Highlights of ADB’s Cooperation with Civil Society Organizations 2020

By Asian Development Bank

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been supporting meaningful engagement with civil society organizations (CSOs) in delivering better development results. Partnerships with these CSOs help promote community participation and social inclusion throughout the project cycle of ADB-financed operations. In light of its enhanced commitment to CSO engagement, ADB approved in 2020 a new indicator for assessing civil society engagement. This report provides insights on ADB’s cooperation with CSOs in 2020 in terms of generating knowledge, tapping expertise, sharing good practices, and improving policy dialogues. It also features lessons and success stories of CSO contributions in Asia and the Pacific.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Release date: Apr 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9789292628321

Book preview

I. INTRODUCTION

In 2020, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) continued to engage civil society organizations (CSOs) in delivering development results.¹ ADB’s Strategy 2030 continued to guide its cooperation with civil society as an approach to responding effectively to the changing development needs of its developing member countries (DMCs). Strategy 2030 recognizes that to deliver stronger, better, and faster, ADB must strengthen collaboration with a range of stakeholders, including CSOs. ADB aims to focus particularly on operations that use grassroots participatory approaches to target the poor and vulnerable groups, mobilize women and young people, and monitor project activities and outputs.²

Strategy 2030’s operational priority 6 (strengthening governance and institutional capacity) further specifies that ADB will explore operational partnerships with civil society through streamlined grant processes and encourage citizens to become more involved in the design, implementation, and monitoring of ADB-financed operations and knowledge work. It states that ADB will develop operational approaches to directly engage with citizens by leveraging technology, crowdsourcing ideas from the youth, and working with smaller CSOs who represent groups of citizens and umbrella CSOs who draw together the perspectives of grassroots organizations. The NGO and Civil Society Center (NGOC) will continue to build upon existing good practices by sharing knowledge on how to successfully engage civil society and citizens in projects.³ Strategy 2030’s operational priority 1 (addressing remaining poverty and reducing inequality) also includes enhancing civil society engagement to promote participation and social inclusion, and to reduce inequalities as one of the strategies for achieving progress in the three operational areas. The operational priority 1 also cites enhancing partnerships with stakeholders, including CSOs, to generate knowledge, share good practices, and improve policy dialogue.⁴

Meaningful civil society engagement entails supporting ADB’s DMCs in designing projects and developing policies that are participatory and socially inclusive (e.g., all genders, young and old, persons with disabilities, indigenous people, and the marginalized and most vulnerable). ADB asserts that the participation of CSOs contributes to effective, timely, and honest delivery of public services, accountability, transparency, and inclusivity. It also helps determine whether well-intentioned policies lead to desired development outcomes and meet citizen expectations (footnote 3). Furthermore, considering that CSOs play a vital role in organizing the community, efficiently connecting people with the market, and carrying out capacity development initiatives that can help the local community develop various social, capital, and human resources, CSOs can help DMCs achieve financial inclusion, particularly through microfinance.⁵

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic radically transformed the way individuals, organizations, and communities operate. Adapting quickly has been difficult for countries in Asia and the Pacific. Many CSOs have demonstrated their abilities to respond to the changing needs of the poorest and most vulnerable, while maintaining the rigor of their development approach. The local knowledge and adaptability of CSOs demonstrate civil society’s valuable role in responding to the ongoing pandemic. ADB must cooperate with CSOs for a range of reasons, including to tap their local knowledge, to build on their expertise, and to gain different perspectives in helping to address challenges under the current