ADB administers three regional poverty reduction grant facilities in addition to country-specific ones. These funds help ADB and its developing member countries better understand how to formulate, implement, and monitor policies and projects that accelerate poverty reduction. Activities financed by these funds often play complementary roles to ADB's core lending operations by ensuring benefits reach the poor and vulnerable.
The Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, financed by the Government of Japan, was established in May 2000. The fund now stands at well over $326.9 million of which $146 million have been committed to 53 poverty reduction projects widely involving civil society. In 2004, 15 projects amounting to $29.87 million were approved. The project by Uzbekistan’s business women’s association on vocational training and microcredit was a noteworthy success in creating job opportunities for women from low-income households in Karakalpakstan. The project received the UN-HABITAT Dubai International Award for Best Practices for 2004.
The Cooperation Fund in Support of the Formulation and Implementation of National Poverty Reduction Strategies, financed by the Government of the Netherlands, has been in operation since November 2001 and has supported 19 projects amounting to $6.2 million. The projects endorsed in 2004 include reformulation of a national poverty reduction strategy better aligned with the Millennium Development Goals in Azerbaijan; support for monitoring poverty in Kazakhstan and Mongolia; and formulation of a local government poverty reduction strategy in Balochistan, Pakistan.
The Poverty Reduction Cooperation Fund financed by the Government of the United Kingdom has supported a range of poverty reduction activities since July 2002 including policy support, research, capacity development, and knowledge dissemination. Out of a total of $74 million, $46 million have been committed to 87 projects. In 2004, 37 projects were endorsed. In the People’s Republic of China new technical assistance is helping the government of Liaoning Province provide adequate, affordable heating for the urban poor through programs designed and monitored by the poor themselves. In Pakistan, it is increasingly acknowledged that poor and vulnerable people and women are disproportionately subjected to police harassment and extortion when they try to access public services or security. The fund is supporting a project in four pilot districts in Punjab Province to help improve the quality of police services as part of a larger access to justice program.
In May 2004, the Government of the People’s Republic of China announced support for the establishment of the People’s Republic of China Regional Cooperation and Poverty Reduction Fund. The initial donation of $20 million will support regional initiatives from 2005 through 2009.