Catalog

	Table of Contents
p. 9 of 26 BACK | NEXT I. Introduction II. Changes in Development Environment and Agenda III. Themes for Organizational Effectiveness IV. Objective and Principles of Organizational Change V. Analysis of Options VI. Main Features of Organizational Change A. New Geographic Regions B. Enhancing Country Focus: New Regional Departments C. Function and Structure of Regional Departments D. Establishment of a new Regional and Sustainable Development Department E. Role and Responsibilities of Vice Presidents F. Establishment of a Management Committee G. Strategy and Policy Department H. Upgrading the Private Sector Group to a Private Sector Operations Department I. Office of External Relations J. Economics and Research Department K. Office of the Secretary / Office of the General Counsel L. Knowledge Management M. Project Administration and Portfolio Management N. Risk Management O. Checks and Balances VII. Complementary Changes VIII. Challenges and Responses IX. Budget Implications and Implementation Plan X. Conclusions XI. Recommendations

Reorganization of the Asian Development Bank : VI. Main Features of Organizational Change

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C. Function and Structure of Regional Departments¹⁴

51. Regional departments will be responsible for implementing ADB’s strategic agenda (the six strategic areas and themes adopted in the LTSF: sustainable economic growth, inclusive social development, governance, private sector development, regional cooperation, and environmental sustainability) in the countries they cover. They will undertake the full range of ADB’s activities in each DMC, starting with the CSP process and extending through the planning, design and implementation of all projects and ESW.

52. Each regional department will have a regional management team, comprising the director, deputy director, managers and resident representatives. While the ultimate responsibility for performance rests with the director, this management team will jointly be responsible for achieving the departments’ objectives and implementing its work program.

53. Each regional department will normally consist of one operations coordination division, four sector divisions¹⁵ and RMs; however, variations to this pattern may be made depending on operational requirements in each region.

54. At headquarters, each regional department will normally have the following five divisions:

1. An operations coordination division (or unit, depending on size), responsible for macroeconomic work, general country relations, inter-country matters, such as subregional cooperation (such as the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Unit [CARECU] and Greater Mekong Subregion [GMS] units), IPF allocations and performance-based assessments for Asian Development Fund (ADF) borrowers. They will ensure consistency of country strategy and programming across all countries in the region. Programming for each DMC will be led by the RM where programming is delegated to it, or by these divisions.

2. An infrastructure division will be responsible for all ADB activities in the energy, transport, and communications sectors. This will include preparation and administration of all loans and TAs, and ESW in these sectors.

3. An agriculture, environment and natural resources division will be responsible for all ADB project work and ESW in the agriculture and natural resources sectors. Importantly, it will be responsible for preparing freestanding environment projects. The division will also provide environment-related services for the entire department.

4. A social sector division will be responsible for all ADB work in education and health, water supply and urban development. The division will also operationalize ADB’s social development agenda (gender, participation, and social protection). It will also provide support on all social development matters for the entire department.

5. A governance, finance, and trade division will, recognizing the close linkages between governance, financial sector, and private sector development issues, seek to integrate ADB’s activities in these areas in DMCs. It will also operationalize the governance agenda and deliver all products in this area. An area of new emphasis will be the provision of trade-related products and services to DMCs.

Sector divisions will also undertake subregional cooperation activities within their sectors.

55. The divisions are not intended to be “water-tight compartments” but to collaborate closely in the delivery of the program of assistance to the DMCs in the region. In doing so, they are expected to share resources where necessary.

56. The team concept is of paramount importance in the functioning of the regional departments. For each country there will be a country team, headed by the principal desk officer at HQ or the RM, and consisting of staff from throughout the regional department. These teams will be supplemented by staff from other departments as needed. The objective of the country team is to maintain a country perspective for all operations, to collectively prepare the country program of assistance through the CSP and the CSP Updates for the country, and to regularly review country operations. The country team leader will report either to the resident representative or the manager of the operations coordination division.

57. For project preparation, a project team will be formed for each project. This team will be led by the sector division specialist staff assigned to that project, and will include staff from the sector division as well as other divisions in the department as needed. In special cases, staff from other departments may be included. The project team will report to the sector manager of the division to which the project has been assigned. The heads of the regional departments will have flexibility in allocating work, and in forming project teams across divisions, as most appropriate to the country and project. An important distinction between country and project teams is that country teams will be of a permanent nature, while project teams will be established separately for preparing each project.

58. The RMs in each region will report to the head of the regional department. The exact structure and responsibilities allocated to each RM will, in conformity with the RM Policy, be determined on a country basis by the regional department concerned. This approach is working well in practice and takes account of country needs and of RM capacity. Within this overall approach, it is expected that over time, more activities will be undertaken by the RMs.

59. Terms of reference of regional departments are given in Appendix 4.

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