Asia and the Pacific has made great strides in poverty reduction and economic growth in the past 50 years. It aspires to make even greater leaps going forward. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been a key partner in the significant transformation of the region and is committed to continue serving the region in the next phase of its development.
The new long-term corporate strategy to 2030. Strategy 2030—sets the course for ADB’s efforts to respond effectively to the region’s changing needs. It builds on various assessments of ADB performance, including the Midterm Review of Strategy 2020, de- velopment effectiveness reviews (DEfRs), and studies by the Independent Evaluation Department (IED).
Midterm Review of Strategy 2020. The midterm review in 2014 derived lessons fromtheimplementation of Strategy 2020 and proposed a 10-point program to sharpen and rebalance ADB’s future strategic directions and strengthen its responsiveness.2 The program aimed to strengthen efforts in poverty reduction, inclusive economic growth, environment and climate change, regional cooperation and integration (RCI), infrastructure development, middle-income countries, private sector development and operations, and knowledge solutions. It also covered actions to increase ADB’s capacity, efficiency, and effectiveness in areas such as financial resources and partnerships, business processes, staff skills, incentives, and institutional arrangements.
Assessments of ADB’s performance. Findings from the DEfRs, which take stock of ADB’s performance against its corporate results framework every year, and IED evaluations reinforced the midterm review findings. They showed that ADB aligned its operations well with Strategy 2020 priorities and generated positive results in areas such as infrastructure, climate change, and gender. However, the findings also indicated that ADB should rebalance its portfolio slightly and increase its focus on social sectors to strengthen its support for poverty reduction and inclusive economic growth. Greater emphasis on private sector operations to respond to growing regional needs, including for mobilizing more resources, was also suggested. IED called for ADB to pursue better quality of growth (instead of its magnitude) through three mutually reinforcing agendas of social and geographical inclusion, environmental sustainability, and RCI. IED also proposed that ADB should integrate its expertise across sectors and themes to address more complex development challenges under Strategy 2030.
Feedback from stakeholder consultations. Strategy 2030 reflects feedback from a wide range of stakeholders, including policy makers in developing and developed countries, academics, and civil society organizations (CSOs), as well as ADB Board members and staff. Four roundtable discussions with prominent development thinkers were held in London, Manila, Tokyo, and Washington, DC, in addition to country consultations across the region. Stakeholders stressed that ADB continues to have an important role to play in Asia and the Pacific even though most of its de- veloping member countries (DMCs) have reached middle-income status. Many DMCs continue to face challenges caused by entrenched poverty and vulnerability, global economic uncertainty, inequality, climate change and environmental degradation, urbanization, and aging. ADB should build on its strengths in infra- structure financing and RCI; strengthen its capacity in social sectors; and expand private sector operations, including public–private partnerships (PPPs), to help DMCs address these challenges. Further, ADB should strengthen its knowledge services, facilitate greater knowledge sharing across countries, and improve busi- ness process efficiency.
Detailed contents following attached file:
ADB-strategy-2030_EN
ADB-strategy-2030_VN