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.