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Consultation Workshops for ADB's Safeguard Policy Update

Background | Objectives | Meeting Format | Expected Outputs | Target Participants

• Central and West Asia Consultation (Bishkek, 14-15 November 2007)
• Consultation with Indigenous Peoples (Manila, 26-27 November 2007)
• Philippines Consultation (Manila, 28-29 November 2007)
• South Asia Consultation (New Delhi, 16-17 January 2008)
• Consultation with Civil Society (New Delhi, 18 January 2008)
• Pacific Consultation (Sydney, 30-31 January 2008)
• Indonesia Consultation (Jakarta, 12-13 February 2008)
• East Asia Consultation (Beijing, 27-28 February 2008)
• Mekong Consultation (Hanoi, 5-6 March 2008)
• Pakistan Consultation (Islamabad, 26-27 March 2008)
• North America Consultation (Washington [ PDF: 42kb | 1 page ], 1 April 2008 and Quebec, 3 April 2008)
• Europe Consultation (Frankfurt, 17 April 2008)
• Japan Consultation (Tokyo, 22 April 2008)

ADB has three safeguard policies: Policy on Involuntary Resettlement (1995), Policy on Indigenous Peoples (1998), and Environment Policy (2002). The ongoing Safeguard Policy Update was initiated to improve the effectiveness of these policies and enhance their relevance to changing client needs and new lending modalities.

The update is intended to

• articulate the safeguard requirements to improve their clarity, coherence and consistency;
• balance a front-loaded procedural approach with one more focused on results during implementation;
• make policy implementation more adaptable in practice to match an evolving range of lending products and innovative financing modalities;
• work towards greater harmonization with safeguard practices across multilateral financial institutions and tailor safeguard approaches to different clients with different capacities; and
• improve internal processes and resource allocation.

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The objective of the consultation workshops is to engage multi-stakeholders and clarify their comments and recommendations on the Consultation Draft of the Safeguard Policy Statement [ PDF: 509kb | 86 pages ].

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Professional facilitation by ADB consultants for each consultation meeting will be provided. Subregional cum country consultations are expected to span 2 days and include:

Presentations

• ADB's proposed safeguard policy objectives, principles, and requirements highlighting key differences in existing and proposed safeguard policies
• Policy delivery process including general and specific requirements (such as strengthening and use of country systems), and ADB-borrower/client roles and responsibilities

Breakout Groups

• Multi-stakeholder grouping by policy area to maximize contributions from participants with specialist knowledge of specific policies, and to promote the exchange of their expertise.
• Single stakeholder grouping by affiliation to maximize the opportunity for exchange of experiences and contexts among various sectors on the proposed policy delivery process

Sessions in Plenary

• Following each presentation, a brief clarification session will be provided. At this point, questions of understanding will be discussed in order to establish a clear basis for the breakout group.
• At the end of each breakout group, representatives will report the visualized results of the group work, and respond to clarificatory questions. Group work results as well as discussion highlights will be fully documented and recognized as essential inputs to the Consultation Draft of the Safeguard Policy Statement [ PDF: 509kb | 86 pages ].
• An additional session in plenary is set on the second day to provide space for broader comments on the Consultation Draft of the Safeguard Policy Statement [ PDF: 509kb | 86 pages ].

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Each consultation is expected to generate a summary report reflecting participants' views, including the following:

• comments, observations, and recommendations on key elements of the Consultation Draft of the Safeguard Policy Statement,
• other relevant concerns and suggestions articulated by the participants

Consultation summaries will be circulated for participant review and comment before finalization and posting on the website for broader circulation.

A matrix of comments and recommendations and staff responses will be prepared and posted on the website after the consultation period for the Consultation Draft of the Safeguard Policy Statement.

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Consultations will be subregional in scope and aim to balance representation as appropriate and possible across stakeholder groups, geography, gender, and the main policy areas outlined in ADB's three safeguard policies: environment, involuntary resettlement, and indigenous peoples. It is foreseen that consultation invitations will be distributed proportionately among representatives of government, civil society, project-affected people, academe, private sector, and development partners. The success of the consultations depends largely on the selection of participants. Participants will be expected to:

• have direct experience or exposure to safeguard issues during the last 10 years, particularly those involving ADB projects and
• be interested and willing to familiarize themselves with the Consultation Draft in preparation, spend the time specified for the external consultation meeting and contribute constructively in a consultation environment.

The determination of invitees involves a deliberate search for individuals who can best provide the inputs that ADB seeks. If necessary, financial support will be provided to invited participants to defray the cost of participating in the consultation.

A preliminary list of potential participants has been developed, identifying a broad array of stakeholders from the following sources: ADB staff networks, safeguard experts, NGO and Civil Society Center, NGO Forum on ADB, Bank Information Center, and from self-nominations.

A process of cross-validating and updating the preliminary participants' lists is undertaken with the assistance of ADB specialists and focal persons at ADB Headquarters and Resident Missions, as well as with NGO network partners.

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Read the Consultation Report