Poverty Reduction in ADB

ADB's Project Classification System

ADB has always implemented a project classification system since the initiation of its operations. The focus however, in the early years, has been on tracking project inputs by country and sector. Related reporting (to Management and to stakeholders), therefore, focused primarily on lending approvals and disbursements.

With the initiation of strategic planning in the early 1990s, as well as the introduction of thematic priorities, the project classification system was revised in 1994 to take into account the extent to which ADB investments addressed various thematic priorities such as poverty reduction, gender, private sector development, and the environment. With the formal adoption of poverty reduction as the overarching focus of ADB operations in the year 1999, the project classification system was further adjusted (in 2004) to support monitoring and reporting on sector, thematic, and targeting areas.

In January 2009, ADB introduced a new project classification system [PDF: 200kb | 21 pages ] to help monitor the implementation of Strategy 2020 and meet other reporting requirements. The new system comprises information on:

• Partnerships - quantifying cooperation with private sector and other development partners;
• Project Location - quantifying how much the project contributes to rural, urban, national, and regional (supranational) development;
• Sector Contribution - quantifying ADB's financial inputs for different project components;
• Development Themes - tracking ADB's contribution to partner country's and ADB's strategic development objectives; and
• Poverty Reduction - the manner of the project's contribution to ADB's overarching goal of poverty reduction (either general or targeted intervention).

The results of the project classification analysis are one basis for ADB's Annual Poverty Reduction and Development Effectiveness Reports.