Fiftieth Annual Meeting: Attendance of Nongovernment Organizations And
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November 2016 Fiftieth Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank: Attendance of Nongovernment Organizations and other Civil Society Organizations This document is being disclosed to the public in accordance with ADB's Public Communications Policy 2011. ABBREVIATIONS ADB – Asian Development Bank CSO – civil society organization NGOC – Nongovernment Organization and Civil Society Center Vice-President B. Susantono, Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development Director General M. Locsin, Director General, Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department (SDCC) Director A. Leung, Deputy Director General concurrently Chief Thematic Officer, Thematic Advisory Cluster, SDCC Team leader C. Morris, Principal Social Development Specialist, SDCC Team member S. Nazal, Senior Social Development Officer, SDCC CONTENTS page I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1 II. ACCREDITATION PROCESS ........................................................................................ 1 A. Accreditation of Civil Society Organizations Who Have Previously Attended the Annual Meeting ................................................................................................... 1 B. Accreditation for Civil Society Organizations Wishing to Participate in the Annual Meeting for the First Time ................................................................................... 1 III. INVITATIONS ................................................................................................................. 2 APPENDIXES 1. Accredited Nongovernment Organizations and Other Civil Society Organizations that Have Participated in Recent Annual Meetings (2012–2016) ........................................... 3 2. Accredited Nongovernment Organizations and Other Civil Society Organizations that Have Not Attended Recent Annual Meetings (2012–2016) ............................................11 I. INTRODUCTION 1. This paper informs the Board of Directors of the process of accreditation for nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and civil society organizations1 (CSOs) accredited by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to attend the 50th Annual Meeting and those seeking ADB accreditation to attend the 50th Annual Meeting on 4-7 May 2017. These include foundations, research institutes, academic organizations, faith-based organizations, labor unions, and community-based organizations, among others, that are based in ADB members. 2. The primary purpose of CSO attendance at Annual Meetings is to create an opportunity for them to learn about ADB’s operations and to engage in dialogue with other participants, including members of the Board of Directors, Management, senior staff, and delegations from ADB members. The CSOs are active in development in the Asia and Pacific region and welcome the opportunity to exchange knowledge and views at the Annual Meeting. Most ADB- assisted loan projects involve CSOs in some way—from providing input to consultations on design to facilitating community consultations, conducting surveys, monitoring social aspects, and implementing project components. Because of their involvement, ADB has included a dedicated civil society agenda in the Annual Meeting for the last 24 years. II. ACCREDITATION PROCESS 3. To participate in the Annual Meeting, CSOs must be accredited by ADB prior to the meeting through a process coordinated by the NGO and Civil Society Center (NGOC) of the Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department (SDCC). NGOC has prepared two lists: (i) accredited CSOs that have participated in the Annual Meeting from 2012 to 2016 (Appendix 1), and (ii) accredited CSOs that have not attended the Annual Meeting during the last 5 years (Appendix 2). 4. Paras. 5–10 explain the accreditation process for (i) previously accredited CSOs, and (ii) CSOs that wish to obtain ADB accreditation to attend the 50th Annual Meeting. A. Accreditation of Civil Society Organizations Which Have Previously Attended the Annual Meeting 5. CSOs provided in Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 are deemed to have been accredited by SDCC to attend the 50th Annual Meeting. B. Accreditation for Civil Society Organizations Wishing to Participate in the Annual Meeting for the First Time 6. Aside from those which have previously accredited and attended, there will be CSOs which will seek first-time accreditation in order to participate in the 50th Annual Meeting. The application form for requesting accreditation will be available on the ADB Annual Meeting website by January 2017. CSOs are requested to complete the form and submit supporting papers that provide information about the organization, including a valid certificate of registration with their government. 1 ADB engages primarily with developmental CSOs, including NGOs. These are private organizations entirely or largely independent of government, not created for financial or material gain, and addressing concerns such as social and humanitarian issues of development, individual and community welfare and well-being, disadvantage, and poverty, as well as environmental and natural resources protection, management, and improvement. 2 7. NGOC screens requests for accreditation in line with the principles and criteria for engaging CSOs, in the 1998 Policy on ADB Cooperation between ADB and NGOs. In the Policy, NGOs are defined as independent of government, and not created for financial or material gain. Recognizing the diversity of civil society, the Policy states that ADB’s engagement will focus primarily on developmental organizations which address social and humanitarian issues of development, individual and community welfare and well-being, disadvantage, and poverty, as well as environmental and natural resources protection, management, and improvement. Important criteria for engagement include the organization’s legal status and credibility, among others. Based on these, NGOC will endeavor to confirm that the CSO (i) operates legally in an ADB member, (ii) is independent of the state and has not been created for profit-making purposes, and (iii) engages in activities related to development policy and practice relevant to ADB operations. 8. Upon review, and if the CSO satisfies these three criteria, NGOC will forward a recommendation for accreditation to the Director General of SDCC to seek endorsement. If the CSO is found not to have satisfied the three criteria, NGOC shall inform the CSO to provide an explanation of which screening criteria it believes have not been met. 9. The accreditation process for new CSOs will not proceed unless the CSO has been successfully screened by NGOC and subsequently endorsed by SDCC. 10. Should members of the Board of Directors wish to invite other CSOs to participate in the 50th Annual Meeting, they may forward those names to NGOC for assessment against the three criteria cited in para. 7. To allow sufficient time to undertake screening procedures and issue invitations, the names and contact information for CSOs recommended by Executive Directors should be submitted to NGOC through the Office of the Secretary by 17 February 2017. III. INVITATIONS 11. All ADB-accredited CSOs may participate in the Annual Meeting. If needed, NGOC may set a limit to the number of representatives per organization. In January 2017, NGOC will send out an e-mail invitation (using the contact details provided to ADB through a centralized database) to representatives of the ADB-accredited CSOs listed in Appendix 1. As in previous years, CSO representatives register online using a password in the invitation letter. 12. Representatives of accredited CSOs may send a request for an invitation to NGOC following instructions that will be posted on the ADB Annual Meeting website. Upon request, NGOC sends the invitation to the CSO representative(s). Appendix 1 3 ACCREDITED NONGOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS AND OTHER CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS THAT HAVE PARTICIPATED IN RECENT ANNUAL MEETINGS (2012–2016) Member Name of Civil Society Organization Afghanistan Humanitarian Organization for Afghan Nation and Relief (HOANR) Armenia AIESEC Armenia NGO Forum on ADB Australia Oxfam Australia Azerbaijan “Ashiq Shamshir” Cultural Center Public Union Azerbaijan “Azerbaijan Journalists Network “ Public Union Azerbaijan “Azerbaijan Law Reform Centre” Public Union Azerbaijan "Clean World" Public unity of help to women Azerbaijan “ELS- Independent Investigations Center” Public Association Azerbaijan “Eternal Fire” Public Association for Cultural Relations Azerbaijan “International Society of Persons with Disability” Public Association Azerbaijan “New Life” Humanitarian and Social Support Public Union Azerbaijan “Saglam muhit” support to the youth development public union Azerbaijan “Taraggi” Public Unity of center of Social Studies Azerbaijan “The Journalist Expert Center” Public Union Azerbaijan "World of Law" Public unity of legal propaganda Azerbaijan “Zirve” cultural and art public union Azerbaijan ADA University Azerbaijan AIESEC Azerbaijan Association on Protection of Historical Monuments in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan Azerbaijan National NGO Forum Azerbaijan Azerbaijan Public Unity Help to development of the Azerbaijan-Bulgarian friendship Azerbaijan CASCFEN Azerbaijan Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD) Azerbaijan Charity foundation of support to Architecture, construction science and education development in the Republic of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan Defense league of labor