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The Asian Development Bank and Non-Governmental Organizations: Working Together

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Directions in Development Thinking

The development experience of recent decades has shown that people, not systems, are the key to development. Development programs and projects are more successful when planning closely involves people who will benefit or be affected adversely. People are demanding a larger role in the planning and implementation of development efforts that will reshape their lives.

With the awareness that people are the most important consideration in development, development planning gradually is moving away from traditional investment projects that rely on economic growth trickling down to the disadvantaged, and toward projects that benefit the poor and other intended beneficiaries more directly.

In many of the Bank's developing member countries, an increasingly participatory approach to development is being adopted. Besides the need to make development efforts more responsive, planners recognize that the direct involvement of affected people in programs and projects can help avoid implementation problems. Involvement of people affected also increases the likelihood of development efforts realizing their intended benefits. At the same time, shrinking aid resources has forced governments to look toward communities sharing the costs of new facilities and services being provided. Cost recovery, whether partial of full, is difficult unless projects are designed in cooperation with beneficiaries, to meet their priority needs in the most efficient and effective ways possible.

One way of ensuring closer beneficiary involvement is to work with and through nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In the development arena, NGOs typically are private, voluntary, non-profit and service-oriented organizations dedicated to helping improve people's welfare and quality of life.

Recognizing this, the Bank seeks closer cooperation with NGOs in its operations. This brochure explains how the Bank is working with NGOs, and hopes to encourage NGOs themselves to continue to explore new ways of working with governments and the Bank.

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