Multisector / ADB's corporate management, policy and strategy development

The TA cluster is aligned with the following impact: DMCs' effective achievement of the SDGs increased. The TA will have the following outcome: Higher-quality programs and projects that advance the SDGs developed and delivered by ADB DMCs. It will achieve this by providing a diverse suite of knowledge products and platforms, including data analysis tools, interactive web-based learning, and practical research. The TA cluster incorporates lessons from previous related TA projects and will support deliverables and activities for three outputs: (i) developing member countries' knowledge and capacity to align planned programs and financing with the SDGs strengthened, (ii) developing member countries' knowledge of good practices and lessons from operations increased, and (iii) developing member countries' capacity for SDG aligned results-based project design and management strengthened.

Subproject 1 will support the three TA cluster outputs through the following activities: under output 1, (i) knowledge on SDG progress in Asia and the Pacific and support for regional policy dialogue; (ii) assessment of national SDG implementation and financing needs in three DMCs; and (iii) produce an updated review of evolving private sector approaches to results and impact management for the SDGs. Under output 2 Subproject 1 will support (i) a review of good practices in results management to capture how operations address poverty and the needs of the most vulnerable people; (ii) a review of evolving methodologies to better understand the effects of ADB projects on jobs and livelihoods; and (iii) in conjunction with the Sustainable Infrastructure Foundation, an initial stock-taking of opportunities for DMCs to make use of ADB's Green Resilient Inclusive and Sustainable quality infrastructure assessment tools that have been incorporated into SOURCE, the multilateral platform for quality infrastructure. Under output 3, Subproject 1 will deliver e-learning to approximately 30 officials from executing and implementing agencies.

The Asia and the Pacific region is off-track in achieving every one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has set the region back even further, especially for women, exacerbating vulnerabilities related to socially focused SDGs particularly poverty and inequality, health, education. Progress against environmental SDGs (e.g., taking action on climate change, promoting responsible consumption and production, and protecting life on land and below water) has been particularly slow. Fiscal constraints compounded by COVID-19 further impede the ability of developing member countries (DMCs) to address the SDGs in a holistic manner alongside short-term crisis-response measures.

Achieving the 17 SDGs is a focus of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Strategy 2030. ADB has articulated its theory of change for supporting its DMCs to make progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The knowledge and support technical assistance (TA) cluster will--through practical research and analysis, policy advice, and capacity building--support DMCs to advance SDG implementation by enabling them to develop and deliver more effective results-based programming.

The TA cluster will address the following issues: (i) emphasis on the SDGs in DMC national development planning and financing processes is uneven, (ii) good practices and lessons for ensuring that development partner and national government operations are effective in achieving the SDGs are not collected, disseminated, or applied regularly, (iii) DMCs' capacity to better manage results by designing and monitoring programs that will support progress in achieving the SDGs also remains limited.

DMCs' effective achievement of the SDGs increased.

Higher-quality programs and projects that advance the SDGs developed and delivered by ADB DMCs.

DMC knowledge and capacity to align planned programs and financing with the SDGs enhanced

DMC's knowledge of good practices and lessons from operations increased

DMC's capacity for results-based project design and management strengthened