Corporate and Thematic Evaluation

ONGOING EVALUATION. This paper sets out the rationale, approach, and methodology for an independent evaluation of the Asian Development Bank’s support for accelerating gender equality in Asia and the Pacific. The evaluation is included in the Independent Evaluation Department’s 2023–2025 work program, to be completed in 2024.

The leveraging of private sector expertise and funding is becoming increasingly important because of the large amounts of capital required to meet member country objectives such as sustainable growth, poverty alleviation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. To implement its ambitious plans for private sector participation and growth in member countries, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) must manage investment and credit risks in a timely, robust, and effective way to identify and mitigate risks of its committed nonsovereign portfolio.

ONGOING EVALUATION. The SASEC Program is a regional cooperation partnership of seven countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) that aims to improve economic opportunities and build a better quality of life for the people of the subregion through promoting cross-country cooperation to address development constraints.

The Asian Development Fund (ADF), in providing grants to ADB’s poorest developing member countries, has focused on small island developing states and nations grappling with fragility and conflict, offering concessional finance and technical assistance in challenging operational environments. The Independent Evaluation Department (IED) assesses the performance of ADF operations every four years and provides lessons and recommendations for improving its development effectiveness, informing the next replenishment.

ONGOING EVALUATION. The evaluation will assess the relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency of Asian Development Bank’s (ADB’s) technical assistance (TA) operations in supporting Strategy 2030 objectives and the DMCs’ needs. For this purpose, the evaluation will cover the TA operations approved and committed during 2014–2023. The evaluation will also be utilizing findings from Independent Evaluation Department’s (IED) TA completion report validation (TCRV) system, which has now been mainstreamed.

ONGOING EVALUATION. IED will undertake an independent evaluation of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB’s) strategic approach to private sector operations in Asia and the Pacific.

ONGOING EVALUATION. This paper sets out the rationale, approach, and methodology for an independent evaluation of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Plan for Operational Priority 5: Promoting rural development and food security, 2019–2024 (OP5). ADB has been supporting agriculture and rural development since it began its operations. ADB strategies were published in 2009 and 2015 to drive ADB’s support on sustainable agriculture for food security. This effort culminated in the identification of rural development and food security as one of seven operational priorities under Strategy 2030, with the OP5 plan being endorsed by ADB Board of Directors in October 2019.   

As mandated by its charter, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) gives a high priority to supporting regional cooperation and integration (RCI) in Asia and the Pacific. The Bank recognizes that RCI is essential for achieving sustainable growth and poverty reduction. It has helped to finance and facilitate various key RCI programs, most notably the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation Program, the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program, and the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Program. The Independent Evaluation Department is evaluating ADB support to each of these programs, and this evaluation is the second in this series of three evaluative studies aiming to draw lessons for future ADB support for RCI. 

Procurement plays a big part in development effectiveness, and the quality of public procurement practices is a major determinant of effective public spending. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) generates around $9.5 billion a year for the procurement of goods and services though loans and grants to its client countries. Before 2017, ADB’s procurement processes largely followed a rule-based system with an emphasis on compliance. Since then, ADB adopted a more principles-based approach in its Procurement Policy Framework (PPF), which introduced quality and value for money (VfM) as two new core principles.

 The evaluation analyzed the additionality of ADB’s nonsovereign operations (NSO) and reviewed ADB’s strategies, programs of assistance and their outcomes. The Independent Evaluation Department (IED) examined ADB's additionality in NSO covering the period 2008–2020. 

The evaluation informed the Board and Management discussion of the extent and nature of ADB’s NSO additionality, given the bank’s focus on expanding support for private sector. The evaluation drew success factors and lessons from experience and made recommendations to help enhance the success of ADB’s private sector operations.