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Action Plan Aims to Boost ADB's Effectiveness in Addressing Poverty
ADB has launched an action plan for a reform agenda to make the institution a more effective, dynamic, and results-driven catalyst for poverty reduction and prosperity in Asia and the Pacific. At a special assembly bringing together staff, Management, and Board members at ADB's Manila headquarters on 14 June 2004, ADB President Tadao Chino said that the reforms would improve the quality of assistance provided to ADB's developing member countries. "By doing so, we will be a more effective development partner as we strive to reduce poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals over the next decade," he said. Under an overall theme of "Development Effectiveness: Achieving Results Together," the reforms will address four major challenges: managing for development results; improving results on the ground; improving openness, accountability, and responsiveness; and enhancing organizational capability. For more information, contact manage4results@adb.org.
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ADB to Meet with Stakeholders in South and Central Asia on Public Communications
In July, ADB will meet with more than 100 representatives of the public, private, and nonprofit sectors in Bangladesh, India, and the Kyrgyz Republic on the proposed Public Communications Policy (PCP). To date, ADB has discussed the draft policy with stakeholders in ten ADB member countries. The coming workshops will complete the face-to-face consultation phase of the policy's formulation. Input received on the document will be taken into consideration in preparing a new draft that will be made available for public comment via ADB's web site. For more information, contact Bart W. Édes at disclosure@adb.org.
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Public Invited to Comment on Interim Review of ADB's Water Policy
ADB's Water Policy stipulates that an in-house review on policy implementation should be conducted in the third year (2003), and that this interim review should be reported to the Board of Directors. ADB's Water Sector Committee completed the interim review and presented its results in a Board Information Paper that has been made available on the Bank's web site. The results showed encouraging progress in improving water services, conservation, participation, and water governance; modest progress in introducing integrated water resource management and improving regional cooperation; and limited progress in promoting a national focus on water sector reforms. ADB welcomes public comments on the interim review, and will consider input received as it prepares for a comprehensive implementation review, scheduled in 2005. Comments on the interim review may be sent to water@adb.org.
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ADB Responds to Feedback on Proposed Pacific Strategy
ADB is preparing a new strategy to guide its operations in the Pacific to improve development performance in the region. ADB produced a discussion paper on the strategy, setting out ideas for policies and approaches that respond to the priorities of the poor. Governments, NGOs, private sector, academia, and donors in the Pacific and neighboring countries were consulted on the discussion paper between April and June 2004. A summary of the feedback received at workshops and through ADB web site has been posted on the web site, along with ADB's proposed responses to the issues raised. For more information, contact Bill Costello at pacificstrategy@adb.org.
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NGO Offers Microfinance and Health Services to Women in Mindanao
Some 1,600 poor women market vendors in Mindanao will soon avail of day care centers and basic health care facilities from an NGO promoting women's empowerment in the southern Philippines. The NGO, Women in Enterprise Development of the Notre Dame Foundation for Charitable Activities, will establish women’s resource centers in at least eight sites in Mindanao, fully equipped with audio-visual and reference materials to improve self-help capabilities. The centers will also serve as day care or drop-in centers for infant and preschool children of the women. It will also provide storage and washing facilities for the vendors’ market products. The 3-year project is funded through a $1 million grant from ADB’s Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, financed by the Government of Japan. For more information, contact Suzanne Wendt at swendt@adb.org.
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Development Gateway Recognizes ADB-Supported Project in Bangladesh
GrameenPhone, Bangladesh's major mobile cellular phone network, has been chosen from a field of more than 200 nominees for the Development Gateway Foundation's first-ever Petersberg Prize. The 100,000 euro prize recognizes Grameen's outstanding achievement in the use of information and communication technology to improve people's lives. In June 2004, ADB approved a loan of up to $20 million to finance the expansion of GrameenPhone (registration required). The project will also facilitate expansion of a village pay telephone service operated by Grameen Telecom which leases telephones to local entrepreneurs, who then sell telephone services to fellow villagers. Operators are selected from among women villagers, most of whom are poor. In 1988, ADB was among the sponsors of the initial build-out of GrameenPhone, providing a package of $1.5 million equity and $16.67 million debt to support the initiative. For more information, contact Stephen Wermert at swermert@adb.org.
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Palau and Viet Nam Endorse Anticorruption Action Plan
Palau and Viet Nam became the 22nd and 23rd countries, respectively, to endorse the ADB-OECD Anti-Corruption Action Plan for Asia and the Pacific. Both countries are represented at the 5th Steering Group Meeting (registration required), being held 5-7 July 2004 in Manila. Also attending are focal points of the 21 other endorsing countries, members of the advisory council, and representatives of observer countries. Transparency International and the Pacific Basin Economic Council are among the members of the advisory council. For more details, contact Jak Jabes at jjabes@adb.org.
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Project Tackles Land Degradation in PRC
ADB is administering a $13.8 million project partly funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to combat land degradation in the impoverished western region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The country faces some of the world's most serious land degradation problems, which have profound social and economic consequences, including lower household incomes, increased poverty, greater joblessness, and higher migration rates. The degradation is also threatening biodiversity in a region rich in endemic species, and is a major source of dust storms that affect the north and northwest of PRC, as well as nearby countries. The project aims to strengthen institutions and government agencies while developing a participatory, scientific, and comprehensive approach to curbing land degradation. It is the first step in a $1.5 billion, 10-year program set up under the GEF-PRC Partnership on Land Degradation in Dryland Ecosystems. For more details, contact Bruce Carrad at bcarrad@adb.org.
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Inspection Panel Releases Draft Report on Chashma
The Inspection Panel, appointed to conduct an independent inspection of the Chashma Right Bank Irrigation Project (Stage III) in Pakistan, has submitted its final report to ADB's Board Inspection Committee (BIC). On 10 June 2004, the report was forwarded to ADB Management, which is expected to respond to it by 9 July 2004. For more details, contact Jill Drilon at jdrilon@adb.org.
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No Change Reported in Suspended Samut Prakarn Project
ADB Management has provided the fourth Semi-Annual Report to the Board of Directors on Implementation of the Recommendations of the Board Inspection Committee on the Samut Prakarn Wastewater Management Project (Thailand). In early 2003, as a result of investigations into the Project initiated by Thailand's Minister for Natural Resources and Environment, the turnkey contract was declared null and void on the basis that there had been contractual irregularities. The latest Semi-Annual Report confirms that the Project remains incomplete and suspended.
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Publication Provides Direction in Efforts to Counteract Urban Poverty
ADB has published City Development Strategies to Reduce Poverty, which highlights the urban paradox that amid the relative wealth and prosperity of cities, a high incidence of poverty persists within them. The publication presents the results of ADB technical assistance that developed concepts and techniques for preparing "city development strategies" and "cities without slums" programs. It also features case studies that suggesting that for cities to benefit from their comparative advantages, they should increase their efficiency, govern better, and establish coherent poverty reduction programs. Hard copies of City Development Strategies are available for $20, while a soft copy can be downloaded for free. To order, contact adbpub@adb.org.
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NGO Visitors: ADRA International
This regular feature spotlights one of the many civil society organizations that meet with ADB staff each month.
The Adventist Development and Relief Agency International (ADRA) is the worldwide humanitarian arm of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Established to provide individual and community development and disaster relief, ADRA maintains a presence in more than 120 countries. ADRA operates in five core portfolio activities: food security, economic development, primary health, disaster response and preparedness, and basic education.
ADRA's focus is on communities and families as a whole. Children are major beneficiaries of ADRA programs that seek to integrate health, safe water, sanitation, food production, family business, and basic education and literacy. ADRA works in most Asian countries, including Afghanistan, where it is implementing a $2 million basic health project in the Panjab and Waras districts of Bamyan province. The project began in October 2003, seeking to improve the health of women of reproductive age and children age five and younger by reducing the most common causes of mortality and morbidity.
In Cambodia, ADRA is working with local partners to train Buddhist leaders, local authorities, and people living with HIV/AIDS to help reduce discrimination and facilitate changes in social attitudes toward those with HIV/AIDS. Earlier this year, an ADRA project in Kazakhstan provided treatment for tuberculosis to more than 1,000 persons, primarily newly released prisoners, at four rehabilitation centers. In April 2003, ADRA began operating a soup kitchen to provide food to 100 vulnerable people in the Sergili District of Uzbekistan's Tashkent Region. In addition to providing a meal twice a week, ADRA also gave kitchen supplies, and repaired the kitchen and dining room.
In 2003, ADRA funded more than 550 development projects and more than 420 relief projects, which directly touched the lives of more than 22 million men, women, and children. ADRA's worldwide network includes almost 4,000 employees.
Brendon Irvine, Director, ADRA Lao, gave a presentation on "Map-Based Approaches for Planning Sustainable Livelihood Options" to staff at ADB headquarters on 6 July 2004. The presentation focused on planning to enhance livelihood options in a subcatchment area of the ADB-financed Greater Mekong Subregion Northern Economic Corridor in the Lao People's Democratic Republic. To learn more about ADRA, visit http:/www.adra.org, or contact ADRA, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, Maryland 20904, USA, tel: (1.800) 424.2372.
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Upcoming Events
A listing in this section does not imply ADB endorsement or availability of funding for participants.
- Mobilization Towards Financial Self-Reliance (training course), 12-13 July (followed by distance learning through 13 August) 2004, Karachi, Pakistan. Contact: NGO Resource Centre, e-mail: dme@ngorc.org.pk; web site: http://www.ngorc.org.pk; tel: (92.21) 583.3945; fax: (92.21) 586.5503.
- Conducting Training Need Assessment (training course), 19-21 July 2004, Islamabad, Pakistan. Contact: NGO Resource Centre, e-mail: dme@ngorc.org.pk; web site: http://www.ngorc.org.pk; tel: (92.21) 583.3945; fax: (92.21) 586.5503.
- Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation Workshop, 28-31 July 2004, Ottawa, Canada. Contact: Mosaic.net International, e-mail: workshop@mosaic-net-intl.ca; web site: http://www.mosaic-net-intl.ca/pmeworkshop.html; tel: (1.613) 728.1439; fax: (1.613) 728.1154.
- 11th Asia Pacific Regional Fundraising Workshop, 14-17 September 2004, Manila, Philippines. Contact: Lilliana Vucicevic, Resource Alliance, e-mail: lilliana@resource-alliance.org; web site: http://www.resource-alliance.org/page.php?sectionid=6&subsectionid=86&pageid=388.
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Latest Documents Available from ADB
ADB makes hundreds of documents publicly available each year on its web site (http://www.adb.org) and through a growing network of 168 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), Reports and Recommendations of the President, Summary Initial Environmental Examinations, and Technical Assistance Reports (TARs).
Recently published documents include: Renewable Energy Development Project PCR (India); Gas Generation from Waste Project TAR (Indonesia); Public Sector Reform Program Project Performance Audit Report (Marshall Islands); Judicial Independence Project Technical Assistance Completion Report (Regional); Flood Emergency Rehabilitation Project PCR (Kyrgyz Republic); Strengthening of the Statistical System of the China Banking Regulatory Commission TAR (PRC); and Bangladesh Development Forum 2004 Conference Report.
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