Publications

	Table of Contents
p. 1 of 13 BACK | NEXT I. Introduction II. ADB's Governance Policy III. Implementation of ADB's Governance Policy IV. Lessons Learned V. Medium-Term Governance Agenda and Action Plan 2000-2004 VI. Conclusions and Recommendations

Promoting Good Governance: ADB's Medium-Term Agenda and Action Plan (2000)

---

I. Introduction

1. As a regional development bank dedicated to sustainable development in its developing member countries (DMCs), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), in partnership with its member governments, has decades of experience in pursuing this objective. What ADB has learned in the process is that sustainable development depends on the quality of decisions made toward development and reform, and, equally, on the manner in which these decisions are taken and carried out. The development process has proved to be consistently more successful at bringing about desired results in environments of transparency in decision-making, a culture of accountability among government officials, and stakeholder participation in decision-making. Further, the manner in which development decisions are taken affects the quality of those decisions and their relevance and practicability.

2. In October 1995, ADB members reached a consensus to apply these fundamental lessons learned in a more systematic way in ADB's overall operations. Thus, ADB became the first multilateral development bank (MDB) to have a board-approved policy on governance¹. This policy became the basic building block for a cluster of good governance policies, which now includes policies on procurement, law and policy reform², participation of civil society³, and anticorruption³. Good governance has since also been established as one of the three pillars of ADB's Poverty Reduction Strategy⁵. This is because, in the absence of good governance, efforts at reducing poverty will not be effective. Therefore, ADB will introduce a performance-based allocation system, with particular emphasis on good governance, that enables ADB to effectively direct scarce, especially Asian Development Fund (ADF) and Technical Assistance Special Fund (TASF), resources to countries in which they will have the greatest impact. With these additions, policy development in this field is now nearly complete, and ADB's cluster of good governance policies provides a sound basis for addressing most of the governance problems confronting DMCs. ADB will, of course, continue to review and, if needed, revise this policy cluster periodically based on experience learned.

3. It is timely therefore to take stock of ADB's governance activities and the impact they have achieved, and see how ADB's effectiveness in promoting good governance can be enhanced.

4. This paper (i) reviews the evolution of ADB's policy on governance, (ii) analyzes ADB's experience with governance activities, and (iii) proposes a medium-term agenda and action plan. It does not recommend amendments to ADB's existing policy on governance, which continues to be relevant, sound, and valid. This paper should be read in conjunction with the original governance policy (footnote 1).

___________________

Back Promoting Good Governance: ADB's Medium-Term Agenda and Action Plan (2000)	Next II. ADB's Governance Policy