National Poverty Reduction Strategies Fund

RETA 6171: Reviewing Poverty Impact of Regional Economic Integration in the GMS - Regional
Financed by the Cooperation Fund in Support of the Formulation and Implementation of National Poverty Reduction Strategies

Project Summary

Regional integration is expected to significantly contribute to economic growth and improve livelihoods of the people living in the GMS. However, appropriate regional, national, and local strategies are required to ensure that the poor benefit equitably from regional integration. This is particularly important for communities that are in the front line of border interactions and thus are likely to be directly impacted be regional integration. Systematic information on regional dimensions of poverty is needed to inform regional, national and local policies and strategies.

The technical assistance (TA) has been prepared to provide a more comprehensive information base about cross-border livelihood interactions and poverty. The immediate objective of this TA is to assess the distribution of benefits and costs of cross-border interactions among different groups, and identify ways to maximize the benefits to the poor and minimize the negative impacts. The key outputs of this TA include:

• Quantitative data and qualitative information on the benefits and issues related to cross-border interactions
• Recommendations to maximize the benefits of the poor and minimize the negative impacts
• Enhanced national capacity for collection, processing and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data
• Better understanding of cross-border livelihood strategies of the poor as complementary inputs to the formulation or modification of NPRSs
• Recommendations for ADB operations in the provinces covered under this initiatives.

An executive summary report containing a regional comparison of the country findings and the country reports will be produced. Other deliverables will include data sets on poverty issues in selected cross-border areas in the four countries, which would be made available to national and external researches for further analaysis.

• TA Paper
• TACR
• More Project Information
• Press Release
• Regional Workshop: Reviewing Poverty Impact of Regional Integration in the GMS
• Case Study [ PDF: 87kb | 2 pages ]
• Final Regional Workshop: Reviewing the Poverty Impacts of Regional Economic Integration
• Article: Regional Economic Integration in the Mekong [ PDF: 167kb | 2 pages ]