1 August 2005
Independent assessment of Safeguard Policies implementation also recommended.
In a letter submitted to ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda on July 22, thirteen civil society organizations from across Asia, US, Europe, and Australia put forward recommendations to help ensure meaningful civil society participation in the planned Safeguard Policies update, and cautioned the ADB against extremely rapid and selective plans for engaging external stakeholders.
Key CSO recommendations to the ADB on the review process include:
- At the onset, conduct an independent assessment of the implementation of ADB’s Safeguard Policies, to enhance overall understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the existing policies and their implementation.
- Proactively inform stakeholders regarding ADB’s intent to review the Safeguard Policies, while inviting comments over a 90-day period on current safeguard policies, the ADB “Issues Paper,” and the proposed timetable and procedures for the review.
- Conduct initial face-to-face consultations with stakeholders, and make available resources to help ensure broad participation.
- Prepare and disclose draft iterations of each of the 3 policies based on solicited comments and findings of independent assessment, accompanied by a summary of key recommendations received during consultations along with ADB’s specific responses to each.
- Conduct a minimum of 8 face-to-face country consultations and 5 regional consultations on the draft policies, with documents translated into appropriate languages.
- Disclose final draft policy as it goes to the Board, and include a list of key CSO recommendations with ADB’s specific response to each.
NGOs expressed hope that the Review will not in any way weaken existing safeguard standards, and instead contribute to the strengthening of the Policies and their implementation.
Civil society letter to Kuroda on policy update process (Acrobat pdf 599 KB)
Additional Resources