Description

ADB has significantly increased its engagement with non-government organizations (NGO) and community-based organizations over the past decade. Since 1990, 150 projects—25% of all ADB projects—have involved such organizations. In 1998, 28 projects worth more than $2 billion (49% of ADB’s total projects) incorporated these activities.

This special evaluation study reviews the effectiveness of involving NGOs and community-based organizations in ADB lending and technical assistance operations, and whether such involvement helps address the issues and priorities of ADB’s development agenda more effectively.

Field-based assessments rated several factors that increased the likelihood of more effective involvement. These included effective government-NGO relations, conducive environments, and consultative mechanisms.  

The study makes several recommendations for strengthening ADB and country capacities for NGO and community-based organization cooperation. Among them, that ADB should consider deploying full-time NGO and community-based organization specialists in key resident missions where they are extensively involved.

Contents

• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Broad Trends and Findings
• Main Findings: Field Reviews and Assessments
• Optimizing NGO/CBO Partnerships
• Main Conclusions and Recommendations
• Appendixes