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ADB President Chino Addresses the World Conservation Forum
ADB President Tadao Chino said a “ ‘grow now, clean up later’ approach to development is simply not sustainable,” in his keynote speech to the World Conservation Forum in Bangkok on 20 November 2004. The Forum attracted thousands of delegates, including representatives of hundreds of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) engaged in environment-related initiatives. In his address, Mr. Chino also observed that, “eliminating poverty and protecting the environment will require additional partnerships, innovative approaches, and even greater commitment in the years to come,” and highlighted ADB’s commitment to work with its partners to end environmental degradation. While in Bangkok, President Chino joined Achim Steiner, Director General, IUCN-The World Conservation Union, in signing a memorandum of understanding that affirms the two organizations’ shared commitment to poverty reduction and sustainable development. For more information, contact Bart Édes at ngocoordinator@adb.org.
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Stakeholders Provide Feedback on Bank Policies
ADB is reviewing the implementation of its policies on Anticorruption and Governance, and of its Private Sector Development Strategy. Consultations on the three documents have been held with stakeholders in several countries and through the Internet. Separately, the comment period on the second consultation draft of the proposed Public Communications Policy (PCP) ended on 24 November 2004. Feedback received through that date has been taken into consideration in preparing a formal Working Paper, which will soon be submitted to ADB’s Board of Directors for its deliberation.
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ADB Welcomes NGOs to the 38th Annual Meeting
NGOs and other civil society organizations (CSOs) are invited to participate in ADB’s 38th Annual Meeting, to be held in Istanbul, Turkey from 4 to 6 May 2005. The Annual Meeting presents an opportunity for NGO staff to interact with senior ADB officials and country delegations. Beginning on 2 May 2005, several sessions will be held on topics of particular interest to NGOs. To participate in the Annual Meeting, NGO representatives must first be accredited and then register for the program. NGOs that have been accredited for previous Annual Meetings generally retain their accreditation. Those interested in participating in the event must express their interest to the NGO Center (ngocoordinator@adb.org) by 25 February 2005.
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KIAsia to Host Secretariat for NGO-Private Sector Network
The Bangkok-based Kenan Institute Asia (KIAsia) has been selected as the Secretariat for a new network supporting NGO-Private Sector Partnerships Against Poverty. The network has emerged from a workshop held 28-30 March 2004, and organized by ADB, the Population and Community Development Association (of Thailand), and GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals to explore ways in which NGOs and the private sector could collaborate for socially and environmentally beneficial causes. Thirty representatives of NGOs, businesses, and private sector foundations met in Pattaya, Thailand to share case studies, strategies, perspectives, and models for NGO-private sector partnerships. The broad objective of the Network is to identify, and exchange information about, opportunities for development cooperation between NGOs and the private sector in Asia and the Pacific, and to actively nurture such cooperation. The Network will be formally launched in February 2005. For more information, contact Pareena Prayukvong, Development and Fundraising Specialist, KIAsia at pareenap@kiasia.org.
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Pilot Program Gives Boost to 60 NGO Initiatives
Since 2003, ADB’s NGO/Civil Society Committee has approved over $800,000 in small grants to 60 NGO-run projects in 15 developing countries. ADB’s Poverty Reduction Cooperation Fund provides financing for these projects though a pilot program designed to support small-scale NGO initiatives. With most of the available funds now allocated, ADB will, in 2005, evaluate the pilot and consider possibilities for creating a permanent NGO small grants fund. To date, grants have been provided to support handicrafts training for disabled women in the Kyrgyz Republic, a biogas demonstration project in the People’s Republic of China, legal aid clinics in Peshawar in Pakistan, poultry raising in Viet Nam, an NGO Information Center in the Cook Islands, and many other activities. For more information, contact Bart Édes at ngocoordinator@adb.org.
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Project in Rural Indonesia Promotes Good Health at Home
The ADB-financed Family Health and Nutrition Project has contributed to higher family sanitation and health standards in remote rural areas of five far-flung provinces of Indonesia—Bengkulu, Jambi, Central and South Kalimantan, and North Sumatra. The project is focused in villages to create partnerships between families and the staff of the puskesmas, the vast network of local health centers. Together they have been trying to improve family health and nutrition, lower maternal and infant mortality rates, reduce disease levels, and raise life expectancy— targets that are also embraced in the Millennium Development Goals. For more information, contact Jacques Jeugmans at jjeugmans@adb.org.
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Grant Provides Affordable Water Services to Urban Poor in Uzbekistan
ADB has approved a $1.5 million grant to provide affordable water services for the urban poor and conserve water resources in Uzbekistan. The grant from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR), financed by the Government of Japan, will help the mostly poor residents of apartment buildings in the cities of Djizzak, Gulistan, and Karshi obtain better yet affordable water services. About half the country's apartment buildings require major repairs for leaking roofs, basement flooding due to pipe corrosion, leaking water systems or poor drainage, and ineffective heating and hot water supply. These problems waste water and damage the building structure. To promote sustainability, the project will also encourage community participation in managing water supply services. For more information, contact Raushan Mamatkulov at rmamatkulov@adb.org.
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Knowledge Brings Positive Change for Lao Farmers
The Community-Managed Livelihood Improvement Project is helping thousands of residents in poor villages of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic increase their incomes through livestock rearing; production of cash crops such as chili, peanuts, or garlic; fishpond expansion; and silk or cotton weaving. The project, financed by a $1 million grant from the JFPR, is creating sustainable, area-based, and community-owned alternative sources of income for and with the targeted poor through their increased involvement in farm-based production and related activities. Each village, in cooperation with NGOs implementing the project, determines the income-generating opportunities to be pursued, the types of training required to meet its goals, and the timetable under which beneficiary families will receive loans from the project’s village revolving fund. For more information, contact Michiko Katagami at mkatagami@adb.org.
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Thousands of Female Local Officials Receive Training in Nepal
To empower elected women ward representatives in Nepal, ADB provided a $20,000 grant in September 2000 to the Centre for Development and Population Activities, an NGO, to provide training in local public service. The project focused on raising understanding among elected women ward representatives of their roles, and on boosting their confidence and capacity to participate in local government. The project was implemented in four village development committees - one each in Lalitpur, Rupendehi, Dang, and Morang districts - representing the central, western, midwestern, and eastern regions of Nepal, respectively. The project has trained nearly 5,000 women officials. For more information, contact Kavita Sherchan at ksherchan@adb.org.
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Multilateral Development Banks Reaffirm Commitment Against Corruption
On the first anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Convention against Corruption on 2-3 December 2004, representatives of ADB and four other multilateral development banks issued a joint statement in Washington, DC. The statement reaffirms their “shared commitment to fight corruption in their respective operations and projects, and to this end, to reiterate their institutions’ commitment to protect staff against reprisals arising from the reporting in good faith of allegations of fraud, corruption, or other misconduct to the designated authorities within these institutions.” For more information, contact Michael Stevens at amstevens@adb.org.
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Award Recognizes NGO Innovations to Achieve Sustainability
Changemakers and Ashoka's Citizen Base Initiative are inviting submissions for the Changemakers Innovation Award. The aim of this global competition is to identify and reward organizations that have pioneered a “citizen base” approach to sustaining their organizations. The prizes will given to the five best ideas for creatively generating resources from a diversified citizen base, comprising of individual citizens and citizen organizations, businesses, and media. Eligible participants include NGOs, civil associations, foundations, community-based organizations, cooperatives, and schools. Deadline for nominations is 14 January 2005. For more information, contact Changemakers at cmcbi@changemakers.net.
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ADBI Seeks Nominations for Developing Asia Journalism Awards
For the second year in a row, the ADB Institute (ADBI) is sponsoring the Developing Asia Journalism Awards to acknowledge Asian and Pacific print journalists who cover development issues and the impact these have in the region. The awards will focus on excellence in journalistic reporting in four strategic areas of development: poverty; people and development; women and development; and development agencies and development. Nationals from most ADB developing member countries in the Asia and Pacific region are eligible. The deadline is 14 January 2005. For more information, contact Grant Stillman at gstillman@adbi.org.
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NGO Visitors: The Global Exchange for Social Investment
This regular feature spotlights one of the many CSOs that meet with ADB staff at the ADB headquarters each month.
Launched in January 2004, and headquartered in Berlin, the Global Exchange for Social Investment (GEXSI) is a unique development organization. GEXSI’s aim is to support achievement of the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals by serving as a development broker, market creator, and networking agency. In the context of limited public finances for international development, GEXSI nurtures cooperation among private investors, private-public partnerships, and philanthropists to support development initiatives.
GEXSI provides advisory services on social investment to banks, investment funds, businesses, corporate social responsibility programs, and “development entrepreneurs.” It also keeps watch on best practices in the field of development, and provides market research on demand, in accordance with thematic, regional, and other investor preferences. The organization identifies successful institutions, projects, and programs that can be replicated, syndicates cofinancing, and provides quality assurance services and reporting templates. In addition, GEXSI supports development of ACCESS as a global standard for ratings in the development entrepreneurship sector.
GEXSI promotes market-based social investment, and establishes schemes for financial mobilization. It creates special funds, advises on “triple bottom line” investments, and helps to scale up successful, innovative finance and fundraising instruments. GEXSI operates through a small Global Support Unit, and is developing a "franchise-model" with local and regional hubs to which it will license the "GEXSI standards." These decentralized exchanges will base their operations on quality standards, and will have access to the Global Unit's network of experts and partners.
As one of GEXSI’s key sponsors, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), the German international cooperation agency, offers GEXSI linkages to its own network of 10,000 experts, offices in 120 countries, and a specialized private-public partnership program. Other sponsors include Deutsche Bank, Foursome Investments, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, Bain & Company, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and the Soros Open Society Institute.
Maritta R. von Bieberstein Koch-Weser, Chief Executive Officer, GEXSI, met with ADB Management and several senior ADB staff members in Manila, 21-24 November 2004. For more information about GEXSI, visit http://www.gexsi.org, or contact GEXSI, Reichpietschufer 20D, 10785 Berlin, Germany; tel: (49.30) 726.14.482; fax: (49.30) 726.14.492.
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Upcoming Events
A listing in this section does not imply ADB endorsement or availability of funding for participants.
- Operationalizing Knowledge Management in NGOs (international workshop), 13-14 January 2005, Bali, Indonesia. Contact: Stratagility, e-mail: michael.schueber@stratagility.com; tel: (62.81) 3388.00036; web site: http://www.comminit.com/training2005/2005-events/events-3269.html.
- International Conference on Education for a Sustainable Future, 18-20 January 2005, Ahmedabad, India. Contact: Centre for Environment Education, e-mail: esf@ceeindia.org; tel: (91.79) 2685.8002; fax: (91.79) 2685.8010; web site: http://www.ceeindia.org.
- Supporting Southern Advocacy (training course), 19-21 January 2005, London, United Kingdom. Contact: Abigail Laing, e-mail: training@intrac.org; (44.1865) 201.851; fax: (44.1865) 201.852; web site: http://www.intrac.org./Intrac/INTRACHomePage_en.html.
- Managing Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (training course), 19-21 January 2005, London, United Kingdom. Contact: Abigail Laing, e-mail: training@intrac.org; (44.1865) 201.851; fax: (44.1865) 201.852; web site: http://www.intrac.org./Intrac/INTRACHomePage_en.html.
- International Course on Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation, 28 February–18 March 2005, Silang, Cavite, Philippines. Contact: IIRR, e-mail: Education&Training@iirr.org; web site: http://www.comminit.com/training2005/2005-events/events-2854.html.
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Latest Documents Available from ADB
ADB makes hundreds of documents publicly available each year on its web site and through a growing network of 170 depository libraries around the world. The extensive online Publications Catalog allows users to browse through a list of over 4,000 titles. These include Country Economic Reviews, Environmental Impact Assessments, Project Completion Reports (PCRs), Summary Initial Environmental Examinations, Technical Assistance Completion Reports (TACRs), and Technical Assistance Reports (TARs).
Examples of recently published documents include Combating Trafficking of Women and Children in South Asia TACR; Nam Leuk Hydropower Project Project Performance Audit Report (Lao People’s Democratic Republic); Mobilization of Grassroots Stakeholders for Pro-Poor Social Service Delivery (Sindh) TAR (Pakistan); Rural Finance Reforms and Development of Microfinance Institutions TAR (People’s Republic of China); Capacity Building to Support the Outer Islands Development Program TACR (Kiribati); and Sulawesi Rainfed Agriculture Development Project PCR (Indonesia).
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