THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday said it has launched a new Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations and Small Island Developing States Approach (FSA) to guide its support for its most vulnerable Developing Member Countries (DMCs).

The approach introduces flexible processes and procedures that will allow ADB to tailor interventions to the specific challenges of Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations (FCAS) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), with the goal of improving project results.

"The FSA will change the way ADB designs, implements, and monitors projects in its most fragile DMCs," said ADB Advisor for FCAS Mr Samuel Tumiwa.

This will be done by expanding training for staff to work more effectively in these countries and through the introduction of tools such as fragility and resilience assessments that will provide project planners and country teams with a comprehensive overview of risks and factors that affect resilience, such as climate change, weak governance, and conflict.

ADB is the first multilateral development bank to bring FCAS and SIDS together under a single operational approach. The FSA Action Plan, 2021–2025, comprises the following operational approaches: applying risk-informed decision-making; improving FCAS and SIDS classification criteria; assessing fragility and resilience; integrating FCAS and SIDS contexts into planning and implementation processes; developing analytics and knowledge products; strengthening ADB’s capacity for operating in FCAS and SIDS; expanding partnerships and coordination with DMCs; increasing innovative private sector engagement; and adopting a communication and engagement strategy.

Countries are classified as FCAS based on an assessment of the quality of macroeconomic management, coherence of structural policies, the degree to which policies and institutions promote equity and inclusion, quality of governance and public sector management, and performance of concessional assistance project portfolio.

ADB classifies 11 countries as FCAS: Afghanistan, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Kiribati, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, and Tuvalu.

Sixteen ADB DMCs identify themselves as SIDS: the Cook Islands, the FSM, Fiji, Kiribati, Maldives, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

More than 500 stakeholders contributed to the development of the FSA through their participation in consultations from September, 2020 to March, 2021. Participants included government counterparts from FCAS and SIDS countries, bilateral development agencies, civil society organisations, representatives of multilateral development banks, and key ADB departments and sector and thematic groups.