Asian Development Bank

Emerging and new digital technologies have the potential to help countries tackle climate change, build climate and disaster resilience, and enhance environmental sustainability. This publication aims to inform and influence the strategic deployment of digital technologies in developing Asia. It provides an overview of the available technology types and their applications and assesses opportunities and barriers for their uptake. The publication provides insights on how digital technologies can be operationalized in the Asian Development Bank’s developing member countries, including to support nationally determined contributions and green recovery efforts.

Digital Technologies for Climate Action, Disaster Resilience, and Environmental Sustainability

Water safety planning is considered an international best practice for assessing and managing public health risks from drinking water supply systems. Under the West Bengal Drinking Water Sector Improvement Project and in close collaboration with the World Health Organization, the Asian Development Bank assisted in developing these water safety planning guidelines for the state of West Bengal. This document offers practical guidance for taking a water safety planning approach to bulk water supply systems, particularly in developing and implementing the stages of rural drinking water delivery service schemes in India and elsewhere.

Guidelines for Drinking Water Safety Planning for West Bengal

This tool kit presents an integrated approach to inclusive urban development and was prepared for ADB staff and their partners to engage in inclusive urban development programming and implementation as an integral component of ADB’s lending programs. It presents methods to gather required information on a particular context and location for inclusive urban development; to decide priorities; and to plan, design, and implement inclusive urban projects. The operational focus is provided by practical guidelines and criteria for inclusive urban development projects and is designed to stimulate innovation in the solution and approaches that define inclusive urban development projects.

Tool Kit for Inclusive Urban Development

Enabling Inclusive Cities

Ensuring a secure supply of food is essential, given the world's (and especially Asia's) growing population, high and volatile food prices, increasingly scarce resources, and changing environment. This publication discusses the drivers behind food insecurity in Asia and points to ways to mitigate it.

Key Challenges and Policy Issues

Food Security and Poverty in Asia and the Pacific

This synthesis report is the result of close, collaborative research initiated by the Asian Development Bank in partnership with Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada; the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation; and the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia. Fourteen background papers were commissioned to investigate food security issues particularly pertinent for Asia and the Pacific. The report synthesizes and collates the primary findings from these papers to articulate key policy challenges and opportunities related to food security in the region.

Food Security in Asia and the Pacific

Myanmar's housing sector is struggling to cope with rapid urbanization, internal migration, and new demand from recent economic growth. These challenges are most apparent in the Yangon Region, where estimates suggest there will be a housing shortage of 1.3 million units by 2030. This publication assesses the current housing market situation in Yangon. It identifies reform options and offers practical recommendations to support the Yangon Region Government's implementation of its affordable housing agenda and related policies.

Financing Affordable Housing in Yangon

Major changes have been occurring almost unnoticed in staple value chains in Asia. The Quiet Revolution in Staple Food Value Chains documents and explains the transformation of value chains moving rice and potatoes between the farm gate and the consumer in Bangladesh, the People’s Republic of China, and India. The changes noted are the rapid rise of supermarkets, modern cold storage facilities, large rice mills, and commercialized small farmers using input-intensive, mechanized technologies. These changes affect food security in ways that are highly relevant for policymakers across Asia—the rise of supermarkets provides cheaper staples, more direct relations in the chains combined with branding have increased traceability, and the rise of cold storage has brought higher incomes for potato farmers and all-season access for potato consumers. The book also joins two debates that have long been separate and parallel—food industry and agribusiness development and market competitiveness—with the food security and poverty alleviation agend

The Quiet Revolution in Staple Food Value Chains

Myanmar, which is emerging from decades of isolation, is poised to accelerate its economic growth on the back of its abundant labor force, rich natural resources, and geographical location. But the country faces many development challenges to achieve strong and inclusive growth. To take advantage of its rich potential and endowments, Myanmar can also use its strategic location between the People's Republic of China and India, and act as a conduit between South and Southeast Asia. To sustain its growth momentum in the long run, Myanmar should aim for a growth trajectory that is inclusive, equitable, and environmentally sustainable. This special report assesses the country's strengths and weaknesses and highlights the challenges and risks. The key lies in prioritizing the actions to surmount the challenges and introducing the requisite reforms.

Opportunities and Challenges

Myanmar in Transition

The world's urban population is growing fast. In Asia, 2.2 billion people (one out of two) are expected to live in cities by 2020. Urban centers are also increasing in size and number. Urban centers are important to national economies because they are the engines of economic growth and the focal points for important activities like trade, commerce, industry, and government administration. Cities are centers of excellence for education, health care, technological innovation, entrepreneurship, and governance. They provide access to large markets for goods and services and communication with the rest of the world. Urban centers create opportunities for jobs, employments, and livelihood. But, despite these advantages, most rapidly growing Asian towns and cities face significant problems. It is the urban paradox that amid the wealth and prosperity generated by towns and cities a high incidence of urban poverty persists. This publication sets out the results of a technical assistance that developed and introduced the concepts and techniques for preparing City Development Strategies (CDS) and Cities Without Slums (CWS) programs. It includes case studies that suggest that, for cities to benefit from their comparative advantages, they must become more efficient, govern well, and establish coherent poverty reduction programs.

City Development Strategies to Reduce Poverty

This tool kit assists staff and consultants of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and partner governments in conceptualizing and designing gender-responsive programs and projects in transport sector operations. It aims to help users identify gender equality issues and to develop practical design elements into transport operations. It guides users on key questions to be asked and data to be collected during project preparation, and provides a menu of entry points for designing gender-inclusive transport projects. The tool kit presents the rationale for why gender equality issues are important in transport sector operations and provides guidance and suggestions for integrating gender in key transport subsectors. Case studies from ADB projects have been included to illustrate good practices in mainstreaming gender concerns in transport sector operations.

Transport

Gender Tool Kit

This publication is part of a series of six country reports on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and higher education in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Each report presents current arrangements and initiatives in the respective country’s skills development strategies. These are complemented by critical analyses to determine key issues, challenges, and opportunities for innovative strategies toward global competitiveness, increased productivity, and inclusive growth. The emphasis is to make skills training more relevant, efficient, and responsive to emerging domestic and international labor markets. The reports were finalized in 2013 under the Australian AID-supported Phase 1 of Subproject 11 (Innovative Strategies for Accelerated Human Resource Development) of Regional Technical Assistance 6337 (Development Partnership Program for South Asia).

Sri Lanka

Innovative Strategies in Higher Education for Accelerated Human Resource Development in South Asia

Viet Nam has achieved rapid economic growth in Southeast Asia. In 2009, it became a lower-middle-income country. However, labor productivity has remained low even with ample foreign direct investment.Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) must now respond to increase skilled workers in the labor market. This report examines Viet Nam's challenges and opportunities in TVET. It recommends reforms in governance structure, organization, and management of TVET; effective teaching of the right skills; greater enterprise-based training and financial support; and equal access to higher quality training particularly for the disadvantaged population such as ethnic minority students.

Viet Nam Technical and Vocational Education and Training Sector Assessment

The threat from dengue has grown dramatically. The World Health organization estimates that there may be up to 100 million thousands die because of dengue each year. Controlling mosquitoes is the only available dengue prevention strategy, but dengue control activities tend to be limited to reponses to outbreaks. This report documents a promising, feasible, low-cost measure for controlling Aedes egypti mosquitoes, the primary household-associated dengue vector. The intervention involved encouraging local communities in Cambodia and the Lao People's Democratic Republic to use small fish called guppies to devour mosquito larvae in household water containers; this was accompanied by intense communication activities. The result was significant reductions in the number of containers with mosquito larvae and of mosquito pupae per person. The approach is being considered for expansion to other areas of Cambodia and the Lao People's Democratic Republic and is also being taken to countries in the South Pacific with a view to assessing its wider suitability.

Managing Regional Public Goods for Health: Community-Based Dengue Vector Control

Technical Assistance (financed from the Japan Special Fund) to the Lao People's Democratic Republic for Capacity Building of the Lao Women's Union

This publication showcases the beginnings of the People‘s Republic of China–Asian Development Bank knowledge sharing platform, its context, activities, challenges, and lessons learned. It concludes by mapping out the next steps to bring it to its strategic mission.

Case Study on South-South Cooperation: PRC-ADB Knowledge-Sharing Platform

Nutrition Improvement Through Community Empowerment Project

Proposed Loan and Technical Assistance Grant, Republic of Indonesia

This report, jointly prepared by ADB and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, aims to provide strategic guidance for emerging Asia's participation in the G20 and related discussion about reform of global economic governance. The recent global financial crisis underscored the fact that the spirit of cooperation is key to successful reform. Without tighter coordination between old and emerging powers, it will be hard to find lasting solutions to pressing global problems. The rise of emerging market economies heralds a new world order. Yet consolidating the new voices and soliciting a sense of ownership from them pose a real challenge. This report draws on important lessons from the crisis to offer policy recommendations in areas of imminent challenge confronting the leaders from both old and emerging powers

Reshaping Global Economic Governance and the Role of Asia in the Group of Twenty (G20)

Technical Assistance to the Kingdom of Cambodia for Enhancing the Resettlement Legal Framework and Institutional Capacity

Annual Report for ...

This report proposes a new method to increase infrastructure investment based on the concept of value capture in Indonesia. Indonesia needs significant additional infrastructure investment to sustain its economic growth. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has further limited the fiscal space of the government. The report studies how Indonesia's existing policies and regulations can be used to build a value capture framework that ensures the maximization of the social, economic, and environmental value of infrastructure investments. The framework focuses on strategies to deliver infrastructure projects that create greater value and, at the same time, generate funding for up-front investment.

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