According to the Bank’s website, the proposed regional knowledge and support technical assistance (TA) will continue to support further institutional development of the CAREC Institute (CI), particularly supporting the Institute to implement a comprehensive revitalization plan, jointly developed by CI and ADB. As an integral component and knowledge arm of the CAREC Program, CI keeps receiving the ADB support since its inception. In particular, the ADB has supported CI through alignment with CAREC strategies, institutional capacity building, development of operational plans, and execution of strategy and plans through technical assistance grants and intellectual support for CI's analytical work. This TA will build on previous ADB technical assistance provided to the CI to better position itself to address the regional needs under its mandate. This TA will support focusing the CI efforts on several flagship research, capacity building and outreach activities to achieve greater impact, higher quality, and better fit to CAREC activities.

The dynamic CAREC region faces numerous structural challenges including heavy reliance on hydrocarbon exports, climate-change-induced shocks, being landlocked, and high trade and transport costs. This necessitates crucial knowledge support for these economies' economic diversification, and CI has been established as a knowledge arm of the CAREC Program to provide policy-relevant research and capacity building for the CAREC members.

With continuous ADB TA support, the Institute has achieved significant milestones in its research and capacity development, and building knowledge partnerships with leading policy research institutions, think tanks and researchers in the CAREC economies.

At the same time, CI is still in need of further institutional strengthening to sustain the momentum gained over the years of support, and also to align itself with evolving strategic priorities of the CAREC Program particularly in the wake of CAREC 2030 Strategy Midterm Review (MTR) and the consequent review of sectors strategies. CI is currently coping with such challenges as an overly ambitious strategy, limited country ownership, financial sustainability issues, difficulties in attracting and retaining talent, and suboptimal governance and management setup. To address these issues, ADB and CI have developed 'Revitalizing the CAREC Institute concept note providing a sober analysis and a set of recommendations to improve the Institute's performance. This concept note has been endorsed at the CI's Governing Council meeting on 9 November 2024. The concept note suggested developing a new CI Strategy 2026-2030 with a sharper focus on fewer, high-quality flagship productsstudies, training programs, and outreach activitiesand implementing a broad spectrum of institutional reforms withing CI, specifically bringing management and staff recruitment and retention practices at par with international best practices.

The proposed new ADB TA is intended to support this crucial reform of the CAREC Institute in 20252027. The TA is aligned with ADB's Strategy 2030 addressing its operational priority 7 on fostering regional cooperation and integration (RCI).

According to the Technical Assistance Report, the Risk Categories are:

Environment: Not Applicable
Involuntary Resettlement: Not Applicable
Indigenous Peoples: Not Applicable

The TA financing amount is $650,000 which will be financed on a grant basis by ADB’s Technical Assistance Special Fund (TASF)––of which $400,000 is financed under TASF 8 and $250,000 is financed under TASF-other sources.

Other sources: People's Republic of China Poverty Reduction and Regional Cooperation Fund: $650,000

Project Officer: Roman Mogilevskii
Designation: Senior Regional Cooperation Economist - Asian Development Bank
Email: rmogilevskii@adb.org

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ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF ADB

The Accountability Mechanism is an independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an Asian Development Bank-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the Accountability Mechanism, they may investigate to assess whether the Asian Development Bank is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. You can learn more about the Accountability Mechanism and how to file a complaint at: http://www.adb.org/site/accountability-mechanism/main.