Published on Asian Development Bank (http://www.adb.org)
Strategy 2020 Midterm Review
What is Strategy 2020?
Strategy 2020 was approved in 2008 as ADB's main corporate-wide strategy and planning
document. It provides a clear mandate and direction to ADB in its vision of an Asia and Pacific
region free of poverty.
Strategy 2020 focuses on areas of ADB's comparative advantages in light of existing and
emerging challenges. Reflecting these factors, the strategy promotes three strategic agendas of
inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth and regional integration. To
achieve these goals, five drivers of change would be embedded into ADB operations - private
sector development and private sector operations, good governance and capacity development,
gender equity, knowledge solutions and partnerships. Selectivity and focus would be reflected in
the targeted 80% of ADB's operational focus on five core operational areas - infrastructure,
environment, regional cooperation and integration, finance sector development and education.
Support for other areas of operations, such as health, agriculture, and disaster and emergency
assistance, would be selectively provided.
Strategy 2020 also sets out institutional goals to enhance ADB's human resources and skills mix,
organizational structures, and client responsiveness and other operational goals, including:
scaling up private sector development and private sector operations, reaching 50% of annual
operations by 2020; scaling up support for environmentally sustainable development, including
projects to reduce carbon emissions and address climate change; and increasing assistance to
regional cooperation and integration to at least 30% of total activities by 2020.
Questions to Consider:
Has Strategy 2020 enabled ADB to become a more effective development bank in the
region?
What are ADB's strengths and where does ADB need to improve performance?
ADB Operations
ADB's support for infrastructure is the main contributor to Strategy 2020's agendas. An
infrastructure deficit constrains market-led growth and access to social services in most ADB
developing member countries (DMCs). During the first five years of Strategy 2020 implementation
(2008-2012), infrastructure operations comprised a majority of ADB operations. These operations:
(i) improved the enabling environment for private sector investments, direct foreign investments,
and pursuing innovations; (ii) supported inclusive growth by (a) creating jobs and economic
opportunities, (b) linked the poor to markets and helped improve access to schools, medical
services and hospitals, and (c) provided access to basic services, such as electricity, water supply
and sanitation, which in turn, decreased the work burden for women in rural areas and enabled
children to study at home. In addition, these investments have been ADB's main contributor to the
environmentally sustainable growth and regional integration agendas. Under Strategy 2020, there
has been a shift to clean energy and energy efficiency projects, sustainable transport projects,
and projects that support disaster and risk mitigation. Substantial investment in cross border
infrastructure is also enabling progress on regional integration.
Non-infrastructure operations also support Strategy 2020's agendas. In education, there has been
a shift in focus to tertiary and technical and vocational education to help DMCs increase
productivity, employability and innovation. In the financial sector, regional cooperation has been
emphasized through the regional infrastructure fund and regional bond market initiative. However
the share of assistance for education and finance in ADB's total financing has declined during
Strategy 2020 implementation. ADB's support for health, which also supports inclusive growth, has
also declined, while ADB's support for agriculture, as a share of total ADB financing, has been
maintained.
Strategy 2020's drivers of change are increasing reflected in ADB's operations. Good progress
has been made in scaling up assistance for private sector development and private sector
operations during 2008-2012. While risk management of ADB private sector operations continues
to improve, tensions exist between mitigating risk while pursuing greater development impact,
including in "frontier economies." Under the public private partnership (PPP) operational plan,
PPPs have become an institutional priority for ADB. Good governance and capacity
development is strongly embedded in country partnership strategies (CPS) and operations.
Mainstreaming of gender equity has increased significantly. While progress on generation of
knowledge solutions has been made, efforts are still not adequately linked to operational
improvements and DMC needs. While significant progress has been made in promoting
partnerships, Strategy 2020's target of having "total annual direct cofinancing exceed the value
of ADB's stand-alone project financing" remains ambitious.
The perspectives emerging from the post-2015 development agenda emphasize a greater push
for inclusiveness and country driven goals, which are closely aligned with Strategy 2020.
Questions to Consider:
Has Strategy 2020's selectivity and focus led to stronger performance and better results for
DMCs in promoting inclusive growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional
integration?
Which areas of operations are ADB strengths?
Which areas need improvement?
Is ADB doing enough to promote private sector development, gender equality and
governance and capacity building?
Is ADB providing the kind of knowledge DMCs need to tackle the development challenges
they face?
Is ADB's knowledge agenda helping to improve project design?
How can ADB forge stronger partnerships with development partners and the public and
private sectors to meet the needs of developing member countries?
Development Context
Rapid growth has produced fundamental changes in the Asia and Pacific region. Incomes have
risen; absolute poverty has declined. By 2020, the region could account for one-third of global
trade. Yet many challenges remain. Rising income and wealth disparities are a major source of
concern in many developing member countries (DMCs), and have become a major issue in middle
income countries. The region has the greatest number of people who are vulnerable to climate
change. Many DMCs will not meet all of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Child
malnutrition remains high and 1.9 billion people in the region do not have access to basic
sanitation. Profound demographic changes are taking place. Unprecedented urban growth is
testing the region's public service delivery systems.
Infrastructure access remains a constraint and financing gaps are immense and were estimated to
be more than $8 trillion between 2010 and 2020. Moreover, investments in infrastructure, which
were already low, further declined during the 008/09 global financial crisis and have not bounced
back to pre-2008 levels. Policy and regulatory impediments, as well as weak governance,
constrains infrastructure investments, especially from the private sector. As the region becomes
more urbanized, provision of sustainable and affordable urban infrastructure and basic services is
emerging as a key challenge. Financial systems remain undeveloped, limiting the private sector's
access to credit.
There is a continued need for financing by multilateral development banks, including among
investment grade DMCs. ADB can help leverage greater resources for longer term investment
needs, which provide innovation, knowledge, new modalities of development assistance, financial
resources, and experience to help address these challenges.
Questions to Consider:
What are the key development challenges emerging in Asia and the Pacific?
Is there a need for ADB to refocus to respond to these challenges?
Operations Delivery
ADB utilizes a corporate results framework to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of its
operations. The framework is built on indicators, baselines and targets to help monitor on the
development progress in the region, the delivery of ADB's core outputs and outcomes, ADB's
operational effectiveness; and ADB's organizational effectiveness. ADB uses this information to
monitor progress, measure results, and take corrective action where required.
While the success rate of ADB projects has improved during 2008-2012, it has not yet reached the
target of 80% set forth in Strategy 2020's results framework. Performance of ongoing projects
improved, but recently declined due partly to a more rigorous monitoring system adopted by ADB
in 2012. Delays in project startup and implementation continue to be noted and require serious
attention. Procurement processes are perceived as too long. ADB is undertaking a series of
measures to improve project readiness, procurement, and implementation.
Under Strategy 2020, ADB has diversified its lending instruments, including the development of the
multitranche financing facility, which provides longer term support to DMCs without the commitment
costs associated with standalone projects. This in turn, has strengthened ADB's capacity to
respond to DMC needs.
ADB's most important asset is its staff. Strategy 2020 outlines ways to diversify ADB's talent,
drawing in professional staff to implement its strategic priorities and meet clients' demands for
dynamic, modern products and services. Significant staff expansion has taken place under
Strategy 2020, including an increase in international women staff from 29% to 34%. More
resources, including staff, have been deployed in resident missions to strengthen decentralization.
However, skills shortages continue in specific technical areas.
With a greater focus on results, ADB has achieved a significant reduction in the processing time
and documentation requirements for new projects under the streamlined business processes,
adopted under Strategy 2020. However, with respect to project implementation and procurement,
performance has not met targets. Some developing member countries (DMCs) continue to regard
ADB's business process as being too slow. Some external stakeholders also view ADB as
"bureaucratic and inflexible". Coordination among ADB departments and offices is needed to
enable ADB resources to be better leveraged.
Questions to Consider:
What are ADB's key strengths in terms of its institutional structure?
What areas should ADB prioritize to improve operational performance?
In what areas should ADB staff skills be enhanced for greater effectiveness?
Public Consultations
Consultations are planned for the Strategy 2020 Midterm Review with stakeholders, including
government officials, representatives of civil society and non-government organizations (NGOs),
in-country donors, select local government/municipal bodies, and the private sector. Stakeholder
views will be carefully considered in finalizing the Midterm Review report.
The purpose of the consultation is to obtain stakeholder views on (i) ADB's implementation
experience on Strategy 2020 from 2008-2012, and (ii) key issues and challenges for 2013-2020,
the remaining years of Strategy 2020 and beyond.
The schedule and locations for in-country and regional consultations are indicated below.
In-country and Regional Consultation Schedule
No.
Locations
Date
1
New Delhi, India
21-23 October 2013
2
Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic
28-30 October 2013
3
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
6-8 November 2013
4
Nadi and Suva, Fiji
13-14 November 2013
5
Manila, Philippines
28 November 2013
Your views matter. ADB welcomes inquiries, suggestions and feedback on the review. Please send your
comments on the review via the feedback form.
Feedback and comments received will be carefully considered in the preparation of the midterm review report.
Draft documents for the midterm review will be periodically posted on the website for comments as they are
prepared.
The Strategy and Policy Department of ADB is coordinating the review.
Related Links
Strategy 2020
Strategy 2020 Brochure
Strategy 2020: Implementation Progress 2008–2012
Midterm Review of Strategy 2020: Discussion Note
Strategy 2020 Midterm Review Concept Note Update
Toward a New Asian Development Bank in a New Asia: Report of the Eminent Persons Group to The
President of the Asian Development Bank (2007)
Medium Term Strategy II 2006-2008
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Source URL: http://www.adb.org/about/strategy-2020-mid-term-review