The Philippine Energy Efficiency Project: Lighting Up the Philippines in an Efficient Way

The Philippines, in addition to an impending shortage in energy supply, has one of the most expensive power rates in the world. By providing assistance, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) supported the government’s interim strategy to promote and implement energy efficiency initiatives to mitigate a projected energy supply deficiency and reduce power consumption.

Read about ADB's other energy projects in Knowledge and Power: Lessons from ADB Energy Projects.

Speeding Business Application Processes in the Philippines

Out of 60 countries, the Philippines ranked 49 in ease of starting businesses in the 2006 World Competitiveness Report. Even with the establishment of the National Economic Research and Business Assistance Center (NERBAC) to fast track investment inflows, applications for business licenses in the country were still widely perceived as cumbersome. This was attested by the 2010 Doing Business Report where the Philippines ranked 162 out of 183 countries in terms of ease in business start-up transactions.

Ramping Up Results-Based Management in the Philippines

Measuring (and reporting on) performance evidences concern for efficiency and effectiveness: it demonstrates to shareholders and stakeholders that an organization means business; it promotes transparency and accountability; and it helps compete for funds. Above all, it facilitates systematic thinking about three basic questions: Are we doing the right thing? Are we doing it right? How do we know? In the Philippines, efforts to improve public sector management have been deployed from the late 1980s, aiming to ensure that development results are achieved for the Filipino people.

Building Modern Land Administration Systems

Efficient and effective land administration underpins the very functioning of states and societies. Imagine a country where, for example, tenure to land cannot be secured or mortgages cannot be established in aid of property development. Across the world, key questions about land are surfacing, and the inability to answer them curtails social and economic development, environmental management, and good governance.

Visions of Asia's Water Realities

In 2001, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved its Water for All policy to promote water as a socially vital economic good that needs increasingly careful management. One imperative of the policy was to raise awareness on water challenges and the urgent need to address them.

Two years later in 2003, as part of a bank-wide water awareness program, ADB launched the Water Voices documentary series, a set of seven compelling documentaries about people finding local solutions to important water-related problems in Asia and the Pacific.

Social Accountability at the Local Level: Citizens Engaging with Local Government

ADB, in collaboration with the Partnership for Transparency Fund, organized this National Workshop on Social Accountability at the Local Level: Citizens Engaging with Local Government under the Regional Technical Assistance (RETA) on Support for Implementation of the Second Governance and Anticorruption Action Plan (RETA 6445): Strengthening Citizens Involvement in Mitigating Governance Risks in Local Government Units in the Philippines.