With their unique strengths and specialized knowledge of their communities and constituencies, civil society organizations (CSOs) have an essential role to play in creating a more prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific. This publication provides guidance on how CSOs can be more effectively engaged in Asian Development Bank (ADB) operations to maximize the benefits for its developing member countries. It provides advice, templates, and tips for ADB staff and country officials to use when designing, implementing, and monitoring ADB-financed operations.

This publication reports the results of an exploratory study on civil society organization (CSO) engagement---particularly nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs)---in Asian Development Bank (ADB) operations. The focus is on South Asia and the starting point of inquiry is on 33 projects that illustrate the roles and forms of NGO and CBO engagement in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The report includes a section on ADB technical assistance and grant projects. Another section presents other potential areas of CSO engagement such as in project planning stages, development and evaluation of the sector and country partnership strategies, and corporate policy and strategy discussions. The concluding section puts forward challenges and areas of innovation that may be considered in collaborating with NGOs with the aim of enhancing the quality of ADB development efforts.

Under the Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s long-term corporate strategy, ADB will strengthen its collaboration with civil society organizations. The ADB’s South Asia Department is playing a leading role in delivering on ADB’s commitment to meaningful engagement with civil society. This report identifies trends in ADB’s approaches to civil society engagement in South Asia over 2015-2021. It examines ADB’s civil society engagement in South Asia in project and program design, implementation and monitoring plus strategy and policy development. The report provides analysis, lessons and recommendations for enhanced ADB and civil society engagement in South Asia.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been supporting meaningful engagement with civil society organizations (CSOs) in delivering better development results. Partnerships with these CSOs help promote community participation and social inclusion throughout the project cycle of ADB-financed operations. In light of its enhanced commitment to CSO engagement, ADB approved in 2020 a new indicator for assessing civil society engagement. This report provides insights on ADB’s cooperation with CSOs in 2020 in terms of generating knowledge, tapping expertise, sharing good practices, and improving policy dialogues. It also features lessons and success stories of CSO contributions in Asia and the Pacific.

This annual report provides insights on ADB's cooperation with civil society organizations (CSOs) in 2020, featuring lessons and success stories in Asia and the Pacific. Partnerships with CSOs help promote community participation and social inclusion throughout the project cycle of ADB-financed operations. In 2020, ADB approved a new indicator for assessing civil society engagement as part of its efforts to enhance commitment to CSO engagement. The annual report looks at how ADB cooperation with CSOs during the year contributed to generating knowledge, tapping expertise, sharing good practices, and improving policy dialogues.

Civil society organizations, including nongovernment organizations (NGOs), are important stakeholders of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). This report is a compilation of ADB's engagement with civil society organizations, including NGOs, at the policy and strategy, country and regional programing, and project operations. ADB's NGO and Civil Society Center, ADB focal points throughout the Bank, and the institution as one entity, seek to strengthen cooperation with civil society in the understanding that engagement of all stakeholders can further increase and boost development effectiveness.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) values contribution from civil society organizations (CSOs) to country-level and global development efforts. This report provides highlights of ADB and CSOs working together to overcome the region's development challenges. A selected sample of projects from across Asia and the Pacific are represented as examples of how CSOs contribute to development. Throughout ADB, civil society focal points cooperate with the Nongovernment Organization and Civil Society Center---housed in the Regional and Sustainable Development Department---to ensure quality engagement with CSOs. Partners who contribute to development project success include government agencies, civil society, and ADB project officers.

Civil society organizations, including nongovernment organizations (NGOs), are important stakeholders of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The ADB Cooperation with Civil Society Annual Report 2010 presents an overview of the year's work in cooperating with civil society organizations, including NGOs, in country and regional programming work, project operations, as well as in policy and strategy development. Through ADB's NGO and Civil Society Center, ADB is strengthening its partnership with civil society to further increase its contribution to development effectiveness.

Through detailed comparative case studies of civil society engagement with two major regional international organizations in Southeast Asia this book demonstrates the potentials and limitations of civil society actors as democratizing agents in governance beyond the nation-state. Drawing on previous research on civil society, social movements, transnational activism, and democratization, Uhlin develops an analytical framework focusing on a) how national and international political opportunities shape—and are shaped by—civil society advocacy; b) how civil society activists frequently combine inside and outside strategies when targeting international organizations; and c) how civil society advocacy can have a liberalizing impact on the targeted international organizations. Drawing on rich empirical data, including more than 100 qualitative interviews with civil society activists and representatives of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the study demonstrates how civil society actors have contributed to pushing ADB—and to a much lesser extent ASEAN—in a political liberal direction, improving transparency, strengthening accountability, and introducing mechanisms protecting people from the abuse of power. With its innovative analytical framework, broad scope covering civil society activism across Southeast Asia, and in-depth analysis of civil society attempts to influence ADB and ASEAN the book makes important contributions to research on civil society activism in Southeast Asia as well as the more general field of civil society and governance beyond the nation-state.

This revised edition offers updated information and an expanded range of tools to support ADB staff and stakeholders to implement participatory approaches effectively. The updated content reflects ADB's new business processes and highlights key opportunities for participation in policy dialogue and throughout the project cycle, and advises on methods and approaches, as well as pitfalls to avoid. In this edition, special attention is given to safeguards, gender, governance, HIV/AIDS and infrastructure, and water and sanitation. A wealth of participation resources developed by a wide range of organizations exists online; this guide includes an inventory of references for those seeking further information.