By Jiten Yumnam, Centre for Research and Advocacy in Manipur (CRAM) Civil society organizations (CSOs) raised multiple concerns related to the financing of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) during its 58th Annual Governors’ Meeting (AGM), held from 5-7 May 2025 at Milan, Italy under the theme “Sharing Experience, Building Tomorrow”. While Mr. Masato Kanda, new President of ADB, underscored shared priorities in sustainable development, regional cooperation, and economic resilience, the AGM is marked by overt focus

This is an opinion piece by Jiten Yumnam, Secretary of the Centre for Research and Advocacy – Manipur.  The climate crisis has become an emergency across the South Asia region, affecting not just the environment, but also inter-community relations within countries and border disputes among South Asian countries. Glaciers are fast melting in the Himalayas[1]. Climate-induced disasters have been regular and intense, with recurrent floods, glacial lake outburst flow (GLOF), and hailstorms, among others. For

The Reality of Aid – Asia Pacific (RoA-AP) and CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE) –  Asia held their Regional Meeting and Workshop (RMW) 2025 last February 19 to 21 in Bangkok, Thailand. The three-day event convened RoA-AP and CPDE Asia members, as well as partners engaging international financial institutions (IFIs) and the development effectiveness agenda. A series of discussions and workshops were offered as space to 1) brainstorm emerging trends and key priorities for

Building on previous and existing efforts to distill and discuss locally-led development and development effectiveness in international cooperation, RoA-AP and CPDE Asia will hold its regular Regional Meeting & Workshop (RMW) from February 19-21, 2025 in Bangkok, Thailand to contribute to the advancing of the EDC agenda in Asia Pacific. The RMW will have the following components:  Observatorio Deep Dives Policy Conference Locally-led Development Strategy Workshop GPEDC 4th Monitoring Round (4MR) Training Organizational and Engagement

In an effort to curb overseas spending and dwell on economic protectionism, the once again elected United States (US) President Donald Trump is attempting to shut down the US Agency for International Development (USAID), an institution that delivers and funds humanitarian programs since the 1960s. After its crackdown on transgender people, women, migrants, and other marginalized groups, the re-elected authoritarian now continues annihilating international relations through its executive orders, with the recent gunpoint to the

We would like to extend our gratitude to the Coalition for Human Rights in Development, FORUM-Asia, and Fair Finance Asia for their valuable inputs to this article.  Context After four long years, the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) policy review, also and formerly known as Safeguards policy, is approaching its finalization. The Bank had made it clear throughout the entire Safeguard’s review process its commitment to a “risk-based” approach and “do