Nongovernment Organizations and Civil Society

News from ADB for Nongovernment Organizations
 May 2002, Volume 2, Issue 3

In this Issue

1. Workshops Seek Feedback on ADB Inspection Function
2. Board Approves Recommendations on Samut Prakarn
3. Environment Policy Goes Before ADB Board
4. Partners Rally to Help Reconstruct Afghanistan
5. Grant Boosts Water Supply and Sanitation in Rural Nepal
6. Street Children Ponder a Brighter Future as Artists for a Day
7. New Training Guide for Environmental Law Students
8. Grants Promote Airing of Sustainable Use Ideas
9. Global Witness Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
10. New "Wave" Carries Message to Developing World
11. Civil Society Meets ADB Staff and Management in Shanghai
12. NGO Visitors: Christian Children's Fund (CCF)
13. Upcoming Events
14. Latest Documents Available from ADB
15. Give us your comments

ADB will organize consultation workshops with stakeholders in several countries as part of its review of the Inspection Function. The consultations are an integral part of the policy review, which will consider lessons learned from ADB's experience with inspection requests, as well as input from the field and from those with an interest or involvement in the Inspection Function. The review will culminate in a working paper to be submitted to the Board of Directors for consideration later this year. The first workshop will be a regional meeting in Manila, 30-31 May 2002. Dates for subregional workshops are: Phnom Penh (13 August), Kathmandu (16 August), Beijing (23 August), and Sydney (26 August). Consultations are also planned in Tokyo (11 June), Frankfurt (26 June), and Washington, DC (28 June).

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ADB's Board of Directors has approved the recommendations of a standing committee, the Board Inspection Committee, regarding the Samut Prakarn Wastewater Management Project in Thailand. The inspection took place in response to a request by the Klong Dan community in April 2001. The project, which cost about $750 million, and was partly financed by ADB, is designed to manage industrial, commercial, and residential wastewater that flows to the sea through open canals and rivers in a heavily populated area. The wastewater poses health hazards for up to 1 million people, and pollutes a large area of coastline in the Gulf of Thailand. The Board's decision, Inspection Committee's Recommendations, Inspection Panel Report, and Management's Response may be viewed on ADB's website.

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ADB's proposed Environment Policy will help govern the way ADB seeks to improve environmental conditions in Asia and the Pacific, and the way it looks at the environment in its programs and projects. ADB's Board of Directors is discussing the Environment Policy Working Paper, which is also available on the Bank's website. ADB consulted with governments, NGOs, academics and the private sector at 22 national and regional workshops in preparing the document. More than 600 sets of comments were considered during the drafting process. Comments are still being accepted at environment@adb.org. Details about the consultation process, workshop schedule, participants, and comments are also available on the Internet, and on a CD-ROM available from ADB's Publications Unit.

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ADB will work with its member governments to provide assistance of about $500 million in highly concessional loans and grants over the first two-and-a-half years of the transitional Kabul administration. ADB, World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme jointly prepared the Preliminary Needs Assessment for Afghanistan's Recovery and Reconstruction. It recognizes that most international relief, rehabilitation and community development activities have been channeled through NGOs, and that NGOs effectively involve and target women, and other vulnerable groups. ADB's assistance will concentrate on poverty reduction. The main areas to receive attention will be irrigation rehabilitation, road reconstruction, and basic education.

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A $750,000 ADB project preparatory technical assistance grant will help the Government of Nepal develop a community-based water supply and sanitation system. In particular, the grant will help facilitate consensus among stakeholders to ensure effective local participation in the proposed project. The consensus process will be in collaboration with other development partners, including Water Aid, a leading international NGO in the global drinking water sector.

Through the participatory process, the grant will first establish a strategy for prioritizing investment decisions in the rural water supply and sanitation sector, and then develop a community driven project. It will also explore ways to mainstream women's participation in the project's decision-making and implementation. The grant is made possible by ADB's Japan Special Fund, financed by the Government of Japan.

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One thousand current and former street children from cities around Asia and the Pacific will use their artistic ability to express what they could do for themselves and their communities if given the opportunity. With the theme "If They Had the Chance...", the ADB-sponsored competition will be held between 5 May and 15 June in Dhaka, Jakarta, Kathmandu, Manila, Phnom Penh, Port Moresby, and Ulanbaatar. In most cities, the implementing partners will be an NGO involved in improving the lives of homeless youth. ADB will subsequently publish a book featuring some of the artists and their work. The book will enable children to communicate directly with the region's senior decisionmakers. Last year, ADB organized a similar art competition for Metro Manila street children (see story at link below). For more information, contact Bob Vokey at rvokey@adb.org.

http://www.adb.org/Documents/Periodicals/ADB_Review/2001/vol33_3/coloring.asp

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ADB has published the first Asia and the Pacific guide for environmental law students and government officials. The book establishes sustainable development as the basis for environmental law, and emphasizes social justice and equality. It is designed as a tool for lawmakers and those with an interest in environmental law in the region. It culls regional expertise in environmental law, particularly from universities, governments, the private sector, and NGOs. Its publication was a joint effort of ADB, the World Conservation Union, Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law, the United Nations Environment Programme, and others.

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The IUCN Sustainable Use Team, through Ford Foundation funding, is offering small grants to scholars from developing countries on the sustainable use of biological systems. The grants aim to promote science and scholarly exchange in developing countries. Priority will be given to proposals that address connections between people and nature in exploring sustainability. Priority will be given to grant applicants who seek to explore activities that employ innovative inter- or multidisciplinary approaches. The next quarterly deadline for applications is 30 June 2002. For more information, contact Ruth Barreto, IUCN/Ford Foundation Small Grants Coordinator, at rbarreto@iucnus.org.

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Global Witness and Partnership Africa Canada have been jointly nominated by U.S. House of Representatives and Senate members for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for work on links between conflict and diamonds in several African countries. Based in London, Global Witness, an international NGO, highlights links between environmental exploitation and human rights abuses, particularly where natural resources such as timber, diamonds and oil are used to fund conflict. In Cambodia, its efforts contributed to an end to cross-border trade in timber, which had been supporting the Khmer Rouge war effort in the mid-1990s. In late 1999, Global Witness was made official independent monitor of Cambodia's forestry sector. For more details on the work of Global Witness, contact mail@globalwitness.org.

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The Rockefeller Foundation has published Making Waves - Stories of Participatory Communication for Social Change, an account of 50 experiments of communication employed for social change and characterized by their participatory approaches and community "ownership". Examples are from all parts of the developing world, and highlight many communication vehicles, including radio, video, theatre, and the Internet. One case study reports on the Village Knowledge Centers established by the nonprofit M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai, India. The centers use new technologies to inform rural dwellers about issues such as health, inputs for agriculture, loans, transportation, weather reports, water-related data, and entitlements of rural families. Making Waves is available free on the Rockefeller Foundation's website.

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More than one hundred NGO representatives have been accredited to participate in the 35th Annual Meeting of ADB's Board of Governors in Shanghai, People's Republic of China, 10-12 May 2002. The meeting will be accompanied by seminars and other activities beginning on 8 May. Among scheduled NGO events are an Open Forum between NGOs and ADB staff, and a meeting with ADB President, Tadao Chino. The Annual Meeting presents an opportunity for NGOs and ADB Management, senior staff, and member country delegations to exchange information and views on ADB's operations and policies.

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This regular feature spotlights NGOs visiting the Asian Development Bank.

What began as a missionary's determination to help children affected by war more than 60 years ago has evolved into a broad community of sponsors reaching out to needy children and their families around the world. Today, Christian Children's Fund (CCF) helps more that 2.5 million children in over 30 countries, including East Timor, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. With support from individual donors, CCF provides children access to safe water, nutritious food, medical care, and education. Monthly donations go to particular projects. Combined with donations from other sponsors, they make programs available to meet the needs of all enrolled children.

Assistance to an individual child is in the form of a community-based service, because often it is the very infrastructure of the community that is lacking. This may be building a school, hiring a teacher, or providing school uniforms or supplies that enable the CCF child to attend an existing school. CCF often opens a community clinic to provide medical services to CCF children and others, or hires doctors or nurses to immunize children.

CCF maintains a system of accountability to ensure that funds directed to a project are used for the benefit of children. These controls include on-site reviews, budget evaluation, and comprehensive assessment and auditing of projects and in-country national offices. In each community where CCF operates, local project staff and/or volunteers regularly meet with families to collect health and education data on each child. This data is monitored for progress in areas such as immunizations, nutrition, diarrhea management, access to clean water, safe sanitation practices, adult literacy, and school enrollment. Based on the progress made, parent committees can implement programs to address the needs of the project's children.

For more information about CCF, contact the Fund's headquarters at 2821 Emerywood Parkway, Richmond, VA 23294, USA; tel: (1.800) 776.6767. CCF representative Nancy Villanueva-Ebuenga visited staff at ADB's NGO Center on 15 March and 3 April 2002.

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35th Annual Meeting of the ADB Board of Governors and related seminars, 8-12 May 2002, Shanghai, People's Republic of China. Contact: Robert J. Dobias, tel: (63.2) 632 5337; fax (63.2) 636.2192; e-mail: rdobias@adb.org

OECD Forum 2002 -- Taking Care of the Fundamentals: Security, Equity, Education and Growth, 13-15 May 2002, Paris, France. Contact: John West, tel: (33.1) 45.24.80.25; email: oecd.forum@oecd.org.

Jakarta People's Forum, an independent initiative of Indonesian civil society in the process toward the Johannesburg Summit to review the implementation of the Rio Declaration (Agenda 21) on sustainable development, 27 May-7 June 2002, Jakarta, Indonesia. Contact: Secretariat IPF, tel: (62.21) 794.1672; e-mail: Secretariat@jakartapeoplesforum.org.

Regional consultation workshop on review of ADB's Inspection Function, 30-31 May, Manila, Philippines. Contact: Suresh Nanwani, tel: (63.2) 632.4952; email: snanwani@adb.org.

Consultation workshop on review of ADB's Inspection Function, 11 June, Tokyo, Japan. Contact: Suresh Nanwani, tel: (63.2) 632.4952; email: snanwani@adb.org.

2nd World Bank-NGO Working Group for the Europe and Central Asia Region Assembly, 14-16 June, Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia. Contact: Liliana Proskuryakova, tel/fax: (7.812) 312.3887; email: wb-eca-ngo-wg@yandex.ru.

Consultation workshop on review of ADB's Inspection Function, 26 June, Frankfurt, Germany. Contact: Suresh Nanwani, tel: (63.2) 632.4952; email: snanwani@adb.org.

Consultation workshop on review of ADB's Inspection Function, 28 June, Washington, DC, USA. Contact: Suresh Nanwani, tel: (63.2) 632.4952; email: snanwani@adb.org.

Subregional consultation workshop on review of ADB's Inspection Function, 13 August, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Contact: Suresh Nanwani, tel: (63.2) 632.4952; email: snanwani@adb.org.

Subregional consultation workshop on review of ADB's Inspection Function, 16 August, Kathmandu, Nepal. Contact: Suresh Nanwani, tel: (63.2) 632.4952; email: snanwani@adb.org.

Subregional consultation workshop on review of ADB's Inspection Function, 23 August, Beijing, People's Republic of China. Contact: Suresh Nanwani, tel: (632) 632.4952; email: snanwani@adb.org.

Consultation workshop on review of ADB's Inspection Function, 26 August, Sydney, Australia. Contact: Suresh Nanwani, tel: (63.2) 632.4952; email: snanwani@adb.org.

Eighth Conference on Researching the Voluntary Sector, 3-4 September 2002, Nottingham, England, UK. Contact: Jayne Blackborow, National Council for Voluntary Organisations, tel: (44.207) 520.2484; fax: (44.207) 278.3972; email: jayne.blackborow@ncvo-vol.org.uk.

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ADB documents approved for public release, and sent to ADB Depository Libraries around the world, have been added to the Bank's web site. These documents include Country Economic Reviews, Country Economic Updates, Environmental Impact Assessments, Reports and Recommendations of the President, Summary Initial Environmental Examinations, and Technical Assistance Reports.

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© Copyright 2002. Partnership Newsletter is published six times a year by ADB's Office of External Relations in conjunction with the ADB NGO Center. Previous issues are available here. Hypertext links provided in Partnership Newsletter do not imply ADB endorsement of the views expressed on non-ADB web sites. Such links are provided solely as an information service. Published contributions do not necessarily represent the view of ADB Management, staff, or members. ADB reserves the right to edit submissions. Partnership Newsletter may be redistributed with credit given to Asian Development Bank.

NGO Center
Asian Development Bank
P.O. Box 789, Manila 0980, Philippines
Tel: (632) 632-4147; (632) 636-2648

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