Under the theme “Sharing Experience, Building Tomorrow,” the 2025 Annual Meeting is a key opportunity for Governors from ADB’s 68 members to consider development issues and challenges facing Asia and the Pacific. It will revolve around the following focus areas:

• Digital Transformation - Digital technologies are transforming economies and societies rapidly changing products, services, business models, and industries. While digital transformation has great potential for advancing the development agenda and accelerating climate action for our DMCs, it also carries with it some downsides.
• Frontiers of Green Transition - Shifting to a low-carbon future is complex and challenging, but essential to our survival on this planet. The frontiers where trade-offs and hard choices must be made include hard-to-abate industries, transition challenges in the workforce, unproven technologies, the need for critical minerals, and energy justice.
• Innovation for Adaptation - The impacts of climate change, from extreme heat, rising sea levels, water shortages, and extreme weather conditions, are reversing hard won development gains. Building resilience to climate change will require developing new technologies, practices, and strategies, often across borders through regionally relevant solutions.

ADB welcomes the participation of civil society organizations (CSOs) in its annual meeting through the Civil Society Program (CSP), a venue for CSOs to dialogue with ADB and government leaders of its developing member countries on key development topics. Consistent with Strategy 2030, ADB’s long-term strategy, ADB aims to strengthen collaboration with CSOs and commits to “work with CSOs to tap their unique strengths, such as their local presence and specialized knowledge. It will explore opportunities to increase their involvement in the design and implementation of projects supported by ADB. Particular focus will be on operations that use grassroots participatory approaches to target the poor and vulnerable groups, mobilize women and young people, and monitor project activities and outputs. ADB will also seek their inputs and advice on the review of major ADB policies.”  

The Civil Society Program aligns with this year’s 58th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors (AGM) theme and focus areas and aims to reflect on ADB-CSO engagement in the past years, as well as envisioning the future of their collaboration in support of its Strategy 2030, ADB’s long-term corporate strategy.

The 58th AM Civil Society Program will kick off with the meeting between CSOs and the ADB President, followed by a series of policy discussions and knowledge sharing events in line with this year’s theme. While this year’s Annual Meeting events are in-person, ADB will continue to observe health and travel guidelines as provided by the host country.

Interested CSOs, including youth-led organizations, are requested to submit session proposals using the templates provided in the Annexes, no longer than two pages, excluding attachments. Annex 2 should include a list of tentative speakers for the session. CSOs are asked to submit their proposals by email on or before 31 December 2024, 5:00 p.m. Manila time (GMT+8). Please indicate in the subject line: “58^th ADB Annual Meeting Milan - Civil Society Program Session Proposal.” 

Target Participants

CSOs, both operationally-focused and advocacy organizations, currently engage with ADB across several areas, including:

1. stakeholder engagement throughout project design
2. implementation of components of ADB-supported projects, particularly in the delivery of social services
3. monitoring and evaluation, and
4. policy design and review, particularly in sectors and themes such as Social Development, Governance, Gender, Safeguards, and others.

CSOs also work with ADB through partnerships for knowledge generation and sharing, as well as in the review and updating of its institutional policies.

Guide to Submitting Session Proposals

CSOs, including youth-led organizations, are invited to submit session proposals for the 58^th Annual Meeting - Civil Society Program using the Session Design Template. CSOs should consider the following in designing their session:

1. Clarify alignment to this year’s Annual Meeting theme and any of the focus areas;
2. Clarify CSO perspectives on this theme and any of the focus areas, particularly from the perspectives of marginalized and vulnerable groups. Offer solutions and/or meaningful ADB-CSO engagement opportunities in any of these areas; 
3. Establish quality and expertise of the panel of speakers and demonstrated capacity to deliver a high-quality session, e.g., confirmation of the panel of speakers, diversity in countries represented, as well as in gender and age of speakers;
4. Establish ability to draw from a wide number of Annual Meeting attendees and organizations;
5. The session should demonstrate collaboration with other CSOs or development partners. It should not be organized by or feature speakers from one organization only;
6. It is required that the session includes at least one speaker under age 35 as part of the panel, to ensure voice and perspectives of the youth on the proposed topic;

It is encouraged that the session includes a speaker from ADB as part of the panel. The proposal should nominate an ADB management or staff member to be part of the panel. ADB will assist proponent organizations in identifying an appropriate member from ADB to serve as speaker for the panel.

7. This year, the Civil Society Program aims to include two sessions specifically on the following:

a.         A session for CSOs working in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations (FCAS) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in Asia and the Pacific region ADB's Work in FCAS and SIDS | Asian Development Bank on the theme and any of the focus areas above; and

b.         A youth-led CSO session on youth transitions into the labor market, on the theme and any of the focus areas above.

We welcome session proposals that will respond to this specific call, particularly those organized in collaboration with other CSOs, the private sector or international institutions.

Successful CSO proponents will be provided with a travel subsidy for three (3) speakers. Selected CSO organizers will prepare key highlights of their session within 48 hours after it is completed (maximum 320 words). The key highlights will form part of the overall 58^th Annual Meeting documentation of events.

ADB shall review the session proposal based on the following criteria: