Learning From Evaluation - Institutional Readiness Supporting Project Implementation

This session is a stage-setting session. It emphasizes the value of using evaluation lessons and findings to improve project performance and strengthen accountability and learning. Using examples of project implementation challenges across sectors in Central and West Asian countries, the session identifies the factors that affect overall project performance at (i) regional; (ii) DMC, and (iii) sector levels with a focus on the role of strong institutions.

Financial Management

This session defines FM project design requirements, shared responsibilities, financial due diligence processes, FM risks and mitigating measures and readiness criteria and examines common issues and challenges in project implementation in Central and West Asia countries. The session analyzes how public financial management (PFM) systems and institutions, staff capacity of executing and implementing agencies, and efficiency of FM arrangements in projects play a part in project readiness and enhance project implementation.

Ghislain De Valon

Ghislain is a Senior Infrastructure Specialist (Innovation and Green Finance) at the Asian Development Bank on secondment from Agence Française de Développement (AFD). In the Southeast Asia Green Finance Hub project team, he is particularly leading the operationalization of the Blue SEA Finance Hub, which aims to catalyze financing and develop bankable and implementable ocean health and sustainable blue economy projects in Southeast Asia.

Baysa Naran

Baysa Naran is a Manager in Climate Policy Initiative’s London office, where she leads the Global Landscape of Climate Finance – an inventory of climate change investment available that provides a trend analysis on the how, where, and from whom finance is flowing toward low-carbon and climate-resilient actions globally. It is a key tool for policy makers to assess the scale of finance, identify the main actors in the market, reveal investment gaps, and highlight opportunities to mobilize finance to fulfill investment potential.

Plato K.T. Yip

Plato K. T. Yip, a seasoned investment professional with over 20 years of expertise in private equity fund investment, mergers and acquisitions, and business development. As the Secretary General and CEO of the Treelion Foundation, he spearheads the development of a global blockchain-powered platform for green asset capital flows. Additionally, he holds the position of Vice Chairman at Elion International Investment under the Elion Resources Group, a prominent Chinese company specializing in ecological restoration, clean energy, and asset management. Mr.

S M Jakaria Huq

Mr. S M Jakaria Huq is a career bureaucrat who has over 24 years’ experience working in the Bangladesh civil service. Since November 2022, Jakaria has been working as a Joint Secretary in the ADB Wing of Economic Relations Division (ERD) under the Ministry of Finance of the Bangladesh government. Before joining ERD, Jakaria was appointed as Commercial Counsellor to the Bangladesh High Commission, London from January 2018 to September 2023.

Nandita Ganapathy

Ms. Nandita Ganapathy serves as Partner & Head, Investor Relations at Kaizenvest. Prior to joining Kaizenvest, Nandita spent nine years at Northern Arc Capital. Nandita has twenty years of experience in financial services with global and Indian Financial Institutions such as ICICI Bank and Standard Chartered Bank. She has a Bachelors degree in Commerce from Mumbai University.
 

Padraig Power

Padraig Power has diverse work experience in the financial and auditing field. Padraig has worked at the Global Partnership for Education since 2012, starting as a Senior Financial Officer and progressing to roles such as Acting Chief Operating Officer, Chief Finance and Operations Officer, and currently serving as the Chief Financial Officer. Prior to that, they worked at The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria from 2006 to 2012, with positions including Senior Finance Officer and Team Leader for Financial Planning & Analysis.