This event will showcase the work of ADB’s Accountability Mechanism (AM), assess the lessons learned, identify gaps and issues, explore ways to design and implement projects better, and consult stakeholders regarding the policy and mechanism’s effectiveness. The panel discussion will also focus on safeguards implementation, project implementation and monitoring, ADB’s capacity to resolve conflicts, participation of nongovernment and civil society organizations, and mechanisms for grievance redress. The event will also focus on how to bring about culture change and improve project implementation by effectively promoting the principles of accountability.
Panelists
Alfredo Abad
Korinna Horta
Korinna Horta has more than twenty years of experience of environmental policy analysis and international advocacy. At present, she works as a senior advisor at Urgewald, a non-governmental-organization based in Germany.
Her focus is on the environmental and social safeguards at international financial and development institutions. She has carried out extensive research on the impacts of international financial flows in areas such as natural resource management, extractive industries, indigenous rights and human rights more broadly. In cooperation with civil society organizations in numerous countries, she advocates for strong safeguard policies, their improved implementation and effective accountability mechanisms.
Mario Sander
Mario Sander is the Executive Director of the Asian Development Bank representing Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Prior to joining the ADB, he was Advisor for Global Issues, United Nations, and Development Policy at the German Federal Chancellery. He also served as Deputy Head of Division for Basic Principles, Concepts and Political Planning at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and was Head of GTZ (now GIZ) Country Office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Jitendra Shah
Jitendra Shah is the Special Project Facilitator at the Asian Development Bank focusing on participatory problem-solving for grievances that have risen as a result of project operations. He has over 30 years of professional experience in environment and development. Jitu has worked with the World Bank for 20 years where he has carried out environmental and social development projects and programs. He was Climate Change Advisor for the Europe and Central Asia Region where he led the development of a regional institutional development program on climate change for Central Asia.
Moderator
Arntraud Hartmann
Arntraud Hartmann is a German national with more than 30 years experience in development cooperation. She worked from 1981 until 2004 at the World Bank, where she held senior management positions such as Director for South East European Countries and Senior Advisor to the Managing Director. She is Visiting Professor for Development Economics at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, Germany, and Adjunct Professor at the Johns Hopkins University, SAIS Europe. She is a Member of the Compliance Review Mechanism of the African Development Bank (2012-2017). Between 2002 and 2006 she was Senior Advisor to the Secretariat of the World Commission on the Social Dimensions of Globalization, and Director of the Economic Policy Forum of InWent, Germany. She conducts research and publishes on aid effectiveness issues. Ms. Hartmann holds degrees in law, economics and international relations.
