Poverty Reduction Cooperation Fund

About PRF
Approval Procedure

As mandated by the Business Processes for the Reorganized ADB, the Poverty Reduction and Social Development Division (RSPR) of the Regional and Sustainable Development Department (RSDD) functions as ADB's internal clearinghouse for policy compliance and quality assurance for the PRF.

For the PRF countries excluding PRC (to be referred to 'the Regional Component), the approval procedure of the new projects has been fully aligned with the Cooperation Fund in support of the formulation and implementation of National Poverty Reduction Strategies (NPRS) financed by the Netherlands.

The procedure comprises two main stages, i.e. concept paper endorsement by the donor and TA Paper approved by the ADB, and can be further broken down into the following steps:

1. Projects can be proposed at any time by the regional departments and Resident Missions (RMs) by submitting a concept paper to the NPRS/PRF Coordinator in the Regional and Sustainable Development Department (RSDD).
2. RSDD will initially screen the proposals and conduct a peer review with other relevant staff to assess if the proposal meets the eligibility criteria.
3. After obtaining endorsement of the concept paper by the Peer Review Panel, the regional departments (including Resident Missions) finalize the project proposal following ADB's general TA processing procedures.

For the PRC Component, the approval process is fully integrated into ADB's Country Strategy Program (CSP) process in which most activities are identified in the CSP. For inclusion of proposals prepared by ADB or Government, they need to be cleared by the Ministry of Finance, DFID and the ADB's PRC Resident Mission (PRCM).

After this, ADB project officers prepare respective TA papers for ADB approval in accordance with ADB's general guidelines. When the draft TA paper is circulated across relevant departments in ADB, DFID is also given an opportunity to provide final comments. There is also some flexibility in adding new proposals throughout the year to allow responsiveness to any emerging needs, in which case the initial tripartite clearance is needed as mentioned above, as well as ADB Vice President's concept note clearance, before proceeding with the preparation of a TA Paper.

View the flowchart