The book is a collection of colorfully written stories about eight projects with strong participatory components. Drawing extensively on the uplifting personal stories of project beneficiaries, the book reveals the challenges confronted when adopting a participatory approach toward the use of public resources.

Yet it also points to the substantially positive results that can be achieved when those challenges are overcome through the involvement and commitment of motivated beneficiaries, nongovernment organizations, governments at different levels, and international development agencies.

From the Ground Up brings attention to the accomplishments of communities that have seized the opportunity to improve their situation, stimulates appreciation for the rich potential of bottom-up approaches to development, and inspires thinking about how practices featured in the publication can be usefully applied in other contexts. Projects in the following countries are featured: India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, People's Republic of China, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, and Viet Nam.

INTRODUCTION: An approach whose time has come
Amid the democratization of today’s Internet-connected world and a growing belief that the “wisdom of crowds” proves less fallible than the judgment of a ruling elite, some may find it surprising that participatory—or people-centered—development has not made more headway in Asia and the Pacific.

After all, there is convincing evidence that projects designed to improve the lives of poor people stand a much better chance of success when those people are consulted about their needs, and when they feel a sense of ownership in the choice, design, implementation, operation, and maintenance of the projects.

The case studies in this book show that participatory development can provide win–win outcomes for all stakeholders. The disadvantaged and marginalized benefit from a sense of empowerment, as well as from the practical outcomes of a project, such as a road or a water supply system. The government achieves its development goal more effectively and sustainably—and at a lower cost if the community contributes cash and labor. ...

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Asian Development Bank
6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City
1550 Metro Manila, Philippines
www.adb.org
Publication Stock No. 040408
ISBN No. 978-971-561-679-9

CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1. PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA: TAPPING A NEW WELL 14
A group of isolated villages in Jiangxi province, People’s Republic of China, is in the forefront of a bold experiment to involve civil society in the fight against poverty. For the first time, the Government is giving funds to NGOs to facilitate community-based projects. If successful, this ADB-supported trial could be widely replicated, creating powerful new partnerships in support of more equitable development.

CHAPTER 2. INDIA: SELF-HELP IN THE SLUMS 28
India’s social problems are magnified in the slums where half of the big city populations dwell. In Kolkata, under an innovative ADB-financed project, NGOs are mobilizing self-help groups to tackle issues, such as domestic violence, child labor, and underage marriage.

CHAPTER 3. INDONESIA: HARVESTING NEW IDEAS 40
The fall of Indonesia’s President Suharto in 1998 sparked a shift to democracy—followed by “Big Bang” decentralization. In the wake of this devolution of responsibility, an innovative ADB-financed project is enabling poor farmers, with the help of local government and NGOs, to take charge of village improvement projects. Though none of the stakeholders was ready for this radical bottom-up approach, it is gradually taking hold.

CHAPTER 4. MONGOLIA: FRUITS OF RESILIENCE 52
Long treated as outcasts, Mongolia’s disabled were especially vulnerable when the economy collapsed in the 1990s. A pilot ADB-financed project, strongly backed by government and implemented by plucky NGOs, helped alter public attitudes, as well as increase the incomeearning potential of the disabled. With new skills, many are holding their own in mainstream society.

CHAPTER 5. PAPUA NEW GUINEA: RESTORING THE REEF 66
Overfishing and destructive fishing practices are depleting Papua New Guinea’s richly diverse coastal waters and coral reefs, causing deprivation among coastal communities. Now, mobilized by NGOs under a pilot ADB-financed project, some two dozen shoreline villages are taking action to protect their marine resources. By trading short-term pain for long-term gain, they are beginning to reverse the tide of overexploitation.

CHAPTER 6. SRI LANKA: CASH UP FRONT, PLEASE 80
Sri Lanka boasts a tradition of community water management stretching back to ancient times. An ADB-supported rural water project took community involvement one step further, shocking villagers with the requirement that they contribute up front for construction costs and assume responsibility for operation and maintenance. Today, hundreds of communities are receiving clean, easily accessible water from systems they helped to build and now run independently.

CHAPTER 7. TAJIKISTAN: REBUILDING BROKEN LIVES 92
After declaring Independence in 1991, Tajikistan endured economic collapse, civil war, and widespread hunger. To help rural people back on their feet, ADB financed a pilot microcredit-based livelihood project for women and farmers. Implemented through two international NGOs, the Aga Khan Foundation and CARE International, the experiment encountered many challenges, but produced several positive outcomes.

CHAPTER 8. VIET NAM: FIGHTING FOR THE FOREST 104
ADB and the World Wide Fund for Nature have partnered to save one of mainland Southeast Asia’s most diverse rainforests in Viet Nam’s Central Annamites. They are helping largely ethnic communities to improve their livelihoods, and fight off illegal loggers and poachers. The two partners face an array of environmental threats brought on by the construction of roads and dams, as well as gold mining.

From the Ground UP Case Studies in Community Empowerment

"The Asian Development Bank (ADB) finances numerous projects with participatory components that involve beneficiaries and intermediary bodies, such as nongovernment organizations (NGOs). From the Ground Up takes the reader on a journey across the Asia–Pacific region, from Tajikistan to Papua New Guinea, visiting eight ADB–backed projects along the way.

Each chapter brings to life personal stories of those who have been given the opportunity to improve their economic and social situation, and the condition of the world around them. The challenges they have confronted, and the ways in which they have struggled to achieve their dreams, are colorfully described in this inspiring collection of case studies of people–oriented development at the grassroots level."

About the Asian Development Bank

ADB’s vision is an Asia and Pacific region free of poverty. Its mission is to help its developing member countries substantially reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their people. Despite the region’s many successes, it remains home to two thirds of the world’s poor. Nearly 1.7 billion people in the region live on $2 or less a day.

ADB is committed to reducing poverty through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration.

Based in Manila, ADB is owned by 67 members, including 48 from the region. Its main instruments for helping its developing member countries are policy dialogue, loans, equity investments, guarantees, grants, and technical assistance. In 2007, it approved $10.1 billion of loans, $673 million of grant projects, and technical assistance amounting to $243 million.

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