Home 
Publications Catalog Online Publications Document
Annual Report 2002 : Operational Priorities and Performance : Thematic priorities
Governance and capacity buildingADB recognizes that good governance—one of the three pillars of its Poverty Reduction Strategy—continues to be a sensitive issue for many DMCs, and appreciates that governance issues must ultimately be addressed at the country level. Nevertheless, ADB made progress in 2002 in promoting and supporting good governance in the Asia and Pacific region. Initially, ADB focused on economic and financial management, particularly on strengthening budgetary systems, enhancing public sector management, building capacity in key central ministries, and upgrading technical expertise for lawmaking. More recently, ADB’s focus has been on improving governance in its DMCs by encouraging decentralization and devolution of administration to the regional, provincial, and village levels—a strategy that is consistent with ADB’s commitment to adopt consultative processes and to help DMC governments be more responsive to civil society. Strengthening local government capacity frequently involves improving the balance between national accountability and local choice in services delivery; helping governments overcome the problems of fragmentation that exist in some big cities; building relationships between public administrations and the private sector; and increasing the representation of the poor in the forums where policies are developed. Recent world events have increased the spotlight on improving corporate governance and regulatory frameworks in public and private entities. Key constraints to building good corporate governance in the private sector include establishing independent legal entities and selecting the appropriate agents to represent the government. Sound corporate governance and corporate regulatory frameworks are central to reforming public enterprise, but reforms are often resisted. Key constraints include the process of corporatizing and establishing the independent legal entity, and selecting the appropriate agent to represent the government. In many transitional economies, the solution has been to establish a semiautonomous agency and improve its management. The capability and performance of public enterprise boards must also be improved. ADB involves the private sector in drafting good governance laws; works closely with DMCs to establish consistent and predictable commercial laws and regulations; and improves the availability of information, including relevant laws, to ensure that companies are accountable to their shareholders. ADB’s Governance Action Plan (see http://www.adb.org/Documents/Policies/Good_Governance/), approved in 2000, addresses these concerns.
A Partnership for Fighting Corruption By pooling their intellectual resources and facilitating opportunities for exchanging information, ADB, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and Asia and Pacific governments are helping build effective anticorruption mechanisms and lay the foundation for a sustained fight against corruption. The initiative—an Anticorruption Action Plan for Asia and the Pacific—endorsed by 17 regional countries1 in 2001, adopts an integrated approach to policy making while respecting country differences and without interfering in internal corruption cases. Activities under the initiative initially focused on capacity and knowledge building, regional cooperation, and action framework development. Since 2001, the focus has been on implementing concrete regional and country-specific anticorruption reforms. The endorsing countries, which make up the Initiative’s Steering Group, met in the Philippines in 2002 to adopt a medium-term strategy and review projects and progress reports submitted by each country. Four principles guide the initiative’s policy work: cementing country ownership, fostering regional cooperation, involving citizens and the business sector, and enlarging the participating group of countries. Cementing country ownership: The endorsing countries have the primary responsibility for addressing corruption. For each implementation cycle of 12–18 months, the countries prioritize a set of national anticorruption reforms. Fostering regional cooperation: Regional steering group meetings provide the venue for
the countries to share their self-assessments, discuss progress and lessons learned, and identify additional policy reforms and capacity-building needs. These lessons are disseminated to other countries and key stakeholders in print (see http://www.adb.org Involving the public: Countries are encouraged to develop proactive strategies for promoting citizens’ participation in anti-corruption efforts. To encourage their support and input into national reforms, regional nongovernment organizations and business associations are members of the Steering Group and attend the regional anticorruption meetings. Enlarging the participating group of countries: ADB, OECD, and the Steering Group encourage more regional countries to endorse the Action Plan. ____________________________
Governance In 2001–2002, a total of 25 loans (about 12 loans per year, or 16% of all public sector loans approved during the period) had governance as a primary or secondary thematic priority. During the same period, 65 technical assistance projects (about 32 per year, or 14% of all technical assistance approved during the period) had governance as a primary or secondary thematic priority. In addition, ADB monitors its Governance Action Plan and provides feedback to stakeholders. The external web site (see http://www.adb.org/Anticorruption/other.asp) has been expanded, and a database is being set up to facilitate rapid dissemination of nonpublished performance data, and to encourage quick follow-up and corrective action.
|
© 2009 Asian Development Bank Privacy | Terms of Use |
 Top of page |
Back