STRATEGIC PLAN 2020
NGO Forum on ADB is set to implement its “Roadmap to Strategic Campaigning 2014-2020: Towards lasting and systemic change.”
The next six years will see Forum striving to effect systemic change within ADB, and by extension its clients so that they respond with greater accountability to the developmental needs and local contexts of Asian communities. behalf of affected people, whose vulnerabilities have been increased by ADB’s skewed development agenda. A focal point for Working Groups and Member Organizations is strengthening the voice and capacity of the poor, women, ethnic groups and marginalized sectors.
PLANNING PROCESS
The forum began strategizing on its framework, campaign plan, and organizational design in December 2012 by way of a preparatory meeting in Bangkok, Thailand. After the country and regional meetings were conducted the process culminated in November 2013 through an implementation workshop in Silang, Cavite, Philippines.
The International Committee (IC) / Board of Trustees and the executive director guided the long-term strategic planning process. A strategy team, comprised of a lead strategist, the IC convener, and Secretariat staff, oversaw the conduct and completion of the year-long planning.
The end result of this intensive, participatory and dynamic process is the “Roadmap,” which effectively supersedes the Long-Term Strategy Plan of 2006.
COUNTRY CONSULTATIONS
Strategy meetings were held in Armenia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. A sub-national consultation took place in Northeast India. There was a reporting of a country situationer on Cambodia, Myanmar, and Nepal in the 2013 Forum Annual Meeting.
Country Working Groups took cognizance of national perspectives in planning campaign activities concerning ADB-related issues. Members strategized on how to achieve network expansion and reactivation, increased public pressure on the Bank, and the sustainability of campaigns in their respective countries.
REGIONAL CONSULTATIONS
Strategy planning occurred in the regions of Central Asia and Caucasus (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan), Southeast Asia (Bangkok, Thailand) and South Asia (Dhaka, Bangladesh). A sub-regional grouping meeting for the Mekong participated in by delegates from Cambodia, Vietnam, and INGOs based in the region was also held in Bangkok.
Regional Working Groups prioritized key thematic areas, including transboundary linkages, where synchronicity and complementarity in advocacies can be established. This enabled them to develop a five-year consolidated plan of action and intervention.
SIX-YEAR STRATEGY PLAN
The “Roadmap” guides Forum in operationalizing ongoing and future regional thematic campaigns. It provides a mechanism for monitoring and managing the impact/s of its advocacy wok. Similarly, it serves to further Forum’s learning vis-à-vis the impact results of its actions.
The forum is building on and adding value to advocacies in Central Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia on five working themes: water, energy, climate change, urbanization, and human rights. Safeguards (environment, involuntary resettlement, Indigenous Peoples) and gender have identified as cross-cutting issues.
It is expected that by 2020, the voice and agency of the people of Asia, especially the poor and marginalized, has been raised at a sustainable capacity to engage the ADB towards more lasting and systemic change. This is because Forum has effectively pushed the ADB and its borrowers to become truly accountable, transparent, open and ready in their constructive dialogues with civil society and other stakeholders.