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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.