Working Together for Development Results: Lessons from ADB and Civil Society Organization Engagement in South Asia

By Asian Development Bank

Under the Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s long-term corporate strategy, ADB will strengthen its collaboration with civil society organizations. The ADB’s South Asia Department is playing a leading role in delivering on ADB’s commitment to meaningful engagement with civil society. This report identifies trends in ADB’s approaches to civil society engagement in South Asia over 2015-2021. It examines ADB’s civil society engagement in South Asia in project and program design, implementation and monitoring plus strategy and policy development. The report provides analysis, lessons and recommendations for enhanced ADB and civil society engagement in South Asia.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Release date: Dec 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9789292698522

Book preview

WORKING TOGETHER FOR DEVELOPMENT RESULTS

LESSONS FROM ADB AND CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATION ENGAGEMENT IN SOUTH ASIA

DECEMBER 2022

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO)

© 2022 Asian Development Bank

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Some rights reserved. Published in 2022.

ISBN 978-92-9269-851-5 (print); 978-92-9269-852-2 (electronic); 978-92-9269-853-9 (ebook)

Publication Stock No. TCS220518

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/TCS220518

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Notes:

In this publication, $ refers to United States dollars.

All photos by ADB, unless otherwise stated.

On the cover: Civil society organizations and ADB work together for development results (photo by iStock.com).

Cover design by Nonie Villanueva.

Contents

Tables, Figures, and Box

Tables

Figures

Box

Abbreviations

Foreword

Civil society has a deep understanding of grassroots issues and relationships with communities. Civil society organizations (CSOs) can provide important contributions to long-term investments of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in eradicating poverty in Asia and the Pacific. It should therefore be unsurprising that ADB’s South Asia Department (SARD) has regularly demonstrated high levels of civil society engagement in its portfolio.

Building upon the findings of the 2015 publication titled How Does ADB Engage Civil Society Organizations in Its Operations? Findings of an Exploratory Inquiry in South Asia, this new report examines ADB’s engagement with CSOs across South Asia in recent years. This also supports evidence that ADB’s engagement with civil society in South Asian countries remains strong.

To what do we owe this success, and how can we improve moving forward? The report demonstrates that SARD mainstreams civil society engagement throughout the project cycle, beginning at policy dialogue, and remains engaged through design, implementation, and up to evaluation. Consultations play a key part of this engagement, and ADB continues to explore new and innovative ways to engage citizens through new methods and technologies.

Moving forward, we will need to explore more ways to bring civil society and governments together as partners in new and innovative methods of participation. Most importantly, we will explore—in collaboration with CSOs and our government counterparts—ways to further expand partnerships to reach our shared development goals.

Kenichi Yokoyama

Director General

South Asia Department

Asian Development Bank

Preface

Civil society organizations (CSOs) have unique strengths and have specialized knowledge of communities. CSOs have been performing critical roles in promoting good governance and are an invaluable ally in the fight against poverty. Importantly, they connect the voices of citizens with government and decisionmakers—resulting in better planned, better implemented, and better managed projects that contribute to stronger and healthier communities. I am delighted to present Working Together for Development Results: Lessons from ADB and Civil Society Organization Engagement in South Asia.

This report reflects the commitment of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and its Strategy 2030 to strengthen collaboration with civil society and builds upon significant strides in the last year to update our approach to civil society through a suite of policy and guidance materials to assist our teams and government partners in operationalizing their engagement.

As part of this updated and strengthened approach to civil society engagement, ADB introduced a new corporate results