ADB hints at change

Less than a week ago, delegates attending the Asian Development Bank’s annual meeting gathered to listen to President Takehiko Nakao’s inaugural address to the bank’s board of governors in Astana, Kazakhstan. The usual priorities —inclusive and sustainable growth, infrastructure development and partnerships — were there, but the degree of introspection was noteworthy for an institution that prefers to focus on its work rather than engage in internal debate over how that work is done. Aware of Asia-Pacific’s rapidly evolving development landscape, and likely propelled by World Bank President Jim Kim’s ambitious reform agenda, the ADB chief acknowledged the bank needs to “reform itself.” Nakao said the key is innovation, and he highlighted how the Manila-based institution will pursue new paths to mobilize its financial resources by combining the Asian Development Fund with the balance sheet of its Ordinary Capital Resources, make its institutional processes more efficient and effective, “go local” by delegating more work to resident missions, and empower employees to hone in on their talents to provide a better service to clients. Exactly how those changes — or at this stage, in many cases, intentions to reform — will play out remains to be seen. But most attendees at the annual meeting and outside observers we spoke with agreed the bank is moving in the right direction, and as the recent review of the institution’s Strategy 2020 blueprint points out, it’s the only way for Asia-Pacific’s sole multilateral development bank to remain relevant in the region. In the days leading up to the annual meeting in Astana and after the event wrapped up on Monday, we reported extensively on some of the most relevant topics of debate. We analyzed where ADB spends its money and explored how China’s development cooperation strategy. We featured exclusive commentaries by Curtis S. Chin, the former a U.S. ambassador to ADB, on how the institution can stay relevant in a region that has changed so much since ADB was founded in 1966, and by David Pred, an NGO leader, on the need for the bank to enforce its safeguards policy on forced relocations caused by a failed railway project in Cambodia. We looked into Strategy 2020’s midterm review and what it means for the way ADB will conduct business in the next few years, and crunched the numbers on the practical side. In addition, we asked tough questions on how the institution plans to encourage inclusive business, and featured “donor darling” Myanmar’s wish list from the bank. Finally, we shared some of the biggest buzz at Astana, like China’s intention to set up a regional infrastructure development bank that could potentially compete with ADB, and we delved into a topic that has long been seen as a taboo: the bank’s formerly opaque internal communications culture, and how it has changed over the years. And we cited a current official who suggested that ADB will someday directly finance NGOs and civil society organizations. In the days ahead, we will continue to track ADB reforms and development progress in the Asia-Pacific region. As ADB President Takehiko Nakao insisted, for the bank as well as its partners, it’s no longer “business-as-usual.” So stay tuned to Devex. Read more development aid news online, and subscribe to The Development Newswire to receive top international development headlines from the world’s leading donors, news sources and opinion leaders — emailed to you FREE every business day.