particular, the establishment and operationalization of AFTA;
c) Formulation of multisectoral programme packages as a result of the thematic rather than sectoral approach;
d) Establishment of linkages between national, sub-regional and regional programmes;
e) Building capacity for project execution by the ASEAN Secretariat; and
f) Consistent with the programmatic approach, ASP-5 adopted a system of programme "earmarks", ratherthan the conventional method of programming resources on a project basis.