This publication records the proceedings of the Country Safeguard Systems (CSS) Regional Workshop on April 2012 at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters. Discussions focused on the evolution, current status, and future directions of CSS, and the CSS partnership between developing member countries (DMCs) and development partners. Participants from 15 DMCs and 10 multilateral and bilateral agencies discussed the significant convergence of CSS with international best practice achieved in the past 2 decades, particularly environmental assessment and involuntary resettlement practices, and remaining challenges, including filling gaps in legal frameworks, building implementation capacity, and ensuring stakeholder engagement. DMCs expressed their desire to further strengthen CSS through policy dialogue, technical assistance, and South–South cooperation. Representatives of ADB, the Australian Agency for International Development, Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the World Bank confirmed their readiness to collaborate in providing assistance to advance CSS.

This publication records the proceedings of the Second Regional Workshop on Strengthening Country Safeguard Systems: Towards Common Approaches for Better Results held at Asian Development Bank headquarters in Manila on 7–9 October 2014. The workshop had three objectives: (i) Provide an opportunity to reflect on achievements across the region and share innovations in safeguard policies and their implementation in the region and beyond; (ii) Improve understanding of client and partner priorities and needs to better target capacity development initiatives; and (iii) Promote dialogue and sharing of experiences among the participants and identify opportunities for South–South and triangular cooperation and knowledge sharing in environmental assessment, involuntary resettlement, and indigenous peoples' safeguards.

The Japan Scholarship Program (JSP) was established in 1988 to provide well-qualified citizens of developing member countries an opportunity to undertake postgraduate studies in economics, management, science and technology, and other development-related fields at 27 educational institutions in 10 countries in Asia and the Pacific. Between 1988 and 2012, Japan contributed around $135 million to the JSP. A total of 2,966 scholarships have been awarded to recipients from 35 member countries, 1,045 of whom are women. Of the total, 2,627 scholars have already completed their courses. An average of 150 scholarships are being awarded each year.

Social assessment for projects in China is an important emerging field. This collection of essays — from authors whose formative work has influenced the policies that shape practice in development-affected communities — locates recent Chinese experience of the development of social assessment practices (including in displacement and resettlement) in a historical and comparative perspective. Contributors — social scientists employed by international development banks, national government agencies, and sub-contracting groups — examine projects from a practitioner’s perspective. Real-life experiences are presented as case-specific praxis, theoretically informed insight, and pragmatic lessons-learned, grounded in the history of this field of development practice. They reflect on work where economic determinism reigns supreme, yet project failure or success often hinges upon sociopolitical and cultural factors.