Asian Development Bank

ADB Through the Decades Asian Development Bank

The 5-volume publication, ADB through the Decades, provides a historical account of how ADB has evolved to respond to the dynamic changes across the Asia and Pacific region over the past 5 decades. This fourth volume from the series presents how ADB responded to rapid changes in the region following the Asian financial crisis and the changes in international development thinking. The 1997 Asian financial crisis hit the region and became a defining moment for Asia and ADB. As ADB participated in coordinated crisis responses, Asian policy-makers reassessed their economic policies in a fundamental way. This volume presents how ADB met the challenges of designing strategies to respond to rapid changes in the region following the Asian financial crisis and changes in international development thinking. Several important policies and strategies were approved, including ADB's Poverty Reduction Strategy as well as ADB's first Long-Term Strategic Framework to 2015. ADB embarked on two major reorganizations (in 2002 and 2006) and committed to an internal reform agenda to be a more responsive, relevant, and results-oriented organization.