Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific

The Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP) has received the prestigious Associations Make A Better World Award from the Washington, D.C.-based American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) & the Center for Association Leadership for its “DFIs for Corporate Governance” project. The Awards Committee, in giving the award, stated that “the program truly embodies the spirit of the Associations Make A Better World campaign which seeks to recognize outstanding examples of associations who make a significant contribution to societies and economies worldwide”. The Associations Make A Better World Awards are presented annually to recognize the valuable contributions made by associations around the world.

The 5-phased corporate governance project, with funding support from the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), brought forth a wide participation of DFIs in the Asia-Pacific region in promoting and institutionalizing good corporate governance policies and practices in accordance to world-recognized conventions. The project started out in 2002 with an awareness and orientation campaign on corporate governance issues (Phase I) and then into developing a corporate governance “scorecard” for DFIs and other financial institutions (Phase II). It subsequently focused on expanding the role of the bank’s compliance officer to cover governance matters (Phase III) and then linking governance with sustainable development (Phase IV). In its final stage, the project tackled risk management within the framework of corporate governance (Phase V).

A total of 27 training & capacity-building events so far have been held in various countries where ADFIAP has a member. In all, 623 Board Directors, CEOs and senior managers of over 100 member-banks, affiliates and partners, including non-member commercial banks and other financial institutions from 33 countries have benefited from the program. Over 20 national training program designs, 3 manuals and toolkits, 1 newsletter called “Governance”; training materials for all five phases, 4 published articles in the Journal of Development Finance, and countless news items per event featured in the ADFIAP Newsletter and in its website have been published and disseminated. The project has its own website at http://www.governance-asia.com/

ADFIAP http://www.adfiap.org is the focal point of all development banks and other financial institutions engaged in the financing of development in the Asia-Pacific region. Founded in 1976, ADFIAP has currently 92 member-institutions in 37 countries. ADFIAP is an NGO in consultative status with the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council. The permanent Secretariat of ADFIAP is based in Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines.