The session objective was to share good practices on how community participation and monitoring can enhance the effectiveness of activities, finances, and climate change adaptation outcomes in ADB-supported programs. The session aimed to develop recommendations for the ADB based on case studies from South Asia and the takeaways from the discussion at the session.

It opened with the panelists discussing the importance of community participation in climate finance operations of the ADB based on the bank’s stakeholder engagement policy. This was followed by three case studies of successful applications of community participatory approaches for engaging stakeholders. The session highlighted lessons for tapping into local community knowledge to develop responsive solutions in the ADB supported financing for climate change adaptation and mitigation work in its member countries.   

The following were the case study presentations: (i) community engagement on disaster relief and resilience in Sri Lanka promoted by the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement (largest local CSO in the country), (ii) community participatory monitoring to enhance effectiveness of Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) Approach supported by the Freshwater Action Network South Asia in seven countries in the region; and (iii) Pianeta in Italy’s framework for transdisciplinary co-creation process that connects public participation, climate and social policies, and environmental intelligence to produce meaningful outcomes.

Director General Bruno Carrasco of the ADB’s department of climate change and sustainable development responded to the suggestions from panelists and discussed the ADB’s new approach to civil society engagements. He shared that the ADB addresses issues of meaningful community engagement in climate adaptation and transition programs and thanked the panel for valuable suggestions for making this more effective. He drew the participants’ attention to the community development resilience program of the ADB. He closed by inviting CSOs to continue to help communities participate in the ADB-financed programs.   

Moderator from the Partnership for Transparency noted that the ADB is doing a good job of engaging with communities and can do better by helping build knowledge and skills of communities to engage, sharing timely and user-friendly information, supporting two-way dialogue between communities and duty bearers, and supporting digital literacy in communities. 

Watch the session here: