ADB, World Resources Institute Link Up to Share Knowledge

An ADB-supported project empowers local community members to patrol forests in Cambodia.
An ADB-supported project empowers local community members to patrol forests in Cambodia.

By Kallidaikurichi Seetharam

ADB and the World Resources Institute have signed a knowledge partnership agreement to foster knowledge sharing and bring enhanced technical and advisory support to new projects at ADB.

This week, ADB and the World Resources Institute (WRI) signed a knowledge partnership agreement to foster knowledge sharing and bring enhanced technical and advisory support to new projects at ADB.

Under this new agreement, ADB and WRI will work together until December 2020 on a range of topics, notably sustainable urban development, energy, climate resilience, forest management, sustainable urban transport, and water security.

Specifically in 2015, WRI will contribute to ADB’s planned report Flagship Studies on Future Cities 2050, and the  ongoing Asia Leadership Program, which has brought together over 150 senior government leaders in the region for face-to-face and online knowledge sharing to foster more sustainable development and climate change-related initiatives in their policies and infrastructure projects.

The agreement is part of ADB’s goal of developing partnership agreements with a wide variety of knowledge partners that are centers of excellence in specific sector and thematic areas. In doing so, ADB will gather a prestigious platform of thinkers and doers with ADB’s critical financial and regional know-how to find new and innovative solutions to the region’s development problems. As countries in the region become more wealthy, many are increasingly seeking expert data and knowledge rather than finance alone, to tackle challenges at home.

The latest partnership is also a result of ADB’s first successful Knowledge Partnership Week, that kicked off ADB’s efforts to build long-term relationships with strategic knowledge partners. The four-day event comprised the Partnership Forum with the Private Sector on 19-20 May and the 3rd Asia Think Tank Summit on 20-22 May, gathering nearly 150 private sector partners and 60 think tanks.

Under a knowledge partnership agreement, ADB and WRI agree on an annual joint work program, comprising joint outputs, which will be generated using a cash contribution from ADB, and pro bono as well as in-kind contributions from the partner. ADB and WRI will work together to ensure timely, high-quality reports that are presented in a way that is useful for target audiences in ADB’s developing member countries. The partnership will give WRI access to ADB’s data as well as joint intellectual property rights for using outputs, which ADB will make freely available on its website.