Integrated Approach to Sustainable Infrastructure Provision/ Financing

Armenia, a small landlocked country in the Caucasus, requested its development partners for assistance in maintaining its extensive yet underfunded road and water network. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is the only partner that responded to this call.

The challenge was to institutionalize coordination and beef up accountability mechanisms, not only between Armenian government agencies but also with ADB teams and other development partners. As a response, ADB introduced an integrated approach to ensure the sustainability of infrastructure solutions to be rolled out.

The ADB team adopted the “One ADB approach” that promoted a multidisciplinary and multi-sector analysis of the problem at hand. Through a series of meetings, stakeholders developed a common understanding of relevant issues. The reluctance of some in setting common action plans at the ministerial level, however, served as a major bottleneck.

Later on, this bottom-up approach enabled the ADB team, Armenian government ministries, and development partners to craft a sustainable strategy for maintaining the road and water network in Armenia. Shared goals were also fostered through a clear division of responsibilities and cross-accountability between agencies.

The Armenian government fully embraced the approach after they saw the results. With this, the government has requested the application of the approach in other sectors through a second program in 2016 – 2017. 

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