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1. ADB Approves Measures to Enhance Operations Evaluation Function
ADB’s Board of Directors has approved measures to enhance the independence and overall effectiveness of ADB's operations evaluation function. The measures are based on a comprehensive review of the evaluation function conducted by a working group set up by ADB President, Mr. Haruhiko Kuroda, in March.
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2. Philippines Receives Support for Food Security
ADB is supporting the Philippines’ efforts to improve food security and cut rural poverty amid a sharp surge in global food prices. The Japan Special Fund, through ADB, is providing a $1 million technical assistance grant to finance an analysis of the Philippines’ agriculture and irrigation sectors. Farmers and other beneficiaries will participate in the design, development, and management process of the Irrigation System Operation Efficiency Improvement Project. For more information, contact Ian Makin, Senior Water Resources Management Specialist, Southeast Asia Department (SERD), at imakin@adb.org.
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3. Pilot Program Boosts HIV/AIDS Awareness in Yunnan Province
Li Lun, a former rural doctor, has visited more than 1,000 homes in Lincang prefecture of mountainous Yunnan province in the People’s Republic of China to improve local understanding about how to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. She is part of a grassroots HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention program developed by the international NGO, Humana People to People, called "TCE"-Total Control of the Epidemic. The program has been adapted and piloted in Yunnan with the support of ADB, which has provided financing through a regional technical assistance project. For more information, contact Chris Spohr, Social Sector Economist, PRC Resident Mission, at cspohr@adb.org.
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4. Emergency Food Assistance Reaches the Tables of Cambodia
More than 68,000 of Cambodia's poorest families have received emergency food assistance through an ADB grant approved in late October to early November. The project has targeted the poorest 20% of poor families in 200 selected communes around Tonle Sap Lake, and in a northern province. Buddhism for Development and CEDAC are among the NGOs that have monitored rice distribution. For more information, contact Piseth Long, Project Implementation Officer, Cambodia Resident Mission, at plong@adb.org.
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5. Project Finances Clean up of Major Indonesian River
ADB has approved a $500 million loan and technical assistance package to assist Indonesia in improve water resources management in the heavily polluted Citarum River, which accounts for most of Bandung's and Jakarta’s surface water supply. Initial assistance will provide safe water supply and sanitation facilities for poor families who rely on water from the polluted river. It will also allow the cultivation of additional irrigated crops, reduce flooding, and improve the environment. A Water Council will be created to ensure that communities are effectively consulted about management of the water basin. For more information, contact Chris Morris, Senior Water Resources Engineer, SERD, at cmorris@adb.org.
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6. Regional and Sustainable Development Department Realigns Work Units
Work units within ADB’s Regional and Sustainable Development Department (RSDD) have been realigned to strengthen RSDD’s capacity to fulfill its mandate under Strategy 2020. The NGO and Civil Society Center is now part of the Governance and Capacity Development Division, which will be renamed the Public Management and Participation Division. Kathleen Moktan serves concurrently as the division’s director and Practice Leader for Public Management and Governance. In addition, Robert J. Dobias, former Director, Gender, Social Development, and Civil Society Division, has been named Senior Adviser/Climate Change Program Coordinator.
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7. Global Health Council Seeks Nominations for Award
The Global Health Council is calling for nominations for the Jonathon Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights. Sponsored by four organizations, Association François-Xavier, Doctors of the World, John Snow, Inc. and the Global Health Council, the award is bestowed annually to a leading practitioner in health and human rights and comes with a substantial financial reward to allow its recipients a measure of freedom to pursue their work in the area of global health and human rights. For more information, contact Dawn Carey at dcarey@globalhealth.org.
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8. Report Highlights Lessons Learned from Post-Tsunami Experience
A new report from the ADB Institute examines several aspects of the rehabilitation and reconstruction program following the 2004 tsunami. The report - Reconstruction after a Major Disaster: Lessons from the Post-Tsunami Experience in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand - notes that communities affected by the disaster rated NGOs highly for their efforts to restore shelter, provision of critical psychosocial support, and overall delivery of assistance. For more information, contact Ainslie Smith at asmith@adbi.org.
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9. Economic Slowdown Predicted for Asia in 2009
Economic growth in developing Asia will slow to 5.8% in 2009, down from a likely 6.9% this year and 9% in 2007, as the impact of the global financial crisis spreads to emerging markets, says a new report from ADB. With the global economy facing a major downturn, the region’s economic resilience will be tested by weakening exports and a sharp slowdown of private capital flows, according to the December issue of the Asia Economic Monitor.
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10. CSO Visitor: PhilDHRRA
This regular feature spotlights one of the many CSOs whose representatives have recently met with ADB staff at the institution's headquarters in the Philippines.
The Philippine Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas (PhilDHRRA) was founded in 1978 after a loose group of NGO workers attended a regional workshop in 1974 held in Swangniwas, Thailand, where the “Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas” strategy was molded. Today, PhilDHRRA operates as a network of 67 NGOs undertaking development activities in rural communities around the Philippines.
PhilDHRRA envisions a society that is characterized by participatory democracy, equality, national sovereignty, economic prosperity, cultural autonomy, gender equity, and environmental sustainability. The network seeks to build the capacity of its members to become relevant and self-reliant in order to address agrarian reform and rural development in the countryside. In undertaking this mission, PhilDHRRA is guided by the principles of social justice, active non-violence, participation, social equity, gender equality, environmental sustainability, cultural sensitivity, national sovereignty and peace.
In support of its mission, PhilDHRRA commits to: 1) develop and provide the services needed by its members including provision of technical assistance, facilitating linkages with relevant institutions, facilitating information exchange, documenting community development model-building approaches, and accessing financial resources; 2) undertake advocacy and alliance work to articulate the issues of the communities being served by its members, and to promote alternative development models, tools and technologies; 3) maintain a strong network with a structure that clearly defines the roles and relationships; 4) ensure the networks’ financial sustainability; and 5) provide an environment for achieving personnel excellence and growth for its employees.
PhilDHRRA members have adopted Integrated Provincial Sustainable Agriculture, Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (IPSAARRD) as their core strategy. According to PhilDHRRA, IPSAARRD observes the key principle of equity-led sustainable development by focusing on contiguous lowland/upland/coastal ecosystem areas at the provincial level. It also seeks to integrate existing programs and efforts by building on their gains and strengths, and fusing local governance and reproductive health into their implementation. Further, IPSAARRD strives to ensure resource tenure, sustainable productivity and cooperative development. Finally, it fortifies multipartite partnership mechanisms.
On 23 November, Mr. Paul Baang, Project Manager, PhilDHRRA, participated in the ADB Forum on Community-Driven Development and Strategy 2020, 3 December. For more information on PhilDHRRA, see http://phildhrra.net/
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11. Conferences and Training Courses
A listing in this section does not imply ADB endorsement or availability of financing for participants. All events take place in 2009.
- Certificate Program in Resource Mobilization and Communication, 5-23 January, Kolkata, India. Contact: Charity Focus; e-mail: ddey@ibsindia.org; tel: +91 983 047 7420; website: www.propoor.org/blog.php?sid=55304.
- Gender Analysis and Planning (training course), 14-16 January, London, UK. Contact: INTRAC; e-mail: training@intrac.org; tel: +44 (0)1865 263040; website: www.intrac.org/training.php?id=86.
- Impact Assessment (training course), 28-30 January, London, UK. Contact: INTRAC; e-mail: training@intrac.org; tel: +44 (0)1865 263040; website: www.intrac.org/training.php?id=105.
- International Knowledge Fair on AIDS Competence Process, 4-6 February, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Contact: Constellation for AIDS Competence; e-mail: lawan@aidscompetence.com; tel: +66 53 894 228; website: www.aidscompetence.ning.com/.
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