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ADB Reorganization

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Five Regional Departments Improve Country Focus

A major objective of the reorganization of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) was to strengthen ADB's country focus and unify accountability for all its services to a particular developing member country (DMC) within one department.

Since 1995, ADB has steadily moved away from a project and sector focus toward a country focus. ADB's policy on the resident missions in its DMCs, adopted in 2000, reinforced this trend; and the country strategy and program (CSP), with its emphasis on a holistic countrywide approach to development, has emerged as a key planning tool.

Now the reorganization has taken this process one step further, offering each of ADB's clients, specifically its DMCs, a "one-window" department for its dealings with ADB. ADB's new regional departments promote integrated development suited to individual country needs. Each department covers a group of geographically contiguous countries, allowing ADB to focus more narrowly on individual countries and support subregional cooperation wherever appropriate.

Four new departments have been set up and the existing Office of Pacific Operations has been redesignated as the Pacific Department. The geographic areas included in the five regions have been identified based on several considerations: geographic proximity; similarities in culture, economic systems, and social organization; stage of development; operational convenience; scope for subregional cooperation and linkages with existing subregional groups; and least disruption to ADB operations.

The five regional departments cover East and Central Asia, the Mekong, the Pacific, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Every department manages the full range of ADB activities in each of the countries it covers, including the CSP, and the design and implementation of all programs and projects.

The resident missions in each region report to the head of the regional department. In line with ADB's Resident Mission Policy, the structure and responsibilities allocated to the missions are determined on a country-by-country basis. This approach works well in practice and takes account of country needs and resident mission capacity. Within this overall approach, resident missions take on more responsibilities over time.

Each regional department has a regional management team, which consists of the director general, deputy director general, and directors, as well as country directors based in the DMCs. The team concept is of paramount importance in the functioning of the regional departments. Each country has a country team, headed by senior staff at ADB headquarters or in the respective resident mission. The country team includes staff not only from within the regional department, but also from other ADB departments if needed. The objective of the country team is to maintain a country perspective for all operations, prepare collectively the country program of assistance through the CSP and CSP updates for the country, and review regularly country operations.

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