Background Social movements since the 19th century have altered political systems and social structures. At the core othese social actions are inormal groups oindividuals or ormal organizations either espousing or galvanizing resistance to social change. Reerred to as civil society in more recent times, they are characterized as non-sta te actors whose aims are neither to generate prots nor seek governing power. Civil society organizations (CSOs) unite people to advance shared goals and interests. At the international and local levels, CSOs tenaciously move toward having greater inuence on decision making, governance, and actions that directly afect people. Specically, in Asia and the Pacic region, most governments have recognized the role ocivil society in their respective country’s development processes. Their actual engagements, though, vary within and across countries. The advantages oworking with CSOs, such as nongovernme nt organizations (NGOs), have been recognized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) since late 1980s. ADB’s operations have shown that cooperation with CSOs has contributed to the efectiveness, sustainability, and overall perormance oADB-assisted activities in ADB’s developing member countries (DMCs). To strengthen the institutional arrangements or engagement oCSOs in addressing their concerns, ADB established the NGO Civil Society Center in 2001. The Center is mandated with the primary responsibility or developing, implementing, and assessing general policy and practice relating to ADB participations with civil society. Aside rom NGOs, ADB has partnered with community-based organizations (CBOs), independent research institutes, people’s organizations , labor unions, and various nonprot oundations as collaborativ e partners and/or under a contract engagemen t. ADB cooperate s with civil society at diferent levels covering policy, countr y strategy, and programs/pro jects. Engagement oCSOs in ADB operations has been through diferent roles, including but are not limited to (i) serving as partners in project implementat ion and/ or operations, (ii) providing assistance to recipients oADB support, (iii) acting as conancier , (iv) conducting monitoring and evaluation oADB-assisted activities, and (v) par ticipating in policy advocacy. This synthesis ocuses on lessons rom successul engagement oCSOs in ADB- nanced operations. The lessons were ramed according to the various roles oCSOs and based on inormation extracted rom project completion reports (sel- evaluation) and independent evaluations. CSOs have partnered with ADB in project design and implementation under diferent contexts. CSOs have served as (i) acilitators in the identication and provision otargeted services or the poor, disadvantaged people, and women; (ii) agents and intermediaries or micronance operations that provide credit to the poor; and (iii) ser vice providers that contribute to the attainment oproject objectives and sustained outcomes. The involvement and contributions oNGOs and CBOs in identiying the needs othe poor and the disadvantag ed (including women and children) are critical to achieving desired development results. For example, during the project preparation phase othe Third Livestock Developmen t Project in Nepal, representa tives olocal communities conrmed the need to improve livestockproductivity among low-income amilies with the ultimate goal oimproving amily incomes and hea lth. During project implementation, NGOs acilitated the ormation and strengthening oCBOs, specically, armers’ groups. This engagement led to the improvement olivestock production and household incomes, and also contributed to the social and economic empowerment othe poor, the disadvantaged communities, and women. Similarl y, the involvement oan NGO was instrumental in the preparation othe natural resource management plan odistrict wards (barangay) in the Cordillera Highland othe Philippines. The NGO had been efective because otheir amiliarity with participatory developme nt planning practices, the region, and the people. The participatory approach in the identication ocommunity needs and preparation oplans has heightened awareness odevelopment issues and priorities, sense oownership, and community responsibility among local inhabitants. In another project in the Philippines, community participation was accomplished through the engageme nt oNGOs in community organizat ion and development oagrarian reorm Successul Engagement with Civil Society Organizations July 2011 Evaluation Independent Cooperation with civil society organizations has contributed to the efectiveness, sustainability, and overall perormance oADB-assisted activities in its developing member countries.
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Successful Engagement with Civil Society Organizations
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8/3/2019 Successful Engagement with Civil Society Organizations