What you need to know about ADB's Experts Pool initiative

To meet member countries’ changing demands, the Asian Development Bank has come up with an initiative that explores partnerships with the private sector. Piloted last year, the Experts Pool is a recruitment initiative designed to fill gaps in ADB expertise, as more countries require experts on higher technology and as they invest in emerging project areas such as disaster risk finance and smart cities. After finding that experts in these areas are often employed in the private sector, the bank developed the concept in which ADB can “borrow” them from their employers in a mutually-beneficial arrangement. “The basic concept is we borrow top-notch experts from the private sector, ADB adds value to those experts, and then ADB returns them to sender organizations,” said Toshio Oya, director general at ADB’s budget, personnel and management systems department. The terms There are two ways, or “streams,” as ADB calls it, in which organizations can participate in the initiative. One is through the staff stream, where one position is available for each subject area that ADB advertises under the initiative. ADB will cover the costs for these positions. Another way organizations can participate in the initiative is through the secondment stream, in which more than one expert can be accepted for a given priority subject area. However, participating organizations are expected to cover the cost under this engagement. Those who will be chosen are expected to work on actual ADB projects, and assist ADB operational departments in designing and processing two to three projects a year. “This means that if the expert works for ADB for 3 years, he or she will be able to work on six to nine actual projects on the ground,” Oya said. The positions require eight to 10 years of experience and a master’s degree or equivalent in each field of expertise. In the staff stream, chosen experts will be offered International Staff level positions, and the salary could range from $130,000 to $180,000 a year. The benefits All experts who are chosen to participate in the initiative are expected to reap several “benefits,” Oya said. Experts will gain experience on negotiations, as they could be involved in client negotiations, including with governments. As experts will also be working with a wide range of stakeholders, including senior ADB staff, members of academia and international organizations, the position also gives them the opportunity to expand their networks, he added. Their organizations, in turn, will benefit from their expanded skills and connections. The challenges As ADB is likely to tap experts from the same pool of clients looking to engage in business opportunities with the bank, sender organization might have concerns on whether they would still be allowed to participate in ADB biddings as it has the potential to raise conflicts of interest. Some examples of potential conflicts of interest include organizations bidding on a contract where their expert may be involved in project design or bid evaluation, or the expert may provide opinion on the choice of technology or strategy for a project that may benefit his or her organization. After careful considerations, including discussions with the bank’s lawyers, Oya said ADB would still allow participating organizations to take part in ADB business opportunities. Any conflict of interest will be dealt with on a case by case basis. To prevent such issues from arising, ADB may opt to remove the expert on a particular project, have his or her role redefined, or let the sender organization replace the expert with another employee. In cases where the above options may not apply, ADB may terminate or suspend the assignment. The bank however expects both sender organizations and their experts to follow ADB’s conflict of interest guidelines, and notify the bank for any actual or potential conflict of interest that may arise prior to the agreement or during the course of the expert’s assignment under the initiative. “Serious violations of the code of conduct, either by the sender or the expert, will be subject to termination of the expert’s term, sanctions and other punitive measures,” said Oya. Meanwhile, the director general placated concerns from sender organizations of potentially losing their experts. “ADB is prepared to offer a non-extendable, fixed-term contract, which expires automatically in 3 years,” Oya said. “We can give you a guarantee on that.” Future opportunities In 2016, the bank sought experts in the areas of water supply, smart grids and railways, the last one readvertised for 2017. This year, it sought disaster risk insurance experts, dam optimization specialists, climate change adaptation experts, waste-to-energy specialists and someone with expertise on smart cities. Opportunities for this year closed last June, but Oya said the plan is to expand the initiative over the coming years. “So we will most likely advertise another set of experts pool positions sometime next year,” he told Devex. 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