Evaluating for Development Effectiveness

Healthy and Age-Friendly City Development and ADB Partnership in Addressing Health Security in the PRC and Mongolia

In the first lecture on 9 September, East Asia Department’s Sangay Penjor, Stefan Rau, and Najibullah introduced ADB’s strategy for livable cities and post-COVID-19 new normal, its new integrated approach for healthy and age-friendly cities, and health security issues in the PRC and Mongolia. Over 30 students from 13 DMCs participated.

Evaluation of Development Results

Independent Evaluation Department’s Maya Vijayaraghavan presented the last lecture in the series an overview of the evaluation function in ADB and the role of independent evaluation in maximizing development effectiveness. The 8-lecture series  was concluded on 22 November by student presentations from 11 developing member countries.

Labor Markets in the Age of 4IR: How Technology Affects Jobs

Asia has made considerable progress in creating good jobs, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, but there is growing concern that Asia’s continuing success faces serious risks from automation. Southeast Asia Department’s Sameer Khatiwada examined changing labor demand in Asia in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). 

Reference

Developing Sustainable Infrastructure

In the sixth lecture, East Asia Department’s Sujata Gupta discussed the planning for sustainable infrastructure, future priorities for ADB support, including urban transport, clean energy, and climate change with AFDI’s students.

Middle Income Countries: Development Challenges and Opportunities

Independent Evaluation Department’s Benjamin Graham on 8 November in Shanghai discussed development issues in middle-income countries in Asia and the Pacific region. Drawing on recent evaluations and ADB studies, it focused on the region’s middle-income transition, challenges and opportunities, success stories of countries that have effectively hurdled the middle-to-high income divide, and ADB’s ongoing and future engagement with these countries.

Green Cities

In this third lecture to AFDI masters students, East Asia Department’s Sangay Penjor discussed the what, why, and how of turning cities to green and livable havens including case studies of past, ongoing, and future ADB projects.

International Development Autumn 2019

This semester-long lecture series addresses important topics concerning international development, drawing on ADB’s experience with developing member countries in Asia, primarily in the PRC.  The PRC’s extraordinary progress over the past forty years and ADB’s evolving partnership with the PRC offers important experiences and lessons for other developing countries. The lecture series emphasizes challenges, approaches, and case studies based on development projects, featuring senior experts from ADB’s East Asia Department, Southeast Asia Department, and Independent Evaluation Department. 

The 2019 topics are:

  • An Overview of Principles for Public Financial Management
  • ADB’s Operations and Portfolio in the PRC;
  • Green Cities;
  • Role of Cross-border Economic Zones in Economic Corridor Development: ADB’s Experience;
  • Middle-Income Countries in Asia and the Pacific: Challenges and Opportunities;
  • Developing Sustainable Infrastructure;
  • Labor Markets in the Age of 4IR: How Technology Affects Jobs; and
  • Evaluating for Development Effectiveness.

At the end of the course students are expected to have gained familiarity with: (i) the institutional arrangement concerning international development and cooperation; (ii) the approaches and processes that development assistance is delivered by multi-lateral development banks; (iii) current thinking and best practices in key sectors that ADB is engaged in, especially current and future cooperation priorities with the PRC government.  The course also provides a forum for interaction with ADB senior development practitioners.

Course Outline

Hans Van Rijn, Principal Public Management Specialist, EARD

8 Oct 2019, 10:00am – 11:30am

Public financial management plays a central role in macroeconomic management and fiscal policy. In this lecture, we’ll present a discussion of the objectives of PFM and we’ll discuss what the key characteristics of prudent PFM are. We then go into a discussion of principles for strategic budgeting; the first part of the lecture will be concluded with a discussion of budget cycle management, including a discussion of debt management approaches. Throughout the discussion, we will emphasize the political and institutional underpinnings of PFM. In the second part of the lecture, we will present an overview of internationally accepted tools and instrument that can be used to assess the quality of PFM systems.

References:

Hao Zhang, Deputy Country Director, PRC Resident Mission, EARD

17 Oct 2019, 10:00am – 11:30am

This lecture provides a snapshot of ADB’s operations in the PRC over the past 30 years, its portfolio, and the evolving sectoral and geographical interventions over time. It provides an overview of ADB’s operational cycle in terms of programming, project preparation and implementation. And discusses common challenges encountered during project implementation. A brief overview of ADB—who is ADB, how it helps, and what employment opportunity it offers—will also be discussed.

Sangay Penjor, Director, Urban and Social Sectors Division, EARD

30 Oct 2019, 10:00am – 11:30am

A “green” city means an area that is resilient and inclusive, manages its natural resources well, promotes low carbon growth to remain competitive and improves the livelihoods of all citizens. There is increasing need for cities to pursue strategic integrated urban development and environmental planning as they make a transition to a cleaner, greener and more prosperous future. Urbanization is placing a growing environmental strain on cities, such as air, water and noise pollution, traffic congestion and inadequate solid waste management.

As the world calls for more sustainable living and several countries begin to prioritize greener development, ADB responds with green solutions to achieve more livable cities. The lecture discusses what it means for a city to be green and livable; how ADB helps countries make their green city visions a reality, including a step-by-step discussion on how to develop a Green City Action Plan; and how partnerships are a powerful tool in achieving green city goals. ADB’s assistance through the technical assistance, knowledge work, and prioritized investments targeting green and livable cities approach will be discussed and a few key green and livable cities projects case studies will be presented.

Ying Qian, Advisor, Office of the Director General, EARD

30 Oct 2019, 13:30pm – 15:00pm

This lecture reviews the history of development of (cross) border economic zones, focusing on various forms, functions, modalities their development, and roles in developing cross-border economic corridors. Case studies of cross-border economic zone development will be presented, based on ADB’s experience in supporting PRC-Viet Nam cooperation.

Benjamin Graham, Principal Evaluation Specialist, IED

Over the past four decades, rapid growth in the Asia and Pacific region has resulted in many economies attaining middle-income status. At the same time, these middle-income countries (MICs) continue to face major development challenges, some of which emerge as a consequence of their rapid growth. About half of the world’s poor live in these countries. Many face problems such as rapid unplanned urbanization and environmental degradation. With opportunities for easy productivity gains becoming exhausted, improving productivity to hurdle the middle-income transition remains a challenge. Likewise, maintaining macroeconomic and financial stability has also become important. Some MICs will also need to achieve more economic diversification and product sophistication to sustain growth. Newer challenges are arising from greater competition, rapid technological change, more integrated global trade and financial systems, and climate change. Meanwhile, new development opportunities such as fostering development through South–South cooperation, investments in infrastructure and connectivity, and mobilizing new resources for development are emerging. Furthermore, with increased sophistication and capacities, more innovative solutions can be tested in these countries.

Understanding the dynamics of these rapidly evolving countries and their specific development challenges and opportunities is important. The lecture will: (i) review the evolution of MICs in Asia and the Pacific; (ii) discuss the unique challenges they face; and (iii) identify new opportunities for further growth and development for these economies. The lecture will also discuss the engagement of ADB with MICs and how it has evolved and might further evolve under ADB’s new Strategy 2030. The lecture will also integrate recent findings from ADB’s Independent Evaluation Department from evaluations conducted in MICs.

Sujata Gupta, Director, Sustainable Infrastructure Division, EARD

Infrastructure is a key element for growth in any economy. It is important to plan and develop systems to be environmentally and socially sound, resilient, efficient and financially sustainable. Technology provides innovative options and at the same time works as a “disruptor” in the system. Any solution requires the right choice of policies, technologies, linkages with other sectors, financing and business models. The session includes an interactive discussion on planning for sustainable infrastructure, future priorities for ADB support, including urban transport, clean energy and climate change.

Sameer Khatiwada, Economist, SERD

10:00am-11:30am, 20 Nov 2019, Wednesday

Asia has made considerable progress in creating good jobs, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Technological progress and structural transformation have driven this process. But there is growing concern that Asia’s continuing success faces serious risks from automation that new technologies are enabling. The lecture will examine changing labor demand in Asia in the age of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), drawing on his research for the Asian Development Outlook 2018: How technology affects jobs.

Maya Vijayaraghavan, Principal Evaluation Specialist, IED

10:00am-11:30am, 21 Nov 2019, Thursday

Evaluation refers to the process of determining the worth or significance of an activity, policy or program. It is an assessment, as systematic and objective as possible, of a planned, on-going, or completed development intervention. In this lecture, we will present an overview of the evaluation function in the Asian Development Bank (ADB). We will discuss the independent evaluation function in ADB and its role in maximizing development effectiveness of ADB operations. Accountability and learning lessons for development effectiveness will be highlighted. We will introduce the evaluation framework and methodology used, and present results from selected completed evaluations.

Hsiao Chink Tang, Head, Regional Knowledge Sharing Initiative, EARD

1:30pm-4:00pm, 22 Nov 2019, Friday

International Development Spring 2018

This semester-long lecture series will address important topics concerning international development, drawing on ADB’s experience with developing member countries in Asia, primarily in the PRC. The PRC’s extraordinary progress over the past thirty years and ADB’s evolving partnership with the PRC offers important experiences and lessons for other developing countries. The lecture series will emphasize challenges, approaches, and case studies based on development projects, featuring experts from ADB.

At the end of the course students are expected to have gained familiarity with: (i) the institutional arrangements concerning international development and cooperation; (ii) the approaches and processes that development assistance is delivered by multi-lateral development banks; (iii) current thinking and best practices in key sectors that ADB is engaged in, especially current and future cooperation priorities with the PRC government. The course also provides a forum for interaction with ADB development practitioners.

Course Outline:
Date & TimeContent
13 April 2018
9:30-11:30
ADB’s Operations and Portfolio in the PRC
Xinning Jia, Deputy Country Director, PRC Resident Mission (PRCM), ADB
16 April 2018
9:30-11:30
The Gender Dimension of Development: Theory and Practice
Hyun Son, Principal Evaluation Specialist, Independent Evaluation Department (IED), ADB

19 April 2018
13:30-15:30
The Future of Energy Systems: Challenges and Opportunities to Developing Countries in Asia
Yongping Zhai, Chief of Energy Sector Group, Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department (SDCC), ADB
24 April 2018
13:30-15:30
ADB’s Work in Law and Policy Reform
Fiona Connell, Principal Counsel, Office of the General Counsel, ADB
3 May 2018
13:30-15:30
ADB Climate Change Operation in the PRC
Xuedu Lu, Lead Climate Change Specialist, East Asia Department (EARD), ADB
7 May 2018
9:30-11:30
Comprehensive Transformation Approach to Revitalize the PRC’s Northeast: Supporting Non-Coal Diversification, SME Development, Environmental Cleanup from Mining Impact, and Attractive Green and Clean Cities in Eastern Heilongjiang
Stefan Rau, Senior Urban Development Specialist, EARD
15 May 2018
13:30-15:30
Role of Cross-border Economic Zones in Economic Corridor Development: ADB’s Experience
Yuebin Zhang, Principal RCI Specialist, EARD
16 May 2018
9:30-11:30
ADB’s Approach to Promoting Sustainable Food Security in Asia and the Pacific
Marzia Mongiorgi, Head of Programs, RCI and Knowledge Integration Unit, PRCM
29 May 2018
13:30-15:30
Framing Governance Reforms in Real-World Conditions
Gambhir Bhatta, Advisor and Head, Knowledge Sharing and Services Center Concurrently Chief of Governance Thematic Group, SDCC
1 June 2018
13:30-15:30
An Overview of Principles for Public Financial Management
Hans Van Rijn, Principal Public Management Specialist, EARD
5 June 2018
9:30-11:30
Middle-Income Countries in Asia and the Pacific: Challenges and Opportunities
Jose Antonio Tan III, Advisor, IED
15 June 2018
13:30-15:30
Green Urban Development and Green Financing
Jenny Hubert, Principal Infrastructure Specialist, EARD
25 June 2018
9:30-11:30
Financing Low-Carbon and Climate Resilient Development: the ADB’s approach to the Climate Change Challenge
Maria Pia Ancora, Climate Change Specialist, EARD
3 July 2018
9:30-11:30
Prospects of Decent Work in Services
Sameer Khatiwada, Economist, Economics Research and Regional Cooperation Department
3 July 2018
13:30-15:30
Wrap Up
Amy Leung, Director General, EARD

International Development Spring 2017

This semester-long lecture series will address important topics concerning international development, drawing on ADB’s experience with developing member countries in Asia, primarily in the PRC. The PRC’s extraordinary progress over the past thirty years and ADB’s evolving partnership with the PRC offers important experiences and lessons for other developing countries. The lecture series will emphasize challenges, approaches, and case studies based on development projects, featuring guest lecturers from the management team of the East Asia Department (EARD), ADB. Topics in 2017 will include:

  • Role of Multilateral Development Banks in a Developing Country’s Growth Process-A Case Study of ADB-PRC Partnership
  • The PRC’s Energy Sector Development 1987-2017
  • Green Urban Development and Green Financing
  • Transport: Connecting People, Places, and Markets in the PRC
  • Healthy Rivers and Ecosystem Restoration: the Role of ADB
  • Water Supply, Flood Risk Management and Disaster Prevention
  • Promoting Economic Diversification and Employment Creation in Mongolia through Regional Cooperation
  • Trade Facilitation
  • Inclusion and Gender Equality in the PRC
  • Fiscal Management in Resource Rich Economies
  • ADB’s Operations and Portfolio in the PRC
  • Growth Opportunities in Asia: Role of Global Production Networks and Economic Corridors

At the end of the course students are expected to have gained familiarity with: (i) the institutional arrangement concerning international development and cooperation; (ii) the approaches and processes that development assistance is delivered by multi-lateral development banks; (iii) current thinking and best practices in key sectors that ADB is engaged in, especially current and future cooperation priorities with the government of the PRC. The course also provides a forum for interaction with ADB senior development practitioners.

Course Outline:
Date & TimeProgram
6 April 2017
14:30-16:30
Role of Multilateral Development Banks in a Developing Country’s Growth Process-A Case Study of ADB-PRC Partnership
Ayumi Konishi, Director General, East Asia Department (EARD), ADB

ADB has been a development partner of the PRC for the last 30 years, helping the country to achieve the largest reduction of poverty in the world and the rapid transformation to the upper middle income status. This opening lecture will discuss how ADB assistance’s to the PRC has evolved over the years, and the recent change in emphasis now that the PRC is an upper middle income country. In particular, the lecture will review the role PRC is expecting ADB to play and how ADB is planning to respond to these expectations.
4 May 2017
13:30-15:30
The PRC’s Energy Sector Development 1987-2017
Ashok Bhargava, Director, Energy Division, EARD

The lecture will elaborate on how ADB- PRC partnership in energy sector has evolved over the past 3 decades from accelerated capacity addition to bridge the demand supply gap in early days to forward looking low-carbon energy sector transformation with larger role of energy efficiency and renewable energy. There will be examples of projects and knowledge work that have helped reforms, demonstrate new technologies and introduce market-based mechanisms.
18 May 2017
10:00-12:00
Green Urban Development and Green Financing
Jenny Hubert, Principal Infrastructure Specialist, EARD

The urbanization ratio in the PRC increased from 19% in 1978 to 54% in 2013 The number of cities rose from 193 in 1978 to 658 in 2013. Continued rural–urban migration is expected to lead to a projected urban population of 816 million by 2020. In 2014, the government set-up a Green Finance Task Force, which issued a series of recommendations to set-up a green finance system. The understanding is that a country based green finance model requires strong national policies, supported by financing, addressing the specific risks of urban infrastructure investments and catalyzing large scale Private and Commercial Funding into green urban infrastructure. The China Development Research Foundation estimates that the PRC needs to invest CNY24 trillion ($3.8 trillion) in urban infrastructure by 2020 to meet the needs with public funding capped at 15%, resulting in a massive gap. Challenges for local governments include increased debt, a limited tax base, and limited options to finance infrastructure. The lecture will first look at planning strategies to green urban master plans addressing infrastructure gaps and institutional bottlenecks and then review funding options to finance green urban infrastructure.
18 May 2017
14:30-16:30
Transport: Connecting People, Places, and Markets in the PRC
Robert Guild, Director, Transport and Communications Division, EARD

The PRC has experienced major growth and expansion in the past 30 years. Transport investments have been among the main drivers of this growth, including ADB support of over US$20 billion (in constant 2016 prices) to the sector since 1989. This session will introduce the economic and social rationale for investment in transport infrastructure; survey the development of ADB’s support over the past 30 years; and present case studies of projects in the road, rail, and water transport subsectors. The session will include an interactive discussion of future priorities for ADB support, including urban transport, regional cooperation and integration, and climate change.
26 May 2017
13:30-15:30
Healthy Rivers and Ecosystem Restoration: the Role of ADB
Qingfeng Zhang, Director, Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Division, EARD

The lecture will present an overview of water security in the countries of Asia and the Pacific, discuss why healthy rivers are the foundations for the sustainable achievement of a water secure future. The lecture will argue the need for 4 increased action and investments to restore and protect rivers in many DMCs and basins, and present the role of ADB in restoring healthy rivers and ecosystems. The lecture will share the speaker’s thoughts on knowledge solutions for restoring aquatic ecosystems in Asia.
1 June 2017
13:30-15:30
Water Supply, Flood Risk Management and Disaster Prevention
Sangay Penjor, Director, Urban and Social Sectors Division, EARD

The topic on water supply will cover integrated water resource management, water security, water conservation, urban water supply and corporatization of water utilities, treatment of incremental wastewater generated, water tariff reforms and sustainability of water supply systems and citing some past and ongoing ADB water supply projects. On flood risk management, approaches and designs as part of urban environmental improvement strategies based on completed and ongoing ADB projects in the PRC. And on disaster risk management, based on the case study of Guangxi Wuzhou Project.
9 June 2017
13:30-15:30
Promoting Economic Diversification and Employment Creation in Mongolia through Regional Cooperation
Robert Schoellhammer, Advisor, EARD

Taking the case of Mongolia, the lecture will explore how cooperation with the PRC can help economic diversification and create employment. The lecture will provide an overview of the Mongolian economy, ADB’s role in promoting its development, including investments that promote mutually-beneficial regional cooperation. The lecture will also examine the prospects for regional programs and initiatives for promoting development in Mongolia, and other inner Asian countries.
12 June 2017
10:00-12:00
Inclusion and Gender Equality in the PRC
Benedict Bingham, Country Director, PRC Resident Mission, EARD

The lecture will discuss issues of inclusion and gender equality in the PRC. The lecture will seek to explore two questions (a) does inequality in the PRC matter, given the dramatic reduction in poverty over the past 30 years? and (b) why focus on gender equality specifically? The lecture draws on two forthcoming ADB studies. The first is a paper prepared in collaboration with the IMF entitled “Inequality in China: Trends, Drivers and Policy Remedies”. The second paper is a study prepared in collaboration with the ILO entitled “Gender Equality and the Labor Market, Women, Work and Migration in the People’s Republic of China.” The lecture hopes to draw on the research in these two studies to answer these two questions and draw some lessons on potential areas of reform to promote inclusive growth, covering both macro-economic and micro-economic reforms.”
14 June 2017
10:00-12:00
Trade Facilitation
Ying Qian, Director, Public Management, Financial Sector, and Regional Cooperation Division, EARD

The lecture will cover how trade facilitation can help countries better reach economic development potential through more efficient and increased flow of goods, finance, information and people across borders. The lecture will introduce: (i) definition of trade facilitation; (ii) agencies and stakeholders involved in trade facilitation and agency specific trade facilitation issues, including customs, sanitary and phytosanitary agencies, immigration agencies, and private sector; (iii) international conventions including the WTO trade facilitation agreement and international bodies focusing on trade facilitation; (iv) trade facilitation and regional cooperation; (v) ADB’s ongoing programs and projects on trade facilitation; and (vi) trade facilitation results.
15 June 2017
10:00-12:00
Fiscal Management in Resource Rich Economies
Akiko Hagiwara, Senior Economist, EARD

This lecture sheds light on Asia’s growing demand for commodities and factors affecting economic performance of commodity dependent economies. First, commodity price cycles in the past decade have synchronized, taking in oil, metals, and many agricultural products. While supply shocks such as bad harvests account for commodity price spikes, they do not explain why such a broad range of prices have moved nearly in unison. This suggests that the commodity boom– bust cycle has a strong demand element. The lecture discusses to what extent demand from developing Asian economies—particularly larger economies like the PRC and India—affect global commodity price trends. Second, while most countries in the region welcome lower commodity prices, as low prices would help contain inflation, commodity exporters naturally have a different perspective. Countries that depend on commodity exports for foreign exchange and government revenues can suffer significant macroeconomic shocks from volatile or excessively low prices. This is particularly true for countries that rely on extracted natural resources such as petroleum, metals, and minerals. The lecture looks more closely at these economies to examine the factors that help some resource-dependent economies cope with these shocks better than others.
15 June 2017
13:30-15:30
ADB’s Operations and Portfolio in the PRC
Xinning Jia, Deputy Country Director, PRC Resident Mission, EARD

This lecture session will give a snapshot of ADB’s operations in PRC over past 30 years, its portfolio, and the evolving sectoral and geographical interventions over the time. The lecture will provide an overview of ADB’s operational cycle in terms of programming, project preparation and implementation. The lecture will briefly touch upon the implementation challenges of projects. The lecture will also give a quick brief of ADB in general, who we are, how we help, and its opportunity.
26 June 2017
10:00-12:00
Growth Opportunities in Asia: Role of Global Production Networks and Economic Corridors
Teresa Kho, Deputy Director General, EARD

The lecture will present the changing economic context of growth in the region, India’s “Make in India” campaign, India’s resulting focus on industrial corridor developments, and the opportunities it will present for foreign direct investment in the country. The lecture will also discuss ADB’s overall role in the corridor development as well as facilitating regional trade and investments in South Asia.

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