Senior ADB staff with responsibility for functions related to complaints handling, audit, independent evaluation, and application of ADB's Anticorruption Policy will brief CSO participants on their roles and responsibilities, as well as recent developments and coming plans. A question and answer session will follow.
ADB PANELISTS:
Mr. Philip Daltrop, Auditor General, ADB
Mr. Robert May, Special Project Facilitator, Office of the Special Project Facilitator, ADB
Mr. C.R. Rajendran, Secretary, Compliance Review Panel, ADB
Mr. Satish Rao, Director General, Operations Evaluation Department, ADB
A representative of ADB's Management team will meet with CSO representatives and field questions. Given the large turn-out expected, those joining the meeting are asked to kindly arrive on time and, should they wish to pose a question, keep their interventions short to enable others to also participate.
The Core Labor Standards (CLS) are an integral part of ADB's development mission and have been incorporated into the bank's Social Protection Strategy. CLS are a set of four internationally recognized basic rights and principles at work aimed at ensuring workers' rights to trade union organization and collective bargaining, freedom from discrimination in the workplace, and the elimination of child labor and forced labor. Launched in 2006, the ADB Core Labor Standards Handbook informs bank staff of the four CLS and their application to ADB operations. Initial poverty and social assessments of ADB-financed projects are required to take into account labor impacts. In this panel discussion, representatives of public sector workers, the International Labour Organization, NGO Forum on ADB, and ADB will explore how the CLS can be more effectively mainstreamed in ADB operations.
ADB has indicated that the Safeguard Policy Statement (SPS), issued in October 2007, aims to respond to the changing situation in Asia and borrowers needs and at the same time improve the clarity of the existing policies. Many CSOs are concerned that due to the proposed flexibility, the SPS draft does not provide the intended clarity but rather results in vague provisions that are likely to undermine the purpose of the safeguard policies.
The objective of this panel – organized by Oxfam Australia - is to provide a space for exchange between different stakeholders on the key issues around the Safeguard Policy Update (SPU). The speakers will present their views on the ongoing SPU process. Key questions discussed will include how safeguards policies can be developed so that they provide clarity for implementation and at the same time protect the needs of affected people. Consideration will also be given to the introduction of country systems and the proposed framework approach in the SPS draft.
Panel participants:
MODERATOR:
Mr. Michael Simon, Advocacy Coordinator, Oxfam Australia
The climate crisis is forcing a fundamental rethink regarding energy-related development pathways, models, and regional strategies. How enduring the resolution of this debate will depend largely on the extent to which dimensions of sustainable energy, energy security and justice are integrated into long-term development strategies in the region. There is an urgent need to put in place policies preferential to the rapid deployment of renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency programs in Asia, leveraging the right investments that can address both the development aims and energy security needs of developing countries in the region, as well as contribute significantly to helping avert climate change.
As an institution attempting to reshape its long-term relevance in the region and whose very existence, to a growing number of peoples across Asia, many CSOs believe that ADB needs to fundamentally change the directions that its energy-driven operations have taken thus far – on the basis of the huge and still growing commercial potential of sustainable energy-anchored development. This panel will answer what needs to be done, how, and by when.
MODERATOR:
Mr. Michael Simon, Advocacy Coordinator, Oxfam Australia
PANELISTS:
Ms. Natalia Ablova, Director, Bureau of Human Rights and Rule of Law (Kyrgyz Republic)
Mr. S. Chander, Deputy Director General, Private Sector Operations Department, ADB
Mr. Longgena Ginting, Campaigns Coordinator, Friends of the Earth International
Mr. Jose Luis Garcia Ortega, Climate Campaign Manager, Greenpeace Spain
Ms. Princess Nemenzo, Former Convenor, NGO Forum on ADB
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